Guys, I figured I'd through this out there. I like wrenching on my own personal cars, and having the additional of a lift of some sort would be perfect. I have a small single car garage, that is fairly tight, but I can comfortably get the E300 in there, length wise, but not much room on both sides at the same time, it's all or nothing on one side. My goal is to be able to lift up the E300 (primarily) so that I can get the entire vehicle off the ground and so I can wheel underneath it, with the security of jack stands in strategic places for safety, so that I can perform maintanance, i.e. tranny service, replacement of flex discs, fluids, etc....

I'll post a picture of what I'm working with later. But I figured I put this out there to let it stew on low heat :-) Not seeking to spend a lot of money, but having this lift would be a huge help as I don't plan on upgrading the house anytime soon, due to the economic conditions at this time. I'm thinking a type of scissor lift would probably be best.

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

The main problem with smaller lifts is that they pretty much occupy all the space under the car. You need a 2 or 4 poster which will give you space to wheel under. That's going to be mighty tight though...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Will This Fit?

The setup and tear down look pretty simple.

Unfortunately no, garage is too small to accomodate. Although I have this in mind for the next residence

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

I have never seen one of these in person but the design is very interesting and sounds like it is something that might work in your situation. The price is pretty high in my opinion, but considering what it is and what it can do it might be worth it for some. There is a pretty nice option for putting casters under it which can come in very handy when you need to shift the vehicle over to one side of the garage to get enough room to work on the other side. This thing is also quite small and light to store out of the way when you're not using it! If it was $795 instead of $1795 I'd have bought one already.

http://www.ezcarlift.com/

I have not seen them recently, but the garage I worked in when I was in HS had some air-powered jacks that had arms that extended out a few feet. They were positioned at the bumper, and the arms extended under the car. One at each end would lift the car about 3 feet off the floor.

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

Yeah that is pretty spendy. Must be made in USA. I can see a China one being about 495.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

you might be refering to gray jacks.they work great on old cars with bumpers but the newer cars with plastic bumpers not so good.

Man it must be pretty small then. In that case how will you work on it at all?

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

One thing people rarely consider doing is digging a pit. Granted you have to be VERY careful while digging it and when using it but it's cheap!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

That is a pretty nice lift. Harbor Freight should have one shortly if they don't already.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Build a larger garage!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Years ago I heard of a pit--very well designed, and built. So thoughtful was the designer, that he included an automatic sump pump in the pit. Then, one day, someone spilled a few gallons of gasoline, and it ran into the pit, and to the sump pit. It was a warm day, so much of the fuel vaporized, and was contained by the walls of the pit, until the arc from the automatic sump pump ignited it.

May be a suburban myth, but it paints quite a picture.

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

I can't imagine how that would happen since all the electrics in the pump should be sealed. Of course special care would have to be taken maintaining it properly. I would probably put an air quality monitor in it and an exhaust fan blowing into it.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Now there are some sealed sump pumps, but you can still buy the kind with open motors. The devil in in the details.

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