Long story short- I'm buying a house. Has a 4 car garage, with an above loft. My plan is to use one of those spaces for a lift, to make workings on easier, and - let's face it, make my friends jealous. Problem is- I know squat about lifts. Who makes good ones, two post vs. 4 post, etc etc. Help?
In reply to mndsm:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/garage-lift-suggestions/2548/page1/
I've done lots of research and I can only justify a 2 post assymetrical lift. The 4 posts seem good at first, and they are good for storage of cars, but the extra work required to raise the car off the lift to do wheel/brake work makes them not as suitable as a 2 poster.
One of the cool things about the 4 posters is that many of them can be moved, but the main reason to get a lift is to make your life easier to work on cars so that brings me back to a 2 poster.
Also be sure to get the height extensions that allow you to walk under the car rather than having to stoop all the time.
Here's a very good manufacturer http://www.worthequipment.com/
Check these Max Jax portable lifts out... http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DMR-1375659
I really like the part where they can be stored when I don't want to smash my forehead or ankles on them. I also saw a portable 1 post thing on a thread like this somewhere else that was good up to 3000lbs. It looked almost like a tall pallet jack.
I tried to make the 4 post thing work (mentally) and I do have 12.5' ceilings in my garage but I just can't give up that much room for the posts to be in the way.
Yeah, I keep thinking two poster, just because of the inevitable wrenching that is going to occur to the ms3 over the summer. Thanks for the input, so far.
And as far as portability, not worried. Dirtbag the Taurus can sit outside for all I care, one spot will go to the Volare that i'm going to attempt to ressurect in memory of my father(That is a WHOLE other story, and will probably make an epic build thread one day) and then the MIINI and the ms3. 4th space on the lift can go to... something.
Any GRM homebrew lifts out there? It seems like rolling one from scratch to fit a specific space would not be terribly difficult for someone with a fire wrench, welder and grinders. Grainger/McMaster Carr sell all the cable, pulleys, chain etc... Mechanisms to do the lifting are not really very sophisticated. Once the car is up - safety pins hold the load on all but the high end production lifts.
We make our own high speed vehicles, why not make our own tools?
THink of it as a huge dynamic jackstand with a built in jack :)
If you have the room and height for a dedicated 'service bay' then a 2-post makes the most sense. The only reason I wouldn't get one is if the space will be used for parking most of the time, since in that case, the posts can get in the way.
ALI & ETL certified would be important to me if I'm working under it. Likewise I'd want to see it & touch it before I bought it. Some of the Chinese lifts are built to high standards & are safe professional units. Some are just junk. If it moves when you lean on it it's not a good sign. By the way, Asymetric lifts are Rotary's approach to lifting smaller cars & not having the doors hit the post, they recommend a symetric lift for raising SUVs, P71s & pickups. Challenger uses a 'Varisymetric' that changes how the front arms are located allowing you to safely lift both types of vehicle on one lift. I don't currently sell lifts so NFI.
You could look for any dealerships going out of business in the area and see if they are selling their lifts.
Know of any nearby Saturn dealers? 
EvanB wrote: You could look for any dealerships going out of business in the area and see if they are selling their lifts. Know of any nearby Saturn dealers?
Better yet. Denny Hecker's dealers were all like, a block from where I am. EXCELLENT plan.
theyre not quite the $2k price point lift, but i worked under a Rotary 2 post asymmetrical for years and couldnt say enough good things about them. i seem to remember my boss saying they were around $3600 installed, though that was a few years ago.
2k, 3600, whatever. I just want something that's gonna not crushify me, and works well.
if you can locate one that has height-adjustable pads or lift pads designed to fit under low cars, that's a huge bonus. the two new-ish Rotary lifts we have at the tech center have pads a touch too tall to fit under either the Miata or the Mini, both of which have factory suspension, but the springs on the Miata are 16 years old and are likely sagged a bit. we have an older Rotary lift with screw-on pads that MAY be low enough to fit under a factory height Cooper S or Miata, but I don't know. the only thing I've managed to get up on so far is a drive-on 4 post lift/alignment rack. the only good thing about a 4 post rack is if you need to, you can stand on it to get to stuff on top of the car while it's in the air, if you're a ninja or a freeclimber or a freerunner and can actually get onto the lift while it's in the air. that, and it makes a great bench or table if you want to have lunch or lounge around and chill. that would be a painful experience on a two-post lift
Damn you people for bringing up one of my biggest lusts, I think I've settled on getting a Atlas Garage Pro with a Pro-Jack 3500 from Greg Smith, since they have a store 9 miles from my house I must now take a trip over to see the lift in person. My wife is going to murder me, and it's all your fault!
