Who makes the best car lifts?

[Wayne 962]

I'm thinking of installing a lift in my garage. I'm sure that some of you out there have done 1000s of hours of research on these things. Who makes the best lift (price/performance)?

I'm looking for a 4-post lift...

Here's a directory listing of lifts on Yahoo:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Automotive/Tools_and_Equipment/Lifts/Makers/

-Wayne

[orbmedia]

Rotary.

[Britwrench]

Have to agree...we bought the Rotary SPOA9 two post.

You can lift any Porsche and any other car.

Make sure you order the low-profile arms though...the normal ones are way too high for anything Porsche..

[JoeF]

Wayne,
Check out Backyary Buddy at 1-800-837-9353. Also go to their web site at www.backyardbuddy.com
The web sit provides a worksheet that you can use to see if you have enough room in your garage. I have been using one of these units for a couple of years and I am very pleased with it. I have 10' cielings in my garage and I can easily stack 2 P-cars. After cieling height, the biggest concern will be clearence for the garage door in the open position.
Backyard Buddy was able to hook me up with a gentleman who would pick up the unit at their factory, assemble it. and deliver it to my door!
If you decide to take delivery and assemble it yourself, be advised that unless you have a loading dock and forklift at home, you will need to pick up the unit at the trucking terminal and you will need a flat bed truck or trailer to do this. You will also need some sort of hoist or lifting equipment at home to offload and assemble the lift. The biggest piece weighs alot! This will probably be the case with any four poster lift you find.
I bought the lift with the optional casters and rolling jack platform. The casters allow you to move the lift around in the garage even with a car on it! The jack platform allows you a place to jack up the car on the lift, anywhere under that car.
I dealt with their office manager Anita Statler, she knows her stuff. You may need a couple months lead time if they are busy.
I do not work for this company, I am just very happy with their product and their customer service.
JoeF

[Wayne 962]

Yes, I read about the delivery problems. I have a car trailer (of course) so picking it up wouldn't be a problem. I suppose that 3 or 4 guys (employees ) would be able to lift each piece out to set it up.

I saw the rollers, and I thought that was way too cool. Of course, try rolling 5000 lbs around your garage - quick way to a hernia...

-Wayne

[Neunelf]

Wade- we (an architects' office) typically spec Rotary for commercial jobs. They have several good ones, a good reputation, and are good quality. Good luck. Roy

[Jim T]

I saw one once, it was a little different than most lifts.

You drove onto it, and it lifted the car only a few feet in the front, but higher in the back. So the car sits nose down at an angle.

It was nice because you didn't need to have 10 feet of ceiling. You basically put the lift in the front of the garage, lift the car and park the second car so its only about half under the lifted car. Of course you need a garage that is long enough to do this, but mine is.

Mine doesn't have the ceiling height, though, for a regular lift.

I've been looking for that lift for years now, but can't re-find it. If anyone knows about it, I'd appreciate some info.

[Oldporsche]

We service the fleet of a community of 192,000 people.

Our service center runs 24/7. We do everything from cop cars to busses. It doesn't matter.

Rotary is the preferred lift. They don't seem to get out of square. They seem to be bulletproof.

For the use of the "ultimate" hobby garage they might be a little much. I would buy one myself if I could get a "deal." I personally have looked at so many combinations, I couldn't make a recommendation. I believe that for myself, if I were doing the ultimate I might even have two. One lifting from the outside, the other as a platform. Thus I could even use one for storage.

Have fun imagining what you really want to do, then go looking for the type you could work with. Remember that the europeans verly often have lifts that we don't have here. There are many unique lifts out there.

Good luck,
David Duffield

[Jack Olsen]

Hmm.



Here's one.

[sammyg2]

I have a line on three lifts, cheap. Only problem is they are in a service staion, and they are the kind that have the large piston buried in the ground. 2 are regular gas station lifts, one is an alignment type lift. All three fer $100, you remove and ship :-)

[Doug Zielke]

Wayne asked:
"Who makes the best lifts?"



Mmmm.....certainly not that one!

[emcon5]

I saw that one too Doug.

More gory details here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=258483

Tom

[SteveT]

Wayne,
Go to mscdirect.com - They are an industrial supply house with a bunch of different lifts.......reasonably priced...Steve

[RoninLB]

This is a Snap-On mid rise, 37in., lift that is made in Canada. I bought it for $1,400 about 3 or 4 years ago. At the time it was selling for about $3,200 + shipping + tax. I over paid for a perfect 1 1/2 year old lift but didn't care.

[RoninLB]

The platforms for the tires are only for wheel alignment. The lift is positioned 3/4 in. below ground and surrounded by a ledge for 3/4 plywood to create a flat floor when necessary. On a full flat floor there is clearance for a Euro/25 1/2 & 25 ride height to ride over to position the 911. There are wheels at on end of lift to allow moving the unit with the aid of the hand truck type hyd. pump & tank. Not shown is the 3 in. high rubber spacers/protectors, which is not figured in the 37 in. lift height.

[curtisaa]

Nice garage.......................

[MarkY]

RoninLB

I definately understand that sign in your garage that says "Keep Back 500 feet". Are you sure that's enough?

[cary]

Ron, that looks interesting.

Have you ever used it for dropping the engine ?

[diverdan]

Why four post. The two post lifts are really super when installed correctly. I am very partial to the screw variety as they seem to be the safest design. My two post lifts are Danish built and heavy as all get out. I brought them home on my car trailer and moved them with a standard engine hoist. Make sure the engine hoist is on good flat concrete when moving those behemouths.

Diverdan

[sammyg2]

Ron, now that is a working garage! I get a chuckle from people who try to out do each other with "show garages". many of these guys don't even work on their cars, they would rather send the car to the shop that get the floor dirty.
I think your garage is more of what I call a dream garage. Someplace where a man could actually get some serious work done.