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Cool idea for raising the car

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Sarastro

Sarastro

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Personally, I wouldn’t put my car in the air with that design. It would definitely feel like a coffin crawling under there.
 
neat idea..... I'd be too skeert to go under it myself though
 
Works well. His design is *much* more stable than most jackstands are. Most jackstands have all the stability of a bookend.

One modification I'd make is to limit the teetering. There's no need or reason to have the unit flip past horizontal once the car is up on it. So I'd incorporate a leg in the far end. Roughly like this sketch.



I don't fully agree with him on the nails vs screws. But only because screws tend to be brittle and snap. Nails tend to gradually bend. However, properly assembled, there's no load on the nails or screws.
 
I would never get under a car supported by wood. The idea of his contraption is not new however. I can't find a link right now, but you can buy a tubular steel version of this.
 
Several months ago there was a discussion of a home made steel version of something similar. A few of the forum members talked of building it; don't remember anybody posting pictures of their results, in my opinion just as well they didn't.

Really, it is bad enough we "waste" ours and/or our families money on old cars, but to risk getting hurt using some cobbled contraption is much worse.

At one time I considered buying a 4 post, but due to space limitations in my shop and safety issues due to country of origin of the ones in my price range, I did not. I purchased a Kwiklift. I have posted about it before, I know I babble on about it on occasion. It has been a very welcome addition to my shop.
 
a tubular/welded version yes, a screwed or nailed wood version no way. too much risk. bad idea. too much movement unless you add the front stop as suggested. keep your cellular phone handy in case you have to make an emergency call, hopefully you won't. put some steel jacks on each side in case the contraption fails.

I am familiar with the 1800-E and ES, I had one of each at the same time, great cars, especially the E with overdrive, it was a bullet after 80mph. BUT: not like a Jaguar, not even close. My 1965 S type has more space in the trunk than the 1800-ES SportWagon. And those B20 engines, they were slugs on take off.

Ex
 
Well now, just because something is wood doesn't make it cobbed up or inherently dangerous. If you're not capable of understanding stresses and the like, you certainly should't build one. But if you can understand them, and the materials you are working with, it'll be fine. Same applies to steel for that matter.

I'd have no more qualm about going under a car on a wooden stucture than I would going under a locomotive on a wooden tressel, or riding a wooden rollercoaster.
 
I enjoy riding on wooden roller coasters, but if you look at the engineering there is a lot more reinforcement than a steel structure. They don’t pivot 1800 lbs or more on a ¾” plywood point (or four, in this case).
 
not being a mechanical engineer i can't say definitively butall the weight of the car concentrated on the pivot point doesn't appear safe on a wood structure
 
Not entering this discussion pro or con, but is the Marcos an inherrently less safe car because of its laminated wooden monocoque?
 
It would all depend on construction techniques & materials chosen.

...and remember the WW-II Mosquito fighter/bomber? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
geez, that looks scary! why not just buy for STEEL ramps drive up on one set and then jack the car up and slide the other two under the other end?


mark
 
Don't know what they cost, but there are one-piece ramps for both sides, that car dealers use that teeter like described.
 
Put the car on that thing and get two buddies to help you push on it from the side...I bet you could get it to tip over in a heartbeat.

No thanks...
 
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