Installing a Lift in the Garage, will this type of lift work?

[kevboost7]

Planning on getting a lift installed in the garage. These seem like a good option. Low profile and out of the way. Will this be suitable for the R32 GTR? I know the jacking points on this car is a pain in the ass, but i dont know how this type would work with the car since everyone says not to use the pinch welds. 

 

[Duncan]

They work, as well as they work. I've got quickjacks because I don't have a strong slab or enough height for a proper hoist.

For some reason I don't have many good side on pics but this is the idea.

It lifts it higher than regular jack stands but still not very convenient. According to specs in mine the frame is 462mm, plus whatever you add as support blocks (I use rubber blocks about 100mm high at each corner, so about half a metre of clearance)

There are similar style scissor lifts which do lift higher, to say 1 metre which might be the case for what you've shown above, but it is still nothing like a proper walk under hoist

In terms of support, you just use rubber blocks between the top of the jacking platform and the factory sill jacking points.

The style I have, you park the car and then slide the jacks under so clearance is no issue. If you get a style you need to drive onto, consider clearance from the front bar to the lifting platform, depending on how low your car is you might only have 100mm to play with

Keep in mind, you do get clear access under the car eg to gearbox, exhaust etc, but you can't access anything around the sills (eg rear subframe mount), and you can't get under the car from the side, you need to go from either the front or rear of the car

[Shoota_77]

Obviously depends on what you're after.  I would love a scissor lift hoist but I would only use it to wash under my car and change wheels/brakes!

I've got a 2 post clear floor hoist and it is unbelievably handy for EVERYTHING.  Mine is just a cheap brand (Bulletpro) and I bought it secondhand so only cost me about $1000(AUD).  It's been amazing as seeing my car has lived on it for 8 years I can lift it up to sweep up the dead spiders underneath.....

 

[Murray_Calavera]

I've got a quickjack as well, I use their pinch weld blocks stacked on top of one of their regular blocks. Has been working well for years now. 

Quickjack have recently released a new model, the "TL" series which raises the car another 3 inches. Doesn't look like quickjack Australia is stocking it yet, but if you go with this option it might be worth waiting for it to be available here. 

On a side note with quickjacks, if you do a bit of googling you'll find quite a few quality control issues with them. 

Personally, I've had a proportioning valve fail (so the lift would raise unevenly) and an o-ring fail so it leaked quite badly from the power unit. Most people seem to have issues with the lines leaking but mine have been fine. 

Having said that, both issues were resolved under warranty without too much drama and it's been fine for years now without issue. 

[kevboost7]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

They work, as well as they work. I've got quickjacks because I don't have a strong slab or enough height for a proper hoist.

For some reason I don't have many good side on pics but this is the idea.

It lifts it higher than regular jack stands but still not very convenient. According to specs in mine the frame is 462mm, plus whatever you add as support blocks (I use rubber blocks about 100mm high at each corner, so about half a metre of clearance)

There are similar style scissor lifts which do lift higher, to say 1 metre which might be the case for what you've shown above, but it is still nothing like a proper walk under hoist

In terms of support, you just use rubber blocks between the top of the jacking platform and the factory sill jacking points.

The style I have, you park the car and then slide the jacks under so clearance is no issue. If you get a style you need to drive onto, consider clearance from the front bar to the lifting platform, depending on how low your car is you might only have 100mm to play with

Keep in mind, you do get clear access under the car eg to gearbox, exhaust etc, but you can't access anything around the sills (eg rear subframe mount), and you can't get under the car from the side, you need to go from either the front or rear of the car

Are the rubber blocks specific to the R32 GTR? or are they generic ones that i can purchase anywhere? Could i theoritically do the same with a a hydraulic floor jack?

[Duncan]

The blocks I use are generic (I got them with the hoist from memory) and while I don't think they are damaging the jacking points it is hard to tell because it is a race car and has a fair bit of underfloor damage from over the years.

If you are worried all you need to do is cut a slit in the block so that it rests on the chassis with the sill fold in the slit...5mm would be plenty

[joshuaho96]

On 10/26/2022 at 1:36 PM, kevboost7 said:

Planning on getting a lift installed in the garage. These seem like a good option. Low profile and out of the way. Will this be suitable for the R32 GTR? I know the jacking points on this car is a pain in the ass, but i dont know how this type would work with the car since everyone says not to use the pinch welds. 

