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I have a 2 years ago Quick Jack - they made a change to the safety bar (just to make it  little easier to use).  I had to call and ask about "last years" open box model - but think I got it for $799 shipped.  It had a couple normal shipping scratches but was never used.

Rusty - I've been looking at these similar $39.99 ramps from Harbor Freight (20% less with their coupon).  The ramp par is detachable so it give more working room once vehicle is up on them.

Magnum-16000 Auto Ramp Set with Built-In Safety Chock

DAVRIC 67722 Magnum-16000 Auto Ramp Set with Built-In Safety Chock

I have had an assortment of ramps over the years, and they're OK and that's about it.  Besides, Pearl sits low enough that I can't get the wheel onto the ramps before the ramps hit the the underside of the body.  

So I recently got a Quickjack 3500 for Pearl, and I love it.  Goes from fully flat to fully up in about ten seconds and the lock bars are really beefy, stopping at half and then fully extended.   I'm still getting used to it and have a couple of things to do to make it easier to use and remain safe but it is everything they claim.

if you are thinking of one and can afford it, get the 5,500# capacity one so you can use it for your daily driver, too!

 

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Last edited by Gordon Nichols

I bought some cheap hard plastic ramps that will fit under the Speedster and also the Mazda (front wheel drive, of course).  Work great.  Good for oil changes.  While they will work for the front of the speedy, not so much for the rear, where most of the action is.  I use my old floor jack and jack stands, the old fashioned way,  What I really want is Ed Erickson's gantry lift, so you just stand under and do your thing.  Man do I want that.

I'm beginning to feel that the best place to store the jacks (one for each side) is right under the car, just pushed together so the wheels don't hit them.  Connecting the hoses to the lifts after the lifts are under the car is a PITA - there isn't that much extra hose to easily reach around and connect them under the car.  Instead, I can leave the hoses connected and coiled out of the way (and put a plastic bag over the quik-connect ends) and just push the lifts together in the middle, under the car.  Then, when I want to lift it I can just pull the lifts from the middle out to the sides of the car, line them up, connect the pump to the hoses and lift away.  Makes it easy and solves the "where do I store the lifts" problem to boot.

Gordon, I've been looking at those myself.  Now that my car is fairly well sorted I start looking for a lift.  Story of my life.  Do it the hard way first, then you know what not to do.

I need something that I can drag out of the way , or stand up against the wall.  Probably the most important thing is, can you pluck the engine out using the ATV jack without fiddling around with the last 2 or 3 inches to roll the engine out?  I'm pretty tired of the jack stand thing.

That's true, Mike.......Not a lot of people have discovered that, too.

My lift gets it up high enough to roll around under the car comfortably on a creeper.  I could double-stack the rubber blocks between the lift and the car and get another 2" or so.  

Earlier in life I probably took more "life chances" but I'm over that now so once I get the car up there, I place my 4-ton jack stands and then let the car down onto those, rather than trust the lift.  Lost a good friend a while back to a lift accident - not gonna happen to me!

Anyway, from what I have learned from the good Dr. Clock and his lift, the trick is to use a good ATV jack to cradle the engine more-or-less level, and use a combination of the ATV jack and the Quickjack lift to (a) pull the engine away from the bell housing at the same height and free them, then (b). Raise the car up as far as possible on the Quickjack away from the engine while lowering the engine all the way down on the ATV jack (I have to go out the back as my ATV jack has one pair of non-steering wheels).  Once you get to max delta, then either tilt the engine back to gain clearance under the rear valence or tilt it back AND move it sideways through the wheel well to get it out.  My past experience has always had the back end of the car WAY up there on jack stands to gain engine clearance and tilt the hell out of the engine on the jack to get it out.  This will probably be different using the QuickJack, but should be very do-able.  

Looking forward to using it, but not looking forward to ever pulling the engine.  

So far.....Used it today to mess around with my Frunk configuration.   I've deleted my spare tire/wheel in favor of a 12V pump, a plug kit and a can of Slime and wanted to Include an effective spares kit but couldn't find a storage system that I liked.  Ended up just sitting and staring at it for a while and finally "Just Did It!" and put together a solution that I can live with and should be effective, as well as a place for the pump and added some nice hold-downs to keep it in place.  It was handy getting the car up without a lot of hassle and I'm getting used to getting it up and down with little issue.

