/diy/ - Do It Yourself

https://www.amazon.com/APlusLift-HW-10KBP-Symmetric-Asymmetric-Warranty/dp/B086P9NKPY/

cheep lift

>>2759624
pits are nice for working on semi trucks and heavy equipment, but suck for cars. a lift is far superior for everything plus allows you to take the wheels off. i'd buy a used mohawk lift as my first choice. and you couldn't pay me to get under anything hanging on a chink piece of shit knockoff lift

i'd trust a shored hole in the ground over a fucking amazon lift

When I was in 9th grade, one of our teachers (a guy) told the class that the smartest thing a guy could do is to marry the ugliest girl he can stand. It took me about 30 years to figure out that he was right, but it was too late then.

He also advised us to join the military as something like an Air Force electronics tech (meaning safe, working with non-neanderthals), and retire in 20 years. That was excellent advice that we all ignored as well.

The funny thing is that it was one of those throw-away classes that football coaches teach, Civics 100 or some such worthless shit where you show up and get an A for being able to breathe with your mouth closed.

>>2759624
research car pits. you don't build the ramps, it's literally a shored up hole. also please don't coomer post, /diy/ is one of the last clean boards
>>2759633
fuck off recruiter

>>2759633
why do the full 20 retirement when 99% of these drop out in 2 years and get the same amount of money for muh ptsd

>>2759635
20 years gets you a pension, then you can take a non mil government job and collect two pensions at 60.

>>2759624
Residential maintenance pits are illegal.
Gasoline/petrol fumes are heavier than air.
They will suffocate you in the pit, and then explode if you get a spark.

>>2759710
Kinda related. There's people who get 20 years with a railroad, then another 20 with a local/state/fed government agency.
>Choo Choo motherfucker

>>2759633
not sure where this came from but stop reading my mail, are you one of my gangstalkers?

>>2759713
im a bit concerned about muh toolarinos getting mudarinos on them

>>2759634
er

>>2759713
i'll dig whatever holes i damn well please

>>2759760
You can indeed dig whatever hole you want. Please just make sure it doesn't kill you.

>>2759713
You can solve the fume problem by having ducting blow air into the bottom of the pit.

>>2759624
kysing yourself aside a pit is literally only good for one thing and that's changing your oil. if a pit is a better solution for you than some fucking ramps then excavate away. be sure to post pics, it could be one of the most ebin /diy/ disasters of all time.

>>2759837
yes because you wouldn't want to pull the heavier-than-air gasses out, you want to blow gently into them.

>>2759710
that used to be the case and now they have changed it. its no longer worth it to do an additional 20 with the government as the feds will manipulate your payments downward.

>>2759874
Literally every confined space manual says yes.

>>2759882

>>2759752
Was waiting for her to swallow her nose

>>2760096
>fan at surface blows fresh(ish) air into ducting/tubing
>output end of ducting is at the bottom of the pit
>foul air is pushed up and out by airflow, or at the very least, gets diluted with the safe air "bubbling" through

>>2759624
Booba who

I have a pit in my shop. And a lift. Lift is much better for most things, but pits are still good for massive trucks and heavy stuff like forklifts and other equipment.

>>2759752

>>2759633
blog post on /diy/?
bepis you forgot your trip

>>2759624
there's literally nothing you can't do without either some ramps or jack stands

>>2759624
>anon digs a hole
>anon comes back the next day and it's completely full of water
>fugggg
This is likely what will happen, you are better off just using ramps of getting a used lift somewhere.

>>2760278
Stand underneath the car comfortably

I wrenched back in the 80s. Seen two cars fall off a lift. Watched a new guy back a car thru the huge all glass stall door. Also watched an old lady drive into the pit and car ended up on its side in the hole

>>2759624
Why do you imagine a hole would be useful? Some history may help. Very early in the automotive world everyone was FUCKING POOR and modern lifts had yet to be developed so the "grease pit" was born. It's still used for exceptionally heavy equipment but it sucks for cars not least because it does not raise wheels. Insurance companies dislike them in shops because hazard and of course they fill with flammable vapors if fuel or LPG leaks above them.

A hole in earth is of course absurdly dangerous. Trench boxes exist for very good reason.

You can and I did weld a lift base frame out of heavy I-beam in an H shape which will not need a foundation unless in soft soil. Sadly the lift I installed was ancient and leaked which I expected but I'll eventually use the masts to winch up a good lift then hang a jib off at least one of them.

You can work under any car on sand or dirt by placing wood cribbing beneath your jack then raising the vehicle and placing old rims horizontally with cribbing (4x4, 4x6 as required) on top and it can't go anywhere. I gave away my jack stands long ago though I've got a small pantograph lift (don't bother with those) on a good slab today. Plain wood cribbing will do if no rims. See how first responders use cribbing.

