Quote:
Originally Posted by friendly
I too have been an admirer your garage and read all of your posts when I see them.
Why did you choose the Bend-Pak? What other lifts were in your selection process?
How did you derive the specifications for the pit in your floor?
A belated happy 4th.
Fred
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Sorry, I missed your post.
I chose the BendPak MD6XP after reading several (many) threads on Garage Journal and on Pelican. I was shopping around and found Summit Racing has a sale on them, free shipping. When it came to the pit, I was fortunately smart enough to hire someone else to do it. They showed up, cut the floor, dig the pit, hauled away all the dirt and concrete, and used rebar, 3,000 PSI concrete, and it was obvious they knew how to do it. I would have made a mess, and ended up in the hospital with all that work. I am too old to do concrete work.
At first I just used 2x12 boards to get high enough to get on the lift. That sucked to align the car, and was not my end plan anyway.
I had them open a trench that I placed 2 inch PVC pipe in, and made a conduit. The Hydraulic line and a Romex line is run into the pit. The pump is mounted on the wall to get it out of the way. It is nice to have 115 volts for drop lights or whatever in the pit.
I just measured the height of the lift when fully down, and added 1/2 inch to that and told them I wanted the pit that deep and enough room on the sides to have 1/2 inch on each side. I use a piece of 1/2 inch marine grade plywood from a lumberyard, not big box store, to cover the pit when it is lowered, and it just goes away.
With the El Camino I could smash the roof of the car into the light for the garage door opener, so a taller lift would do no good.
Overall I love the way the installation turned out.
If I want to put my lawnmower or any project up in the air, put it on the plywood, and raise it up. We painted the front door of our house on the lift. I have worked on my gas grill up on the lift. It is just handy.
Getting the lift into the pit was a struggle, and required one buddy and some pry bars and work to drop in down in the there, and not tear up anything. It is HEAVY!