 

The pinch welds are fine if you use the correct rubber adapters and you aren't leaving hundreds of pounds of bricks or whatever in the trunk. The reason why they crush is people use a floor jack on them without the correct adapter or they use the floor jack with the wheels stuck in the crack between two pads and apply excessive thrust force to the pinch weld. Or they use jack stands without the appropriate adapters mentioned in the manual and let it fall too quickly onto the stands. The Japanese OEMs are a lot better about this stuff than the European or American OEMs I find: https://www.gtrusablog.com/2017/10/r32-nissan-skyline-jack-points-jacking.html

[GTSBoy]

4 hours ago, Duncan said:

If you are worried all you need to do is cut a slit in the block so that it rests on the chassis with the sill fold in the slit...5mm would be plenty

They're only a few $$ on Aliexpress, with the slit moulded in.

[kevboost7]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:10 PM, Duncan said:

On 10/26/2022 at 5:10 PM, Duncan said:

Keep in mind, you do get clear access under the car eg to gearbox, exhaust etc, but you can't access anything around the sills (eg rear subframe mount), and you can't get under the car from the side, you need to go from either the front or rear of the car

Have you encoutered situations where you need to get to the car from the side to access the rear subframe mount? Would you be able to drop a transmission and replace the clutch or anything? 

 

And do these look like the right kind of rubber blocks? that would work with a jackstand for the pinch welds?

or 

[Duncan]

Well, potentially access is an issue. If you wanted to remove the rear subframe (big job), you would not be able to have it on the quickjack, you would need to use stands.  Not being able to roll under it from the side is often an issue, just means you need to crawl in the long way (what is the point of a jacking solution that is meant to be convenient but is actually inconvenient?)

Re the blocks, those would be no good for a platform jack like you posted because the bottom is not flat. I have 4x rubber blocks approx 150mm cubed, like this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/114377766957?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&ssspo=dKrnEHllRgO&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=dJvnaZ11TB-&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I can't see any use for rubber pads on a jack stand as you generally would put them under a steel subframe or suspension point, not the sills (if you use sills the car will be lower making it hard to work under, although they would be out of the way for pretty much every task)

[joshuaho96]

3 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

Have you encoutered situations where you need to get to the car from the side to access the rear subframe mount? Would you be able to drop a transmission and replace the clutch or anything? 

 

And do these look like the right kind of rubber blocks? that would work with a jackstand for the pinch welds?

or 

I use those rubber blocks for my jack stands but they aren't the right adapter for something like a 2 post lift. For those low-rise lifts specifically they have these blocks for them: https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-blocks/

19 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Well, potentially access is an issue. If you wanted to remove the rear subframe (big job), you would not be able to have it on the quickjack, you would need to use stands.  Not being able to roll under it from the side is often an issue, just means you need to crawl in the long way (what is the point of a jacking solution that is meant to be convenient but is actually inconvenient?)

Re the blocks, those would be no good for a platform jack like you posted because the bottom is not flat. I have 4x rubber blocks approx 150mm cubed, like this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/114377766957?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&ssspo=dKrnEHllRgO&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=dJvnaZ11TB-&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I can't see any use for rubber pads on a jack stand as you generally would put them under a steel subframe or suspension point, not the sills (if you use sills the car will be lower making it hard to work under, although they would be out of the way for pretty much every task)

I use those rubber pads on my jack stands all the time. My pinch welds are fine and I try really hard to line up the jack stands and slowly drop the car onto the stands to avoid damage. It's one of the lowest points on the car so it works fine as long as you're careful about it which from what I can tell most people aren't.

