How to raise the car really high

GavB95 said

Nice one Paul, good idea! I'm quite handy with the welder but wouldn't want to put too much faith in a butt joint between the sections of bar. I think I'll make one of these but I'll place the long rear bar beneath the bumper mounting bars to put less stress on the welds.

Thinking about it that way it wouldn't even need welding - it could just be drilled and bolted.  

Cheers Paul.  8)

Bolting instead of welding is a pretty good suggestion, it also means it would be (slightly) adjustable to fit different cars.

I didn't calculate the forces the bolts would be under (it wouldn't be the weight of the car but a twist might have occurred depending on how the transverse bar is raised). I did do a quick calculation on the strength of the welding required and attained, and was happy there was a huge safety reserve there. Its also worth noting that I used a 150A welder on its highest setting, this is right at the top of what you can run from a domestic 13A socket, 130A being the more common size but I wanted a little bigger because I do welding on other (non-car) stuff too.

Yeah, my welders a 130A. I wasn't questioning your welds in my previous post, just that I wouldn't 100% trust my own!

Hi
I am going to build my mounting frame using unistrut which would be adjustable for front or back lifting

Has anyone tried this method lifting the Front of the car?I think it would be perfect for taking the engine out from the bottom & lifting the whole car over the engine , not sure about lifting it this way with engine in the car though,mechy guy at work did some sums and reckons you will be lifting about 290kg at the back

I have just installed a overhead beam in my garage to attach a block&tackle for a total cost of ?30  
cheers

hi chaps
Any last min tips before i lift the car this way
I had a good look at the bumper mounts yeserday.From what i can see these bumper mounts are bolted on to the chasis legs which would make perfect sense
just need peace of mind.
cheers
baz

Hi Baz, I have no experience of unistrut, but as you've said the bumper mounting points are in the chassis legs so are good strong points for lifting from.

I used to own a few mini's and always lifted the front end/shell over the engine block to remove the engine - rather than lifting the engine out from the shell. I reckon that would work nicely on a Golf, but I wouldn't want to try lifting the front with the engine in situ.

If you have any spare wheels/tyres you could stack them up under the car as you lift it, just incase it does give at all. Slide them in from the sides of the car rather than climbing under the rear when it is suspended!

I guess it all depends on your garage structure and how you've mounted the beam too. :dontknow:

Thanks Gavb95 - all advice is much appreciated  

Been a sparkie I have my fair share of experiance with unistrut , i am going to post a picture of the mounting frame when its done , going to bolt a unistrut beam across the inside of the boot as well so the weight is balanced - just incase one side is a bit weak

the beam is 5inch by 3inch and is bolted on top of a couple of 8*4 railway sleepers - 3.25 metre span

baz

hi

unistrut frame - first pass
Just one tip - the chasis legs are not at right angles so luckily the - right angle unistrut bends - are pretty flexible and allow for this .





did a quick test today with a trolley-jack all seemed ok

thanks to Paul for the original idea  
here is the unistrut version & overhead crane
ps have a back up safety sling & car jacks on the sills as well