Thanks, 56....I have been hoping/wishing/dreaming of getting a Kwiklift for some time now, but felt like it was more of a luxury than a necessity. After reading all these comments, I can now justify the expense to my wife! After all, it is for my safety, right?

Ron...I'm glad you were not injured, but am glad you brought up this important topic. I suspect a lot of us get complacent when raising our cars. Not to hijack this thread, but has anyone ever overun their ramps (drive past the "stops" at the top)? I did it once and man was that a shocker!! I'm a jackstand guy now (until I get that Kwiklift).

 

To hell with the homemade crap. I bought a Kwik Lift because if the sh t ever hits the fan, it's too late to say oops. There's no second guessing and no improvements to be made and I place a jackstand in back of each of the rear legs. I want to be around to enjoy what I've sweated over and for $1200.00 or so I can work without a care. I don't believe in the Walmart mentality where safety is an issue. I want steel baby!

 

Ever see Chinese construction?They use bamboo scaffolding to build skyscrappers wonder how many die each year?Go with steel

 

I'm not sure whats up with all the raging ****-*n's for steel, but there are many different materials that can accomplish the same objective when used skillfully. Quality steel is not all that easy to find, sometimes. And more often than not, its the skill of the welder that you're putting your life on the line with.

I simply use steel jackstands because I am comfortable with them and take my time during setup and takedown.
I've never owned ramps, but I have used them with mixed results.

And, its seems to me, Corvette driver's should be the last ones waiving a "steel" flag around.
»keith

 

Last year a made a little trip to Iraq. When we loaded our equipment on the rail in up-state NY. we used steel ramps to drive everything from little 7000 lb HMMWV Contact Trucks (Humvee repair vehicle) to 51,000 lb HEMTT wreckers (8X8 by Oshkosh). It's a pretty interesting operation: you drive up a concrete ramp then on rail car then (using steel ramps) cross over to the next rail car, repeat. After crossing over twenty or so rail cars it seems like "old-hat" even everything is covered in ice & snow (-15F )

The same (civilian) rail crew that supervised our load-up, off-loaded our equipment in Phillie. THEY USED OAK PLANKS, ROUGH SAWN 'BOUT 6" THICK. (nothin broke).

Guess wood is strong enough

 

So what is the weight rating on a Kwik lift? I built my ramps out of 2"x2"x.125" steel and it's braced all over the place and as you can see in the 2nd picture, the spots that the tires sit have an "H" frame on the bottom and one on the top with 5 vertical post. All the parts are on top of the vertical post so that there are NO buttwelds. Even if a weld was to fail it can't go anywere. I also tested the ramps with my 7000# truck to make sure it would hold my 3300# Vette WITHOUT ANY problems. Hell I would bet a paycheck that my Walmart mentaliy homemade ramps could hold more then your Kiwk lift and, I don't need a jack.

 

hey i bought a drive up lift for the money my life is worth alot more. My big brother was useing those drive up ramps when his 79 Z28 desided to roll back and land on his chest he lived.but never again iw ill not go under a car unless it has jack stands and a jack for added safety life is to short as it is

 

If you trust them, who am I to argue. Jacking up the Kwik Lift is a real bitch. Have a ball champ.

 

Oak is strong pine is not,used oak to shore up walls in underground work.

 

It also helps that I worked for over a year and a half as a production welder. So yes, I trust my welds.

 

Wow, glad you and the car are ok. And thanks for the topic, as others have said, even though I am careful, I have only depended on the jack stands in the past. This thread has me thinking of leaving the hydraulic jacks in place too.

One thing I would like to pass on to everyone is how I chose to reduce (if not eliminate) the possibility of jack-stand shifting.

I use two (2) hydraulic jacks when raising the car, each with its own single hockey-puck.

I place one hydraulic jack under the driver side front (in deeper than where jack-stand is placed on the frame weld lip), and the other hydraulic jack under the passenger side front (same relative place). Then raise them together (with my lady on one or walking side to side to elevate evenly) and then place both front jack stands (as shown in the ZR1registry link).

Then move both hydraulic jacks to the rear driver and passenger side car jack locations and repeat the lifting/jack-stand placement process (again jack-stands are placed as shown in the ZR1registry link).

I also lift the front first, since the jack is placed in front of the frame weld lip, which prevents the car from slipping forward on the jack-stand when lifting the rear and the parking brake keeps the rear tires from moving while lifting the front.

I do this to both prevent jack-stand shifting, -and- to also minimize body twist which has been reported to possibly crack tops/windshields.