Benzguy ~ a cheap lift will kill you in a horrible way .

You're lucky in that you live here in California where there are endless auctions of shops, factories and so on where you can buy nearly new shop equipment for pennies on the dollar .

A guy I know bought a twin post hoist from the biggest seller of hoists in America, American made for their muffler line, it failed when he had a Toyota 4X4 (IIRC) on it he was only not killed because the truck wasn't too far off the floor .

I wish I had a lift but no space .

Getting down isn't bad but getting back up again gets harder every year .

I agree, the Japanese vehicle makes more sense but then we'd all be driving Kia Souls if that was our main thrust.....

? Where's the sense in driving a 30 ~ 40 year old high maintenance vehicle ? .

Yet, we do it gladly ~ I like to drive across America in mine .

FWIW, regular sweeping and washing of the concrete wherever you work makes the job -so- much easier and more pleasant .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

This is an FYI thing and not in any way important. Just 'cause I'm a grumpy old man I'll post this:


A "lift" is an elevator that goes between 2 floors (or in Great Britain, any elevator). A "hoist" is a lifting device that facilitates working on a piece of machinery. Therefore, what we're talking about here is hoist and not a lift (unless you want a two floor elevator in your workshop). I know - most professional mechanics call it a "lift" but that doesn't make it right.


Anyhow, my Pace is made in China though the pump is made in the USA. It was cheap and stout though much heavier than it probably needs to be. The safety locks are plenty big and therefore the worst that can happen is that the vehicle settles on the locks but that hasn't happened in 10+ years. I would have liked a Bend Pack or other US made unit but that was out of the budget.


Dan

Go look closely at the hoists by that brand .

The one my buddy had that failed, only had tack welds on the far side arms to slider, then it was painted , labeled and shipped so he ass-U-ME'D it was O.K.....

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Mine is welded to a fair-thee-well! It looks like guys who made it were paid by how many feet of weld they could put down on it. I'm OK with that. Sorry your buddy's wasn't. I wonder if it got tacked together then coated before the weldor was done with it. Shouldn't happen, of course, but I suppose it could. Actually, I was surprised at how overbuilt mine is - again, I'm OK with that. If I'd seen tacks where welds should be I'd have called Pace for another one.



I've bough a few things from Pace and all have been OK. Chinese but OK. Again, I'd love American if I could afford it. That's always a dilemma for me, cost vs buying American. But if it's imported or do without I don't have much choice.



Dan

Wow. Hats off to you guys. I’m 51 and I get sore after a day of crawling over and around my cars. I was starting to worry about the next decade.

I’m convinced that most of it is muscle pain from doing things I don’t do regularly. I got an old cross country ski machine from my mom’s home and started using that. It helped a bit. I realize I don’t move enough and if I do it isn’t the full body motion and stretching while wrenching.

I think after reading this I’ll invent a kind of wrenching tai chi routine to do while I watch YouTube videos about vintage Mercedes. You know, like leaning over an imaginary engine and getting down on my knees and back and getting back up in slow motion...over and over again. What I’m looking for is an exercise that keeps me in shape for what I want to keep doing. Wait...I had a
Kaizen manufacturing teacher who forced his team to do this. Dang I just remembered. It seemed dumb at the time but I think I need to do this everyday.

https://youtu.be/XrEH5JLljDI

Like others my favorite tools are cheater bars (I have all lengths and diameters...no tube scrap gets tossed) and a pair of clip on reading glasses. These were suggested by my uncle who got through his 60s to 80 wrenching when I complained I’d suddenly lost my close vision. Finally Advil.

I have the same pain after a day of yard work. I think the key is doing it more frequently. Hmmm...maybe it’s time to get another project car.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

I was showing some liver damage even though I rarely took pain meds. Now I dont take anything unless I am in real pain. When something hurts I exercise more. That seems to help more than pills.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Much of the pain and illness is self induced. A friend of mine was going to get on the liver transplant list. His doc didn't have any other options so he went to the local quack doc who put him on a fresh juicing and raw veggie diet. He said the diet was stark but fear of death kept him on it. His liver healed and 20 years later he's retired and still riding bikes.

Another friend was put on insulin and hated it. He went to the same quack doc, ate what the quack doc said and was off meds completely after 2 months.

Another had arthritis and gout. He also went to whole plants cutting all animal products , added sugar and salt out of his diet. Gout went away along with the arthritis except for 1 hip that was already destroyed to the point of needing replacement.

Dean Ornish demonstrated over 30 years ago that cutting saturated fat out of a diet prevents and even reverses heart disease. Look it up and stop eating poison/garbage if you want to quit hurting.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Agree 100 percent! Cut out the animal protean, and you will feel much better!

__________________

All Diesel Fleet
1985 R107 300SLD TURBODIESEL
2005 E320 CDI (daily)

LOTS of parts for sale!


EGR block kit
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/355250-sale-egr-delete-block-off-plate-kit.html

1985 CA emissions 617 owners- You Need This!
Sanden style A/C Compressor Mounting Kit for your 616/ 617 For Sale + Install Inst.

Sanden Instalation Guide (post 11):
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/367883-sanden-retrofit-installation-guide.html

Tom, When I had my knees replaced a few years ago, I took Oxycodone (?) for several weeks; even after i returned to work. One day the Engineer for whom I was working asked a question about a test procedure ( I have 40 years' experience in this field and have learned a thing or two.) I KNEW the answer to his question, but could not access it at that time. I stopped taking the Oxy.
Last month with my shoulder replacement, I took a total of 5 Oxy of the 40 i was given, and stopped. I try not to repeat mistakes. This time I was successful.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

And cut added sugar & sodium, white flour and all of the ingredients listed on boxes that you can't pronounce. That limits one to the produce aisle and some have said that they "can't eat like that" or "it's expensive to eat healthy".



Apparently to it's more painful to eat well than to live with diabetes or go through bypass surgery. It isn't more expensive.



I may build a shop to hold a lift. Wife won't live in the woods with me but I own 60 acres and she'll get behind doing anything there short of building a new house. I'm fixing the old cabin starting with new windows, paint, water & AC. Boat, cars next then perhaps shop with lift.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Junkman you need to promise her her "dream kitchen" to get her to agree to a new house in the middle of the 60 acres.

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Jim

Just curious, was the quack dock a:

1. Naturopathic Doctor (N.D.)

or an

2. Osteopathic Doctor (D.O.)

A dream kitchen has no persuasion ability but I'd promise her anything to build a 1500 ft cabin with detached shop. Unfortunately, that's not happening. She did agree to fixing the cabin that's there and painting the 85SD. The really beautiful building site on the hill with 0 neighbors hasn't persuaded her either. She likes to bike or run to the gym which keeps here healthy and also me by association.



I had 2 wives move out of there before meeting this one and decided to learn my lesson and move after finding out that a new son was enroute. The county with the woods has a really crappy schools system so we bought downtown in what used to be a small town (and still is compared to where we came from).


I really can't complain. I'm healthy, have a good wife, my son is doing well and on his way to college, and I get to work on my projects and have enough cash to do most things I want.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

[QUOTE=
I really can't complain. I'm healthy, have a good wife, my son is doing well and on his way to college, and I get to work on my projects and have enough cash to do most things I want.[/QUOTE]


THAT is the definition of a successful life! Hats off to you. BTW - I'm pretty much there myself though I do have a few regrets (i guess we all do).


Dan

I'm surprised at the number of old folks on this site. I'm 78 and last week I replaced the tie rod ends and the four brake hoses on my Mercedes. If I can do the work through the wheel wells or the hood, I do it. I have stopped crawling under vehicles, I think.

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'97 E 300 D