Hi Fellow Jags lovers.
I an currently in the process of planing a garage construction and would like to get your valuable input about the best type of lift for working on an e type.
Any particular thing to be very careful with when lifting a series 1?
The best loading point for a 2 pole lift?
And any other information relevant.
Thanks
Good morning Cedric,
Yes, an unsupported rear end can separate from the chassis if the rubber mounts are shot. One reason I went with a 4 post lift. The other thing is that almost every car you look at on BAT has some sort of damage from some âclownâ with a two post lift in a tire shop.
Do a search on this site regarding the best lifting points, there was a discussion last week IIRC.
The other thing that scares me a bout a 2 post lift is the possibility of the car tipping if you change the ballance point by removing the IRS or engine. That being said, a two post has real advantage when doing suspension work for obvious reasons.
I bought a 4 post lift this summer and I love it, servicing the car is so much easier now and I can actually bleed the rear brakes without removing the tires or rear shocks. YMMV
Cheers,
LLynn
Iâm driving down to the Mobile area tomorrow to pick up my MaxJax 2 post lift. I did a lot of research before I made the decision. Given the size of my garage and the intended use of the lift Iâm sure it will fit my needs.
The potential for the rear end breaking loose when using a two post lift can be virtually eliminated by using one of these after you have the car in the air. Simply place it under the rear end with a block of wood between the cage and stand.
For engine removal I believe one could employ a pair of ratchet straps between the front arms of the two post lift and the lower outer frame rail where it attaches to the car body to keep the car from rearing up like Trigger with Roy Rogers in the saddle.
I have the MaxJax as well and it has worked very well for the complete restoration of my '68. I did employ ratchet straps between the forward arms of the lift and the front frame rails when I had the engine out and the IRS in. Worked great. Another bonus of the MaxJax is that it can be unbolted from the floor and stored when not in use or moved to a different width/location for the wider modern cars.
NAYYYâŚ
Under what part of the car did you place the front jack arms? When you used that strap method did you see them actually tighten, demonstrating that it would have tipped backwards?
Watch the weather. Lots of street flooding in Houston today and they say this system will be going east and north tomorrow.
If youâre rebuilding cars and doing heavy work get a twin post. If youâre servicing vehicles, maintaining them get a four post.
Thanks David. How bad is the flooding? Are you in a danger area?
I have been watching the weather Umweather for that very reason. I should be able to slip in and out while the storm is still in Western Louisiana.
We were scheduled to pick it up last week. Sally made sure that didnât happen as scheduled.
Being of the opinion that the best place to land your lift pads is the trailing arm attachment point to the floor (in the rear) and the front suspension A arms (in the front) be aware that not all lift arms can reach this far. I have a BendPak mid-rise scissor lift and an Ideal single post lift. Neither can make the reach needed, which means you wind up using a front lift point at the firewall. Not terrible but you may get some local crunching or paint cracking that you wonât like.
Itâs hard to read the lift specs and determine if the lift arms will reach, as the pads move through arcs and are limited by the mfg to some degree, at least for 2 post and single post lifts, to not let the lift points get too far away from the centerline of the post.
So I would suggest that as you narrow in on a lift, see if someone on the forum can give you some real world imput. I do like both of my lifts because they can be moved around. Very nice for garage cleaning or as mission requirements change.
Also be prepared, almost any lift you get is going to be very heavy. You will most likely need some serious assistance making the installation. And most 2 post lifts need concrete anchors in the garage floor. Be aware that your floor may be as thin as 3" and may have marginal or no steel reinforcement. Concrete anchors are rated on their embedment, with the pullout strength directly related to the embedment in the concrete. You may want to drill some test holes where you plan for the posts to go to see how much slab thickness you have. Even though the car may be balanced such that it doesnât falll off the lift, there will be substantial overturning moments placed on the floor connection. Just saying do your homework and get an engineer involved if you arenât one. Of course, the 4 post lift avoids all of these concerns and that is one big advantage.
Finally, you say you are designing a new garage. I used a âcamberedâ truss in my garage, that allowed 10 foot walls but gave me a 14 foot headspace in the center of the garage. If you want to be able to stand up under the car, you will need that kind of headspace.