Hm. Slyp- thanks for the insight. Both of the cars I have are fairly low, and aren't getting any taller. A two post with low entry pads will be a plus.
My buddy's got three Mohawk lifts, great stuff for ~$2500.
I have a four post that I bought off of a freind from his heavy equipment garage. I would prefer a two post most of the time but the four post is still great and I have a couple tall jack stand to use when I need to take tires off etc. There is one advantage of a four post you can lift anything. I have lifted my dirt bikes for oil changes. my lawn tractor for blade sharpening and replacement and my farm tractor for an oil change. Another thing to think about is if you trust the concrete floor in your garage to handle the torque from a two post. I have my lift which is 22 feet long and 12 feet wide taking up a two car garage that had a 7' ceiling height. It takes up the entire garage and I had to vault the ceiling to make it work. When I build my new shop in a couple years I will move this lift to it and add a two post so that I have the best of both worlds. As far as brands get something american made and if used make sure parts are avalable. I paid $1000 for my 12,000# lift and I can get parts from Challenger for it.
mndsm wrote: Hm. Slyp- thanks for the insight. Both of the cars I have are fairly low, and aren't getting any taller. A two post with low entry pads will be a plus.
I have the MaxJax 2 post mentioned above by GPS, and recommend it if you have either overhead or footprint issues in the new space. The minimum pad height is 4", and works for both my Miata & MINI. My garage space is shared with the wifes SUV, so one post comes out when I finish working on the car, the other stays put. The lift height is perfect for wheel/suspension service & I scoot around on a roller stool for underside service.
It takes 10 minutes tops to roll the post and pump dolly into position, bolt down the post & hook up the hydraulic hose. It's unique, and the portable aspect works really well for a "regular" garage.
dmyntti wrote: Another thing to think about is if you trust the concrete floor in your garage to handle the torque from a two post.
I hear this all the time on the "which lift" posts - but if you can use a jack... you are supporting the heaviest part of the whole car on four little steel wheels on that same pad. In the case of my truck - its about 4000lbs on the front subframe. If the jack, or jack stands don't break thru then neither will a lift (which usually has a huge foot on a 2 post to spread the load).
So, while you need to consider the pad - if you have been using it to support a vehicle and its not crumbling... you are probably OK.
Slab is brand spankin new, as is the garage on top of it. I am not terribly worried.
BTW the Worth lifts I posted about earlier are American made and I'd be happy to go over and look at one for someone. They aren't all that far from where I live.
One of the biggest issues I've found is getting a lift which a low enough pad height to fit under a lowered car. 4.5" seems to be the most common minimum pad height.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: <So, while you need to consider the pad - if you have been using it to support a vehicle and its not crumbling... you are probably OK.
I spend a bit of time on Garagejournal. There was a recent post where a guy's lift broke the floor and the car started falling off the lift. I was OK but scared. I personally would be reluctant to install a two post lift on a floor I didn't know anything about. The problem may be the type of fasteners you use, but be smart.
In reply to spitfirebill:
That's a good point. When I was building my shop I researched lifts. Most, if not all, 2 post lifts require a thicker floor under the posts. I bought a 4 post and calculated that the pressure exerted on the floor at full capacity was less than parking my truck in the same location.
The safe way to install any lift is to 1) build the floor for it like I did or 2) use a larger floor plate.
I put in 2 floor sections that were 8" thick concrete that correspond to where my lift will go.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:dmyntti wrote: Another thing to think about is if you trust the concrete floor in your garage to handle the torque from a two post.I hear this all the time on the "which lift" posts - but if you can use a jack... you are supporting the heaviest part of the whole car on four little steel wheels on that same pad. In the case of my truck - its about 4000lbs on the front subframe. If the jack, or jack stands don't break thru then neither will a lift (which usually has a huge foot on a 2 post to spread the load). So, while you need to consider the pad - if you have been using it to support a vehicle and its not crumbling... you are probably OK.
It's not the compression of the stand on the concrete (and concrete is very, very strong in compression)- it's the tension that the bolts put on the floor. You see that the post is assymetrically loaded, right?- each post wants to lean toward the inside- so each of the outer bolts put a large amount of tensile load into the concrete. The deeper and higher quality concrete- the more area that the threaded rods get to distribute this load.
It's one of the reasons 4 post lifts are "easier" to install in a normal garage- being ballanced, and self supporting- it's all compression load.
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