My Redneck Hoist

[TBayToyotaBoy]

I dare anyone to out-ghetto me on this one (but I'll be amused if you can!).

I'm replacing the exhaust on my V6 from the cat back, and I quickly realized that regular ramps wouldn't give me enough lift to work in comfort. My fiancee and I recently moved to a rural property with LOTS of lumber lying around, and so I cobbled together this monstrosity:





Immediately behind the car, my concrete pad ends and there's a 12" drop to the lawn--so in total I have roughly four feet of room to maneuver under there now. Despite the desired result, I kinda feel like the Mexican guy in that picture of the pickup truck propped up with a 2x4 while he welds next to the gas tank. Sure beats paying to have a hydraulic hoist insatalled, though...and yes, it's stable.

So, do I have any competition for "redneck of the year"? How about for the "rural ghetto" award?

[new echo owner]

It must be pretty cold to work out there! I don't even want to work on my car inside the garage with a heater going! My hat is off to you!

N.E.O.

[HomeGrown]

Nice work, Tim!! Sadly, I got nothin' I can trump that with.
You know, this setup, plus the fact that it's in a rural area in Canada makes me think you've got some Red-Green blood in ya.

You need to further utilize that dropoff behind the car and build ramps that extend out so you can drive the car out on it.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Heh heh, I was wondering if anyone would bring up the Red Green thing... except that I'm not using any duct tape whatsoever

As for the extension of the ramps, I've already sketched-out something. I have to be careful, though, working on frozen ground can be tricky (two days of direct sun and the ground will start to shift under load).

I promise to keep updates on this, though. I'm hoping to put up plywood walls and roof for warmer winter working!

[HomeGrown]

NO DUCT TAPE?!?! I'm extremely disappointed, Tim.
Obviously, you need a Red-Green marathon to mend your ways.

Did you guys buy that place, or are you renting? Here's a possible option for your redneck "lift" that would be pretty solid & inexpensive to build.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Bill, it looks like you've spent as much time on this as I have! Thanks for the suggestion.

What you cannot see in the picture is the fact that the car is sitting on a concrete pad. The edge of the concrete lines-up with the rear bumper, and behind that it's grass. What I'm planning to do is to haul several concrete slabs (there's lots of crap lying around this property) over to the area and to build a sloping ramp with them. Quite similar to your idea, without the 8X8's.

Sadly, we're just renting the place, so I can't make any permanent plans. Thankfully, Red Green is a master of "McGuyver" (ie temporary) fixes!