Two post lift for a 1932?

[Kraton]

Hello all,

I am the proud owner of a 1932 Roadster in the Netherlands. I have just bought a garageunit of 16x33 feet. Plenty of room for a car lift. I would like a two post for the convenience of wheel, brakes and axle work. One thing that is not clear to me is the placement of the lifting pads on a 1932 chassis. It seems to me that placing the pads on the straight part of the chassis (just at the front and rear of the running boards is a bit to close together. But putting the pads further forward and backward locates them on the sloping part of the chassis and I don't think that is a good place either. Does anybody have some thoughts on the matter please?

Greetings, Dick

[Uptown83]

Ive put my 32 on a lift multiple times. The rear supports would be just in front of the rear tires before the arch in the frame and the front is somewhere near the firewall area(maybe slightly passed it). The 2 post lift should have locks that lock the arms in position so they wont slip if they are on a slightly curved part of the frame.

[117harv]

Hundreds of threads with great of info on this subject on the...Garage Journal...link at the bottom of the page.

[fortyfords]

The reason that I like a four post, put tall or whatever height jack stands under the axles and when I lower the lift, I have a huge workbench to work off of. My two cents.

[my4dv8]

Our 32 is not dead stock as far as suspension goes but otherwise all early ford and it can be an issue getting it onto a two post hoist as far as getting the arms in far enough and the pads adjusted high enough to get a safe even lift. Usually requires blocks of wood and careful checking of levels, it can be unnerving. We have hair pins in the front but the rear is stock.

[blucar]

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From my experience, twin post lifts are not friendly to "open bodied cars", especially the early Fords, because of their light chassis' and minimal body strength.
If you persist in using a twin post lift make sure the arms are deployed as close as possible to the front/rear axles.. I would also caution you against leaving the car on the hoist for extended periods of time..
If you put the car on the twin post, check your doors for alignment, if you can't open or close them, you've got a problem in the making..
I opted for a four post hoist, takes a little more room, however, I can leave a car sitting on it for extended periods of time, freeing up floor space.. Axle accessories are available for the four post lifts which assist when the need arises to work on the running gear, wheels, etc., of a vehicle..

[Kraton]

Thanks guys,

Valuable advice. I was worrying about the "unnerving" bit and rightly so it seems. The "minimal body strength" issue did not cross my mind before but I understand it. I am going for a four post. Thanks again.

[mrtexas]

Here is what I use to lift my Model A on a 2 post lift:



For my lift, the MaxJax, I had to move the posts closer together as Model A is much narrower than modern cars. MaxJax posts can be moved closer together by drilling different holes in the floor.

[mrtexas]

Originally Posted by Kraton

Thanks guys,

Valuable advice. I was worrying about the "unnerving" bit and rightly so it seems. The "minimal body strength" issue did not cross my mind before but I understand it. I am going for a four post. Thanks again.

What is not as strong on the old Fords is the frame. However a 2 post is fine for working on them, just not for long term storage. 4 post is better for long term storage and 2 post doesn't take as much space and is better for working on them. I have both a 4 post and a 2 post. The 2 post is more work to adjust the arms before you lift and requires a lot of getting on your knees. I bought the 2 post for my old house with only 9 foot ceilings in the garage. The MaxJax is designed for lower ceilings. It raises the car at most 4 feet. In my new house I have plenty of room for both the 4 post and the 2 post so I bought a 4 post for storage. New house has 12 foot garage ceilings and I can store my 36 woodie on the top and 63 Corvette under it.

A 4 post is not much good for pulling out an early Ford rear end and a 4 post has significantly less room to work from the bottom as the ramps are quite wide. 4 post takes up a lot more room. Typical 4 post lift is 8 feet or more wide, pretty wide unless you have a large garage, mine is a two car 27 feet wide.

[tub1]

when you have had one fall on you from a two post lift ! you think again! my life passed before me and my 35 sedan badly damaged DONT DO IT

[Tom Walker]

Kraton, I have both and prefer the 2 post for ease of access to the underneath. 2 post lifts just need some care when placing the pads on the ends of the arms. The chassis rails on most early cars are tucked up higher than running board/bodywork, so need blocks as spacers on the pads. I cut blocks of hard wood the right size for each car then label them left/right/front/back car name.
If I only had one lift it would be the 2 post IMO.
Cheers, Tom.

[Tom Walker]

32 on 2 post.

[blucar]

I have a friend that has two hoists, a two post and a four post.. When doing suspension work, i.e. front or rear of a vehicle, he has found out the hard way the a vehicle on a twin post is very unstable.
Once a vehicle is on the arms of a twin post and has been raised off of the floor, my friend very carefully checks the position of the frame mounts before the vehicle is raised very high. Once the vehicle is completely in the air my friend attaches safety straps around the frame and lift arms..
My friend learned the hard way to use safety straps on old cars.. He was working on the removal of the rear end from a '34 Ford coupe. The car had an OHV V8 and a late model rear end. When the weight of the rear end was removed from the car, the counter weight of the V8 engine made the car fall from the hoist arms..
Of course the placement of the lift arms probably contributed to the "unbalance"..
People that work on old cars, especially those from the 1930's should keep in mind that the old cars were not designed to be lifted by their frames. The old cars were generally lifted via the axles with axle stands placed under the axles..
The old "in floor" hydraulic lifts had movable cross brackets that could be positioned on the I-beam rails to securely engage the front and rear axles of vehicles..
A common use for the discarded EFV8 axle housings was to cut the hub end off, cutting a "U" notch into the end that would fit very nicely under an axle. The large flare of the banjo end sat squarely on the floor..
Through the years I have picked up a couple of sets of early Ford axle housings at garage sales/swap meets, that have been modified into axle stands.

[mrtexas]

Originally Posted by blucar

curely engage the front and rear axles of vehicles..
A common use for the discarded EFV8 axle housings was to cut the hub end off, cutting a "U" notch into the end that would fit very nicely under an axle. The large flare of the banjo end sat squarely on the floor..
Through the years I have picked up a couple of sets of early Ford axle housings at garage sales/swap meets, that have been modified into axle stands.

An old friend gave me a set of them. Handy!