Squire's voitures

[fried onions]

I went to give my mate a hand today with his Hawks. First job was to get his Series IV up on the lift and change the inner track rod rubber boots, then adjust the handbrake as despite the shoes being adjusted properly there was far too much travel at the lever. Both easy jobs on these straightforward cars. Then on to the main event, to move the scrapper from up against the wall to up onto the lift to create more space and allow us to access underneath to strip it of valuables. Cue much puffing and panting as we took turns to move the wheel from one lock to another and push it across the unit. It didn't help that one tyre had only 8 psi in it, of course this was one of the wheels right up against the wall.

Positioning it over the lift our usual strategy of placing the lift pads under the front 'chassis' box sections and outriggers, and the rear springs, was a no-go in this case, because there was literally nothing left of the former and the spring hangers were little more than a memory.

You can see here where the 'chassis' curves down and levels out is where the hefty outrigger once was and is where we lift up our good cars.

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I had to push the car right back over the lift and position the front pads under the coil spring pans and the rears under a section of 'chassis' which had evidently received an MoT 'get-u-thru' patch in the distant past. It was the only option available as the lift was much farther forward than we usually have it, but at least all the weight in the car was at the front.

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Once I was satisfied I told Martin to hit the lift button, half expecting to hear a lot of crunching and the car sitting like a see-saw. But, it lifted ok with a bit of crunching and then stabilised, so he took it right up. This furnished us with the opportunity to look in more detail.

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That's the boot lid you can see through that big hole. We were more interested in the parts yield however, as the car is royally fucked but as I have mentioned before has had an interesting life where someone had kitted it out for heavy-duty long distance work and tried their best to keep it going. So, we can see the modified petrol tank which must have a capacity far greater than the original 16 gallons. I reckon this job holds at least 20 gallons and you can see where the rear valance has been adapted to accommodate the big tank. You will also note a stainless steel exhaust pipe.

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And that's where we left it. Hopefully it'll still be up in the air the next time and we can start taking more things off it.

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Here are the details of the lift for those interested.

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[Hooli]

That lift sounds a bargain & that was impressive rust too.

[mercrocker]

Jeez, there must have been some testing moments getting that thing up in the air. Nice jack though, good bit of kit for the price by the look of it.

Basically I've just echoed Hooli but I typed mine first!

[fried onions]

Yes, that price was the cheapest I think. Well worth it too, as not only does it make those horrible 'down under' jobs more bearable, but has allowed my mate to carry on fettling his cars, as his days of crawling underneath and lying on his back are numbered. In the absence of a pit it's the next best thing.

[mercrocker]

In many ways it looks better than a pit - portable and less likely to break your fucking leg....

[Hooli]

Harder to drive into as well.

How stable does it seem?

[fried onions]

It is incredibly stable but obviously you have to choose carefully where to place the pads to lift the car, but there's a big range of adjustment. There is a safety mechanism in the form of a large ratchet disengaged by a bike brake type lever on the motor pedestal.

[Hooli]

Is it bolted down? or free standing?

Sorry for the thread derail, it's not as if I could afford such a lift anyway. I'm just nosey.

[SiC]

I'd be interested to see how it compares to a scissor lift of this type:


Your type has the advantage of better access to the sill areas and more mobile. That above look to have better access to the central section and looks more stable.

Both are similar prices.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It's the sort of thing I ought to have bought five years ago. For me to would be a waste of time unless you can stand underneath the car to remove a gearbox, diff or exhaust.


Too late as I am doing very little car work now. After this week's fight to the death with a piece of shit Saab I realised that I actually hate working on cars. I'm making mistakes and getting depressed about having to lift a spanner. The relief when I completed this week's job and tidied up, locked the door and fucked off home.

I've had a bellyfull of cars.

It's sad to see the Humber about to meet its maker after 50 or 60 years. Seeing all this modern garbage in scrapyards at 10-12 years old.......unrusty and unlamented.