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I have a small garage where the 981 barely fits in. Would love to install some small car lift that would help with oil changes etc. Does anyone have the same issue and found a cool working solution?
Or maybe something that's fairly portable that could be used just outside the garage (the problem I have there is that the ground is now completely level).
For oil changes, lift is probably not worth it.
just get some ramps, you don’t have to drive onto them…jack it up and place the ramps under the wheels.
That's the problem. I can't jack the car up. Not enough room. The garage is very narrow. I can barely open the car door to get out. A small lift would make things much easier. Also have other cars and changing the transmission fluid on a Infiniti requires lifting the whole car and have it level.
Originally Posted by Sajan
For oil changes, lift is probably not worth it.
just get some ramps, you don’t have to drive onto them…jack it up and place the ramps under the wheels.
The Quickjack is what you are asking for, and it's quite popular on all the Porsche Forums with many P car owners having them, myself included. There are many threads on the on the various P car forums about it.
Mine paid for itself the very first year I bought it, but I do all my own services on my cars, not just oil changes. You can find them much cheaper than ordering direct, as they are sold through Costco and other similar stores, and they have sales from time to time on them. I paid 1K for mine 5 years ago, with free delivery from Costco. https://www.quickjack.com/car-lifts/
I'm in the same situation and the QuickJack 5000 is perfect. Just did the splash shield on my neighbors car for the first time using the lift yesterday.
I'm in the Quickjack camp for oil changes and bigger jobs. Still using a jack stand and jack for quick tire swaps. Definitely try to get the QJ that can lift 24" - few extra inches make a bit of a difference over the older 21" model.
I've also lifted heavier cars on it like our RDX - it's a bit tricky since it's an Accord platform and slightly longer than the QJ. If you're going to lift longer and heavier vehicles, splurge for the 7000 unit.
That's the problem. I can't jack the car up. Not enough room. The garage is very narrow. I can barely open the car door to get out. A small lift would make things much easier. Also have other cars and changing the transmission fluid on a Infiniti requires lifting the whole car and have it level.
ah ok. I was thinking you could use the QJ outside.
I have a QJ also. I like it but I dread using it sometimes because lining them up parallel and also getting the blocks at the right place underneath....takes a second and makes me nervous the fight time it goes up. once it's up in the air, i am not worried.
one time I got cold feet when I was lifting to position number 2 out of 2.....and starting lowering it back down when I got to about 3/4th of the way up......but it did not come down evenly! the car was sideways....pissed my pants.
went back up all the way and then lowered it. WHEW.
First, never leave the car up without it sitting on the locks. This is obvious for general safety reasons, but I almost learned something else the hard way. While the car was up, but not on the locks, I took a wheel off. The hydraulic fluid shifted to one side and the car tipped to the opposite side. Talk about crapping your pants. Was able to recover and not dump the car off the lift, but I won't make that mistake again.
Second, I regularly lift 2 different cars, so once I determined the best placement of the rubber blocks in the channels for a specific car, I cut pieces of packing foam to insert in the channel, which ensures the blocks are in the proper position each time I intend to lift. Saves a lot of time preparing to lift. Now I only need to move the lift into position.
First, never leave the car up without it sitting on the locks. This is obvious for general safety reasons, but I almost learned something else the hard way. While the car was up, but not on the locks, I took a wheel off. The hydraulic fluid shifted to one side and the car tipped to the opposite side. Talk about crapping your pants. Was able to recover and not dump the car off the lift, but I won't make that mistake again.
Second, I regularly lift 2 different cars, so once I determined the best placement of the rubber blocks in the channels for a specific car, I cut pieces of packing foam to insert in the channel, which ensures the blocks are in the proper position each time I intend to lift. Saves a lot of time preparing to lift. Now I only need to move the lift into position.
Heck of an idea, good job 👏, I’ll need to do the same.
There is also a hack where you strap (with zip ties) small casters (4 per lift side) that allow you to roll them into position. When the lift starts to rise, the casters leave the ground. I did this too, but don't have pics. Saw the idea somewhere online. Works pretty good, but would be even better with higher quality casters. They are tiny (1"?) Still looking..
02-04-2024, 10:37 AM
Ideas for small garage lifts!!
