Lift me up!

[Minidave]

I've noticed that we've had some difficulty getting cars into the air when we need to work underneath, and it requires a lot of messing around with moving the jack while relocating the stands and so on......I decided there must be a better way.

I found the inspiration for these on the garage journal forum, they found them on a BMW forum, and I hope mine are different enough that I won't encounter any bad Juju from doing something similar.

I happened to have the exact metal lying about that I needed - 2" square tubing with 3/16" wall thickness - strong enough and long enough to build two of these devices. It's been a while since I used some of my welding and cutting equipment, and I'm afraid it shows - what's that Norm always says? - measure twice and cut once? I've been measuring several times and still wound up cutting it wrong. Fortunately I cut it too long, so I could always make it shorter. What I did was to cut a section from the tubing, then flip it over and weld it back on to act as a pocket that the lifting blocks on our cars fit into. Seems simple enough, huh? Nope, turns out those blocks are tapered, so I have to spread the sides of the pockets so the blocks will fit into them. This is my first effort and I think it's going to work fine once it's done.

Here's how it works - you set the bar onto the blocks under the car, then lift in the center - much like we do with our 2X4, but once the car is up you set the stands under the bar. This will allow us to lift a car higher and still keep it safe. There was a nice thick rubber attached on one side of the bar already, so it will act as a cushion between the car and the metal and not scratch the car. We've used the 2X4 method successfully in the past, but I always cringe when lifting one as I hear the board creak and crunch - these won't bend under the load. I also had to make some caps for the tops of my jackstands, so the bar wouldn't catch as you lift the other side and the bar rotates with the car - I'll show those in the next installment.

I got the first one welded up tonight, but not before I ran out of wire, and then later ran out of MIG gas! Consequently, some of my welds are not too pretty, but they'll dress up with the grinder before I put any paint on them, and I still need to spread the jaws of the cup or socket on one end. The next one will go much more quickly and easily. I believe these will work on any Cooper up to the Countryman - I don't know how they are set up, but the Coupe and Clubman have identical spacing between the blocks, I'm thinking since all those cars are built on the same assembly line, they should all be the same, but since the Countryman is built in a different plant and is a new generation design, it might be different. We'll have to take a look at one once these are finished.

Here's a couple of pics to show what I'm doing......

[IowaM1N1]

This is awesome!

[Minidave]

Tanksvermuch!

With any luck I'll finish the first one tomorrow and have it ready for paint, then I can start on the second, which should go more quickly since I now have all my welding equipment working correctly and I've worked out all the measurements and such.

Then we'll need a garage day to try them out!

One thing tho, I think I'll need a low rise jack like Dimini's, I'm not sure mine will fit under the car. The other way to do it is to simply drive the car up on some 2X10 chunks, that extra 1 1/2" will make it clear easily, even on a lowered car. Once I get one done I'll try it on my Clubby.

[boxer]

Those look great Dave! The way things go in your garage, maybe two sets are in order. Welcome to pratice with my MINI.

[Minidave]

I only have enough metal to build one set unfortunately....

Here's what happens when you run out of MIG gas in the middle of a weld, and to make matters worse it was the very end of an old roll of wire......I'll have to grind all those turkey turds off and reweld this side - it offends my delicate sensibilities!

Then here's what it looks like with a fresh spool of wire and a new tank of MIG gas.....

[davester]

Heck, with two of the "Dave-pick-er-ups'", you could pick up both sides of the car at the same time with two jacks. Kinda like a portable lift. Now we need jacks that will lift two feet for brake jobs.

[Minidave]

Uhhhh.....you'd have to be balanced perfectly for that trick! I think I'd prefer we did them one side at a time.

What I really need is a two post lift! And a higher ceiling to fit it under........

[minicoopers43]

Do you think they'll work just as well even if the factory jack points are missing? I know i'm missing at least one.

[Minidave]

Ummmm, no actually - I made them to fit over the jack blocks. Baron has those for like $16......

Here's what I've been going for. You'll notice the caps I built for the tops of the jack stands so the bar would lay flat and not get down in the flutes of the stands. I also capped the ends and ground off the worst of the lousy welds. I actually got good penetration with my welds, so all I had to do was grind off the excess. I still have a little more cleanup to do, then they'll be ready for paint. Of course, I've only built one so far - tomorrow I'm going to try and finish the second one.

I've really got my welder dialed in now, with the fresh bottle of gas letting me get the right pressure and good clean wire it's laying down a good smooth bead.

