Freedom Vehicle Lifts’ Josh Rodewald Demonstrates the FC4000 Portable Lift on Project T-top Coupe
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00:00We're at Gear Driven Automotive in Northridge, California and as I explained in a couple
00:07of videos prior, Josh Rodwall is with me from Freedom Racelifts, Freedom Vehicle Lifts.
00:15Which one is better?
00:16Well, we have Freedom Racelifts as a brand, but Freedom Vehicle Lifts is our company.
00:21Vehicle Lifts, but to specify that it's not just race cars.
00:25We've got Project T-Top Coupe here, got it all gussied up here and ready to keep the
00:30motor suspended because we're going to take the oil pan down, the K-member down and do
00:33some work.
00:34But, lifting the vehicle is going to be handled by the FC4000, correct?
00:39FC4000, 4000 pound capacity car lift, really.
00:44It also works with trucks too.
00:47But yeah, 2 to 1 safety factor, so 4000 pound rating, but our systems are always designed
00:53and tested over the 2 to 1, so over 8000 pounds has been tested with this thing.
00:59And we're at Gear Driven Automotive, this is a gear driven unit.
01:01This is not electric over hydraulic or hydraulic over electric.
01:04This is gear driven 100%, correct?
01:06You bet.
01:07Gear driven, ball screw driven, low friction, easy to use.
01:13Okay, well you've got your drill in your hand.
01:16That makes it kind of easy.
01:17Let's see how easy this is to use, Josh.
01:19So, 7-16 deep wall socket, a drill in low mode, you can just interface onto our hex
01:26shaft.
01:27So, just your normal drill.
01:49So, one thing to demonstrate, as you can see, we can stop at any point and raise and
01:54lower the car to different positions and do your work.
01:57And the reason for that is we have a safety lock system built into the gearbox and the
02:04ball screw drive.
02:05So, what it does is it self locks the vehicle in the air at any working height to keep you
02:09extra safe.
02:12And this will go up approximately how high?
02:16Well, it's adjustable.
02:17So, at the lowest point, I believe we're at about 31 inches, depending on your frame length.
02:25And the adjustment can get you an additional 4, so you can get up to 35 inches of vertical
02:29lift.
02:3035 vertical.
02:31And, as you see here, this is the drive mechanism, basically, all aluminum construction, correct?
02:40That's right.
02:41Mostly aluminum construction, minus the hardware, some of the ball screws, gears, things like
02:46that.
02:47Each of the pivot points have oil impregnated either steel or bronze bushings.
02:52So, they're self-lubricating, long-lasting.
02:57The ball screw is driven with actual ball bearings inside the ball nut, so there's very
03:03little friction, which allows us to harness the power of a simple cordless drill and lift
03:10a lot of weight.
03:11That's awesome.
03:12And I'm just going to go underneath here.
03:14Josh had me measuring the width of Project T-Top Coop's frame connectors, and the length,
03:23and the distance between the inside point of the frame connector and the inside point
03:28of the other frame connector.
03:30And that was to establish the actual width in here, correct, Josh?
03:34That's right.
03:35That's right.
03:36So, once the PoloLifts are adjusted to that width, as you can see, our telescopic driveshaft
03:44allows us to adjust each frame lifting section to the different frame widths.
03:49So right now, our adjustment range typically starts at around 28 inches, a very narrow
03:53frame width, all the way out to 55.
03:56And that driveshaft can be removed, correct?
04:00Correct.
04:01So once the lift's all the way in the air, which I'll continue to demonstrate here, we'll
04:06get it all the way up to its highest point.
04:15Besides the safety lock mechanisms that we have built into the drivetrain, we do recommend
04:21that the mechanical safety pins are used.
04:23So now, you actually have a vehicle lift system that functions as a safety stand as well.
04:29So you're able to install four safety pins at each four corners of the lift to keep you
04:36extra safe.
04:39And then once those pins are installed at all four corners, you're able to then lock
04:46the system in the air and remove your drill.
04:51And if you need to, you can actually remove the driveshaft by removing the safety or the
04:56detent pins that attach the driveshaft, and then gives you full access to the middle
05:00section of the car, full freedom to the whole underside of your car and chassis.
05:05Full freedom.
05:06And just thinking this out, Josh, this, I think just on first blush, somebody looked
05:12at it, could be confused, as a roller.
05:15This is just a fixed piece of aluminum tube here.
05:18This is not a roller.
05:19That's right.
05:20And the reason for that is we needed that rounded surface, because as you can see, it
05:25actually drags on your frame rail slightly.
05:28Leaves a wear this morning.
05:29Yeah, for about an inch.
05:31Just the way the system is designed to lift straight up and down, the geometry has to
05:38give a slight bit.
05:40So if you can imagine if this was a flat surface, it'd be fighting each other as it lifted.
05:44Right.
05:45Where by having the rounded surface, it can actually drag on the bottom of your frame
05:49slightly and still lift your car straight up and down.
05:51Right.
05:52Let's step back here and leave it up, Josh, and take a look.
05:56There you go.
05:57This is T-Top Cooper in the air, lifted by the FC4000 Freedom Race Lifts FC4000.
06:06That's really a neat piece.
06:08I saw it at the PRI show, PRI 2024 in Indy, and I gave it my judges pick as a very impressive,
06:17impressive tool.
06:19We're here at Gear Driven Automotive right now, but if you're working at home and working
06:25in a small space and don't have the facilities to put up a twin post hoist, or you're working
06:32on jack stands basically, and that's how things are at my place, this is really a great option
06:38for getting the vehicle up, being able to work underneath it.
06:41Again, the drive shaft does come out so that you can get transmissions out, exhaust off,
06:47whatever is necessary, and it's really up pretty high, and it's sturdy.
06:53You can come around the back over here, and it's my car, I'll lean on it, and it's not
06:59going anywhere.
07:02It's really cool.
07:07If you have any questions, you can reach out to Josh at Freedom Race Lifts, their website,
07:16and he can give you more information on pricing and all that type of stuff, but I just think
07:21this is something that you guys should definitely consider if you're working on jack stands
07:26right now.
07:27It's aluminum, we're going to take this and demonstrate its portability at Match Race
07:32Madness on February 15th weekend up at Famoso Drag Strip in Bakersfield.
07:38We'll have it out there, if you're going to the event, come by my pit, you'll be able
07:42to check it out.
07:45Some demonstrations will be happening, and Josh will be on hand actually to answer some
07:50questions if you have questions, so anyway, that's what we're up to, it's time to get
07:54busy and get some work done now, we've got to get the oil pan out of the car, we've got
07:58to get the front end off the car, replace some struts, replace a pan, and that's that.
08:06Big Sal, you ready?
08:07Let's go.
08:08Let's go.