[33GTRV]

Just to throw something left field in to the equation, if you are in a relatively new house, check the garage slab and make sure they did not foam block the garage slab before pouring it. I think it may be illegal these days but i have personally seen 2 cars on top of people after the stands were punched through the garage floor into the foam block. From memory, the concrete was only about 25mm-30mm thick in the area. Less than ideal

[soviet_merlin]

1 hour ago, 33GTRV said:

Just to throw something left field in to the equation, if you are in a relatively new house, check the garage slab and make sure they did not foam block the garage slab before pouring it. I think it may be illegal these days but i have personally seen 2 cars on top of people after the stands were punched through the garage floor into the foam block. From memory, the concrete was only about 25mm-30mm thick in the area. Less than ideal

That sounds terrible! How would you even go about checking that? Knock on the floor? Hit it with a hammer? Drill into it?

[GTSBoy]

Drill.

In Australia, even an attached single car carport will be at least 100mm of 25MPa concrete. A shed/garage should be something better. But even a good shed slab is not good enough to put a hoist on. You need piers/beams to carry the load.

But those long/low quickjack style things are probably OK on a simple slab because they're not point loaded. They spread the load out along a decent length. Defo best to check the doco to see what they recommend/require though.

[Murray_Calavera]

2 hours ago, 33GTRV said:

Just to throw something left field in to the equation, if you are in a relatively new house, check the garage slab and make sure they did not foam block the garage slab before pouring it. I think it may be illegal these days but i have personally seen 2 cars on top of people after the stands were punched through the garage floor into the foam block. From memory, the concrete was only about 25mm-30mm thick in the area. Less than ideal

holy shit, I didn't even know that was a thing =/

[joshuaho96]

7 hours ago, 33GTRV said:

Just to throw something left field in to the equation, if you are in a relatively new house, check the garage slab and make sure they did not foam block the garage slab before pouring it. I think it may be illegal these days but i have personally seen 2 cars on top of people after the stands were punched through the garage floor into the foam block. From memory, the concrete was only about 25mm-30mm thick in the area. Less than ideal

How would you even safely park things like EVs on that? 

[Ben C34]

On 11/1/2022 at 5:40 PM, joshuaho96 said:

How would you even safely park things like EVs on that? 

Ev's aren't that heavy dude!

[kevboost7]

On 10/30/2022 at 4:01 PM, joshuaho96 said:

I use those rubber blocks for my jack stands but they aren't the right adapter for something like a 2 post lift. For those low-rise lifts specifically they have these blocks for them: https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-blocks/

I use those rubber pads on my jack stands all the time. My pinch welds are fine and I try really hard to line up the jack stands and slowly drop the car onto the stands to avoid damage. It's one of the lowest points on the car so it works fine as long as you're careful about it which from what I can tell most people aren't.

i'm assuming that everytime you jack up your car, you always use the pinch welds to support it? I keep seeing posts saying to use the subframe, etc, etc. 

[joshuaho96]

2 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

i'm assuming that everytime you jack up your car, you always use the pinch welds to support it? I keep seeing posts saying to use the subframe, etc, etc. 

I follow the factory service manual for floor jack points and jack stand points. So yes, I use the pinch welds. Keep in mind I have an R33 which has stronger pinch welds I believe. I haven't had any problems with using the pinch welds for jack stands but I never use my floor jack on it and I always take my time to make sure it's 100% lined up and drop it slowly onto the jack stands with the pinch weld adapter. The nature of the geometry means it's not very tolerant of mistakes. The reinforced section where it is safe to place a jack stand is pretty narrow, they're pretty explicit that you must put it between the two notches to avoid bending the floor pan. 

14 hours ago, Ben C34 said:

Ev's aren't that heavy dude!

Hummer EVs are north of 4000 kg these days and they're totally legal to drive with a normal driver's license here. It's right at the limit of what a standard 2500 psi concrete slab is rated for in most US residential construction so there's no way going thinner and adding foam filler will be enough.

[soviet_merlin]

5 minutes ago, joshuaho96 said:

Hummer EVs are north of 4000 kg these days and they're totally legal to drive with a normal driver's license here. It's right at the limit of what a standard 2500 psi concrete slab is rated for in most US residential construction so there's no way going thinner and adding foam filler will be enough.

Hah, I was going to post a picture of one as a joke. You are ruining your point by picking the most ludicrous EV there is. Surely even the states aren't bonkers enough to see them as a regular occurrence. I'd also love to see someone put one of those on jack stands. Or maybe not, it sounds stupid and possibly dangerous. They are humongous.