Having spent the last six months of my life hands on sorting out issues with the white car, and now doing the maintenance on our 14 Ford Escape, AND truly planning to do as much of the maintenance on my 16 Audi A3 as is practical, I am seriously considering a scissors lift for my normal 2 car garage.

I would prefer a two post lift, but the footprint is too wide and therefore there would be no second parking space and that is a deal breaker.

Also, I believe my garage floor might need to be reinforced. I've been told it is four inches thick which is the absolute minimum and I'm not comfortable with going with that. Throw in a low residential garage ceiling along with that blasted cross beam and it just doesn't work out.

A mid-rise scissors lift will fit. It may not go to full height but it will get me off my effing back / creeper.

If I only had the S cars and the Escape it would make zero sense. But the Audi requires so much maintenance every 10,000 miles that is a seemingly doable by someone with decent skills and the factory service computer tool. I bought the car used and only on the condition that I performed the maintenance myself. Or at least what I could. It's just too freaking expensive at the dealership.

Andy please stop laughing and when you do please get Rube to stop laughing. I now have the confidence to do it, and in the six months I tinkered around with the 95 SC2, throughout my mistakes, I broke a sum total of nothing on that car. The wheel stud does not count. It was end of life

There is also an avid DIY following on the forums.

So back to the scissors lifts. A low rise will not get me off my back for under the car work which is why I am thinking mid rise.

My biggest concern is that my garage floor is slightly sloped towards the center where there is a drain for the water from the melting snow. I have not yet contacted any of the manufacturers to see how far off level I can be and have it still be safe. No I am not considering any of the goofy ones with two separate not connected sides that raise.

The Atlas line looks decent to the layman.

Any personal experience or recommendations are appreciated.

 

I wish I could help you on that one, derf, but I have ZERO experience with those. And I'm not laughing. I applaud you for getting into the DIY thing after age 50! It takes guts and determination, and you have displayed both along with a tenacity that is rare in people nowadays. I would think the 4" floor will be the biggest issue, but it probably depends on the weight of the lift combined with the vehicle weight vs. surface tension and displacement.

 

That looks like a nice lift. Since it is not bolted down the slope on your floor may be an issue. Have you looked at the low rise lift? It looks to be open in the center which might make exhaust work easier. It also looks like it might bolt down so you might be able to shim it level side to side.

 

There are several different designs for these scissors lifts. Some have the center open while others do not. I would certainly want one that has an open center. I'm thinking if I had to shim it ever so slightly I could probably get away with it during assembly with the right thickness metal plate with the right profile.

. My wife is very much against anything that gets bolted down. Plus I am just not thrilled with the maximum height for the platform of the low-rise lifts. Bendpak makes some really nice outrageously expensive stuff if you guys want to save up and get me a birthday present. I think one of their low rise lifts raises much higher than the standard low rise models from other manufacturers. I know I won't enjoy not being able to fully stand up under a mid-rise but I've worked under four posters in a low ceiling garage where I continuously whacked my forehead on the frame of the car every time I went back under. I can deal working not fully standing I'm just ****ing tired of laying on my back and having no ability to manually generate torque when hand tools become the only option. Rereading my last sentence, it's kind of funny because I haven't been laying on my back all that long compared to the rest of you yet it drives me insane.

On a rusty car with no acetylene torch and a bunch of worn out Craftsman sockets, another one of which tore the last time I used it as in down the side from front to back tore, it is simply no fun.

What I am having fun with are the sockets I purchased from Astro pneumatic. First I got the swivel set 10 to 18 I believe, then I got the low profile six points, six to eighteen I believe. They each have flats all the way around for a box wrench in case the clearance is too tight to get a socket wrench in there. No I don't think this is some new feature I'm sure it's been out there for years. But properly precisely sized sockets are new to me and cut down the amount of bull**** time spent with crappier tools that cause damage because they don't fit.

Enough of that.

I need to call the manufacturer and check on the off level tolerance

 

You can take those worn out Craftsman sockets to Lowes or Sears (if you can find one that's still open) and get them replaced with new ones, derf. I did that several years ago and haven't broken one of the replacements. YET!!

 

Someone told me that Lowe's is not honoring the Craftsman guarantee on older tools. That was a while back. I never checked to see if it is true. Hell, they lasted 25 years of abuse....

 

Hmmmmm, I don't know that for a fact. Last time I returned 2 busted sockets, I went to an actual Sears outlet store that was about 15 miles from my house in TN. That was about 8 years ago, though. The only way to find out is to either call or go by your local Lowes and inquire.

 

Indeed indeed. Will report back

 

Upshot is yes, the lifetime replacement warranty applies to Craftsman tools both old and new as long as they are within certain categories. See the following website for the details.

https://toolguyd.com/craftsman-hand-...rmation-update

I did read in a few places that Lowe's was having some difficulty in interpreting the Craftsman warranty policy so some stores were easy to return or exchange while others were not.

So there you have it.

And in an ironic twist of fate, Sears is producing craftsman brand tools under license from Black and Decker. Didn't see that coming. Didn't realize Sears as a business entity actually still existed