Should I be concerned using a two-post lift on a Model A

pookie55

pookie55

Member
Recently I had a gentleman PM me here on fordbarn forum with a concerning question asking if it was safe to lift my 31 Model A Truck using a two-post lift.
I for one never gave it any thought when lifting my truck I never realized there was possibly an issue lifting the truck with a two-post lift.
Does anyone in the FordBarn Forum know of any issues. I would definitely like to know obviously I don't want any problems i.e. frame splitting at the cowl with front end separating falling forward..
Any and all advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
Well if your lifting up a rotted out frame any car can split, even a modern.. if done properly its perfectly safe. I spread the front arms out to the rear motor mount area and the rear arms to where the muffler clamp bolts to the frame. This gives you a nice stabil spread
These are 1 ft adapters under adjustable feet


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Well that's what I thought also but being new to the model a world I wasn't positively sure after that question was posed to me.
I definitely took my time and lined everything up properly to be safe anyway. This truck being a Georgia truck has very little rust if any anywhere never any patches in the body or bed, frame looks great but I was concerned
 
It does take me a good 15-20 minutes to set it the way i want. Depending on the job being performed sometimes i use the 4 post
 
I think you will have a problem if you try to adjust your brakes. By lifting from the frame, the axles will drop down and pull on the brakes. The other problem I had was the height of the frame under the body. The running boards sit lower. I made up a set of tall adapters to make up for this distance. This can make for a wobbly lift if your not careful.
Mitch, did you make those extensions?
 
Ed
The adapters came with the challenger CL lifts. Four-- 6 inch and two 1 ft'ers per lift
The six inchers can be stacked to 1ft
 
Thanks for the advice my lift also came with extender lifts . I didn't have to make up anything special it also took me closer to a half an hour to get it figured out but lifted very level
 
Many years ago, the Toyota dealership in Walkerton Ont had the owners model A fall off the inground hoist. It had just been restored. The guys in the back shop were scared crapless to let him know what happened. When Harold came out to the shop to see his car laying on it's side, he asked if anyone got hurt?. Finding out that there were no injuries, he said clean it up, and returned to his office. He recanted this story to me on numerous occasions. He was most concerned that no one got hurt. There was no sense in getting upset. The damage was done. He passed away Sept. 11 2004. And is missed still by my family. Jeff
 
JDupuis said:
Many years ago, the Toyota dealership in Walkerton Ont had the owners model A fall off the inground hoist. It had just been restored. The guys in the back shop were scared crapless to let him know what happened. When Harold came out to the shop to see his car laying on it's side, he asked if anyone got hurt?. Finding out that there were no injuries, he said clean it up, and returned to his office. He recanted this story to me on numerous occasions. He was most concerned that no one got hurt. There was no sense in getting upset. The damage was done. He passed away Sept. 11 2004. And is missed still by my family. Jeff
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Sounds like someone I'd like to have worked for.
 
I have a 2 post Atlas and it works fine.

Same positioning as Mitch and I use an extra 1 - 1/2 inch extender in the rear to level out the car because the rear of the frame goes up near the shocks. With the car up and a level on the running board it is perfectly straight.

A little tricky and timing consuming to get all 4 aligned so that they don't bother the brake arms.

I have splash pans so the front arms can not go as forward as I would like. But, it beat a creeper.
 
My lift is also a Atlas 2 post lift I feel it works great but only was concerned when another gentleman stated it was not safe.
I took all precautions and used supports under the car for the first couple of days just to be sure I've had no issue
 
pookie55 said:
My lift is also a Atlas 2 post lift I feel it works great but only was concerned when another gentleman stated it was not safe.
I took all precautions and used supports under the car for the first couple of days just to be sure I've had no issue
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The last place I worked had a very unsafe 2 post lift for me to work under. The concrete was thin and weak, so the lift couldn't properly be anchored. I could grab the front bumper of a car on the hoist and push up and down and watch the base of the lift move on the weak concrete. If the car would have been off center by a foot or more, I wouldn't doubt that the lift and car both would have fallen over. I was glad to get out of there.
 
When you talked about 2 post lifts I thought you were referring to the old post lifts that were underground. One for the front and one for the rear. Not the new above ground lifts.
Paul in CT I go back a long time;);):eek:.
 
1931 flamingo said:
When you talked about 2 post lifts I thought you were referring to the old post lifts that were underground. One for the front and one for the rear. Not the new above ground lifts.
Paul in CT I go back a long time;);):eek:.[/QUOTE

Those would work good on an A, as the brake rods wont apply the brakes, and much easier to do adjustments...
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Mitch//pa said:
1931 flamingo said:
When you talked about 2 post lifts I thought you were referring to the old post lifts that were underground. One for the front and one for the rear. Not the new above ground lifts.
Paul in CT I go back a long time;);):eek:.[/QUOTE

Those would work good on an A, as the brake rods wont apply the brakes, and much easier to do adjustments...
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Back when my Dad had a repair garage, we had the old style two post. I had a Model A special coupe. The hoist worked very well on that car and many more. It was made by weaver. We even used it on the Corvair.
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