THSCC Forums

Hey Chuck -

Glad to hear you're still interested. I'm ready to put in an order for 3 -- one for Chris Suich, one for you, and one for sale. I'd really like fo you to come over and do a "test drive" of mine before committing to the purhase. We put Chris's Mini up and he was quite happy with it.

I have contacted the factory and they are all set, but I'm waiting on info from DHL for shipping to set the final price. I still expect it to be $3250.

On a side note -- I have had the lift for almost a year now and I can still say without reservation that it is the BEST $3200 I HAVE EVER SPENT! Good god I don't know how I lived without it. I actually used my jackstands this week for the first time this year -- to tie strings to for an alignment

Chuck, give me a call and let me know when you can come over. I'm sure you will be happy with everything you see, just need to work out the order details. As soon as you and Chris give a final OK I'll be ordering ASAP.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Hey Donnie -

I have done a bunch of research on lifts so I can probably give you a readout on what's available.

It sounds like you might be best served by an alignment rack lift or a four-post lift which lifts the car from the wheels (pretty common and cheap). Unfortunattly, though, I have never seen one which can be completely recessed into the floor -- they all have posts and raised pads/linkages.

If you are considering a scissor lift with a custom plate, though, take a look at what I posted previously which pretty much captures what is out there and available:

http://thscc.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t= ... light=lift

Pretty much the only commonly available scissor lift is the SP-7X, which, IMO, is not very well designed or built. You can find them on ebay for about $3300. Adam Ligon has one in his shop in Cary, you might want to got take a look. It's a single scissor, long frame, but does not pick the car up by the wheels - it contacts the undercarriage.

Yo may also want to read Steve D'Gelormo's excellent lift page at

http://www.ultimategarage.com/lifts.htm

As far as recessed lifts / no parts above the floor -- there is no reason not to install one like I have in the floor, and as you can see in the original post above, the "other" owner of the EE-6501 in the US has done just that -- and I plan to. Also, both Ever-Eternal and Nussbaum manufacture a version of the lift that is designed to be installed in-ground... Take a look at Steve D's page above.

The Ever-Eternal EE-6501 (the one I have) is a copy of the Nussbaum Jumbo NT:



Ever Eternal EE-6501:



Nussbaum also makes an inground version:




That Ever-Eternal dutifully copied (the EE-6503):



According to Steve D's page above you can get the Nussbaum Jumbo NT for $6,595.00 plus freight and the inground version is special order.

Ever-Eternal also sells a single-scissor competitor (but much better) to the Bendpak SP-7X -- The EE-6502:



FYI, Ever Eternal also makes 2-post and 4-post lifts and tire changing equipment. I'm not sure if I can get tire equipment since they have an exclusive deal with Greg Smith Equipment (all of Greg Smith's tire changing stuff is from Ever Eternal -- http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/), but I'm going to ask.

If anyone is interested in pricing of anything, let me know soon since it sounds like I'll be placing an order. Shipping is prohibitively expensive, so it all has to happen at the same time!

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Hmm, I honestly the center-type mid-rise scissor lift if more like what I want. I understand the "flimsy" comment and what you mean, but this lift would *only* be for suspension setup stuff so I'm wary of the double somehow getting in the way, even a little, when trying to do that. Those plates being 4.5' long on your lift scare me a little, but maybe I need to go poke at some cars with a tape measure and see where things would be.

I definitely need to be able to pick the car up at the chassis and not the wheels because we have to leave room in the floor for the scales.


--Donnie

If you're doing true cornerweighting, then this solution wouldn't allow the suspension to be "relaxed". Nothing other than rolling the car back and forth or preferably putting some distance on the car will get all of the bind out of the suspension.

Just my couple of copper coins.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I am sure Donnie left out the roll back and forth step since it is not important to the lift discussion.

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George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

Err, yeah. I know you need to roll the car around a bit. In fact, that's *another* reason why the middle lift might make more sense...the more crap, even if pretty damned level, you have to roll the car over, the harder it is to do.


--Donnie

Yeah right, Donnie. It's not like you got to where you are today by being smart or anything.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Donnie - I'm a little confused about what you're mentioning with the mid-rise lifts. All of the mid-rise lifts have nearly the same lift pad dimensions -- about 4'x2' -- as the full-rise one I have. Plus the mid-rise lifts have all the junk in the way on the floor.

Now if you're talking about what's typically called a "low rise" lift, then yes, these have the smaller central frame (like 4' wide by 5' long) and you have to swing the arms into position. I can see how you'd be interested in one of those for suspension adjustments, but IMO I would tire of having to crouch under the car to do the adjustments. You would definitely want to put it in the floor, since the frames I have seen are tall enough that you need boards to drive up on. The big thing that turned me off about those is that having to swing those lift pads into position is a pain. With the fixed-pad mid and fullrise scissors, you just place the hockey pucks where you want to contact the chassis. Very easy.

Adam L also has a central frame Snap-On low-rise lift at his shop - you should go check it out and ask about his experiences with it.

As far as the length of the pads getting in the way of the suspension points, it's not bad at all. I think I only had trouble once with getting a wrench on the M3, because I had the car pulled too far forward and the pivoted ramp plate was in the way. In an in-ground installation, the ramp plates would be removed, so it would be even better.

Call me biased, but I still think that a compact full-rise scissor, installed in the ground, would work best for what you want to do.

Come on over and you can see for yourself. We can put my Miata up so you can see how it works and how much access there is for a "short" car.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Sorry, didn't realize the "center only" setup was just a "low rise" lift. Terminology and understanding error on my part. I'm starting to agree with you, so maybe I'll try to get over to your place soon to check out that lift. When are you expecting to make the next order?

Got any time during a week day I could take a look? I'm guessing no, but I'd like to bring someone with me and that would work best for him.


--Donnie