Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Buying stuff for the garage - Am I just cheap and lucky?

[LtWacko (ltwacko]

As far as compressors, I purchased my Craftsman 33 gallon upright used on 
Craigslist for $150.  So far 4 years of trouble free service for me and it was 
already 5 years old when I got it.  That's just my experience.  I have several 
friends with Craftsman with 10 years plus service.  I've heard the older belt 
driven compressors regardless of make are better for the simple fact that you 
can change their oil and rebuild them too.  I considered newer ones like these 
but I couldn't resist the price of the one that I paid that included several 
accessories the previous owner collected.  

However, if you are going to seriously paint, I think you need a two stage one 
anyway for consistent pressure.  A friend of mine picked up a 60 gallon upright 
unit for $25 at auction from a listing on CL too.  A little big and not as 
portable as mine but he did use it to repaint his race car.

As far as jacks are concerned, I haven't heard of anyone that's had an aluminum 
last as long as a regular "heavy" one.  All of my friends purchased them from 
Harbor Freight but used them very frequently.  The aluminum seems better suited 
for limited use such as track weekends.  Their weight is very attractive as I 
just couldn't believe how easy they were to pick up.  I was a little scared at 
how much they flexed side to side when loaded though.  I'm cheap but for 
anything to fail within a few years after spending a premium price over a 
"normal" steel unit just hasn't had me running out to get one.  I've had my 
current 3 ton from Sam's club for 18 years now.  I was really pissed when the 
handle return spring broke within a few weeks of use.  Since I heard that cheap 
ones like the one I had fail often within the first two years, I figured that's 
when I'll get a premium one.  Oh well!  The damn springless handle still annoys 
me and I'm waiting for the seals to fail so I can replace it.

If you are going to get the aluminum one, higher rated weight seems the way to 
go.  I don't know if the quick lift feature is the weak point.  Does anyone 
know if those fail sooner than ones with "normal" lift?  I'd like to know.  My 
jack has to fail eventually...

Rodney



In a message dated 09/13/08 05:16:23 Central Daylight Time, ferrari-request 
[at] ferrarilist.com writes:
Message: 4 
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:32:29 -0400 
From: "LarryT" <l02turner [at] comcast.net> 
Subject: [Ferrari] Buying Air Compressor - NPC - NFC - NMC - OT 
To: "911/993/996 digest" <911 [at] rennlist.org>,    "The FerrariList" 
   <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>,  "Mercedes Discussion List" 
   <mercedes [at] okiebenz.com> 
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> 
Message-ID: <23E57206CB2E45C6AE28E16DEDD8CD5C [at] LARRY> 
Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="iso-8859-1" 

Hello, 
   About to buy a new air compr for for my home garage.  Will paint and use air 
tools some.  Looking for a vertical Compr. to have its smaller footprint but if 
there's a reason to avoid it I will. 

   I read the owners comments on Sears site and some people had absolutely 
terrible experiences - brand new AC's sparked and spit fire!  not what you'd 
expect - and this happened several times. 


   Looking for suggestions of brands you had good or bad experiences with - and 
if you'd buy it again. 

   My Campbell-Hausfield AC has a motor that is locking up & kicking the 
breaker - I will try to free up the motor and give it to my son. 

TIA - 

Take Care, 
Larry T 
http://youroil.net 
Carb & Jet Settings: 
http://members.rennlist.org/webercarbs/