Reply to "Kwiklift"

quote:

Originally posted by Panterror:

quote:

Originally posted by TomCat: Do you have any mis-givinga about being under the car when you are physically moving the jacking handle?

I wonder if you could add some length to the hand pump and do the lifting "remotely".

It's a fair point and good self preservation thought but I'd answer your question that I have no misgivings at all. When I use the sliding jack, the wheels are still on the car and it's only typically being lifted enough to exceed the travel of suspension and get the wheels an inch or two off the lift. If the jack fails during this time it will only fall an inch back onto its wheels and the suspension settle. The sliding jack has a stout mechanical interlock that I utilize to rest the car and don't rely on the hydraulic cylinder. It also has good telescoping arms and pads so it is easy to place the points at a strong and stable location. I typically only have one end up at a time and the other pair of wheels are locked and chocked. Before the other set of actually wheels come off I throw blocks between the chassis and lift platform before the wheels come off just in case, but I can honestly say, IMO, it is much more stable and safe than laying under a car on jack stands on a concrete floor. The vast majority of deaths are from suffication from people working alone who get pinned under a car that has fallen off of what is usually a poorly suspended car. The threat with four post lifts is the whole lift falling, and IMO, if you use a little common sense and keep the work fairly light in nature, this is not a problem either. I bought a Back Yard Buddy and paid extra bucks because I like their posts, locking features and the overall stability of the lift compared to others since I wanted to do light service in addition to storage. If I die in a car related accident, I'll much more likely be behind the wheel than under the car.

Best,
Kelly