Why EricTheCarGuy doesn’t have a lift

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’ve been seeing a flood of comments about me getting a lift lately and I’d like to respond to them here. This will be my ‘go to’ link as a response to this question from here on out.

As for why I don’t have a lift there are several reasons. The first of which is that I don’t work on cars for a living, I make repair videos for a living. As a result I’m at the shop 1 maybe 2 days a week and I only work on a few cars at a time. Repairing vehicles is one thing, making videos of those repairs is quite another and it takes a great deal longer to do. For example, the Accord/CL clutch video that I shot last week took 16 hours. If I was just doing a clutch on the car, 4 hours tops but since I was setting up every shot and dealing with the electric going out every time the compressor kicked on I ended up working till 2:30am. For that reason alone it’s hard to justify the cost of a lift. In fact I’d rather invest in a new computer and some new cameras before looking into getting a lift. Trust me, that’s going to set me back quite a bit but I believe it will have a much higher return on investment based on what I do.

The second reason is that the electric at the shop could be better. Well, it could be a lot better as I mentioned above. I pop breakers all the time while I’m shooting because the entire wall of outlets I use is on the same breaker. When I’m running my lights and the compressor kicks on, the lights and everything else on that wall goes out. A lift runs on 220 and I’d first have to make sure I have enough juice coming into the shop to run another 220 line, not to mention fix the outlets on the wall I’m having issues with now. If I’m maxed out with the breakers I have now then I have a real problem. So factor in the cost of redoing my electric into the cost of a lift. While I’m at it I should probably replace the electric hot water heater that went out last winter at the same time as I do the electric for the rest of the shop. Now we have plumbing AND electric to worry about. The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper…. Welcome to life as a small business owner.

Something that also needs to be considered is the shop itself. My lease is up as of August 2013 and at that time I need to decide if I’m going to stay where I am or look for a different place. The reason I would consider moving is because I’m right next to a busy intersection not to mention the trucking company next door. If I was a repair shop this wouldn’t be a problem but as I said I’m not a repair shop, I’m a production studio. Having noisy trucks parked outside doing loud things doesn’t make for good video. In fact it’s an interruption that’s been an issue in the past. It would be great to have a place that was a little more ‘out of the way’ and didn’t have the same noise issues. So when July/August comes I’ll take a good look at the situation and decide where to go from there. I don’t see the point in going through the electric and putting in a lift if only to use them for a couple of months and then leave. Another possibility is if the owner wants to do something different with the property and I’d need to leave anyway. There’s no guarantee that he’ll renew the lease and if he does perhaps the new terms will be beyond my reach. That being said, I think no matter what I can’t even think about a lift till later this year as it would be just one more thing to move if I did need to leave for some reason.

Lastly, I estimate over 90% of my viewers don’t have a lift. If I start doing my videos using a lift I can still show the work but it’s not the same as if I was on the ground working in the same way they would. In part I put off getting a lift as a way to remain close to my audience and the problems they face working on the ground. I wouldn’t have the same experiences working on a lift. In fact even if I did have a lift I would still do some work on the ground for that very reason.

I hope that clears up any questions about why I don’t have a lift at this time. If not, feel free to post away. (pun intended)

Topic

[Michael Sackstein]

I was just gonna mention Jay Leno’s video on the mobile lifters. they’re great, very expensive but they work amazing! On the off chance you ever did decide to get a lift at any point in the future, I would highly recommend the mobile lifters featured in Jay’s video.

[Keith]

[quote=”musiccity365″ post=89586]I was just gonna mention Jay Leno’s video on the mobile lifters. they’re great, very expensive but they work amazing! On the off chance you ever did decide to get a lift at any point in the future, I would highly recommend the mobile lifters featured in Jay’s video.[/quote]

Nice product, but what if you need to get the tires off for brake work or anything like that? You can’t really set the lifts, you can only put them on (behind and in front of) the tires :

[Michael Sackstein]

Well in that case you may have to resort to the jack. I never thought of that actually. There must be a way around that though. Some extra package that comes with the lift so that to can lift it from underneath as opposed to from the wheels.

[David Roddick]

In about 1999, I purchased a new scissors lift for under $1000 for my basement garage area through a local speed shop that found me a real deal. I planned to use to primarily to switch show car wheels/tires from show quality to street quality (and back as needed). But the lift made oil changes and other under-body work much safer. It’s a 110 unit so no special wiring although I have it on it’s own circuit. It raises the entire car about 40 inches. It has been a great investment for me. I totally get why Eric does not have a lift, but if you have the garage space, they are neat to own. Has it paid for itself versus going to a shop? Probably not, but since I like to do a lot of my car maintenance myself, it’s totally worth it to me. I still remember getting it. Freight truck got it to my driveway and I had to move it rest of the way. It weights over 800 pounds. Moving it was a real hoot. I still use jack stands and regular floor jacks sometimes due to the nature of a particular project, but for most jobs I can use this “little” lift.

