redneck lift...

[jekbrown]

anyone fabbed up their own lift? My k5 is pretty tall and has lots of suspension travel... so getting the frame up on stands is kinda a PITA... especially with short stands. Anyway, I was thinking of using 2 of those 18" travel HF hydro rams like this....

linky (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36396)

and making a simple rectangular tube steel frame that would look sort of like an H from above... with a ram on each side where the vertical/horizontal parts of the H meet. Then I'd fab a handle that would be Y-shaped that would allow me to jack both sides up at the same time. Anyone see any problems with this kind of thing? pre-built lifts are $pendy... seems like some scrap steel and $80 worth of hydro cylinder could accomplish the same thing.

j

[Damo]

anyone fabbed up their own lift? My k5 is pretty tall and has lots of suspension travel... so getting the frame up on stands is kinda a PITA... especially with short stands. Anyway, I was thinking of using 2 of those 18" travel HF hydro rams like this....

linky (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36396)

and making a simple rectangular tube steel frame that would look sort of like an H from above... with a ram on each side where the vertical/horizontal parts of the H meet. Then I'd fab a handle that would be Y-shaped that would allow me to jack both sides up at the same time. Anyone see any problems with this kind of thing? pre-built lifts are $pendy... seems like some scrap steel and $80 worth of hydro cylinder could accomplish the same thing.

j

That could work, if it was stable enough. But you would still have to jack the vehicle up through it's suspension travel. You may not even get the wheels off the gound, and if you do, it will be way up there. Lots of effort to jack it 18" and not very safe being up so high.

My suggestion would be to do something similar but have the jack under the axles rather than the chassis. If you vehicle was light enough (I doubt yours would be) it would be cool to make an over centre trolley type lift, like they use in the pits in Formula 1. Even my Suzuki might be a bit on the heavy side to do that. Then again, as Archimedes wrote, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to placeit, and I shall move the world." :D

[jekbrown]

That could work, if it was stable enough. But you would still have to jack the vehicle up through it's suspension travel. You may not even get the wheels off the gound, and if you do, it will be way up there. Lots of effort to jack it 18" and not very safe being up so high.

I'd only have to lift it high enough that the suspension would be un-loaded. From there I could use short stands and a jack under the diff to release the pressure on the springs and then I could unbolt them. I dont want a jack that lifts the axle... I have a decent floor jack that does that already. Getting the frame up on stands in a matter of minutes is what I'd like to be able to do. I need to get some good/big stands too... seriously, with the poop I have now it takes me an hour to get my rigs frame on stands. Kinda annoying.

j