I may be moving to a new, yet to be built building. I keep thinking how helpful it would be to have a 'service pit' for some of the stuff I work on. I do not think that it would add a lot of expense to have formed up and poured when the floor is done. Do any of you have a pit of your own? Likes? Dislikes? Dimensions? Thanks
friend has one ,,great for transmission ,,exhaust etc,,gas tanks,,,though you gotta kinda be the right height,,some folk get sore arms reaching,,others having to squat slightly
If it was me I would go a little deep and then make some sort of decking so you could adjust the height.
All else being equal, I would consider a two post lift instead. More flexible, and easier to clean and maintain.
We have one we use in my dads shop its great.Ours has a dirt floor which is nice scoop out old dirt and add new,
pits are a fire hazard. good luck getting a permit to build a new one. as I was told it is a no go. I'd rather work on a 2-post any day.
When I built our home I built a 4ft wide by 14 ft long grease pit under one of the bays of the garage. It is 5 ft deep. I wish that I could say that I love it, but I seldom use it because there is always a '34 ford or other car parked over it that is a h***le to put a battery in and move. Thge grease pit was pretty arduous to build too. First you have to dig the pit and pour a flat concrete floor. then you have to form up the walls for the concrete and pour the walls (all of the above with rebar reinforcement installed). Then you have to remove the concrete forms, backfill the walls with dirt and tamp it very well. Then you have to pour the concrete garage floor around it, including a recessed lip so you can cover all or part of the pit with 2 X 12 wood planks laid crosswise when you chose too. Oh, and dont forget the correct slope and the drain in the floor. All said and done, it was a pain in the rear to build, and I don't use mine enough to have made it worth the effort... at least not yet. Jiffy Lube and the other lube shops are just so convienient.
good for keeping those gals that you want to keep around, like wild bill, other than that, I use 1 of my lifts....)
I have one and cannot stand it's more of a h***le than anything else but I'm used to working on a 2 post lift all the time and it is the way to go.
When I was about 5 years old I fell into my old mans pit, landed on my chest and face.(Yeah ouch!) I have seen guys pull cars in on top of themselves, catch fire ( fumes often go to the lowest point) , we had an old lady customer fall into a pit and break her hip, She only lasted about six months after that. If you drop anything small and of value then guess where thats heading........! Pit boards will rot out and collapse under the weight of your car, Pit will fill with water either from ground seepage or flooding, they are always either too deep or not deep enough(or not wide enough), Too dark, smelly, claustrophobic,full of stuff that you should have thrown out but kept anyway or have an immovable car parked on them and cant be used! pits are the pits. sorry.... Im back on my meds now.
My pit was just a waste of floor space in my opinion so I decked over it and bought a lift, much safer and more useful. A ****** shop here just closed and have a couple of asymmetrical 2 post lifts for 1500 each. No way you can build a pit cheaper than that.
I bought this AMERICAN MADE 9,000 pound lift for just a touch over $3,000 installed... A Made in China Lift can be bought for about half that. I want to think a person would be hard pressed to build a pit for twice the $3,000. If I were building from scratch and a lift was not in the plans, I would install lights in the floor like many roadside truck inspection places have at weigh stations. Lights in the floor might even be the bomb with a lift......
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