Garage pit

[RON WOODGEARD]

WHo has a Garage pit?

the kind you drive your car/truck over and work underneath it.....

In the Old days, This was our Lift..
When we get back on the Garage, I'm going to build a pit in it..

Anyone have any dimensions ?? Length, width, depth....

For a lowered truck, it's the only way to go, If you don't have a Hoist...

[LONGHAIR]

I only know of one person with one. He didn't build it though, it was there when he bought the house. He had a 2 car garage that was a little wider than most and it had "single" doors that were seperated by about 6 or 7 feet. The bay furthest from the house had the pit. He kept it covered most of the time for saftey. It was about 6 feet deep, I could stand up on my toes and see out.
The bad thing was that this guy was a lifted 4x4 type. He had a 78 k-10 that was running on 44" tires. The thing was only useful to him for oil changes on his daily driver.

[67ChevyRedneck]

My neibor has one. We use it to change the oil in my camaro cause even my skinny butt can't get underneath it. It was about 6 feet deep, 4 feet wide, and about 10 feet long. The neighbor put metal rails on the sides so you'd hit the rail in case you were a little off drivin in the garage. I want one if I ever get to build my own garage someday.....

[smokekiki]

A friend of mine,who has an excavation company has a pit.It is about 20ft long 4ft wide and not quite 6ft deep.It has a lip all the way around that is 2' lower than the floor.He keeps it covered when not in use with 2"x6"oak boards.

[70c10]

I wanted to do this last year when I had my addition built but all the contractors gave me a fit about it. They said it was going to be a headache with the County building inspectors if it wasn't beefy enough and that would require spending alot. The other issue is liability if a child accidently fell in. I wish I would have persued this more. My dads neighbor built one 25 years ago and it's really nice.

[shortymac83]

I'd love to have one, but we already have a 4 year old concrete floor in the shop, and jack stands do everything I want them to do...oh well.

[StingRay]

Around here they are not allowed anymore

[70short/step]

I dont think you put one in here in California anymore either. The EPA has so much pull you cant do crap anymore. A friend put one in back in the 70's and it was sweet. He had a drain and sump pump in it. He also had electricity wired in. It was 6' deep 10' long and about 4' wide.

[Chevy67Tk]

I like them and have worked in a few, but don’t know if I would build one nowadays. A lot of insurance companies frown on them now unless you build them to their specs. if they know you have one they might not write you a policy.

The things they want to see add to the cost in a hurry. Things like explosion proof lighting, ventalation systems or gas monitors, drainage system, safety netting, and the list goes on with little nit picking stuff.

[raggedjim]

I'll take a picture of my neighbors redneck engineered above ground version.

He buried some old telephone poles and used them to build an elevated platform that works the same way. I didn't like the idea until I needed to work on my truck, then I decided I was glad he had it.

Rg

[tnblazerk5]

my uncle had 2 of them in his shop when he was in bussness they were great i liked them but then the epa came and told him to fill them in with concrete!!! he told them to go to **** he wasnt filling them in and that he didnt have too (he also was a epa inspector) what he did have to do was fill the drain in the bottom of the pit with concrete to prevent oil,antifreeze, and stuff like that getting in the public sewer or the gound . he later on drilled a new hole and run a pipe to a oil tank and just had the tank pumped from time to time . the epa later on closed the shop cause there was gas tanks in the gound that had been there for 40 or so years that he didnt know about and they were leaking into the ground the owner of the building was fined and had to dig up the tanks and the dirt and have it hauled off that cost him really big bucks $$$$$$ then he sold the place

[rustyold72]

My neighbors garage has a pit (looked at buying that house before buying the one I live in now) 8'long 4' wide and 6' deep, has steps cast into the concrete at the front, really nice for installing subframe connectors, exhausts, or fluid changes, wish I had one in my garage