Home Auto Lift

Andras · 11-03-2003, 06:27 AM

Having just sold our house into which I had installed an auto lift, I'm now looking for another one for the new house. As an architect, I recommend these highly.

Have found Autolifters. who sell a 6000 pound twin post lift for $2,000 (www.autolifters.com). This places the factor of safety at about 2x (assuming your Porsche is 3,000 pounds). Or you can buy one rated for 8,000 pounds for about $200 more.

Apparently this one fits under an 8'-1" ceiling, which should fit under most home garages. If you have a wallboard ceilng, and it's just 8'-0", then you can always "punch" a small hole at the point where the two post tops would go. Then, needless to say, you can control the lift of the car, so that it is over 4 feet in the air, and still have room to lift it quite a ways up.

If you have open trusses in your garage, you could reinforce three of those trusses (see an architect or structural engineer), and then remove the bottom chords of the trusses, and you will be able to lift the car all the way up, thus allowing you to stand under it for all your servicing needs.

Questions?..................Andras

s_wilwerding · s_wilwerding's Garage

How would you use a two-post lift to lift, say, a 911? Where would you put the center bar? Would it just go on the pan?

RoninLB · 11-03-2003, 06:39 AM

there is a used lift market for shop lifts..
I have a Snap-On lift in my home garage........Ron

Andras · 11-03-2003, 07:06 AM

Steve,

You really should look at www.autolifters.com to see how a two-post lift works. I used mine in the "old" house for 5 years, and never had a problem with the Porsche or the 450SL, for that matter). As I had designed the house around the lift (well, the garage,at least), you just drive the Porsche between the two posts, place the four arms under the car, and up it goes.

Yes, the car will be off-set a little towards the front, (since the weight is in the rear), and by so doing, you will center the car to its center of gravity, not center the body. But, again, I had designd the garage using information supplied by Autolifters.

By the way, would you trust a used lift, standing under it? I don't thinks so.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Was this a question or a thinly-veiled ad?

BlueSkyJaunte · 11-03-2003, 08:08 AM

I think Andras is more of a satisfied customer than "affiliated".

He's an architect.

RoninLB · 11-03-2003, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Andras

By the way, would you trust a used lift, standing under it? I don't thinks so.

a lift education can start at your local mechanic

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Andras
By the way, would you trust a used lift, standing under it? I don't thinks so.

Why not? There's lots of used lifts out there still in service.

BTW, I must be setting some sort of record for the longest possession of a lift prior to installation - I bought mine in April and the new garage still isn't ready for it.

88911coupe · 11-03-2003, 09:01 AM

My dream would be to have some sort of lift in my house. Since I'll never get to make any decisions regarding the inside of our house I may as well take advantage of the one room I get to customize...the GARAGE!
BTW...$2,000 is better than I imagined the price would be.

Chuck Moreland · 11-03-2003, 09:40 AM

Anyone have information on siezmic ratings for 2 and 4 posts lifts?

Being in earthquake country, this is of some concern to me. I've talked to a couple of vendors who all play dumb, as if nobody every asked this before. Answers like; "well, they sell them in California so they must be okay" don't give me much confidence.

I'd like to know what they are rated for and what reinforcements are appropriate, if any.

911SCfanatic · 911SCfanatic's Garage

I assume you had to do without a garage door opener? Did you have to cut the garage door tracks and move them closer to the ceiling to accommodate all of this?

RickM · RickM's Garage

Here's a NEW lift I'm glad I wasn't under.......

Thinking of a car lift? Check this out.

Andras · 11-03-2003, 10:29 AM

Hi Bill,

No, on the house I designed for our family, I raised that portion of the ceiling where the lift would be, and installed a 9' high door with a 7' opening. Each of the three doors are 7' doors from the outside.

Then the 9' door on the inside covers 2' of blank wallboard, but the actual tracks and door are at the 9' level. The car on the lift is then lifted to the 9' level, which gave me about 6' of headroom under the car.

But since I am 6'-3" tall, I had to stoop a little or just tilt my head, and all is well.

In the new old house (Is this like NOS?), I may not have the opportunity to raise the ceiling, so will look into removing the bottom chords of the trusses, as I first mentioned in this thread. But since we haven't closed on the house yet, I can't do my homework prior to moving in.

By the way, it would be best to have a 6" or thicker slab under the actual location of the two posts. I actually designed the slab to have a thickened portion 3'x3', at 9" thick. This effectively keeps the slab from being overstressed. Autolifters says a 4" slab will be sufficient, but I guess I'm just a conservative architect where the safety of my Chocolate Kiss is concerned.

Leland Pate · 11-03-2003, 11:59 AM

Yikes!
I remember the thread about the guy with the vettes...
I was hoping I'd never see those pictures again...

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Andras

By the way, it would be best to have a 6" or thicker slab under the actual location of the two posts.

One thing you can do is use real rebar instead of the wire mesh that normal codes call for.

My new garage floor is ~5" thick, with 3/8" rebar on a 2' grid except directly under the lift, where it's on a 1' grid and 6" deep. My slab is 12" deep in the area about 8" around the perimeter of the lift.

I used a scissor truss (inverted vee) so in the center, my floor-to-ceiling height is 13 1/2'. My garage door was custom made to run up the wall as far as it could go before it arches over.

(...and this is why I can't afford to get a full-on track car right now)

Andras · 11-03-2003, 12:44 PM

Hi Thom,

You're absolutely right! I also used rebar at the lift locations, but I just dug the foundation down a bit to about 18" thick. I also used 5" slab, inclduing the exterior slabs for the driveway and the motorcourt in front of the garages. Even though this uses more concrete, what's a little more concrete between friends?

As I mentioned, I've had the Benz 450SE (not 450SL, as I had originally mentioned. The SE is much heavier) on the lift, and again I adjusted the arms to put that car in the middle of the lift.

By the way, Thom, whose Lift are you going to use?

Cheers.............Andras

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Andras

By the way, Thom, whose Lift are you going to use?

Mohawk HR-6

tangerine911e · 11-03-2003, 01:43 PM

Thom,

I may one day beat your lift storage record (not really a record I want to beat though!!). I have a fantastic 2 post lift (salvaged from a gas station site we were demolishing) sitting in a corner of my office carpark waiting for me to take home - where it has been for a few months already

. Unfortunately home doesn't have a garage big enough for me to put it in!!! It was just too good to pass up, so it'll sit at work until I build a bigger garage.

A lick of paint and a service and away we go. For now, I can only dream of it - and believe me, it is painful seeing it everyday and not being able to use it!

One day.......

Ash

cassisrot · 11-03-2003, 02:34 PM

Has anyone considered a grease pit rather than a lift? What do you think the pro's/con's would be. I'm building a garage in the next year or so and was considering a pit, but those lifts look pretty handy.

cassisrot · 11-03-2003, 02:44 PM

Well that is indeed a "con", but I'm planning a four car with two of the bays deep enough for two cars and a port on the side for the tractor.