Can anyone help me with the pros and cons and typical tasks you would use each of the following: vehicle scissor lift, 2 post lift and inspection pit? Many thanks

You asked a similar, but also vague question a short while ago. My answer from then applies to this.

What are you trying to achieve? Be more specific if you expect any help from anyone.

MattHarris19872016 said:

Can anyone help me with the pros and cons and typical tasks you would use each of the following: vehicle scissor lift, 2 post lift and inspection pit? Many thanks

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a lift is for clearance.. like removing engine / g-box, and of course wheels

a pit is handy for access to underfloor / oil changes


decided to equip yourself..?

Yea! Be more specification, if you expect any help from anyone or any expert.

MattHarris19872016 said:

Can anyone help me with the pros and cons and typical tasks you would use each of the following: vehicle scissor lift, 2 post lift and inspection pit? Many thanks

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Is this post looking for answers for a college course essay/question/project?

I think it might be.

In my experience...

A two-post lift is excellent for dribbling oil or diesel (sometimes both at once) down the back of your neck, unintentionally removing side skirts or other lateral trim pieces and discovering how rusty the sills/jacking points really are.

A four-post lift retains the oil-dribbling experience, but adds the fun of repeatedly banging your head and the inevitability that the lifting beams will completely block access to the part you're trying to remove.

A pit is much like a four-post lift, but now you can drop small parts, never to find them again. It's never quite the right depth, so either you now bang your head on the vehicle chassis, or you have to stand on some wobbly stool to reach. The walls of the pit still block access to the part you need to remove.

A scissor lift permits an over-enthusiastic garage monkey to impact the chassis of the customers vehicle, possibly multiple times, when mounting and dismounting the lift. Low or lowered vehicles can even become completely beached, resulting in much hilarity and the requirement of a large forklift and lifting slings for their removal.

Trolley jacks excel at finding rusty jacking points, crushing the floorpan and slowly lowering themselves when nobody is watching.


All valid observations from personal experience.


I thought the HSE had banned pits anyway, too much danger of asphyxiation from trapped gasses?

Pits also offer the opportunity for the dozy type to drive a pair of wheels into . the options are usually both front wheels , both rear wheels or for top marks both wheels on one side dropping the whole car into the pit .
thankfully three wheeled cars are almost extinct but they didn't play well with pits either.

jackwhoo said:

Pits also offer the opportunity for the dozy type to drive a pair of wheels into . the options are usually both front wheels , both rear wheels or for top marks both wheels on one side dropping the whole car into the pit .
thankfully three wheeled cars are almost extinct but they didn't play well with pits either.

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Aye, this made me smile.

I'd add that the two post lift has the advantage over pit and scissor lift of allowing work on suspension / brakes.


Robert G8RPI.

I've seen some awesome damage done by a 2-poster in the past. They aren't great for really rusty (aka Fred Flintstone) cars. Banana-shaped Marina, anyone?

I guess the days of rolling a mini on it's side on a couple of old tyres to do some welding are long gone. And propping it with a bit of 2x4.

I'm feeling very old...

Dis-liked pits
Werent wide enough or big enough
The gap for me to climb down wasn't helpful when your full of bacon butty

4 post and jacking beams are great for Brakes and suspension
You have all the lift arm as a nice place to store all your nut and bolts for your colleagues to move and hide!
Okay for some jobs - Not all
A tyre rotation Yes - Brakes Yes - Exhaust? maybe not - Gearbox out job - Hell no

2 post lift - good for general stuff
better for gearbox and engine removals as there is room for cranes and jacking stands etc
Exhausts become easier too!
But i found it a pain when certain cars dont fit on certain poisitions etc

Never used scissor

if i could have a lift in my non-exsistant garage it be a 2post lift

Ziggy

I'd agree with Ziggy, a 2-post is the best all-round option, but installing any lift at home is a challenge.
I bought one of these tilting lifts at the 2015 Classic Car show. http://www.cjautos.eu/NEW_3_IN_1_TILTING_CAR_LIFT_p/cl01.htm

Then had a heart attack before I could use it. Used it for the first time earlier this year on sister's Focus estate. Hard work lifting it, lots of winding to raise it, but once up, seems to work a treat.
Planning to use it soon to drop the rear axle out of the Panda for a de-rust and paint, hopefully before too late so preventing the need for a replacement.

A friend of mine has a 'pit', in the upper floor of his barn. Under the opening in the floor is a height ajustable cradle, something like the ones they use to clean windows on high-rise office buildings, very useful as it can be adjusted to give a comfortable working height for a car or a tractor. Reaching down blindly for a spanner, only to find a slobbery nose, rough tongue and a pair of horns is a bit of a shock the first time it happens though, but the cows do help to keep it warmer in winter...


Another friend used to roll Volvo estates on their sides in order to work on them...


portland_bill - I plan to get one of those once my garage floor is concreted, interested to know how you find it.

portland_bill said:

I'd agree with Ziggy, a 2-post is the best all-round option, but installing any lift at home is a challenge.
I bought one of these tilting lifts at the 2015 Classic Car show. http://www.cjautos.eu/NEW_3_IN_1_TILTING_CAR_LIFT_p/cl01.htm

Then had a heart attack before I could use it. Used it for the first time earlier this year on sister's Focus estate. Hard work lifting it, lots of winding to raise it, but once up, seems to work a treat.
Planning to use it soon to drop the rear axle out of the Panda for a de-rust and paint, hopefully before too late so preventing the need for a replacement.

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The Golf Cabrio on the website looks a bit precarious

g8rpi said:

The Golf Cabrio on the website looks a bit precarious

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I agree, it does. But if you see it in action, like at the classic car show, it looks a lot better.

Earlier this year we lifted a Mk1 Focus estate, hard work as it is just over a tonne. We then tilted it, so the rear was up, and the front wheels on the ground. This allowed us to reach down behind the engine easily to extract the speed sensor from the gearbox. Without this we would have been lying on top of the engine, very uncomfortable.
With the car just sitting on the rubber pads, on its sills, it looks precarious, but is quite secure. Even swinging a long bar to undo tight nuts didn't give any fear of the car moving, so pleasingly very effective.

I think you can help any professional vehicle lifting or vehicle shipping company. They are solution your all problems.