Modern cars need a lift, no question about it. When I started as a car guy 40 years ago, it was easy to roll the floor jack under the car, and lift from the crossmember in the front, and the differential housing in the back. If you try that now, even if you can find those components under the aerodynamic underbellies, you're seriously likely to break something.
On TV, all those guys have beautiful two-post lifts that will lift the car so high you need a ladder to change the oil. But in the real world, that won't work. No clearance in the garage, no concrete pilings underneath, no money for a good one. So, I've been haunting the site http://ezcarlift.com/ for a while, looking at this neat lift. I was dragging my feet due to the cost, but I finally called and talked to the lift's inventor, Boytcho Manev. The "t" is silent, so it's pronounced "BOY-cho".
I decided to take the plunge, aided in my decision by the magic phrase "Made in U.S.A." After seeing various pictures of cars dangling from failed Chinese lifts, I didn't want to go there! I also ordered the accessory "moving casters" that allow the car to be pushed in any direction while on the lift, and Boytcho kindly offered me a $200 discount, and also included the "hockey puck" accessory, which ensures that my aero trim on the rocker panels would not be damaged.
The lift ships in two 70-pound boxes via FedEx, and when I arrived at the church on Tuesday, there was a rather petite female FedEx driver struggling with one of the boxes. I quickly ran to help, and we took them right to my Scion xB. Today I had time to put the lift together, and found very high-quality hardware and easy assembly. Here it is raised just a bit:
My friend John Zimmerman came over, and we started to lift the Coupe. Power is via a big drill - at least 7.5 amp. The spec says full lift in 90 seconds, but my drill doesn't develop that kind of RPM. It was about 2.5 minutes to the top (26 inches). I needed the plywood under the front wheels to raise the car slightly so the lift would roll underneath.
As you can see in the next two shots, there is a LOT more clearance than with the old jackstand method, and there's room to roll underneath from side to side and front to back:
I can actually sit crosslegged under the car (with just a tilt of the head) and work underneath.
Then we *tried* to remove the wheels. Some gorilla had really pounded them on with an impact wrench. I have an impact wrench myself, but my compressor only goes to 90 pounds, and it just wasn't enough. I had to take the car to a tire store, and have them loosen the bolts. I took my torque wrench along, set to the specified 72 ft-lbs and with the correct socket, so they could tighten them again correctly.
Once we got the car back into the garage and on the lift again, the next problem: wheels REALLY stuck to the hub. This is a super-common problem with BMWs, because the aluminum wheels rust to the steel hubs due to galvanic corrosion, especially if the car has seen some road salt. The solution: the biggest rubber hammer you've got, and lots of pounding. You can see from this shot of the hub how rusted it was. I'll clean the hub and wheel with a wire brush, and then use copper-based anti-seize compound to stop that from happening again.
Next thing to try was the moving casters. Here's a close-up of the leg of the lift - see the holes in the leg braces, just above the pivot point?
That's where the accessory legs fit.
When you lower the lift, the wheels touch the ground and the lift frame clears, allowing you to move the car. Two wheels have brakes, and two have locks to allow you to force the direction of travel. John and I pushed the car over to "my side", where it will remain while work progresses.
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