DanD

My Son came up with an idea of digging a mechanics pit in the backyard. We're getting ready to pour a 9x25 slab of concrete and it was at least giving some thought to.
How big are they? Deep? I'd have to make a cover to keep things safe.

Pictures?
Thanks,

d richard

Had one at the last house I used to live in. I made it just wide enough for my shoulders and the floor was slanted so that one end was deeper. I think it was about 10 foot long. It made working on the old fiat so much easier.
When I build one for the new house (in the garage this time) I will dig about 7 feet down and lay a 4 inch concrete pad. Then it will have cinder block for sides. The holes in the block will have concrete in them for support and then a 4 inch pad gets poured over that on the ground. I will include a small flange around the top so a 3/4 piece of plywood will cover the pit when not in use. I will also include an outlet for lighting and power as well as a built in shelf to lay tools. A drain in the floor would be nice but in my case too much trouble. Now if I could fit in a fridge for beer I'd be all set!!

jim968

The ones I recall from the old days (~30 yrs. back) usually had a 1 or 1.5 inch piece of angle iron bolted to each edge of the pit, with one leg up. Acted as a safety guide to keep any careless steering from having serious consequences.

For depth information, you might talk to the guys at a quick-lube place; most of the ones I've seen use a big pit for the drain guy to stand in.

Jim, "Are we there yet?"

DanD

D,
I didn't even think about the sides. That would be important. Your comments made me think about the water problem. Draining and so on. It's going to be outside if I do it. I could end up with a pool sometime around Christmas time.

Jim,
I wasn't going to mention that I actually used one many years ago. I just can't remember anything about it. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

I've also spent many hours in an alignment pit. That would be sweet. Lots of room to work around the car. But, Not an option.

A rack is starting to sound good.

Dan

d richard

Yea the first one I built was outside with no drain. But when I poured the topside pad I also put 4 metal poles in the concrete. I attached 2x6's and Plywood as sort of a slanted roof. My big problem wasn't water in the pit but snow(I lived in MA). This looked bad but worked ok. I like the idea of a pit much better than a rack because there's no moving parts, no maintenance and you can't screw up a hole in the ground. As far as I know racks run into some money. Good luck!

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by d richard:
<strong>As far as I know racks run into some money. Good luck!</strong><hr></blockquote>

About $3k for an offset post lift.

rfuerst

How about this-Kwiklift.com.I have been thinking about getting one of these,you still have to be on a creeper but not a bad idea.Actually it would be nice to make this out of aluminum so you do not have to worry about rust.What do you guys think?

993Maineiac

That looks a lot better then jackstands-wouldn't bump my head quite as much, and I'm always a little worried with the car on 2 or 4 stands. Thanks for posting it.

special tool

I own a foundation company and I don't even have one of those things. There are many reasons why you don't see them too much anymore; I'll give you a few. #1 - Excavation, materials, drainage (surface water if outside) and frost (if in north) expenses make it much more cost effective to buy a 4 post lift, especially considering that if you put it inside, you can park under it. #2 -
If you live in an area that has even reasonably modern building codes, you will be filling it in when you go to sell because , invariably, this is the first thing that the buyer's wiseass home inspector will note on his sheet. #3 - if you build it yourself and have an accident due to workmanship such as concrete block placement (cinder blocks have not been produced for decades because of breakdown of the organic material), you will bear the costs - particularly if you've constructed the thing against local codes.

mcavour

Back in 92' I was living in Brazil with my parents. Dad was the service/parts manager for the Honda dealer in Rio de Janeiro. The dealer had purchased an old furniture store to convert it to dealer use. It was a one story building about a 1/4 of a floor level above street level with a subterranean garage. The ideia was to place the shop on the garage, but the roof level didn't allow for lifts (a must in a service shop!). Dad came up with the ingenious ideia of combining a lift with a pit. Drive the car on, lift it to the max allowable and go down on the pit for extra clearance!!! <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

mcavour

I forgot to mention that the lifts were set on the bottom of the pits, in order to drive onver the opening next to the lift small metal ramps were custom ordered!

DanD

Special,
Good points. Since I'm a homeowner and am already on the edge of undocumented home upgrades. I think I'll pass on the questionable pit. I'll see what I can find in a used lift, (when I find some $$ somewhere).

Maybe someone else has some good ideas?
Raised concrete ramps? Na, too perminant...
Dan
shooting at straws (who thinks up these phrases?)

IceShark

Guess I don't know my building materials quite well enough, but what exactly was cinder block made of? I just thought it was a generic term for a cement and sand block.

Sand isn't too "organic" so a real cinder block must have been made of something else like combustion byproducts from a coal fired electrical plant?

Anyway, I'd agree that one better be careful about building one of these pits as they probably fall into the same class as a swimming pool from a homeowner's liability standpoint. The moment you have the cover off some kid will fall into it and crack his skull.

jim968

Shark, ISTR reading that the composition of cinder blocks varies (used to?) from region to region, depending on what's available locally for filler material. Kinda like the filler used in asphalt paving. But the generic name "cinder block" does imply that they were indeed using some kind of combustion by-product, at least originally.

Between building codes, drainage issues, and potential lawsuits, I think the grease pit is an idea that's mostly past its 'use by' date.

Jim, it'd be great for breeding your own West Nile skeeters, tho'...

scular

I remember a company that made pits out of fiberglass or some plastic. Kinda like a swimming pool, they had shelves and steps built in, they were about $1500. I will try find it tonight.