1. Jonathan Haynes
Senior Project speech
Ms. Tillery
7th period
Hello I’m Jonathan and I’m going to talk about the lift that I built for my four-wheeler.
Racing four-wheelers requires that I be able to maintain my four-wheeler and keep it running at
the highest level to stay competitive. I hope to become a Powersports Technician after high
school where I will be able to work on four-wheelers, dirtbikes and anything like that. So I built
a lift for my four-wheeler to make maintenance on it easier and get more prepared for what I
would experience being a Powersports Technician.
For my research paper I wrote about being a contractor and the construction field in
general. One of the biggest aspects of my project was building the lift which took a lot of
knowledge of construction to complete. One thing I learned about construction was just how
precise things have to be when building, because if you are off by just a little bit, it could throw
the whole project off.
I chose to build the lift for my four-wheeler because I wanted to make maintenance on
my four-wheeler be not as much of a hassle. I started by drawing on paper what I wanted the lift
to look like. These drawings I then used to design the lift on Autodesk Inventor with the help of
my project facilitator Ms. Salas. I chose Ms. Salas because she is a teacher here and a trained
architect with a lot of experience using AutoCAD. She was able to help me in the design process
to make sure I had a good design to go from when I build my lift. After the design was

2. completed, I figured up the materials I needed and purchased them. Once I had all the materials,
I cut the wood for the base of the lift, laid the wood out on the ground to get a look at how it will
look and finally screwed it all together. Next I cut and screwed together the vertical supports and
upper frame. I then cut the plywood for the stand, screwed it down, and then screwed the upper
frame to the base of the lift. Then I mounted two caster wheels which the lift would role on. I
ended up flipping the end where they are mounted from the original design so the swivel jack
wouldn’t be as in the way. Next I began testing where the center jack needs to go to properly lift
my four-wheeler. This was a minor issue because I needed to find the center of gravity on my
four-wheeler so it can be lifted evenly. Once I found where the jack needs to go I made the
“door” that would hold the jack in place and allow the 4x4 to be out of the way when not in use.
One problem I ran into was mounting the swivel jack that would raise the lift to move it.
Originally I mounted it to close to the frame which didn’t give the wheel enough room to swivel,
so I had to re-mount it further out. Next I began finding where the front jack will go. Just like the
center jack, once I figured out where it needed to go I built a “door” that would hold the jack in
place. After I completed the lift system, I constructed what the ramps will latch onto to hold
them in place when riding onto the ramp. Finally I screwed down plywood to the corners of the
frame to strengthen it. Lastly I built a fold out step which would make getting up and down from
the lift easier. After I completed the lift I began testing it with my four-wheeler. The lift works
exactly how I had envisioned. Before I had to lay on the ground just to change my oil, now
changing the oil is a breeze, and performing any maintenance on my four-wheeler is easier
because it makes almost everything chest level so I don’t have to get on the ground to work on
my four-wheeler. Aside from a couple of very minor problems, the biggest problem I ran into
was having to compensate for the thickness of the wood. One 4x4 might not be the same

3. thickness as another so I had to compensate for it in many cases. So from design to my final
product my project took about 32 hours to complete.
Upon starting this project I wanted to be a Powersports Technician, and after going
through the whole process and using my lift, I still want to be a Powersports Technician. I’ve
always like messing with dirtbikes, and four-wheelers, and after working on my four-wheeler
with my lift, that is comparable to a technicians lift, I enjoy it even more. So after high school I
still plan to go to college and major in the Powersports Technician field, so I will get better at
doing what I already love to do.
Overall I really enjoyed the whole process of designing and building the lift. It made
working on my four-wheeler much easier and helped assure me of what I want to do after high
school. So the next time I hear about peoples struggles with working on their atv or dirtbikes,
and how it’s a hassle for them, I’ll know I can enjoy working on mine cause I have a lift to take
the hassle out of it.