I have a restored 69 with sidepipes and It's a real pain to get the car up in the air in the garage. I am consdering purchasing one of those lifts(wwww.kwiklift.com) that seem to be advertised everywhere. Does anyone else own one and what are your thoughts about the system?. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

I got one last year and keep my 69 on it. It gets the car about 30" in the air so you can get under it with a creeper ok. I like to use it 1/2 up the ramp to do tune ups adjustments saves on the back! The only thing I don't like is the bridge. I keep it bolted in place because the ramps would shift when driving up on them so I can't move it down to try and jack up the frame to remove a tire for brake work etc, plus I don't think there's work to rebuild a suspension on the ramps. Other then that they work great.
Gary

 

If you have the room my vote would go for the Superior Lifts!


http://www.superlifts.com/

There was a group purchase going on for these in the C5 section.

After buying this my only question was Why did I wait so long to get one?




[Modified by Dan Plett, 6:51 AM 9/7/2001]

 

so 2,895 dollars gets a two post lift interesting thing is, is the super lifts hold like 3,000 pounds more than the other ones i have seen for that price :eek:

Getting very interested now all we need is a group purchase :jester

ZD

 

Hey Dan - is that picture your garage? How much headroom do you have? (I'm in the final stages of garage planning myself.)

thanks

 

I have one (for about 6 months) and really like it. Makes working on the car a whole new experience and much more enjoyable. Very simple but well made in my opinion. I have the casters as well and they work as advertised. As to the problem gtr 199 talks about, he is right, the bridge they show on the website is not of much use with the vette, different with a solid axle car I guess.

However, I have pulled the wheels many times while using the lift and it took some thought at first but now I have the procedure down.

I have one of those small, cheap, 2-ton jacks and have removed the wheels from it so that it does not roll. I place it on a piece of plywood and on the ramp under the frame rails and jack from there. I place jack stands on the floor under the ramp where I am jacking to keep the ramp from flexing although it only flexes an inch maybe and can definately hold up without. I pull the wheels and to support the car with wheels off, I use my old steel drive-up ramps with a piece of plywood underneath. I slide them under the frame rails, and lower the car onto them. The car is VERY solid in this configuration- can push as hard as possible, no movement at all. (I experimented with the wheels on the Vette at first.) You can also use jack stands and the bridge they provide to support the front of the car under the frame rails in front of the wheels where the sway bar connects.

The guy who manufacturers them, think has name was Mike, will definately negotiate. Work on him on the shipping costs as they can be substantial- $150 in my case, or ask him to include other stuff with the package.

Definately not as good as a two or four post lift but I live in the city and thus have a city garage, low ceiling and have to share with my wife's car so have to be able to roll the car around when working on it.

 

R.Bruno,
Did Mike include free shipping for you.? Did he throw in anything else..? Is this something I could park on every day or is it a pain to drive on needing the ramps every time. Can you lower the front end when NOT lifting the car?

 

I got him to throw in a bottle jack and creeper but he did so easily which in hindsight makes me think he will go for more. I always park on it, no problem driving on, beyond being careful not to drive off the edge or something. My garage is small so I have to park on it no place else with the lift in there. So I have been on and off many times no problems yet. The ramps are plenty wide -considerably wider than the pair of portable drive-on ramps that we all have.
You can lay it down and drive on if that is what you mean about lowering the front end but you have to lay down a couple of 2x4's to do so, and remove the front supports which is easy as long as you have a place to store them. I don't so I just leave it inclined, drive on and off and lift the rear when necessary to work under the car. Hope this helps.

 

Did you buy the best buy package? Powdercoating etc?

 

Yes- I went the whole nine yards including casters, everything except the extra bridge.

 

My garage has 10 ft walls with a 12 ft peak. The inside center is about 11ft 6in. With the lift in the center I can raise the Corvettes all the way up but I can't the Chevy Pickup. Still its not a problem to work on the pickup with limited height. If I had it to do again with the lift in mind I might have gone higher on the walls.

 

Dan - thanks. I'm pretty sure that I'm going with 12' walls.

Frank

 

Did you get the approach ramps?

 

Yes approach ramps came with it. But to lay flat you have to build your own out of 2x6's. As the manufacturer to fax you instrution sheets to see how the thing works, etc. This raised a lot of questions for me.