MODERATORS...if this is not allowed under technical, I apologize..so feel free to remove.. I have very bad knees, back and neck, so it has become difficult to impossible to work much on my '63 Biscayne.. Recently I found a good used air lift jack, and got to try it out today. WOW..now I can work on redoing the lower body, as well as other things while sitting on a chair !! I am a happy guy again..
I have one that I've been using for years, Its getting weaker. Got another, it went up and wont come down
Don't remember the name, but here is a picture of it in the for sale add.. it is a 5000#..maybe you will recognize the partial name on the cylinder... Maybe a Weaver ??
That looks like an old Weaver. We have a 15,000 lbs capacity Grey brand at work. It works great for many jobs. Please tell me that you use jack stands with it. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Mines a Grey, you could tip a car over with it. Very handy for lifting the side of a car to working hight.
Mine has a safety catch that will prevent the jack from dropping, kind of like jack stands built in to it, plus it is automatically set!
Put jackstands under the car anyway! I've had cars slide off the rubber pads before, fortunately, it wasn't lifted very high when it slid off, and I wasn't under the car. Things get really hairy if the car is raised real high. You are really only lifting off the bumper. If you have the jack under the rear frame, the angle gets real bad as the rear end lifts higher. Gene
I managed to find two of them over the years. Put one at each end when working on a bare frame or where you have to lean into the interior with your back bent. Just raise the frame or car up and everything is at waist level.
One more vote for stands. I've had cars slip on those. They work pretty good on older pickups with channel iron rear bumpers where you have something solid to get hold of to lift but you want to make sure that you have the car on it solid and use stands under it. They won't work on cars made after 71 at all because of the crash bumpers and don't even think of lifting a later OT car with one. Most of the ones you find were made before 1970 because they became obsolete in shops in 1972.
Back in the 70’s when I worked at Milo’s in Torrington, we had two of these and would use them to do work out back, weather permitting, on the concrete pad that would be long term stuff or big stuff like the Grumman aluminum vans while doing clutch jobs. Great jack and years of great service. Nice score. Cliff Ramsdell
Make sure the car is out of gear and the brake off when you pick up the front or it can pull the jack over as it goes up.
I had a friend who was working under his 65 Malibu when one of those dropped and broke all the bones in his face. Please use jack stands. I really like those jacks ,used one for years. Mostly for tire changes until all the bumpers became rubber covers.
Thanks for all the replies.. And YES I would never do any work under it without jack stands, even though it does have the safety notches every ~3" or so on the way up. Would love to have a second one so I could raise both ends at once ! I too had a friend in college that got his face smashed due to not using jack stands as a double safety ...
I bought one at a estate sale a few years back . I, as well use jack stands and chock the wheels . Better safe than sorry .
I use these under the wheels when the car is raised rather than axle stands. Then just use axle stands when required such removing a rear axle leaving the front end on the wooden stands
I have two different brands and one is a little smaller than the other. I put the smaller one in back and raise each end alternately till I get the height I want. I have some slightly taller jackstands that I put at each corner, but the bumper lifts are pretty stable on a flat floor. They have a mechanical catch (similar to a 2 post lift catch) that locks them from falling. Even if someone has one of them raised where they aren't setting on the catch but relying on air pressure, when/if it did settle it should engage the catch after a short movement. For it to drop on someone, I would think they would have to be working at a very low height below where the catch can engage. There is lots of work building a rod where you have to bend over or bend forward. I'm telling ya, the double jacks are a godsend for my back. It makes working on a frame so much more enjoyable................ Funny Story: Was working at a small shop where a friend of mine worked. He was working on something on a 59 T-Bird. The front bumpers on them are pretty low. He had his head under the bumper sideways to the ground. He had only jacked it up a few inches with a floor jack.......maybe to loosen the radiator draincock or something simple. As he worked the floor jack had a slow leak and gradually settled to the point where it had his head trapped between the bumper and the floor. Heard him hollering............. Luckily I was close by.
I worked in a tire store in the 80's we still used them and would lift on the frame ... pair could pick up a car in a hot second
Had a pair of Walker Air Lifts back in the day. Had a 59 Elcamino jacked up on both ends, came back the next day to find the damn thing had broken in half. Rust much? Made special add on arms, and extended the base on mine. The safety catch saved my ass a few times. Made bench pressing a tranny into position a bit easier. Used to slide under the car with the tranny on my chest and lift it into position, wiggle it a bit, and start a couple bolts. Ahh, to be young again.
Nope, I don't put my hearing aids in when working on stuff these days. Makes the grinders noise a lot more tolerable and I don't hear the dueling banjos at all. Nevah did find my cousinbrothers..........Always luked up to them cuz they wuz the smart ones in the famly.
Speaking of Banjo's ...here is the little teardrop trailer I built to match it. Made it to haul my handicap scooter around.. Notice the lettering on it
Cool trailer. Tell me again, why they call it "dueling banjos" when there is only one banjo, and one guitar?
It was originally written as "fuedin banjos" and was played using two banjos.......and modified to "dualing banjos".......so the name of the song is correct. In the movie Deliverance the song was not named but was supposedly just a spontaneous moment. Gee I love Wikipedia. Anyway, anyone who has not watched the movie Deliverance needs to go watch it.
That is correct. Some of the movie staff was out and about and stopped at that old gas station... They noticed the young man sitting there, and one of the movie guys had his banjo along, and took it out...They filmed it totally spontaneous, as mentioned... After reviewing it, they went back to the station and made a deal with the parents of the young man to include it in the film.. True story..
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