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Two post lift

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I *try* to put them where the outriggers meet the chassis. It works pretty good on the right side, and it used to work on the left side, but then I put the exhaust system on...

Now, with a combination of wooden blocks, it is on the outriggers outboard of the exhaust. So far, nothing has wrinkled :wink:

I put ten (10) or twenty (20) BMWs on my lift for every time the Healey goes up for a ride, so it's not worth the trouble to me to modify the lift to suit the Healey. I get the car over my head, and it's secure on the arms for when I need to really tug on something, so I'm happy.

I will say though, I shortened the rear arms on my lift, because the wheelbase is so short (Healey or BMW) that I was hanging too much weight off the back. The carriages were going up the columns *cocked* and would've eventually wore out the rub-blocks prematurely. Now I can see the carriages staying pretty well balanced as the car goes up and down. I took just about a foot (12"<span style="text-decoration: underline">+</span>) out of the rear arms and welded them back together.

To ANYONE using a lift for the first time, or the first time you put a different car on it: I get the car rigged up the best way I can, ideally using the factory jacking points as a reference, then only raise it a few inches clear of the ground. At this point, I grab the front and rear bumpers, then the door posts (or what have you) and give the car a mighty shaking. I'd rather it drop a few inches to the ground than to crush me. Safety first!
 
Randy Forbes said:
...

I will say though, I shortened the rear arms on my lift, because the wheelbase is so short (Healey or BMW) that I was hanging too much weight off the back. The carriages were going up the columns *cocked* and would've eventually wore out the rub-blocks prematurely. Now I can see the carriages staying pretty well balanced as the car goes up and down. I took just about a foot (12"<span style="text-decoration: underline">+</span>) out of the rear arms and welded them back together.

....
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Randy,

I'm a little confused by this. If the car had too much weight hanging off the back, how did shortening the rear arms help? I would think shorter rear arms would result in even more of the weight hanging off the back. Is it because you wanted to use a certain spot on the Healey frame for a lift point, regardless of how long the arms were?
 
Legal Bill said:
Randy,

I'm a little confused by this. If the car had too much weight hanging off the back, how did shortening the rear arms help? I would think shorter rear arms would result in even more of the weight hanging off the back. Is it because you wanted to use a certain spot on the Healey frame for a lift point, regardless of how long the arms were?
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Shortening the rear arms allowed the car to be moved forward, thus centering (fore/aft) the mass of weight between the columns.

I'd draw you a picture, but I can't draw...
 
The *fixed* portion of the (telesoping) rear arm, was shortened from 28-1/2" to 20", likewise, I had to shorten the inner part too.

Essentially, I (plasma) cut it off at the end of the large gusset, then milled off the dross, and rewelded it all back together.

A person that had bought the same lift about siz months earlier, was able to specify "Corvette" arms, but they were no longer offering that when I bought mine (01/06).
 
That's great info. Now i can compare that to the ,ength of the arms on the units I am looking at. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
 
My wife and I just got our Challenger Lift installed today. I did not get to try it because I forgot to buy the hydralic oil. But it will go for its first raise tomorrow. It was that hard to install, although I would say the instructions were not very detailed. Putting in the bolts to the concrete was a lot of work. They said to torque to 150 lbs which is a lot of tension.
Since this is a two post lift, I still have the desire to hook thetop of the posts to the frame of the building. Probably not necessary but might make me feel better.
 
... and another Healey shall rise above us!

First time you raise the car, get the tires about 3"-4" off the ground, and then shake the **** out of it! If you don't have a stable arrangement under the car, it's better to have it only fall a few inches than several feet. Especially if you're underneath it.

Congrats, you're going to love it :smile: I took these pictures earlier this evening, when doing my xmsn swap.

IMG_7636.jpg


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IMG_7654.jpg
 
First test on the lift went well but I noticed Two adjustments needed.
1. The power side goes up first and down first, a change of about 2 inches, which tilts the car. I know this is supposed to be adjusted with the steel cables but the directions are not real clear on how. My attempts so far have not fixed it. I am guessing that I want both cables tight, but also so they get to the first lock position at the same time?

2. The front bars could use another inch to pick up a healey. Seems like I can fix this since we have light weight cars. The rear bars work fine, no issues as discussed earlier on this topic.

Walking under the car made me wish I had the lift two years ago. What a back saver.

Jerry
 
Randy Forbes said:
... and another Healey shall rise above us!

First time you raise the car, get the tires about 3"-4" off the ground, and then shake the **** out of it! If you don't have a stable arrangement under the car, it's better to have it only fall a few inches than several feet. Especially if you're underneath it.

Congrats, you're going to love it :smile: I took these pictures earlier this evening, when doing my xmsn swap.
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Randy, since I'm not looking forward to muscling the transmission back in my car what's your plan? Do you have a transmission stand?
 
Johnny said:
Randy, since I'm not looking forward to muscling the transmission back in my car what's your plan? Do you have a transmission stand?
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It was more like a plan of no plan!

I still had to muscle the xmsn into the car, and I got lucky to stab the clutch enough to keep the box from falling through. I had a floorjack under the xmsn, but the cable/hose cover for my lift prevented being able to move it.

I slung a strap between the legs of the front rollhoop to take the weight off the input shaft and raised the car in the air to finish the job from underneath (with a transmission jack).

Let me see if I have a few pictures... :wink:

IMG_7709.jpg


IMG_7710.jpg


IMG_7713.jpg


IMG_7715.jpg
 
Just curious, could you have slung the tranny from the lift, raised it, then pushed the car underneath and lower the tranny into the cockpit?
 
GregW said:
Just curious, could you have slung the tranny from the lift, raised it, then pushed the car underneath and lower the tranny into the cockpit?
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Scary.

In my case, working predominantly alone, I wouldn't have been able to reach both the controls to lower the lift and guide the trans on its descent at the same time.

In an average garage, it would be easier to use a cherry-picker (engine hoist).

Where my lift is, the width is like a single car garage, so the cherry-picker was out. I mean, I could've rolled the car out to the wider part of the garage, but that sounds like too much work!
 
My mind just works that way. Trying to figure out an easier way to do something with items on hand. I don't know if my GT6 tranny was lighter than a Healeys or it was cuz I put it in when I was 20. The GT6 sure was easier on the back. :cry:
 
I made a little wooden bench to rest the transmission on while I lined it up. It was much more stable than the floor jack I used to take it out. It was not that hard to move around when I got it on the floor sideways through the passenger side door (with the help of my wife).
 
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