atcbi5

Useless piece of S#%t.

ivangene

BAWAHAHHAAHAHAHHHA ^^^^^^


dont hold back how you really feel !!

ArneeA

LOL!!

Chart505

Here's an idea if you are building a new house- when I built mine I had the guy dig out an old fashioned grease monkey "pit" in the center of the garage.
Lined w concrete, steps built in, wood cover. Works great.

Libtekvrt

The only problem with this, they are illegal now due to safety reasons... They are illegal here in Canada anyway...

AmirShaikh

Through a quick google search, I was able to find much better scissor lifts in the same price range:
http://www.shopwiki.com/search/6,000...ft+(B000BHNTFK)

One of them was $1,600 with 6-level locking mechanism as Chuck above was talking about.

screameleons

sorry I didn't reply sooner. The group buy now has 6 committed buyers with more on the way. The vendor actually setup tier pricing, so I think everyone else is waiting on the next price level. Current price is $1405. Here is the link:

http://www.gotogroupbuy.com/229/EZCARLIFT.aspx

Vince

Chuck Jones

I just sent the manufacturer a series of questions about fail safe safety issues, as well as a number of other questions to include the lack of width adjustability (fixed by pre cut crossbeams), jack point adjustments or pillow blocks etc. There's also a question about availability. I read in the ad where it says it's immediately avaialiable, yet another post said 4 to 6 weeks. Perhaps this is a cottage industry and as such doesn't have an extensive on-hand inventory. Although it does say Made in the US, I am trying to confirm that none of the parts are outsourced to our overseas "friends". There may be an OSHA issue on the safety aspects....

I'm not knocking the product. I'm interested because the midrise and scissors lifts are just too heavy and cumbersome for small garages, and because of some physical issues, it's getting too difficult for me to go thru the jacking process, then crawl under there and install jackstands....but some issues need to be addressed.

Dave!

Sorry to hear it. How exactly did the ramps fail, as they've always seemed by far the safest option.

perryinva

It's certainly not a piece of $hit, and with the group buy price, quite attractive. I don't own one, but am considering it for various reasons. It has a place, depending on your needs.

First, it is really just 4 scissors jacks, all tied together. Like any scissors jack, all the forces/stresses are horizontal and far far greatest while the lift is flat. Once lifted, even if the threads were to magically strip, the lift can't come down. All the force is on the rod part of the thread, not the thread. The lift is rated for 4400lbs at the horizontal lift positon (NOT fully down, there is a big difference), much higher once the load is elevated. Second. I spoke with the manufacurer, and the thread follower (for lack of a better description) is designed to fail while trying to lift when the forces are greatest in the horizontal, unlifted position. This part is user replaceable and does not make the lift permanently unuseable. Try to lift too much, and it will just not do it, rather than try to lift and then fail. Third, it is designed to be used as a temporary, portable, storable lift. None of the hydraulic based scissor lifts are. For me, that is very important & key. I don't want a lift permanently occupying the same bay in my garage. I use my garage for other things, and I don't want the lift to be a problem to relocate and a permaent fixture. Nor do I want to have to run a 220 servce to my lift. Fourth, there is nothing preventing you from using jackstands at full extension as a backup under the 4 corners of the lift itself. They would not be in the way, as they recess in each corner. I do not know what damage might ensue if you were to lower the car with the jackstands in place, but thats a user error. There is a pin/hole arrangemnt that can be used in one position, but should you forget to remove all 4 pins, you will damage the lift. Fifth IMHO, based on the design, it is far harder for the lift to get "out of sync" at any corner than a hydraulically operated one, a more likely mode of failure. THE most common problem with any hydraulic lift is getting everything synced. On a typical 2 post lift with notched dogs, if a dog gets stuck or slips back and prevnts a side from dropping, it is a royal PITA to get them back synced with the car on the lift. You almost have to have a forklift available. Pros and cons are everywhere.

There are some "downsides", as well. If you were to lower the car all the way down with wheels off (for whatever reason), chances are, you will find that you will NOT be able to lift the vehicle back up. You would be trying to convert almost 100% of the lift force to the threaded part mentioned above and it WILL fail. It is designed (like any scissors jack), to store flat, but only lift when past a certain point. I don't think that the hydraulic ones have that constraint. It is much slower to lift, escpecially once you get past about 1/2 way. You need to buy a 6 to 8 amp drill, though Harbor Freight has them as cheap as $30. If portability/storability is not a priority, then it makes little sense to get one. You can get higher, faster, more capacity lifting for less.

perryinva

Chuck,
Widths are adjustable by exchanging fixed replaceable parts. He need sto be told in the order, what widths/vehicles you are using it for. Jack points, front to rear are adjustable by sliding plates. Max F-R is 60 inches. He has extensions for truck/recessed frames, and told me most 911 users just use hockey pucks on 4 corners for extra clearance between body and lift rails. Same pros & cons for me, as listed above. Definietly a cottage company, all made in the US, but I don't think he would know if, for instance, the threaded rods themselves are made in the US or not. He might..good questions, tho.

I joined as interested, but I'm pretty sure I'd get one if we hit the 21 person price. $1425 shipped is a good price for something like this

Chuck Jones

DAVE: My friend was working on a Ford Tbird...and had driven the car up on front ramps. He had loosened the transmission bolts and was trying to break loose the transmission a bit by pulling backwards on the casing....HE HAD NOT BLOCKED THE REAR TIRES...and he was a pretty strong dude...so he actually pulled the front tires out of the recessed area in the ramps....it slid down the ramps and the transmission casing came to rest on his chest, crushing the air from his lungs, but not enough to kill him outright. He was under there for a number of hours till his wife came home and found him. He was alive but brain dead....lived for about three days on a respirator, then thankfully passed away....otherwise he would have been been comatose for years till he eventually died.

Most of these accidents (and unfortunately there are quite a few of them) are usually related to "I'm just going to be under there for a minute to take car of XXX". Those quickie projects without taking the time to chock the wheels or put in jackstands or even toss a spare tire under the frame....end up costing a person his life.

Halvin

the jacks configuration wouldnt allow for an engine drop?

perryinva

Yes it does, the rear cross bar is for squaring the of the 4 jacking points alignment only. Once there is slight pressure on it, assuring square, then it can be removed. IMHO, the biggest drawback, besides price (which the group buy handles pretty readily) is the use on different vehicles, or heavy vehicles. The higher the lift goes when it contacts the frame, the more it can lift, but that is hard to determine. And it only lifts 27" which may not be enough for many trucks/suvs. Unless the L-R dimension of the jacking points are the same (within a few inches) then you either have to purchase the correct center pieces at $150 a size, or build some type of outrigger to use that supports the other vehicle at the correct points (and has the clearance to do so), but is lifted at the "bought" width. That would mean that if you changed cars often and you went from say a Mini to a Vette to a 911, you'd have to buy the correct width each time. Not so with most low rise lifts, as they have adjustable arms. But then most low rise lifts do not have the unimpeded access that this one does.

On a plus note, I think it would have a very good resale value, because it is relatively easy to ship vs typical lifts which are too heavy and unwieldly to ship. If after it was used a few times and you decided it was not for you and had gotten it at a group buy for say $1425, selling it for $1100 or $1200 would be easy. Little to lose. Also, as I'm looking into here, as portable as it is, a few friends might go into it with me and purcase the required widths for their cars. Easier to do that with this one than with any other lift I've looked at.

Halvin

Thanks for that detailed explanation, the price really isnt that bad when you look at shop rates and the ease of getting ones car high enough to work comfortably