Hey Fellas, I have a chance to buy a Snap-on scissors lift from a guy who's soon retiring and shutting down his business. Just looking for any thoughts, pro's and cons, of one of these. I don't have a lot of room in my garage so it seems like it would be a good fit and come in handy. Hate to pass up a good deal, but don't want to be hasty either.

Thanks for your input.......

 

I've seen them but never had my car on one...

See if he will let you try it out, and then see if it fits your needs..

 

At the very least, a good step up from the old school floor jack/creeper set up working on your back and side.


http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=...p-qrw-corr-top
URL]

 

I have had a couple of them. Not as handy as the two post I have now, but way better and safer than working on a car with jack stands. The last one I had would raise the car about four feet so it made it a lot easier to get under the car. The downside is that you have lots of steel in the way to do jobs in the middle of the car. They are perfect for suspension and brake work.

 

You might be disappointed because as mentioned, most of the underside of your car is hidden by the mechanism. Brake jobs are what they are made for.

There is a product called Quick Lift that is a lot more useful for doing stuff underneath your car, but not very good for brakes. Tough choice.

 

We've had one for many years and it has worked well for the type of work we've done. Most of the details on our lift are on this page of our web site: http://www.richsclassiccorvettes.com/index3.shtml It was made in Canada by a company called Wheeltronics and sold through Snap-On dealers. Unfortunately the lift is no longer available although a number of folks have contacted us who have found used units. If you buy this one I have the Service and Operators manuals as well as a good parts source.

The mid-rise lift works well for low ceilings as well as for most of the typical maintenance work folks do on their cars such as brake work or changing oil. Our main use has been in building or restoring cars but it also helps save my back when detailing since you can raise the car to a comfortable working height. Since it has wheels it's moveable and this design also avoids having posts to work around. The downside is that some mid-rise lift designs have limited access to the underside of the car and might not be as useful for work such as on transmissions or exhaust systems.

Most of these lifts require about five inches of clearance under your car to get over the highest point of these lifts. If your car is very low that could be an issue but it can be resolved by making some ramps. I have pictures of the ramps I made.

If you need the manuals or other information just send me an e-mail at richsclassiccorvettes@***.net and I'll be happy to send them to you.

Rich

 

I have a friend that has a Mohawk scissors lift and he is really pleased with it. I have a four post just to be able to store a car under and be able to detail the under side of my cars.
A two post you can do both.

 

I am not sure what the config of the Snap On is but I have a scissor lift from ezcarlift.com and I feel a lot safer with this than jack stands (though I still use them as a back up). I have used it on several of my projects and the way this lift is set up you still have quite a bit of working room underneath the car. This lift gets the car about 26 inches off the ground. It goes a lot higher than I have it sitting in my pictures.

 

A two or four post lift was out of the question due to height issues in my garage so a scissor lift was the only way to go when I got sick and tired of the d_mn jack stands.

To my surprise the lift have worked way better than I expected and it only takes 10 sec. to get about 4' height which is enough for me to work on everything under the car. The car is parked over the lift all the time so I removed the stock ramps and made some 4" high alu ramps just to get better clearance for the sidepipes covers when parked.

 

Guy's Thank you so much for all the great feedback, and advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to post all the pictures too.

I guess it's definitely a go for me then, I just have to wait a month or so till the seller gets all his retirement plans sorted out.

@ Rich (Richscorvettes), thank you also for the offer on the manuals and parts info, I will be in touch as soon as I have it home and get the model # info......Nice of you to offer.

 

Once you have it you will wonder how you did without it. By the way, buying my first one was my wife's idea. She was very concerned about my safety working under the car with jack stands.

 

I think they went out of business. I have one. Very handy. I've done clutches, tranny, and rears on them.

 

Good looking setup, who makes this lift?

 

I got the scissor lift from a garage equipment shop over here and the brand is "Nordic car lifts".
I've had the lift for 3 years now and no issues so far.

 

Isac...Since this is my thread I figure it's ok to ask something off topic.....I just happened to notice in your picture, that your turn signals are not amber?? is this a law over there or just a personal choice?

Nice looking car to go along with the nice lift setup.

 

That is funny and it must be a common theme, my wife surprised me with mine because she either wanted to keep me around a little longer or she needed more insurance on me

Now I catch all kinds of flack if she sees me using a floor jack for something quick.

 

Thanks Oaker.

Yes It's a law , and the reason is the law for day time running lights over here , front amber turn signals is ok but not amber running lights , however having white turn / running lights is allowed on classic cars pre 74'
I have super bright led's in the turn/parking lights as well , works great as running lights

 

What Led lights did you use in the turn parking lights? Did you have to retrofit them or does someone make them now?

 

You asked so here it is. For me, if you lift a car or truck or what ever up in the air to work on it what good is it if you can not standup under it and change oil or tires or mufflers or what ever. I have a bad back and I do not want to be streatched out on a creeper or on my knees or bent over doing something. I want to standup to where I am as comfortable as I can be. Aosl I were to have a lift I would want it to pick up my cars high enough so I could pull aother car in under it. That way I could buy more toys to play with boy wouldn't that set well with the wife . You ask people what they thought and here it is from me.

 

I went through a couple of 1157/ BAY15d led's in the front before I found what I was looking for , most of them sucks in one way or another but this new Samsung SMD led bulb fits right in and is bright, damn bright ,40% more candlepower in parking light than a new 1157 regular bulb and the turn signal is even too bright to look at but that's what it takes to get the soccer moms attention over here.

The led's looks bluish in the pic but they are white.