I don't care for ramps as it's easy to drive off most of them and gave those away too. Cribbing works for everything including heavy equipment. I soak my blocks (usually about two feet long) in drain oil since modern wood treatments don't work. I leave blocks outdoors for years without issue.

>>2759633
>He also advised us to join the military as something like an Air Force electronics tech (meaning safe, working with non-neanderthals), and retire in 20 years. That was excellent advice that we all ignored as well.

Can confirm because I did. There are many ways to serve but when I mention choosing based on a career rather than dreaming Rambodreams on /k/ it's universally ignored (by everyone who is not a retiree).

>>2759875
https://www.militarymoney.com/retirement/second-retirement/

Smart retirees get work for Lockmart, Pratt, GE etc as civilians then retire from there with full dual retirements.

>>2760279
>hole full of water
just blow air into it

>>2760334
>what are sump drains

>>2759625
>buy a cheap version of the thing that holds 4000 pounds of steel above you while you work underneath it
This might be one of those things you shouldn't cheap out on, like tires.

>>2759624

BOOBA WHO?!?!!?

>>2760278
>use a transmission jack

>>2759760
>be rich af
>3rd of july night, hire every home depot mexican in a 100 mile radius to turn the flat beach into tall mounds of sand with no flat surfaces to lay a towel

>>2759624
A pit is nice for lube shop type of work but utterly useless for suspension or crossmember jobs.

>>2759624
>>2760428
Also they are illegal in houses for most jurisdictions, so the only way you can have a legal one is if it's built outside far from your house and then it's still questionable if it's legal because you might be dumping used engine oil in the ground.

>>2759837
Yum... radon... :)

Designer handbag, Audi titts hanging out.
Some scrawny dentists hide hobag

>>2759882
>>2760160
You cant pull air out of something like a sewer because you would constantly pull contaminated air and not fresh air. Thats why it makes more sense to blow fresh air down there.

But you can pull air from a limited space like a garage pit and fresh air would fall in from the top.

Anyway fumes in a garage pit are only a concern when you actually work on the fuel system.

>>2760279
Now anon has infinite free water. That's even better than a grease pit

>>2759632
This, wtf.
>>2759624
>>2759625
Dude just buy a floor jack and jack stands.
Do you even know what a mechanic does these days? This thread is rediculous. Nobody needs a fucking monkey pit and seriously the only mechanic I've ever known to suggest getting one was a literal crackhead

>>2759635
Because full medical retirement at a low rank doesn't pay very well.

>>2759633
>non-neanderthals
Neanderthals are smart, you fucking idiot.
Neanderthal DNA is what sets every other race apart from niggers, that And their 15% ghost DNA.
Whites are 4% neanderthal.
Fuck you

>>2760879
no anon, the races with the highest neanderthal are abos and new guineans

>>2760888
Google says you're full of shit, aboriginals have more denisovan. East Asians have the most neanderthal, followed by Europeans.

>>2759624
Veiny breasts signify poor genetics
2/10

Where i live, it used to be fairly common for people, when they were paving their driveway, would just dig a 3 foot pit or so, and just concrete or brick it all up. Then they'd just drive their cars over it to do oil changes and stuff.

I used to think they were neat when I was a kid, but as of now, like 100% of these things have all been filled in, so apparently they weren't that great of an idea for some reason.

>>2760939
if you have a pit in your shop or wherever, it's a matter of when, not if, you fall in it. inevitably, you be thinking of something or cut the corner, eat shit in it, and hopefully don't break ribs going down. i helped recover the forklift out of the pit in a friend's shop after one of his employees tried to take a shortcut across the wood 2x12s covering it. another thing to consider working in a pit is you really need a helper to grab tools and shit for you up top because it's a giant pain climbing in and out 50 times during a job

>>2760939

An outside pit would be pretty bad. Would be better to have a concrete retaining wall holding dirt back and a couple of I-beams coming off of it to drive your car onto. Or hell even an I-beam ramp up to flat I beams as a makeshift car lift. Simple and effective. No moving parts. No hole to fill with water.

>>2760950

Always keep it covered when not in use.

I have Channel iron covering mine. Heavy enough I can still drive shit onto it when I need to and not worry about some flimsy cover or boards breaking.

>>2760950
This is why you need to use, or possibly even diy, covers that can handle at least one person walking on it.

>>2760406
I'm frequent proof otherwise. The used car dealer I worked at had six bays and some open slab. We'd toss rims and or cribbing to elevate vehicles then slide transmission jacks or floor jacks or motorcycle jacks (which work rather well) to yank and stuff transmissions and transaxles all the time. Shit's so easy a lift doesn't help much.

>>2759624

>>2759624
Oil pits will kill you.

