Tire Ramps

Anyone ever used these for changing oil and what not? Drive up onto them and hope you don’t give it too much gas or you may drive off haha.

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Yea we used them when I worked at the golf course for cart maintainance


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My Dad always used them to change the oil. I don’t bother changing my own oil because it’s virtually the same cost as buying oil.

Same with Brian. I can go to my dealership and spend $35 or a back yard garage form maybe $30 and when it’s all done, I’m clean, no need to dispose of oil. I’m under heavy equipment all the time but I’m getting paid for that!

Like @ChrisK said the price difference from having it done to doing it myself , definitely easier & not worth trying to get rid of the old oil !! 

I get dirty Monday thru Friday , that’s enough ….

Lol I’ve actually been looking into these 

I would rather dig a pit and get in the pit. I would then have another guy drive over the pit then I could change the oil. I hope to never use these ramps again.

Have used them many times and if you aren’t careful you will end up with them between your front and rear tires. I had a bad experience with an oil change once (they destroyed the threads on/in plug/pan) Also had a tire shop break 3 out of five lugs on a drum of my 1965 Plymouth Satellite due to their lack of attention to detail. (the L stamped into the lug should have been a giveaway) Prefer pits for oil changes myself.

Atlas2000 wrote:

52 minutes ago, Atlas2000 said:

Have used them many times and if you aren’t careful you will end up with them between your front and rear tires. I had a bad experience with an oil change once (they destroyed the threads on/in plug/pan) Also had a tire shop break 3 out of five lugs on a drum of my 1965 Plymouth Satellite due to their lack of attention to detail. (the L stamped into the lug should have been a giveaway) Prefer pits for oil changes myself.

pits are a thing?

They are a thing.

Atlas2000 wrote:

27 minutes ago, Atlas2000 said:

They are a thing.

I would’ve expected it to be deeper. So you crawl into it?

All those quick oil change places have a multiple pits. Some mechanics(normally the ones with oil change deals) have pits.

BMack37 wrote:

2 hours ago, BMack37 said:

All those quick oil change places have a multiple pits. Some mechanics(normally the ones with oil change deals) have pits.

Would the small mechanic just use a lift?

A lot of dealerships have pits too, less maintainance than a lift


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Jronman wrote:

9 hours ago, Jronman said:

Would the small mechanic just use a lift?

It depends on their business model, if your main business is fab, hell no. Pits are for a shop that is doing a lot of oil changes. A small mechanic shop that wants to do a lot of oil changes and can afford the initial cost(or if they move into a closed quick oil change place) would be good with a pit.

A pit is for a 15 min oil change, a lift is going to probably double that time. If you’re doing volume, this obviously matters a lot. If you’re not in the city, probably you’d use a lift. A lot of shops only have two post lifts, so you have to set the arms, it’s not just up and down.

Yeah high volume places all use pits. Used to use a friends pit he built in his back yard. It had a set of steps built into the single pit. It was long enough you could pull the vehicle over it and then be able to still climb down. Most of the high volume places have multiple pits accessed by a single stair down to an open area under all the pits which is also used to store the tools, oil and filters, and the used oil. The one in the picture is deeper than it appears.

Yeah, some of them even have two guys working together. One “lives” in the pit and the other on top. It’s called a pit but it’s more like a basement at some places, they’re all at least the same size as the bay but some are the size of the shop. Sometimes they’re even larger and used for tire and other part storage.

Crazy someone had one in their backyard, that seems like a lot of work to build one!

I spent about 10 years in the automotive service equipment business installing lifts. You never see pits being installed anymore around here unless its a quick lube. It takes as long to load a car on a lift as it does to change the oil. That and there is there is less chance of damage although I have seen people drive cars in the pit.

I have and use those exact same ramps, and yes you have to be careful. But I really want to just take my vehicles somewhere instead of using those. I only need them for the minivan, my truck is high enough i can roll under it without lifting it off the ground. Plus my truck takes 16 (gasp) quarts and i would hate to think what a oil change somewhere would cost me, let alone the price of the oil and filter

21 hours ago, rrmccabe said:

 

I spent about 10 years in the automotive service equipment business installing lifts. You never see pits being installed anymore around here unless its a quick lube. It takes as long to load a car on a lift as it does to change the oil. That and there is there is less chance of damage although I have seen people drive cars in the pit.

Did you like the work? I installed lifts too, and liked it mostly, but for maybe 4-5 years, between that and waste oil furnaces in dealerships. We sold Challenger Lifts, and serviced all brands. 

There were a few places with pits we put in surface mounted mid rise lifts for tire rotations, moved lifts from one dealership to another, only ever put one in-ground in (Rotary) and that was cool. The times were slow tho because of the recession during ’08 and on, so it wasn’t ever really busy besides service. But that didn’t really work in the whole scheme of things when I was trying to focus on plumbing (yeah a little weird mix of things, i know) So three years ago, we dropped that whole line of work!

It happens. Watch this one. The next on you tube is a lady not paying attention and falling in a pit.

Looks so unfortunate, there should be a more precise guide than a mechanic himself. 

IMO ramps are unsafe and I have retired my set a long time ago. They can slide when attempting to climb the ramp. It is also possible to drive past the end. It is possible for one to slide and the other to not slide. The ramps are not 100% safe so I refuse to use them again.

The method I use to raise my vehicle for repair / service is to first locate the vehicle on solid level ground, then block both sides of the opposite wheel(s), then use a hydraulic floor jack to raise a structural member. Floor jacks are placed under structural members, then the jack lowered to support the vehicle on the jack stands. Everything is inspected for security prior to ever going underneath the vehicle.