I placed the front arms under the lower A-arm rear mounting point and the rear arms under the forward trailing arm mounting point (see below). I snugged up the straps before installing the IRS (I had to to a little dance with the rear lift arms to get the trailing arms installed) so I donât know where the cg ended up. Better safe thanâŚ
I can say that the MaxJack just reaches these mounting points and it has to be installed at the exact correct spacing between the lift posts to work. Also be sure your concrete pad is at least 4" thick before considering anything but a 4 post lift.
Harvey makes some good points. I have been helping a friend install a MaxJax post lift and we ran into that very issue. His concrete turned out to be 2.5 inches thick where we were going to put it and a minimum of 4 inches is required. All stop till he could get a concrete person to come out (no small task as they really donât want to mess with small jobs like this). They have cut out a 10 ft by 3 ft section and it will be 12inches at the posts and then 6 inches across the remainder, it added about 1500 to his final price but he knew in advance that this was a possibility.
As far as the installation of the MaxJAx, I think I could do it myself but not so with the four post lift I installed, much heavier and difficult IMO, that being said a 4 post is more forgiving of âpoorâ concrete.
The ideal in my opinion would be to have both 
Cheers,
LLynn
Hi John Here are some pix of my E Type on my Max Jax. you will notice how close the posts are to the car. This is necessary if you intend to raise the car by the frame uprights at the rear of the lower wishbone as the front arms are fully extended to do this and have the car balance point centered on the posts (Not technically needed as the hoist can be front to rear imbalanced to the extent of the weight it can lift - according to the instructions). There is also the issue of being able to open the doors while on the lift.
My car has been on the lift for a couple of months as I redo the upholstery so the hoist arms sit on jackstands to take the pressure off the rams. Incidentally Dannmar the MAXJAX maker went bankrupt last winter and itâs assets were purchased by Bend Pak, I suspect to get the MaxJax patents. The effect this will have for spare parts for the MJ is unknown to me.
I canât provide an informed opinion, because I havenât actually purchased a lift yet. (wife said no lift until she gets new hardwood floors; flooring installer comes this Friday). However, when I do I plan to go with a four post lift and also purchase two bridge jacks that go between the ramps. Iâve accumulated a few too many vehicles, so would like the storage capability provided by the four post, but also want to be able to easily do suspension and brake work (hence the bridge jacks).
My other reason for going four post is that I have a couple old convertibles and had a bad experience with my '47 Merc when it started to flex in the middle while on a friendâs two post.
Thanks Terry. Good info.
BendPak continues to make the lift you have, but with some changes.
But who knows how many little changes they made that arenât listed.
I have a Bendpak HD9-ST with a sliding pneumatic scissor bridge lift (RJ-45). Iâm really happy with it for both servicing my cars as well as providing 2-in-1 parking. I have their plastic drip pans which fit well and are sturdy enough. Also, I bought their aluminum ramps, which are light weight and easy to install/remove. The hassle I had with installation was that this lift requires 220v and compressed air (to disengage the locks). I bought from them a dealer in SoCal, and they delivered and installed it.
Fwiw, I bought a bendpak 4 poster 3 years ago and at that time There was an option for 120 power but iirc it would make lift a bit slower. Air pressure to release the locks is not much of a problem as any little portable compressor is sufficient. Advantages I saw were no worries about concrete thickness, works great for storing a car or anything else as well as a hydraulic work table and in my opinion much safer to use, particularly if someone other than me uses it. Have not found under car access a problem even for engine, differential or exhaust work.
I suppose the one thing we can all agree on is that a lift (whether 2-post or 4-post) will change your life vis-a-vis car maintenance. I believe it has added years to my enjoyment of the cars by letting me continue to do maintenance that would have become physically impossible by now.
I use a 4-post for several reasons including the ability to store a car on it. That ceiling is about 10â and at 5â9" raising the car to the next to last stop is the ideal working height for me.
Itâs also nice to be able to raise the whole car just a few feet when waxing & polishing.
I did not get dedicated bridge jacks but do have two jack trays, one of which always has a jack in it.
Good point.
When I worked on my IRS I rolled it under the raised lift pointed longways, then lowered the lift and rotated the IRS 90° and raised the lift. Walla:
And 4 sheets of 4x8 plywood gives you a raisable platform where you can store enough lumber to renovate your house While keeping your floor area free. Love it.
I donât think Iâm going to mention that feature to my wife.
