Technical Old time in-ground single post lift

...interesting...and almost 6k capacity. It's going to be one heavy mother...

 

But it's got wheels, so it's MOBILE!
73RR, sounds like you saw something and thought, why not? I hope that all the responses have educated you not only on the concerns with what you saw, but many of the alternatives.

 

I put a 4 post lift in my shop. I looked into a2 post, but my cement floor was not thick enough. Rather than re poring the floor I went with the 4 post. I love it. I can move it by my self if needed and can store 2 cars in the space of 1 and a half. With the sliding bridge I can lift each end of a car to work on it.

 

The base is built like an overlarge pallet jack.

I know a few people with these. They say that so long as your concrete is not wrecked, it's an easy roll.

 

Yup, lots of education around this place. Sometimes tunnel vision sets in so I like to run it up the flag pole and see if anyone salutes... Part of the interest in the inground lift was after seeing one in a fab shop that was used for various tasks as a welding table.
There are more 2-post units in some upcoming auctions that I will also look at but, most of them have a 10k capacity and my Ram 3500 is right at 9k. It would be nice to use it for all of the usual jobs but a little more 'excess' would be good. I called a couple manufacturers but they won't talk about designed safety factors.

 

They made them in different cylinder diameters I have one of the smaller ones they are harder to find parts for and you need a base of at least 1 foot of a concrete base under the ram all the weight of the car is sitting on a small aera https://allpartsupply.com/inground-lifts/

 

the thread you are referring to is "restoring 1930s auto shop" he dug up an old rotary single post drive on hoist and restored it. it actually is an awesome looking hoist.

 

That garage resto is/was an amazing project.

 

watched one blow a seal at the local Chevrolet dealer where I worked back in the 1980's. Almost flipped the car right over backwards off the lift. Did damage the car badly. My opinion they were super dangerous. No safety locks on them. Good luck.

 

Just curious, what was the chain of events when the seal left?

 

I looked at a place to buy that had a big shop. Among other issues, it had an in-ground hoist that the homeowner seemed to be trying to hide. The head had been removed and they had stuff stacked over top of the ram in photos, and cars parked over it when we viewed it. The potential ground contamination issue was one of many reasons we passed on the place.

I have used them at my dad's automotive repair shop growing up, then he switched to a two-post and four-post. I have a four-post at home. Personally, I would never go through the effort to install the old in-ground style.

 

From what I've heard, when the seal fails they go down like a shot. Better hope you're not under the car or near it.

 

I was under the single post at the tuneup shop when it dropped. It had one of the flip over safeties in the small safety post. It made no move or noise before it let go. It dropped 6 inches straight to the safety and stopped (thanks!). I let out a string of (in)appropriate words at high volume. The shop owner and the customers were 10 feet away. He called me into his back office and started to explain how that outburst was not....I told him I was not working anywhere near that thing, HE would have to finish the job and get the car down, and if he didn't have a lift repair guy in the shop within the next two days, I was going to report it. He did not explain any further how he felt. I may have been still feeling the affects of adrenaline! It did get repaired. I did not use it again.

 

That's what I have always heard. I worked under them from late 70s into the 90s. 40 hour weeks for years. I have used the two post that you moved the front ram with a pry bar against a notched plate and the rear ram could be set to pick up by the tires or the rear end housing, these were very interesting to operate. Worked under two post that were side by side with the arms that swing in and single post one that had the arms and ones that had long rubber covered pads on slides to slide in to catch the pinch weld on the rockers. Guess I got lucky.

 

Hell we had one in our high school shop in the late ‘90’s

 

mine gets used
like I said it was here when we bought the place
I would choose an above ground lift if I were to install a lift today

 

When I started out as a young mechanic in the early 80s I worked at a Shell station . I did countless clutch jobs on a single post lift ...Do I want one now? Hell no!

 

At the Shell station I worked at in the late 60's they had 2 in ground hoists. Sometimes if you moved one, the other would drop 6". Very scary.

