Comfort in the garage

[jameshtaylor]

All right, I'm getting older. It isn't nearly as much fun to get down on the ground to tighten, loosen, remove, polish or otherwise mess with my early 911, and I'm asking myself what could I do that would make a difference, make these jobs less difficult to contemplate? Some kind of a lift? A great creeper? A specialized tool I don't own?
So I'm asking you, what have you acquired that really made work in the garage less of a burden, more of a pleasure? And specifically about lifts, how high do they have to go to be useful?
All thoughts welcome.

[friggens]

Hi James -

The scissor lift pictured in my signature is great for working on the side of the car, comfort wise - put it where you want it. Under the car it's a toss up as all you can really do is optimize creeper height to car neatly or crouch. But its portable and useful with my normal garage ceiling. If I had a real shop, two post lift would allow me to work under the car standing. This is an integral part of my dream as I age gracefully

My creeper gets lots of use... and my dad is 79, still using the same creeper he bought in a Denver pawn shop in 1950 something. He has no interest in big lifts or cars way up in the air, just for thick skulled reference.

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NorthernThrux]

James,
I recommend a lift if you can manage. I have roughly 10 ft ceilings and stack my 1973 over my 2014. I bought a Direct lift Pro Park 8 which was about $3k installed as I recall. Though the primary purpose was storage, the lift is a Godsend for working on the cars as well, whether I just lift them a foot so I don't have to bend over as much into the engine bay or 6' so I can work under them. You can drop the engine of a 911 by lifting the car after bracing the engine as well.
I you don't need to stack two cars, the lift is also a great place to store winter tires, tools etc. You effectively add a whole garage bay worth of storage.
The lift has caster you can drop onto, thus allowing you to move the lift with the car on it. Handy ! I also use this feature to get my snow tires up onto the tire racks on my wife's side of the garage. I used to be able to deadlift her Q5 and my Cayman tires up onto the 8 ft high racks, but a shoulder injury put an end to those heroics.

Ravi

[jameshtaylor]

Many thanks. I don't have space to go very high, maybe 30". I'm wondering if that really does anything for you... i.e. does it really make working around the bottom of the car easier? It seems clear it would reduce the amount of leaning over the motor, or into the car when messing with shift linkage etc.
Anyone tried those little 8--10" drive-on ramps?

[sithot]

Save your back. Anything to get it off the floor is wonderful. My first 36 inch MC lift made work a lot more fun. I now have a K&L that goes to nearly 5 feet. It's hard to imagine working on any bike without a lift.

Cars are the same. I put in a Rotary 2 post when we built the barn. That was the best money ever spent.

There are a lot of scissors lifts that would do the job for you.

[John912]

I bought a run of 4-inch thick dense foam that I cut into about four 2'x2' "pads." I throw them down on the concrete floor to save my knees -- less expensive than knee replacements!

[4SFED]

I bought a run of 4-inch thick dense foam that I cut into about four 2'x2' "pads." I throw them down on the concrete floor to save my knees -- less expensive than knee replacements!

Great idea here for folks that can't dish the money for a lift. Additionally, I use moving blankets (the padded kind, not the itchy burlap ones) on the floor when I work under the car. Creepers annoy me because they usually move around too easily when using any kind of torque inducing arm pressure. Most areas of the underside of the 911S can be reached on the ground without the car in the air.

I suffer from a bad back and the flat (firm) ground actually helps me with the added cushion from a few blankets (each folded in half). My Wife has found me "resting my eyes" under the Porsche on a few occasions, I'll admit.

[friggens]

My Wife has found me "resting my eyes" under the Porsche on a few occasions, I'll admit.

I love it!!

[62S-R-S]

The floor does present a problem...but it can be remedied with :

Spartan garage, floor brushed often, and the non-essentials put in the basement. Jacking the car with as much dexterity as possible with twin floorjacks, tire stop, jack stands, and several 4 x 4 x 12" chunks of wood to assist with support and safety. It's all prep stuff, but allows the rest to go easily.

Cardboard cut to size is crucial, and a kid's swim float pad is a good head rest.

I like the workout when you're on the floor and then up - a number of x's.. Something about it gets the energy flowing better than a gym does..

Wait too long between projects, and all the above can be downright dreary..

[jameshtaylor]

I settled on some sort of high tech foam pillow for knees and a moving van blanket to lie on. I also got one of those garden stools that you can sit on or turn over and kneel on. Very handy. Have pretty much concluded that a lift, given my garage height restrictions and the slight clearance under the car, isn't worth the trouble.