I plan on storing the jacks under the car, just shoved together in the middle.  Works great and MUCH easier to deal with.  The Quickjacks have little caster wheels on one end so you can lift the opposite end and roll them across the floor to where you want to vertically store them, then lift the caster end and walk the vertical jack up against the wall.  All done.  Takes up about 1sq. Foot of floor space that way.

Michael McKelvey posted:

It would be very interesting to know if the Quickjack lifts the car enough to roll the engine out. There is more clearance if you roll the engine out the side through a wheel opening instead of straight back.

Michael, I've had my engine ( s ) in and out enough times that I feel confident in asking that you consider this if having to do an in/out.  You'll likely have the engine lid off so overhead access is already there. 

Using an ATV / motorcycle jack UNDER  to support the engine is a complete waste of altitude and presents a balancing act of some description every time.  I use an inexpensive engine hoist attached to the top end of the motor, undo the attach bolts to the bell housing and then gently lower the engine to a "low profile" creeper or furniture dolly or even a rug or such and yank the bugger aft and out.  Easy and safe.

Benefits :   less lift needed on the car, no balancing act on an ATV jack and easier to " wobble / see"  the bolt points on install and out.  And guess what ...  IFW every time.

 It is somewhere in the files that the good Doctor does NOT endorse the Quickjack and having that much experience it may be worthy of note in this exchange of info.

Last edited by David Stroud IM Roadster D
El Frazoo posted:

I bought some cheap hard plastic ramps that will fit under the Speedster and also the Mazda (front wheel drive, of course).  Work great.  Good for oil changes.  While they will work for the front of the speedy, not so much for the rear, where most of the action is.  I use my old floor jack and jack stands, the old fashioned way,  What I really want is Ed Erickson's gantry lift, so you just stand under and do your thing.  Man do I want that.

I back mine up ramps all the time, then jack the front up onto jack stands if needed.

Dr. Clock has had a 30" quickjack-like Bendpack lift for a decade.  He got it from Brian Hawthornwaite on Hilton Head - I found it for him - and he has used it a LOT.   It recently arrived at Bill Drayer's place when Al closed his shop.  Al told me about using the lift and jack routine last year sometime.   IIRC, his was a BendPack LR-60 and slightly different from my version (there used to be a write-up on here from Brian) in that both sides are locked together.

Anyway, the lower-the-engine-to-a-rug routine makes a lot of sense, as ANY kind of jack under the engine, Motorcycle or roll-around floor jack, keeps the engine up 4" - 6" off the floor and just makes the final exit under the car that much harder.  Perfect if you have a place to mount a winch in the ceiling and have attach points on your engine.

Gordon Nichols posted:

I'm beginning to feel that the best place to store the jacks (one for each side) is right under the car, just pushed together so the wheels don't hit them.  Connecting the hoses to the lifts after the lifts are under the car is a PITA - there isn't that much extra hose to easily reach around and connect them under the car.  Instead, I can leave the hoses connected and coiled out of the way (and put a plastic bag over the quik-connect ends) and just push the lifts together in the middle, under the car.  Then, when I want to lift it I can just pull the lifts from the middle out to the sides of the car, line them up, connect the pump to the hoses and lift away.  Makes it easy and solves the "where do I store the lifts" problem to boot.

Great idea Gordon, they are a PITA to pull out and set up every time,so I'm following your lead on this, thanks!

Ray from Canada wrote: " I have had some issues with leakage at the quick connecters I was thinking of making myself some type of a small curb to protect the hoses so I could leave them on the ground"

Me, too.

I took the el Cheapo route and just wrap a plastic grocery bag around them and just leave them looped in front of the lifts.  

Make sure the female end receptacle is screwed on tight - use a couple of rags and get the end strongly hand-tight, although, I've left the hoses attached to the lifts and one of them still leaked a tad.  Inside, the valve is closed by spring pressure when disconected, but, if there is any crud in the ATF that gets stuck in in the valve, it will leak.  Don't yet know how to cure that but ATF is relatively cheap, no?  It might be nice if someone offered drip pads but a piece of felt on top of a piece of plastic sheet should help.  

The price of having a lift?

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