 

I worked at a shop the owner installed a used in ground one post lift, cut out the floor and poured the pad for the base all the proper install. The problem was the pipe for the safety leg that is one of the parts that are buried with the post was rusted up and the safety leg wouldn't fit in it, (he didn't bother to check it before). With that hoist you could spin the car 360 degrees. The effort to try and get a safety leg in was quite the intertwinement. I used a Gray bumper jack with the rubber extension adapter on top set up against the post for the safety.

 

If they had the drop problem they were low on oil.

 

I have a single post air over hydraulic unit with one inch pipe between the oil tank and the ram with a ball valve with the lift up and the valve closed you can bleed the air from the tank and open the valve it comes down pretty quick with a car on it. Not what would call a drop you have to displaced a lot of oil and a one inch ball valve would be a big leak.

 

Worked on 2 post hoists in post #23 back in the 60's when I first started. They were 20yrs old at least at that time. They were constantly replacing seals on the posts. Fast forward 20yrs to the 80's. Guy working 2 stalls over was going to let down the hoist with a Pinto wagon on it when the rear post seal blew (or something) and it fell like a rock. Looked like slow motion but I watched the car fall and roll over on its side. Poor guy was just frozen to the hoist levers and we had to physically get his hands off the levers and sit him down. I'd bet he still has nitemares. I don't remember if those hoists had safety catches but if they did they were frozen.

 

We have 2 single cylinder Wayne hoists in our shop. We use them all day every day.
The seals are still available from Wayne.
Ours are original from when the shop was built in 1958.

 

Worked in a body shop that was an old studebaker dealership.
Had the in ground single post lifts. Used it all the time. It would move up and down a little while you were under it.
I like how they take up very little space.
But I like my mid rise scissor lift.

 

I worked at a dealership that went back to the Dodge Brothers. All single and 2 post in ground lifts. Old ones. One night, snow was forecast. We put cars up on all of the lifts and pulled cars under, between them, to be dry in the morning. Over night, one post of a 2 post lift (the front one) went down. A 2nd gen Vette was on it. It kind of shouldered over onto the cars below and the lift next to it. That car ended up hanging off a post. I was the guy that opened for the 11 mechanics (not yet called technicians). When I walked in to the carnage, I'd liked to shit. I was also the guy that had to call all of those customers. The dealership owner called the guy with the Vette. When I started working on cars, all I ever saw was in ground. Spent thousands of hours under them. I thought above ground was for homeowners and such. That was the only accident I ever saw. Sure, I saw guys fuck stuff up setting things up wrong, never one come down. Mike

 

i went to work for a gm dealer when i was 21. they had all 2 post in ground lifts but they were the newer ones with the posts on the sides of the car not axle contact ones, EXCEPT one that was located in a separate room in the dealership where they sprayed the rust proofing goop inside the doors, rockers etc. the hoist had not been used for as long as anyone could remember, the lever controls were mounted on the floor in front of the hoist. it was my first week on the job and one guy was showing me what to do with the rustproofing so he was walking backwards and talking to me. he kicked one of the levers on the floor and the front post of the hoist started going up fast with a brand new S15 hanging on it and then the back post goes up with a bang. so the new truck was hanging on this hoist barely with one door open. everybody heard the parts guy that had just walked in screaming at us to get away from the truck. there was one old guy (i was 21 they were all old then) that had been there when they were still using the hoist,so somebody ran to the regular shop and grabbed him. he was in there smoking his pipe and running the levers, he got the truck down with out damaging it. he then went back to what he was doing without saying a word because he was on flat rate. The owner of the dealership left and came back with a 6 pack of beer for us(only time he bought). needless to say that hoist was disconnected by the end of day.

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...DC41242ED61F3D33DC1CDC41242ED61F3D3&FORM=VIRE In ground lift fails vs two post most two fails are poor installs it takes a lot of concrete under those mast> I have seen to many home units bolted to a 4 inch garage floor Above ground commercial lifts require a annual inspection

 

At least with a modern 4-post you don't have to anchor them (the home ones).

 

Some ugliness in a couple of those videos. Apparently none of the lifts are actually 'safe' just a matter of 'degrees of safe'.