Ways to temporarily raise car?

[ilsautomotive]

G'day all,

I am in a bit of a quandary at the moment. The driveway slopes downward steeply, then levels off into a level garage. There is an indent for drainage between the 2. I am wanting to get a lowered car down there but a 4WD-like stocky barely makes it as is.

My question is: has anyone heard of any methods of temporarily raising a car to clear obstacles such as humps or dips? I have considered sprinkling lots of wood chips around the bottom of the dip to level it out, and even wondered about bolting some trolley wheels to a scissor jack for each corner of the car. The latter would also be a good way to free a lowered vehicle that is stuck on a speed hump or similar.

It would surely work, but I'm sure this is a common issue and if there is a more convenient or professional way, I'm all ears...

Cheers!

[XR Martin]

How about some pics of the dip?

[lv619]

How about making up some steel ramps or something? Realisticaly you could do anything, it just depends on how dodgy or time consuming you want the "fix" to be...

[EA2BA]

get some ramps made up to sit over the gap, that will level it out.

[GreenMachine]

Yeah, a friend of mine had to do that to get her Valiant hardtop in/out of her steep, narrow driveway - cut and shut 4 old car ramps to make a pair of flat tracks across the worst part of the gutter dip... Ended up dyna bolting them to the concrete as a permanent fix.

[CruizinEB]

yeah ramps are your best bet, or you cold go with the pimp style (Air Shocks) if you know what i mean

A person at the bottom of my street has one of the steepest driveways and the lowest car (S14 Silvia with about 70-80mm clearance). To get his car in the garage he takes off the front and rear bars and angles it into a 2 car garage.

[turbo00007]

Hydraulic suspension
But it would cost a fortune

[NZ]

lift the from the chassis with a jack or something then cut some blocks of wood to jam the suspension so it doesnt go back into the body

[gthofan]

into the springs ????

[Walkinshaw]

Don’t try and raise the car, rather reduce the change in angle. Place a piece of 75mm PVC tubing in the gutter then “find” some storm water grate to fill the void from the driveway to the garage for each wheel travel.

[ilsautomotive]

Cheers for the replies guys!

First the pic:


The angle seems to vary from side to side, but I've decided to use the wood chippings idea for the first time, and then when I know exactly how hard it is going to be, I will make something custom using the ideas above. Should all happen within a fortnight.

Thanks

[EA2BA]

if you own the place, then chip the concrete out, buy some drain sections from bunnings, and concrete them in, just had a gravel pit at one end to collect all the water.

I will come and give a hand.

[ilsautomotive]

Nope, certainly don't own the place. :(

[EA2BA]

get some thick checker plate and chuck that down, just like when they do road works

[Damo]

i don't understand the problem looking at that picture ? :S

Off topic are those your pretty wheels on the Eunos to the left ?

[sphell]

Yeah it doesn't look that bad. I'd just drive over it and ssssssccccrrrrape the undercarriage like hell....but that's me ;)

[oneredED]

get some thick checker plate and chuck that down

Best solution i can think of

[niko]

Originally Posted by turbo00007

Hydraulic suspension
But it would cost a fortune

2-3k and it looks insane.

[eb91xr6]

fill it with thick gravel water will still get though

[oneredED]

fill it with thick gravel water will still get though

Hmmm, a larger grade bluestone would do it well, but to me it doesnt look that deep? I had thought this orignally, but the chequerplate idea i think sounds easiest to do, and also undo should the need arise (being a rental property, this should probably be taken into consideration).

[Psycho Chicken]

Just bag it. The driveway will probably erode before the EA gets driven down it anyway.

[rag top]

What about moving to another place with a decent driveway??

[LUXO_8]

Originally Posted by Rollin

blocks are generally taken out during the PD inspection, but i had one car that had driven from townsville to brisbane, and he came in asking why his car rode so high and hard at the front compared to the one he test drove at the dealership before his was delivered...

LOL, youre jokin, whoever pd'ed that one woulda got his anus booted

[Walkinshaw]

Here i was thinking you had a steep driveway. Thats dead flat

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Walkinshaw

Here i was thinking you had a steep driveway. Thats dead flat

Yeah I was thinking it would be something like this

[FPVWEPN]

farrrk lol thats insane!!!!!!!! I'd just drive over it jack !!!!

[5L]

in the wet cars wouldnt even get up those drive ways i rekon ud have to spray them with alot of VHT

[SileNceR]

that is fscking horrible! anything short of a 4wd would struggle to get in at the top!

[AshMan]

I once raised the 2 front wheels up on trolley jacks at the jacking points to drive a car (VERY slowly) of a tree stump that it was stuck under the stump.