>>2762257
Pls tell me you refer to this place as "the crib"...

>>2762257
>no tabs/boards in gaps to lock cribbing together

My uncle has one like this >>2760739 but wider and made of concrete at home, with a pallet bolted to the wall as stairs.
I've been around it since I was a kid and never had an issue, the only major concern is stuff falling in the used oil bucket

Wheel cribs

>>2762257
kek beat me to it
>>2763423
Yeah he could have built it better

>>2760426
>Discovers what sand rakes and cleaners are the following morning.

>>2760739
>fumes are only a concern when...
No, they are always a concerned. Confined areas are defined per the shape, not the occupation. A confined area will accumulate heavy gases the same way a pond will accumulate water. Heavy gases include radon which is odorless and can give you lung cancer.

>>2760739
>Anyway fumes in a garage pit are only a concern when you actually work on the fuel system.

Captain Autism reporting for duty. If you weld all day long with argon shielding gas it is heavier than air and will fill the pit and kill you. Argon won't cause you to cough or gasp or sense it in any way if it's concentrated enough. Oddly enough if it is not nearly pure you will get nauseous and can even go into convulsions. So maybe use a small fan to guarantee the vomiting and convulsions instead of a painless death.

>>2765405
So run a 4 inch PVC pipe to the bottom, put some 3 way connectors every few feet and put a 4 inch inline fan on it. Lots of active ventilation. Suck the air from outside the garage.

>>2762257

>>2760285
Even smarter retirees will get disability pay on top of it all so they get their dual retirements, plus 100% disability pay, plus whatever bullshit shekels social security gives them in the end.

>>2765465
i was thinking of building a wooden ramp or welding a metal ramp or maybe even making one out of an old grain silo

>>2765455
Or, you know, get a lift and then not worry about any of that shit, or about dying if you fuck something up or forget that one crucial little thing.

>>2759624
my neighbor used to park his pickup straddling the ditch and just lay in the ditch to work on it. my friend was at a rental property where the owner just dug a big fucking trench across the side yard to deal with water standing in the back yard, so he'd park his car straddling the drainage ditch and change the oil from that.

it works, I'd rather have a jack and stands if I get a choice in the matter.

>>2765465
1. no fucking way I would trust that design
2. where the fuck is the front left?

>>2760900
tell me you're an incel without telling me you're an incel

>>2768599
>2. where the fuck is the front left?
Looks like the middle part is removable so they can drive their car on, then pull that out and have more room to work from the sides. Kinda ingenious, but also would only work for one wheelbase length. So if you only have one car to work on I guess it'd be ok. Lift or pit would be better for a wider variety of stuff though.

>>2760279
If you fill the hole with enough air then there wont b an room for water to fill it up

>>2759624
That's called a pit in the business, we use them to work on semi trucks. Simply dig about six or seven feet deep cast the reinforced concrete put a drain in it (thats rated for automobile fluids) install a oil pan and put a ladder and steps at either end opposite each other. >>2759624

>>2768753
If you just want a dirt hole skip the excavator and just buy a coffin and jump in it.

>>2768753
It cost my shop about 20 or 30 thousand for our two pits. But you aren't working on semi trucks and presumably you will put this in your garage or outside. So it will only be about 2-6k$ for you.

>>2768755
>only be about 2-6k$
that's one expensive af shovel

>>2759713
You can solve the illegal part by not telling anyone

>>2759624
i only came here to enlarge op's picture, didnt read the post

>>2769601

Me too. Aren't they beautiful.

>>2759635
Anon you understand the guys who retire at 20 get their pension, AND get disability pay, AND free healthcare for life, right? If you do your 20 you can double or even triple dip in some cases.

>>2769775
If you stay on for a few more years for the pay bumps and because by then you're so experienced the work is easy that's nice too so I did.

Retired fully at 47 and about half my income is discretionary. I have plenty of toys and no debt. I'm not special so anyone not completely retarded can easily manage it. BAH paid a nice chunkof my mortgage.

big booby titty fuck fuck cum spurt

>>2765399
>No, they are always a concerned. Confined areas are defined per the shape, not the occupation. A confined area will accumulate heavy gases the same way a pond will accumulate water. Heavy gases include radon which is odorless and can give you lung cancer.

>>2771396
Same boat. Enlisted at 17, saved every penny I could while I lived in the barracks, ate at the chow hall, paid my first mortgage with BAH, put every fucking penny I could into my Roth, commissioned at 23 and now get O-5 pension and I'm not even particularly old. I will draw my TSP, pension, Social Security, AND I can have some fun BS job if I want on the side if I don't feel like working hard anymore.

>>2772109
Sounds like you enjoy breathing in radioactive gas.
>>2759624
Get two sets of axle stands and a set of plastic or metal ramps. There is very little you cannot do with just that.