Anyone Ever Built or Even Seen, An Original type Greasing Pit?

ericr

ericr

Well-known member
-I know it would be a lot of work, but a lot of you guys apparently reside with some acreage and have built large garages etc. Plus a lot of us are nostalgic, eccentric, etc.

I suspect there are modern regulations on drainage and lighting within such a cavity.

I did see one in an old parking garage years ago, before it was torn down. As I recall it had narrow, steep steps on the end for access to the pit.
 
Pits are great till you fall in one...changes your whole outlook about them..I fell into the stair end,my fault,didnt chock the car.
 
Can only speak for Washington State but I was always told that pits were outlawed. for years here in town most had been covered up with heavy planking.
 
Tacoma Bob said:
Can only speak for Washington State but I was always told that pits were outlawed. for years here in town most had been covered up with heavy planking.
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Yes, outlawed. That's why you don't see them in muffler shops anymore. Heavier than air gases tend to collect in them... Acetylene, propane, carbon dioxide, etc. Not a good thing.
 
Back in the '70's I had a car with a U-joint that was getting noisy and threatening to give out. A neighbor had a pit that he had installed 20 years earlier when he extended his garage. It sure made the job of replacing the U-joint easier. The pit installation had been approved by the city at the time.
 
I have a pit in my garage. I wouldn't be without it. I generally have my A parked over it. I can also put planks over it and they are the same hight as the garage floor. They are also heavy enough to drive over. Sure make working under the car easier.
 
In my opinion not very practical ! Basically for lube jobs, mufflers and oil changes. Significant safety concerns concerning slips, falls on greasy steps, water and exhaust fumes. Maybe that's why you don't see them anymore . I had one and paid for the dirt to fill it in ! .
 
I have used them in the past, good for some jobs, not so for others. When lifts became available for a reasonable price, with rare exception, that was the end of pits. Had a local repair shop where I live that had a sign , "Use our pit to change your oil" not sure how many people did. As for me I have 2 four post lifts in my garage and being old and not so limber, they work good.
 
holdover said:
I have used them in the past, good for some jobs, not so for others. When lifts became available for a reasonable price, with rare exception, that was the end of pits. Had a local repair shop where I live that had a sign , "Use our pit to change your oil" not sure how many people did. As for me I have 2 four post lifts in my garage and being old and not so limber, they work good.
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What brand hoists did you go with? What weight load? Thanks
 
I know a man who was once injured when he lost his footing on an oily stair step and fell into a pit and screed up both his knees. I can see why they are outlawed. He no longer works in the automotive industry, other than he has a restoration project going on.
 
J Franklin said:
Thy are used in quick Lub shops in Oregon.
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I've seen them in other states, too. Somehow in my career, I was aware of code requirements for vent fans to draw away gas vapors in the pit, sort of like bilge ventilation.

I have a vague memory of my Dad taking me with him in my coupe in '53 or so to a repair shop with a pit in Colorado Springs. Seems like it was pretty rudimentary.
 
We had 3. They are nice, but,,,

In a busy garage things tend to get messy. While doing some exhaust work it caught fire. Of course the transmitter was in park and the rear bumper was over the stairs. I had a heck of a time getting the trans lever to move so I could push the car back so I could get out. The fire was also at the back blocking me and under the fuel tank. Never put a car in park on one after that.
That was back when we had 4 twin post Weavers and a drive on lube rack [ can't recall the make]
 
Not to long in the past I remember using ditches as grease pits - back then pollution was not as much concern as today. Just moved the car uphill a notch to keep from laying in the used oil. BTW, still have a Valvoline quick lube 2 blocks from my home in SC with a pit I use due to older age.

John
 
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A fellow Peace Corps volunteer and I broke through a concrete floor and dug our own pit by hand while we were setting up a school for young mechanics in Chile in 1961. Used cement on the walls and floor and welded up a ladder for one end. Even built cement curbs along each side to prevent car wheels from falling in. You could probably buy two regular lifts for what it would cost to dig and finish a pit today.

Quick lube centers in Virginia still use them, probably to save time raising and lowering cars on a lift but I understand they are well regulated with regard to ventilation, carbon monoxide alarms and such. A few years ago, I almost bought a house with a detached garage that had a pit. Wonder what my insurance agent would have thought about that.

Glen
 
There was an old timer that had one in his welding shop. Only one I ever saw working. I always thought they were dangerous for a lot of the above reasons.
I was stopped in my truck by the state DOT at a weigh station in MD and they have one that is pretty new and in use. It makes inspecting the drivetrain of trucks very easy I suppose.
As a contractor, for the cost of putting one in the right way, a lift would probably end up being about half the price.
 
All of the above are very valid reasons, ...however all of the ones I ever worked in were filthy and an absolute mess. Likely because they were hard to clean, and to wash out. Even front end alignment pits that I worked in became dark dungeons over time. I personally don't think I would like to work in another pit. Add me to that list of 'Lifts have spoiled me too!'.
 
Used to play in them all the time as kid, but that was back in the 50s, then the cuban missile crisis hit and some of those pits were expanded and turned into bomb shelters, and those were really fun to play in.
 
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