Originally Posted by WhyMe
don't want to hijack this thread but i got a question on lift. most i see are the kind you bolt into to the floor. the other one is the built into the floor type. i see the in floor type in a lot of high end shops.
is there an advantage to either one?
https://standardus.com/rotary-two-p...ound-electric-hydraulic-r-sl210i-fa.html
In ground Air over Hydraulic lifts have been around for at least 80 years....Probably longer.
The advantage of a In Ground is......
*No obstruction of doors, Less chance of door dings.
*Cleaner look
*No Equalization Cables to maintain & adjust as the 2 posts are mechanically linked together below grade
*They are quiet, Almost silent compared to a Surface Mount.....Get four or five 2hp motor surface mount lifts humming & the locks clicking away at the same time is VERY loud
*They can't be easily damaged by running a vehicle into it (I've seen a surface mount lift get totaled by a runaway car)
*Way less chance of vehicle damage in general, Especially concerning inexperienced mechanics.
*No width restriction.
The disadvantages of a In Ground is.....
*They are twice the purchase price of a similar weight class surface mount.
*Installation is 4-6 times the cost, Making it only feasible for deep pocket New Construction.
*They can't be easily moved or sold, This is the main reason you don't see them in independent service garages, Once you install it, It's basically part of the building & belongs to the property owner if you Rent/Lease your space. Not that it would be worth removing & fixing the floor/slab regardless.
*The old ones were a environmental nightmare, They had no containment for the hydraulic fluid that would eventually leak out of the cylinders. Water/Coolant/Gasoline/Diesel would also collect/pool down in the pit!
The new ones have containment & float switched alarms for those concerns!
True story......
I worked at a shop that had 50,000 pound Rotary "Fore & Aft" in ground lift with a floating adjustable stem ram for different wheelbase trucks. It had to have steel plates that slid along a channel to cover the pit for the adjustable stem ram.
A coworker pulled a engine out of a Chevy Truck (Carburated) & didn't plug the fuel line, All @25 gallons of gasoline siphoned out of the tank & leaked into the pit. (Unbenounced to us at the time)
We pushed the truck out while waiting on some machine work & pulled another truck in for some exhaust work which required cutting some pipe with a torch.
That gas lit & blew everyone of those heavy steel plates 18 inches in the air, Throwing a 200# guy 4 or 5 feet. Lucky he didn't get killed.....He suffered a concussion, Got knocked out & burned his left arm so bad it had to be amputated at the elbow, Not from the gasoline explosion, But from the torch he had a death grip on!!!
I'm the one that ran over & killed the torch, Most gruesome thing I've ever witnessed as a mechanic. Still remember the smell anytime I think about it.