By allowing you to access the underside of a car, an automotive lift allows for you to accomplish more work in less time when you are performing maintenance or repairing a car. This makes them an essential part of your garage supply. For one thing, it makes it much more simple to remove the drain plug when you are changing the oil in your car. If you did not have a car lift, you would be required to use a hydraulic car jack in order to raise the front end of the car and you would then need to place to axle stands underneath it in order to keep it from falling on top of you while you work. All of these pieces of equipment would need to be put in place before you would be able to drain the oil on the car.
Car lifts can be risky to use, however, if they are not used properly. In order to avoid accidents that can result in injury or death, it is important to understand a few basic safety rules before you use an automotive lift. We will start by discussing the things that you should do when you operate a car lift, and we will follow that up by discussing the things that you should never do when you are using a car lift.
Things that You Should Do:
First and foremost, make sure that you have been trained how to use the lift properly. If it is used incorrectly, somebody could get seriously hurt. Furthermore, the car lift should be inspected every day before it is used. Every part must be working correctly, which not only means that it is functional but that it is lubricated correctly.
Do not use the lift if any of the locking devices is loose. All of them should engage tightly. Replace any loose locking devices. Wear safety goggles while you are working underneath the vehicle. Loose dirt and other debris can fall while you are working on the car. If it falls in your eyes it may only function as a nuisance in some cases, but in many cases it could lead to serious eye injury.
The car must always be properly balanced on the lift before the car is raised upward. If it is not properly balanced it could fall over, requiring the car to be replaced or repaired at best, resulting in injury or death at the worst. If the lift is a drive on car lift, always put a wedge behind the tire before you raise the lift. If you fail to do this, the car could roll off of the lift. Make sure that their is enough clearance before you raise the vehicle. You do not want the vehicle to hit the ceiling. This is especially important to consider when working with RVs or taller trucks. Do not lift the car all the way up when you first start. Start by lifting it up to knee height, then gently check it to make sure that the car is properly balanced.
Remove everybody from the area before you lower the vehicle. Make sure their are no tools left in the area as well.
Things that You Should Not Do:
Never raise the vehicle if there are people inside of it. If the car were to fall over this would be disastrous, not to mention that occupants can throw off the balance of the car if they move while it is lifted in the air. The weight of the vehicle must not exceed the capacity of the lift. Make sure that you are aware of how much the lift is capable of raising and do not attempt to place any vehicle on the lift that weighs more than this amount.
Some repairs require the use of support stands. As an example, they are required when the transmission of the car is removed, since this changes the balance of the car. Make sure that you know when support stands are required. Never lower the lift to place the car on the support stands. Always raise the support stands up to the car instead.
If there is a problem with the lift, contact the manufacturer. Don’t try to fix it yourself.