In a message dated 98-10-28 16:28:12 EST, suchak@mediaone.net writes:
> Hey, here's a low tech alternative... Pull the front end up on car
> ramps and stick a floor jack under the rear. Same net result, easier to
> store and you get to keep your 900 bucks. Easier to slide in and out
> from the sides too.
>
> Am I missing something?
John,
What your proposal is missing is about 10 inches in height and a little
convenience. Wheather or not that's worth $900 depends on the availabilty of
spare cash for "funsies" and/or how often you need to work under a car. For
me, $900 is rather hard to come by, but divided up among 8 other folks, $100
is do-able. Naturely, sharing it with others makes it a little less
convenient, but it still beats working with only ten inches clearance.
The typical ramp has a lift of around ten inches, and jacking up the rear will
usually require putting stands under each end of the axle, or in the case of a
TR6, under each of the trialing arms. It is certainly one way to do it, and
pretty much the way I do it now, but I can't help but think the kwiklift would
be much more convenient. That extra ten inches would be a great help for many
undercar tasks (on a TR6, ten inches of wheel clearance works out to about 15
inches chassis clearance).
For those folks on the mgb-v8 list, having one of these would be an invaluable
help in getting the engine installed.
If you try to raise the ramps, then you have to increase their length, or the
car will scrape as you go up. If you increase the length enough to get 20
inches, you're going to be just about where you would be with the kwiklift -
almost as much cost but without the convenience.
This is not the perfect answer, as there are some times when you want to lift
the frame and have the wheels free, just as there are times when you want the
car supported by the wheels, but it looks like a good compromise to me. I have
worked under cars by just pulling one side up on a curb and crawling under.
I've also hitch-hiked through Central America, sleeping on park benches or on
the ground. If I had to, I could do either one again, but I'd really rather
not. At my age, convenience and comfort are becoming more important than they
used to be.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/index.html
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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