Spring maintenance

[Down Shift]

Ok, so I might be a couple weeks early. But it finally warmed up here and most of the snow is gone. The roads are dry, so I said "screw it, I'm getting out the Camaro."

Here's how she spent the winter, up on my ghetto lift. Pardon the messy garage, a good spring cleaning is next up on my to-do list!



I bought her last fall, she's a 2010 2SS/RS, had 36k on the clock, I drove the snot out of it while I could and racked up almost 4000 miles last fall. I had no idea what oil the dealership put in it (it was at a Chrysler dealer) and I'm pretty sure it was running the original diff and transmission fluid, so I decided to change it all out. *Sigh*, that's about $120 worth of fluids in that picture...



The ghetto lift gets the wheels up about 24" off the ground, that gives me plenty of room to work.



The fluid transplant was mostly without incident (just a quart of ATF on the floor), and she's ready to come out and play...



I put about 60 miles on her today. Shifts great, no creepy noises, no puddles on the ground. I'd say mission accomplished!

I'm gonna drive her to work tomorrow. Not that she's particularly special, you just about can't turn your head without seeing a Camaro at my job.

[Rico]

I'm about to do the same thing with my car. I bet she's happy to get out on the road again.

[BubbaSS]

Not that ghetto

[SuperSport2011]

Wow you're brave to trust that ramp lol

[ActNup NY]

Originally Posted by SuperSport2011

Wow you're brave to trust that ramp lol

Was just thinking the same . Creative though I like


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[thkfast]

Hold it. You used a bookshelf to support your car? And...crawled under it???

[45thCamaro]

I actually think it's a good idea. As long as it can support the weight long term, and be sturdy not to topple over, good for you. Wish I could do the same

[pyroguy]

This is the second person I've seen here with a "homemade ramp" like this. Will someone please put together a DIY on how to build one? While I have a 3 ton jack and stands, I'd much rather have the 24" ground clearance everywhere at once.

[suzook]

I'm thinking maybe adding a set of snow tires to the list, because apparently spring is not here yet. Its snowing AGAIN!!!!!

[45thCamaro]

Originally Posted by pyroguy

This is the second person I've seen here with a "homemade ramp" like this. Will someone please put together a DIY on how to build one? While I have a 3 ton jack and stands, I'd much rather have the 24" ground clearance everywhere at once.

+1

I think it can be build with scaffold grade planks, and some 5/8" nuts and bolts with lock washers. Only think I would add would be some more cross rails and maybe side rails to you could feel when the tire was coming close to the edge.

[oldfriend]

Good idea but , this cars are heavy , you should get a couple pices of plywood 4X8x 1/2" thick and nail it to the outside off those ramps , and to the flat stand pieces
It can collapse not so much by the car's weight , but by the moment when you start moving or stoping , it may act like a domino efefect
The plywood will prevent it from happening , one side or another on both sections , you may not even need to have it done the full length of it , but I would do at least a full 8 feet per section and call it done
Nail it at 6" OC on the edges and 12" on the filed

One can and should install at least one crisscross piece on one end in between the two stands , one never knows when the land would shake , and when the car is on top , it will be very top heavy

It may prevent your next nightmare

[SSJ455]

Cool lift!!!!!!

[Down Shift]

Ha! I thought this thread died...

Regarding the ramps and ghetto lift setup...

It amazes me that the same folks who look at a product like QuickJacks or Race Ramps and say "wow, I want those" look at a wooden structure and say, "OMG, you're going to die under there!". Steel and rubber are ok to lift a car, but wood is scary dangerous? Bah! Wood is a perfectly legitimate engineering material. Your house supports pretty large loads and manages to not fall over, right? It's all a matter of proper bracing and using enough material to manage the loads. I believe that my boxes are safer and more stable than working on a car on jack stands.

I have an engineering degree from a fully accredited state university. Oh, I'm also a suspension engineer at General Motors. They let me design parts for trucks that haul thousands of pounds, so I *might* know a thing or two about building load bearing structures.

I did some research and some hand calculations along the way. Just to put things in perspective... The compressive yield strength of kiln dried pine is (conservatively) 5000 psi (parallel to the grain). These cars are around 4000 lbs. The loads over the tire patches are at worst 1200 lbs in the front. You have a tire contact patch of about 27" (that's 9" wide and 3" long for a 245/45R20 tire, probably a little conservative), so your pressure over the tire patch is AT WORST 45 psi. That's 45 psi on a material that can support over 5000 psi. The support boxes are NOT very highly stressed! There is some bending stress in the top planks with the wheels between the T shaped uprights. I guess I could dig out my Statics book and figure out the bending stress in the middle of the unsupported area of the plank, but that's being silly. I just doubled up the top plank and called it good. The boxes are way stronger than they need to be. They're freakin' heavy and they're a pain in the rump to move, but, better over engineered than under-engineered.

The whole assembly is made from 2"x12"x 12 foot lumber. There is one full length piece on the bottom, and 2 on the top. The inner supports are T shaped, and made from cut down 2"x12" pieces. They are screwed together into the T shape, and then screwed into the top and bottom planks. Each joint is fastened with construction adhesive and 5 wood deck screws (3 1/2" long). The top piece is glued and screwed to the top of the structure. The ramps are a single piece of 2x12 x 12, with vertical supports every 16". The ramps are bolted to the main structures with a pair of 1/2" bolts with fender washers. The 2 boxes are tied together with 2x4's bolted to the boxes with more 1/2" bolts.

The main boxes are primed and painted with the best stuff Tractor Supply has to offer, and the tops are coated with roll on bed liner. The ramps are going to be painted and bed lined as soon as it warms up outside.

Its dark out now, but I'll go out in the morning and take pictures and (if I'm feeling really motivated) throw together a sketch of how its built for anyone who is interested.

[Down Shift]

Originally Posted by oldfriend

Good idea but , this cars are heavy , you should get a couple pices of plywood 4X8x 1/2" thick and nail it to the outside off those ramps , and to the flat stand pieces
It can collapse not so much by the car's weight , but by the moment when you start moving or stoping , it may act like a domino efefect
The plywood will prevent it from happening , one side or another on both sections , you may not even need to have it done the full length of it , but I would do at least a full 8 feet per section and call it done
Nail it at 6" OC on the edges and 12" on the filed

One can and should install at least one crisscross piece on one end in between the two stands , one never knows when the land would shake , and when the car is on top , it will be very top heavy

It may prevent your next nightmare

Good thoughts!

The plywood on the outside is one way to prevent it from racking. I've seen it done that way and it works. I used 2x12's uprights placed for-aft in between (and screwed to) the lateral uprights. They make a T shape when viewed from above. It would take a ridiculous amount of force to collapse the boxes.

The ramps do have plywood on the outside to keep the legs stable. They are also screwed to the support boxes with 1/2" bolts when I'm going up or down, so they get some additional support from the boxes.