Mike J

I thought I would post some pics of my installation of my new Greg Smith Pro 9F 9000lb two post hoist.

Here I am starting to drill the anchor bolts (no I am not hiding but trying to be on top of the drill....) ;-)



using a 3/4" Hilti bit and my trusty concrete drill....cuts through 30 year old concrete like butter...



The anchors are driven in and torqued to 85 ft-lbs. All 12 anchors (six to a side) gripped well with very little pullout...and all torqued to spec.



Here is the base of the lift all bolted down...the plate is 7/8" plate. I had to shim under the base to allow for both the floor slope (natural in a garage) and the irregularities of the concrete. No problem, I just used 1" washers and metal shims to make sure there is lots of surface contact between the lift and the slab...



Putting the top plates on the posts. There is a cable system that runs from the each side, along the floor, up the post and through a pulley on the top plate down to the carriage. These cables equalize each carriage so if a cylinder gets ahead the other the two carriages stay level.



There is one cylinder for each carriage...you can see the chain that is used for the lifting as well as the cables for the equalization...



Here is a shot of the carriage...



OK we are ready to test (after wiring, testing, hydralics, etc.). First of all a small lift...nice and stable..



And higher...



And pretty well to the top for now (until I put in a mechanical stop so the car does not hit the ceiling...next list of stuff).



So, what are my impressions?

- this lift is stable. I pulled down the end of the car with little movement. You can get the car to rock a little bit if you push pull but not by much...the columns do not move at all but its flex between the arm pivots and the slack in the carriages

- Even with 10'4" ceilings there is plenty of room underneath the lift to almost stand (I am 6")

- the wheelbase on the car is quite small so the arms on the lift are too long. The jackpoints on the 911 actually fit on top of the arms so I need to get adaptors to make sure the 911 is really anchored to the lift. You also need to roll the car back and forth in order to have the arms of the lift fit between the wheels (its hard to explain).

- the arms on the lift cross over the oil tank drain so I am not sure how well oil changes go (yet). I am sure there are ways around this.

- This lift is rated for 9000lbs so lifting the 993 is easy...it pump does not even sound loaded..

- there is no stop built in except for a the limit of the raise. This means there is a danger of lifting the car too much. I will setup some stop system which will prevent the lift from getting "out of control"

This particlular lift is built like a tank and I would not hesitate to recommend it!!

Cheers,

Mike

C4S_fan

Congrats Mike. Looks fantastic. Looking forward to a few sessions with my car on it

briefescape

Hey Mike were you nervous at all when you pull the trigger (lever) the first time? Picturing that Lotus hanging off the lift or shooting through the ceiling It looks real good both the lift n the targa . Keep praticing with the lift and figure out a solution for the access to oil drain . Lots of porsches are going to be lined up in the spring

BTW great meet Wednesday the sushi was good the 993 guys were good and yes even the "faster" aqua car guy was OK too .

Cheers Guy

viperbob

Lookin' good.... Yes a lift helps quite a bit. I generally like the cables connection above the lift so that there are not obstructions on the floor for rolling carts, tranny jacks, etc. But no sure with your ceiling height if that was possible.

For oil changes, we used a tall screw jack that would lift the weight off the right rear corner so that you can swing the arm out of the way and gain access to the tank drain plug.

So what is the first big project you are going to schedule???

jimq

Mike I have the same problem with getting the oil out of the oil tank with my scissor lift. I just lower the rear wheels down on a 6" thick piece of wood, move the arm out of the way and then its easy to get a pan under there.

InTheAir

That is awesome, Mike.

epj993

Awesome Mike - congrats!

Air Kuul TT

Very cool Mike... Have fun. I have a feeling that your garage is going to be a very popular place.

martyp

Great write up Mike - Maybe you can change your avatar now?

Any idea what the minimum ceiling height needs to be to make one of these useful?

autobonrun

Very nice setup. Contratulations.

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but make sure what you install as a limit stop has contact ratings that match the motor circuit current. Many devices like limit switches, optical switches, etc. have low current ratings for their contacts and need to be used with a relay. Then the relay contacts would actually be in the motor stop circuit.

Mike J

I lifted the car about 1' off the ground and then tried to rock it. I then lifted it 3' off the ground and tried to rock it....and so on....but I made sure that the car was both stable on the arms and the lift was stable as well..oh I changed the fitting to fix that small leak, its all tight now.

Thanks Bob! My ceilings are 10'3" and the lift posts are 9"3". A full overhead lift is about 11'6" so I could not fit it even between the joists so I had to compromize with the cables being on the floor. I thought that was a relatively small concession to get a lift in the shop. Otherwise I would have gone for the full height. Both lifts can lift the car up 6"9" but obviously I can't because of the joists!

Thanks for the tip with the jack...that makes sense. I am new to have the car overhead so I am sure there are a few tricks to be learned...

Not sure about what big project yet....the car is in pretty good shape now. I am going to do the muffler bypass and likely recoat the calipers...nothing too big.

My ceilings are 10'3" and I can almost stand upright under the car being 6' tall. If you can't get the car totally up high you can always work from a rolling stool...that would work well too. My buddy up here who also bought one has lower ceilings and we will have to punch through the drywall to get the posts up. He will be able to "stool" around under the car as well as its easy to get at the brakes, etc.

The avatar will change...its old and I need something new....

I will be puting in a stop but I am not sure how yet. a mechanical stop will work as well, it could be a bar across the front of the posts or a large piece of angle that prevents the carriages from rising past a point. I have not decided if it will be electrical (which would be no problem...I am a EE). I also have three vehicles that will be on this lift, all with different jacking heights. The Porsche is the highest, the Pathfinder next and my work truck last. I am sure I will figure something out...

Cheers,

Mike

Bruce SEA 993

Looks good Mike! I want a lift but am working other issues right now...

You might want to grout under the plates with high strength grout for machine bases so the load is not concentrated on the shims and washers. It could work the load in a concentrated area. You might have to find out what guys use that install industrial equipment...

Cheers!

PS: I just Googled "machinery base grout" and found a bunch of grouts. I think any one would do the job. It would give the base plate a proffesional finished look and will spread the load out.

Caio

c993k

Mike, what if you added some thicker pucks at the end of the arms? That would help clear the drain?
You may have to use a jack to get the arms under with the added hight but that's not hard.
It looks beautiful and I'm sure it will get used. Chris

Mike J

Thanks for the great idea Bruce! I will look into it. It would also will make sure water does not get under the feet of the lift in case I pressure wash the underside of the car while its on the lift.......the garage floor has a bit of slope so I thought it would be an ideal way to detail the carriage since I can remove the wheels, drop plastic from the ceiling of the garage to protect the garage and go nuts with the pressure washer, scrubbers, soap, etc.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike J

The arms just barely clear the bottom of the car now. I think that I will build a small "ramping" system so I can use the proper pucks...right now the clearances for example are about 1/4" on the front arms between the top of the arm and the body mount. I also would like to machine some positive locking disks (I did this for my jackstands) that would lock the car jack mounts to the lift (see the pict below).





Cheers

Mike