What color should I paint them? I'm thinking a light grey or something industrial....

[kgreen66]

Very nice!

[eronning]

We could experiment with two jacks at the same time to find the center of gravity. Teeter totter!

Not that I'm volunteering ...

[minicoopers43]

Ummmm, no actually - I made them to fit over the jack blocks. Baron has those for like $16......

I guess I won't be using them then. I'm cheap!

I do need to come over and borrow the belt tool. Seems I've got a bad belt chirp from the supercharger pulley being misaligned with the rest of the pulleys.

If I would have known you were a "champion welder" I would have hit you up a long time ago to finish a little project I've been dreaming of! I'll have to run it by you sometime

[Minidave]

I don't know about "Champion", but I can stick two pieces of mild steel or stainless together pretty well...so if you need something done just run it by, I'll be happy to do it.

The belt tool is available, just let me know when you want to come by - do you think you could just loosen the pulley setscrews and move it into alignment without taking the belt off?

What do you mean cheap, look at what you've spent on your car so far - just in parts! What's another $16 to make her whole again?

BTW, how's your oil leak? Gone?

Edit: you know, after further thought they probably will work even without the blocks, then it will just lift from the sill like the 2X4 does, and the rubber on top will keep it from moving or marring the car - but the point of using the blocks is that it will locate the bar and keep it in place.

[minicoopers43]

I don't know about "Champion", but I can stick two pieces of mild steel or stainless together pretty well...so if you need something done just run it by, I'll be happy to do it.

The belt tool is available, just let me know when you want to come by - do you think you could just loosen the pulley setscrews and move it into alignment without taking the belt off?

What do you mean cheap, look at what you've spent on your car so far - just in parts! What's another $16 to make her whole again?

BTW, how's your oil leak? Gone?

Edit: you know, after further thought they probably will work even without the blocks, then it will just lift from the sill like the 2X4 does, and the rubber on top will keep it from moving or marring the car - but the point of using the blocks is that it will locate the bar and keep it in place.

I think the belt would be putting too much pressure on the pulley which would press on the collar which is what really needs to be moved. When adjusting it off the vehicle we had to take the pulley completely off the collar to get it to move.

Oil leak seems to be gone. my cardboard is dry but I haven't gotten under there to actually look at it.

[Minidave]

Right, the trick with the pulley is to back the screws off, then use a drift thru one of the unthreaded holes to tap on the collar, releasing it from the pulley part. The instructions said 20 thousandths clearance between the collar and the supercharger, but I'd just put it where it lines up well, as long as the collar doesn't rub on the nose of the supercharger housing.

So, it looks like the lifter upper works, tried it on my Clubby this morning......what color should I paint them? I'm thinking a light color so it's easy to see as you lift it up to the blocks?

Click the pics to open them fullsize.......

[davester]

Looks great. How about Industrial Yellow?

[boxer]

Maybe safety yellow.

[Minidave]

I guess I was thinking more "techy", like a hammertone silver or something......I'll have to give it some thought.

Have to finish them first tho...the one that's done doesn't sit flat, I don't know if it twisted or rounded on the bottom from welding or if once the weight of a car is on it it will even out.....it's hard to keep things straight when you're welding if you don't have it clamped in a jig or something.

It's plenty strong tho!

[DIYAutoRepair]

I would like to thank Minidave for calling me today, it was very nice talking with him. Hopefully I can be helpful in the area of lifting and working on Mini's in the future.





And maybe add some Mini's to my photo collection of the shop.

You can find out more information on the shop at http://diyautorepairkc.com/

[Minidave]

Wow, look how much room there is in there to work, and how clean the place is! That blue scissors lift is like the one I tried to by a few months ago, but I thought the guy wanted too much for it - maybe I was wrong, but it's long gone now.

Anyway, finished the lifting devices and yes - those with the eagle eyes - thay are slightly different. After all, this was just an idea I had, I had never tried to build them before. That and I was using materials I had on hand.....I modified the design as I went along.

Anyway again, I put a couple of good coats of self etching primer on them and yesterday a couple coats of Hammertite silver. I'm waiting for that to cure out thoroughly before I try them out - I should really let them cure at least a week so the paint can harden off to it's final hardness, then maybe the jack won't mar them too badly when I lift a car with them. I tried them both out on the Clubby before I painted anything and they worked a treat, but I only lifted one side - still have to try out the whole setup.

Here are a couple of pics.....