What lies in the depths of a derelict in ground lift.

So as some of you know, a friend and I are starting a new automotive business venture. We leased a larger building (~2700 sq) which had some equipment in it. It turns out there was in fact a lift in the fourth bay… which was likely used about 30 years ago. The pit it is in is about 12’-14’ deep and 18" wide. The side we were working on was only about 12’ deep. BTW, did I mention it was full of water… murky, stanky, stagnant water?

We pumped out as much water as we could without cracking the cover off the other side of the hydraulic cylinder. It was pretty gross down there. We found some things as well. Before we drained the water out, I was poking around the bottom. Let me tell you how eerie it is to poke around the bottom of a deep, narrow pit with a piece of wood… and hit things that are heavy, move a little bit, and have some resistance…

Here are some of the items we recovered:

2 Brake rotors, 2 Lift cover plates, a styrofoam cup, a BMW muffler hanger, and a muffler assembly which I have never seen and can’t identify.

Now, for what I couldn’t get out… yet: a bowling ball (which, at 12AM, looks remarkably like a skull when the water hasn’t drained all the way below it), 3 metal shields of some sort, a large piece of 1" steel pipe, corrugated rubber hose (this looks to be part of the lift and you can see the other end in the picture below), and then there were still some things below the sediment that were too difficult to lift up with my masterfully engineered 1"x14’ pine stick with a screw on the end of it.

Here is a shot of the other side of the lift cylinder where the hydraulic reserviour is:


http://www.gearheadny.com/images/hitest/IMG_2013042456812.jpg

There will be more pics tonight after we pump the pit out again. Ground water is a bitch.

I was really afraid of dead animals… gross, but definitely not as bad as I expected. :lol

just looking at the pics skeeves me out haha…

I was expecting a dead body because as i stabbed around with the stick before we pumped it out, I hit one of the plates and it was sticking up at an anlge and was moving a little… Gughhgh!

Yeah dude, Oz and I were reluctant to pump it out all the way to the bottom!

fuuuuuck that crap. I’d hose that shit down, dump a ton a crushed stone down that thing and fill it with concrete. that’s like something you’d see mike rowe crawling around on an episode of dirty jobs.

what happens in pit, stays in pit.

I was hoping that you had found Jimmy Hoffa down there

Seriously! We’re going to drain it down, clean it up and fill that shit!

Hmm, time to call up dirty jobs! Thanks brah!

You never know man, we’re not done yet!

:excitedSo we found a bunch more crap at the bottom. An air nozzle, 3 shocks, 2 pieces of exhaust (1 still had the hanger for the rack in it), a screwdriver, and a ton more of those exhaust hangers.

Then we cracked open the reservoir and found out there was 60 gallons of hydraulic oil still present. I also found a dipstick:

I still can’t get that bowling ball and the cinder block made quite the splash after it fell from my revised stick now with a 4" screw in it!

http://www.gearheadny.com/images/hitest/ball.jpg

Here’s another couple to show the awesomeness:


http://www.gearheadny.com/images/hitest/tank1.jpg
http://www.gearheadny.com/images/hitest/tank2.jpg

Is your garage going to be a specialty garage like a speed shop or just a normal garage

We will do general repair as our mainstay, but performance and custom work is our passion :slight_smile:
Pretty much what I used to do at Gearhead while being able to offer repair work and performance in one convenient location.

Did oj ever finish the purple firebird from years ago? I haven’t seen him in years.

Is this the shop thats at the top of the first hill of 9&20 on the left? If so, tons of room there for ya!

Yup! That’s the one, right next to Regeneron at the top of that hill. We’re sitting on about an acre right there, so we’ll have plenty of room for expansion, parking, and customer events this summer!

We’re going to pull the signs down tonight and have them redone, so if anyone wants to swing by you are more than welcome!

[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRWMGjXuyVo”]I guess you can dere-lick my balls cap-E-tan - YouTube[/ame]

:rofl:rofl BWHAHAHAHAHA!