Car ramps! I mean the real thing, or a pit?

The only problem with a Pit is if you are too Fat!! the pit will
have be extra wide so you can turn around in it,
and then you won't have enough width in the wheel base to cover it unless you own a Hummer LOL.

Rob.

You obviously need a bigger lift kit.

The problem with a pit is they get full of water.

Pit can fill with water if not under cover !

A pit would be good if you have other low vehicles to service as well. My daughters Mazda 6 with 225.Z40x18 tyres must be about 150mm from the ground. Impossible to get it to drive up standard steel ramps- have to mess about with long wooden planks half way up ramp to ground so front spoiler does not hit ramp. A pit would be great or if you had a slope on your block , a couple of sleepers coming straint out from slope would be fairly easy to erect.
Cheers,
GPM

G'day Axle, the best thing to get is the tilt ramps that car yards have for display, adjustable track, angle or horizontal, & when you are not using them - against the wall one on top of the other & always re saleable! regards, aussiedingo

Axle, tell me about it mate.

Not proud of it in any way but, a tailors tape doesnt meet around my girth.....hehehe.
The pain and strength needed to drop to my knees and get back up again is huge. Even with a 2'' lift I can only get my head under. My chest jambs on the side step.

At the moment I use a roll-away jack, axle stands and a badly bent floor trolley, shoulders and arse scaping the ground each side.....lol.

It does for general servicing [oil changes, greasing, brakes, bearings, universals etc]

Had a pit before and believe me they are a pain in the arse, and in some cases very dangerous. Guess thats why most service centers seem to use post type lifters.

Guys down the road from me built a pivoting ramp [ the vehicle is driven up the ramp until the weight transfer causes the ramp to rock to the upright position], this works ok except you need a lot of length and its only about 4 feet off the ground.

Im going to build a set of normal heavy duty wheel ramps about 400-500mm high, use axle stands at the other end, should be high and comfy enough to roll under and have a good sleep...lol.

Looking at getting light truck tyres for the floor trolley though.


Cheers......Lionel.

I have an old persian rug I lie on. Its quite comfy, you know.

Have ramps too but seldom use them. Still skinny enough to fit under the GQ. The 130 is another 200mm higher than it so you must be really putting in on...hahahahahaha




Cheers

Gday,
I had decided to put a pit in my shed when I started building it, until the concreter ( a Mate) convinced me not to.
I reckons he spends more time filling the bloody things in than he does making them!
I decided it was better to do a couple more hours at work or do something that pays more and get someone else to do the crap jobs or build the shed a bit higher and buy a hoist.....I went the ...get someone else to do it and get a better paying job. LOL

Cheers

Axle,
I hand dug a pit at my first house - wonderful thing it was too. BUT, these days many local councils have regs regarding pits, and many don't like them at all.

This is because of the safety concerns with them. Apart from the possibility of filling up with H2O, there is a hazard with noxious fumes and vapours. Of the most concern is fuel vapour.

Being heavier than air, these fumes will settle at the bottom of a pit and unless the pit is ventilated (read: an exhaust fan and flue to the outside world), they could be an explosion risk.

Imagine that you're in the shed doing a bit of welding (even on the car which is currently over the pit), and sparks etc drop into the pit ------- KA-BOOM! Game Over!

For mine, when I again have my own shed (I'm currently in rented place), I'll put in a 2 post hoist, which aren't all that expensive and I wont have to climb up and down ladders in the pit either!

Cheers, Matt H

Axle

You ought to try one of those bags that inflate off the exhaust.

Just make sure your clothes are a different colour to the bag so passers by can tell you apart.

Bob

Hi Axle,
When I was growing up there was a pit in the garage at mum and dad's place.

Bloody hell I miss the convenience of it now days.

There is some Yuppie mansion on the block now days that is neither use nor ornament!

Geoff

You can buy a set of those cantalievered galvanised display ramps that car yards have but they are a couple of grand per pair .

my Uncle had a nifty idea... their drive way was a culvert across a good sized drain that rarely had water in it. He plonked down a big timber beam along side and used to drive 2 wheels of his car onto that, the other two wheels on the culvert and he could just about walk underneath.

Axle

I have a pit in the shed but the Troopy wont fit in the shed.. :-((

Image Could Not Be Found

Cheers

Richard

Been wondering he same thing myself. In the process of building a fairly large shed at the moment and intend to put in a pit. Had one at my dad's place when I was younger and it was great.

Would prefer a hoist, but even with a 3 metre high shed, there's not enough room above, especially for a lifted 4by with roof rack.

Will be making sure the water doesn't get in - lots of plastic and external drainage.

While I'm aware of the safety risks, I wouldn't park a car over it permanently (mine's a diesel anyway, so not as bad) to avoid fume buildup. I reckon, like everything, if you're sensible then shouldn't be a problem. Certainly no hassle at the ol' mans and it's been there 45 years.

Cheers
Gerry

I service 6 vehicles. I got sick of the smell of burning clutches when driving on the ramps. So I use trolley jack and axle stands, or just put a couple of sleepers under the front wheels to safely keep it up. My floor is gloss painted, so you can slide under easily, and clean up the spills.

If I were to use ramps, they would be bought and not homemade.

I've had a pit in the garage for the last 21 years, missus reckons that's why we bought the house!
Seriously though it has been a godsend over the years, made it really easy to do servicing on heaps of different vehicles.
Water is a problem as even though we live on the side of a gentle hill the water table rises when it rains and the pit sometimes fills to at least halfway as there is a sump in one end with a natural rock bottom.
Usually drains away just as quickly or I turn a little Rule bilge pump on which empties it pretty quickly.
As we are intending to move I'm putting a shed up at the new place and have decided on a hoist instead of a pit.
If you are doing a long job the knees give out after a day or two if on the wrong side of 50 from climbing up and down the ladder, a hoist also has the ability to lift the entire vehicle off the floor so makes it much easier to rotate tyres, work on brakes etc at anice height without bending over or kneeling on the floor.
A pit is also a right PITA when doing a transmission/transfer R & R on a 4wd as the bloody thing is too high to slide out sideways between chassis and the floor.
My shed will be 3m walls which if you put a steeper pitch on the roof with 9m depth gives enough height to lift the vehicle high enough for me at 5' 4" on a hoist.