Jonathan built a lift for his four-wheeler to facilitate maintenance and prepare for a career as a powersports technician. He drew designs, worked with an architect to create digital plans, and carefully measured and constructed the lift out of wood over 32 hours. The lift allows Jonathan to change his oil and perform other tasks easily without getting on the ground. The process reinforced his interest in becoming a powersports technician after high school.

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.