Good friend of mine needed a place to work out of the cold and of course he would call here... Nice wood heated shop and all the tools you might need for basic repairs.

God heats my car port. 

 

My back cringes every time I see a creeper so you can imagine what I am thinking right now about seeing one laying on a board. Can't work without a hoist anymore. I can lay on a creeper for a minute or two to crawl under something and assess what needs to be done before putting it on a hoist.

21 minutes ago, CSM said:

God heats my car port. 

 

Gods heat has it up to -10*f here right now even in full sunlight.

Edited January 16, 20169 yr by Wild and Free

I love lifts.  

So far the 2 lifts I've worked around I hate them. Neither one ever went high enough for me to work standing up. Always doing the splits and always racking my head on low hanging truck parts or the lift arms. Laying on a creep I can do it for hours. I'm 6'2" tall the the lift arms typically are right at 5'10" or so. That was really hard on my back.

12 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

So far the 2 lifts I've worked around I hate them. Neither one ever went high enough for me to work standing up. Always doing the splits and always racking my head on low hanging truck parts or the lift arms. Laying on a creep I can do it for hours. I'm 6'2" tall the the lift arms typically are right at 5'10" or so. That was really hard on my back.

Need taller lifts. I am 6'2" as well and with the ones at the AF shop maxed out I can work standing up on 80% of the stuff. The differential is about neck height.  

Our arms go to about 6'3 at the bottom. I'm 6'2 and can stand for almost everything.

I have a Rotary brand 7k lb. asymmetric 2 post and I can stand under my vehicles except for the VW I have to spread my legs a wee bit in some area but have little to do directly under it most times anyhow and am 6'2-3. Getting up and down and laying on a creeper more than a few minutes is a guaranteed trip to the chiro the next day for me, not sure why but it always gets me which is why I got the hoist.

 

Most hoists also have spacers or extension blocks that can be put on the arms to increase the height if needed as well. I have a set that came with mine but never need to use them.

Edited January 17, 20169 yr by Wild and Free

6 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Good friend of mine needed a place to work out of the cold and of course he would call here... Nice wood heated shop and all the tools you might need for basic repairs.

Mike your garage looks a lot like mine *worked in* I used to have a wood burner, but with one going full time in the house I didnt want to feed another one, so to save room I just ran a gas line to the shop and installed a propane heater, it heats it up at the spur of the moment with just a flick of a button

Like you I've got a low ceiling so 2 post lift is not in the works. Joking I've always said I was going to pour a pad put a 2 post outside. I know that won't happen either. I know that there is only a few month of the year where a person could work outside. After that its too hot, too cold, too wet, or too frozen.

I do have a Big Buddy propane heater for the shop for the short periods of time I'm going to be out there. Like today the wood stove about cook us out of the shop. 2 arm loads of firewood and it was well on its way to 80-85 inside the shop.

Edited January 17, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

If I had a low ceiling I would have a 4 post drive on, working off of a roller chair is really nice too, although I have worked around a lot of drive on 4 posts I could pretty much stand up under as well. and the posts were only about 7 feet tall at best.

Edited January 17, 20169 yr by Wild and Free

1 minute ago, Wild and Free said:

If I had a low ceiling I would have a 4 post drive on, working off of a roller chair is really nice too.

Sucks when you want to do brake work or wheel work like rotate tire now you got to back out of the shop and jack up off the ground again. When I was working with Lindy. The landlord had the collection of car he had a 4 post and always came over to Lindy 2 post because can't do axle or wheel work at all on a 4 post.

Any tips for heating a big shop?? 45x55 is a lot of area, and the ceiling is high! High enough a 103 bale stack wagon can be dumped easily.

The commercial hangars and shops I've been in were decently insulated or at least semi air tight and had the overhead black steel radiant flame heaters above the front of the bays and some big fans in the ceiling if it was a really high structure.  My dad is looking at doing the same, but his isn't near air tight yet. 

have you looked into waste oil heaters, them put out excellent heat, they are a little pricey though, and you need a supply to keep it fed, We use one where I work to heat a 50 X 150 with about a 16' at the peak cieliing. It can go through hundreds of gallons a month, but we keep it toasty in their 24/7. and of course we have the cieling hung propane furnaces for back up, and Ive seen them gas bills well over 500 bucks a month, when we run out of oil to burn.

for your shop size I think it would be more efficient, and also a good coal fired stove might work too

Most of the 4 posts I have been around have one or two rolling front to back and side to side adjustable air jacks built right on the lift to jack up the axles off the drive on rails.

Lift designs are almost endless now days to accommodate ceiling heights and bay sizes ect.

http://bencostuff.com/products/45/2-post-pro-9f.aspx

What are these "shops" you people speak of? 

 

 

8 hours ago, The_Hammer said:

What are these "shops" you people speak of? 

 

 

Ha Ha yeah you live in a different world, I love how repair shops do it down south, pour a slab and line up the hoists outside next to a small building with room enough for an office and toolboxes and maybe some parts and oil storage and that's about it.

11 hours ago, CSM said:

The commercial hangars and shops I've been in were decently insulated or at least semi air tight and had the overhead black steel radiant flame heaters above the front of the bays and some big fans in the ceiling if it was a really high structure.  My dad is looking at doing the same, but his isn't near air tight yet. 

We'll have to chat some more about this when you get back!

11 hours ago, 01cummins4ever said:

have you looked into waste oil heaters, them put out excellent heat, they are a little pricey though, and you need a supply to keep it fed, We use one where I work to heat a 50 X 150 with about a 16' at the peak cieliing. It can go through hundreds of gallons a month, but we keep it toasty in their 24/7. and of course we have the cieling hung propane furnaces for back up, and Ive seen them gas bills well over 500 bucks a month, when we run out of oil to burn.

for your shop size I think it would be more efficient, and also a good coal fired stove might work too

We did look into the oil burners, but the price is crazy! Like 3K plus you have to buy a tank and pump and all sorts of other odds and ends. I do believe it would be the best route, but better electricity is soaking up a bunch of the budget right now. Thank you for the suggestion though!

There was a guy I seen that built his own waste oil burn out of a normal wood stove. Need a cast iron pan, stack of large bolts, and drip system into the pan. Place the pan in the wood stove layer the bolts in the in criss-cross fashion. Drill and add your drip line above the placement of the pan. Use a needle valve to control oil flow.

To light take your acetylene torch and heat the botls up red hot and turn on your oil. It will keep going on it own. 

I wish I could find that article again. It's also that same post is lost here on the site somewhere.

The overhead radiant heaters are extreme energy hogs, about the least efficient highest cost form of heat. Waste oil burners are fairly high maintenance from what I have seen and heard, very picky about having clean oil to operate correctly.