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Belly Hoist with Beetle??

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Flexibledoor Casual Dubber

34 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#978780
Hey everyone, I've bought myself a belly hoist for my garage and I was wondering if anyone can confirm if this will be ok to use on my beetle?

I know the proper place to put the jackstands is under the torsion housings, bit the hoist wont' reach that far. Would it be ok to place a length of timber with rubber strips under the sills where the body bolts to the pan as a load spreading measure?

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grumble Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,672 posts · joined Jun 2008 ·

#978786
Flexibledoor wrote:Hey everyone, I've bought myself a belly hoist for my garage and I was wondering if anyone can confirm if this will be ok to use on my beetle?

I know the proper place to put the jackstands is under the torsion housings, bit the hoist wont' reach that far. Would it be ok to place a length of timber with rubber strips under the sills where the body bolts to the pan as a load spreading measure?
With the regard to liability I don't know any with brains who would say yes to this. The single post hoist that we had at the vw dealership used a couple of cup sections that sat under the torsion bar housing on a "T" section that ran forward and the front of the pan sat on this.

matberry Moderator Go hard or go home

8,114 posts · joined Mar 2006 ·

#978791
I've used 2 poster hoists for many years on all types of Volksies and I'm with Grumble, not my idea of fun. Maybe you can make a fixture that gets up to the torsion housing and fwd to the beam???
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Lucky Phil Wolfsburg Wizard

480 posts · joined Aug 2010 ·

#978803
I'm quite sure it could be made to work safely.
I would be looking at a beam of some sort going from the torsion tube at the rear to the
front where the side rails start on each side.

I have a Bendpac belly hoist which works great.
The 2 rear arms go on the torsion arms.
The front arms are too long to pickup the front, so I run a piece of 4x2 across.
Most of the weight is taken in the centre, and the outer ends pickup the outside edge for extra stability.
Stable as!

Isola Officially Full-On Dubber

217 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#978817
I put my bug on my belly lift at work all the time. I just put the normal rubber pads under where the floor pan comes down. One front and one back on each side. I have never had a drama or heard any horrible bending or breaking noises 🙂

Flexibledoor Casual Dubber

34 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#978821
Yeah, I had a feeling that the preferred method was to run a beam setup between the front and rear torsion bar housings.

Not sure how engineered this would need to be, looks like a trip to the steel suppliers and crack out the welder. I'll try the timber strip for a few seconds just to get the wheel dollies under the wheels and i'll report back how it worked.

Sides Veteran Volks Folk

2,220 posts · joined May 2007 ·

#978823
Umm... jacking points ???

They're at Center of Gravity after all... are designed strong enough to take half the weight of the car... and sit lower than any other point on the pan.

Picking up by them and some rubber pads under the two M12 pan bolts each side at the front firewall to level it slightly nose down should be fine I'd think.

As regards to safety... well being slightly nose down it'd take a lot of force to lift it up.

I'd still pref a two post tho....
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HappyDaze Superannuated

2,887 posts · joined Jun 2009 ·

#978824
Although the jacking points would take the load OK, I would prefer the rear lift-point to be further back....say, the torsion bar tubes?

The last thing you need is for the car to tip backwards. 🙅
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!

vwo60 Veteran Volks Folk

2,036 posts · joined Feb 2007 ·

#978843
You do not have to go to the front torsion bar housing, i lift all my cars on my two post hoist with the pad under the cap on the rear torsion bar housing and the front pad on the two body bolts on each side at the cornor of the pan behind the beam.