[Dana]

I’m glad your not using a lift, I watch the Wheeler Dealers all the time, and I can see Ed China has it too easy, lol. Glad to see your in the ditch’s with most of us who watch your video’s.

[Cameron]

[quote=”mustangroddick” post=100961]In about 1999, I purchased a new scissors lift for under $1000 for my basement garage area through a local speed shop that found me a real deal. I planned to use to primarily to switch show car wheels/tires from show quality to street quality (and back as needed). But the lift made oil changes and other under-body work much safer. It’s a 110 unit so no special wiring although I have it on it’s own circuit. It raises the entire car about 40 inches. It has been a great investment for me. I totally get why Eric does not have a lift, but if you have the garage space, they are neat to own. Has it paid for itself versus going to a shop? Probably not, but since I like to do a lot of my car maintenance myself, it’s totally worth it to me. I still remember getting it. Freight truck got it to my driveway and I had to move it rest of the way. It weights over 800 pounds. Moving it was a real hoot. I still use jack stands and regular floor jacks sometimes due to the nature of a particular project, but for most jobs I can use this “little” lift.[/quote]
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Good job.

Every mechanic should have a good lift to work with and it is a whole lot safer.

I would never get under a car on jack stands. IMHO it is crazy and dangerous which is why I work with a solid set of car ramps when I need to get under the car for oil changes etc etc. If I had the space in my 2 car home garage I would install a lift just to make working on the cars easier and more fun. They are really not that expensive. This lady has a ripper little unit in her substantial garage and it did not cost her a small fortune. http://www.classiccarsandtools.com/tools-4/maxjax/

Look at the 2 post this guy installed in his home garage. We all wish we had a garage that size.

(The guy does very good videos by the way. He pulled the entire auto trans out of the Buick Grand National on his own and reinstalled it on his own. Try doing that on jack stands.)

If Eric is going to be restoring the Fairmont on his premises he will really need some kind of decent lift and has the space for it now in that gigantic workshop/studio. Sure would make doing the other videos easier and safer whatever level the car is set on the lift, low or high.

If you get a lift just make sure it more than meets minimum standards. There is junk around that will fail.

[Denee’]

Hi, dne’ here,
I know Eric doesn’t own a lift for his personal and business reasons for demonstrations to DIY’ers, but I have a MaxJax lift. It’s made to be unbolted and moved out of the way when not in use. Also one column may be used independently for motorcycles, lawnmowers, etc. I have an 8’ceiling and this lift is made for low ceilings. I can’t imagine going back to floor jacks/jack stands, though I do have a jack/stands of course. For me, I’m getting a tad older with a few more aches n pains, and I just don’t like getting up and down from a creeper!;) I think the Maxjax is a worthwhile investment for most folks that tinker. People buy expensive toys (cars n such costing well over 30k+), why not invest in something that makes for a functional and awesome addition to the garage! These sell for about 2200-2300.
dne’ 😉

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[David Nichols]

[quote=”barneyb” post=79914]I was contemplating a clutch job and so I consulted a forum dedicated to the vehicle I own and the replies there said it was so much easier if you had a lift. Well, no lift in my shop. Later, on You Tube I watched a video of this very job being done by a professional mechanic and viewed him struggling with the 150+ pound transmission balanced on a small jack platform above his head. I thought that this didn’t compare very favorably with how I did it – I lowered the trans to the ground with a small chain fall hoist as I leaned over the fender in complete safety.

So, at least in my case, the lack of a lift didn’t cause any inconvenience at all. I’d actually go so far as to say that I had the superior situation to the video mechanic. Well, him having the use of a lift no doubt allowed him to work faster which is important when trying to make a profit but I’d rather sit or lean over a fender at jack stand height than work with heavy things above my head.[/quote]

I absolutely agree with you. I come from a back ground as a surgical technician. One of our surgeons told us that we should never be moving more than 30 lbs. overhead. Some college had done a study and it caused back damage. I guarantee with a lot of rusted situations that I’m safely applying 4x or more than that force from the ground while above my head would just be a head ache. I mean, a back ache. 😉

My endurance with my arms above my head is the least as well. One of my less favored jobs on my back, oil pan gaskets and transmission gaskets would only be harder from a lift. I’ve done some tire tech jobs where I changed oil occasionally and just fighting the oil plug from that angle seemed to give me less power.

And Eric? I’ve had some stuck on bolts under the car. I thought of a solution to get more power behind the bolt. Immediately afterwards I realized I was using the same motion that you or briansmobile used in a similar situation. It wasn’t just how to fix the car that helped, it was the motion of the mechanic himself. That was an awesome realization moment. All my jobs sped up after this as I imitated the motions of a practiced professionals.

I worry as I want to switch from being a DIY to being a professional. Will they think I’m odd when I want to work from the ground? Will I rightly change my mind once I get there? The adventure of life will tell. 🙂

[Author]

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