Garage lift - if you had to do it again

[GH85Carrera]

I had a pit dug, and a trench cut to mount the pump on the wall.



A piece of 1/2 inch plywood and it is effectively gone. My wife wanted to paint he bookshelf, and she commandeered my garage. Turn on the AC. put the shelf on the lift, raise it up to a comfortable height, and paint. I have worked on my lawnmower doing maintenance, and even my BBQ grill.






My wife's Macan fits, but I can't lift it very high as it would hit the ceiling. The 911 is small enough it can got to the maximum height. My El Camino would hit the ceiling as well.

Just after the heat and air conditioning in the garage, the lift is my best investment into the hobby of working on my cars.

It is a BendPak MD6XP. After almost 15 year one cylinder started leaking. I took it to a local rebuild place, and they made it look like new, for less than a new one.

[unclebilly]

I have a 2 post rotary and a 4 post host. They each have their benefits and drawbacks.

If you get a 2 post, get an assymetric arm hoist. They are better setup for not dinging your door and egress from the vehicle you are lifting.

If you get a 4 post, make sure you get one wide and long enough for every vehicle you plan to lift with it.

If you want to service cars, the 2 post is best. If you want to store cars, the 4 post is better.

Another advantage of a 4 post is that you can move them around your shop when not loaded with a car whereas a 2 post is bolted down.

With a 4 post, you can use it to lift cars to store on pallet racking.

A 4 post is more foolproof than a 2 post where you can have some serious wrecks if you lift a car incorrectly.

To do it again, I would do exactly what I did… both. Except I would got an assymetric 2 post.

[unclebilly]

Also, what Glen said, my hoist (2 post) is the handiest tool I have.

I have used it to lift my lawn tractor to remove blades, lift my dirt bike to install a snow bike kit, support wainscoting to paint, etc. I also used it to lift and support the 4 post hoist during assembly because I was on crutches with a blown up ankle at the time.

[unclebilly]

Ok, one more point… I have a heated floor in my shop so when I laid out the hydronic lines before I poured the slab, I had to be very strategic about line placement and extra reinforcements where my posts would be. For the 4 post, none of this matters because it is not bolted down.

[GH85Carrera]

One thing I love about having a lift, even to clean the car of bugs or dirt on the lower body, jack the car up, sit on the roll around chair, and clean a wax at eye level.

When doing electrical work, jack it up and get things at a level to eliminate bending over. My back does not hurt afterwards.

Having it all in the pit, with a board over it, and it just pretty much disappears. I can walk across the plywood if the car is out in the driveway. It does collect bugs and leaves so I have to vacuum the pit once a year. And when I ran the hydraulic lines, I ran electricity on a ground fault line. That is handy for plugging in a work light.

[PeteKz]

Last week I reminded myself (again) why I don't like 4-post lifts: I had a hat on, didn't see the rail of the lift, and walked into it, bashing my head yet again. I gotta remember to turn my baseball cap around so the bill isn't hiding what I'm about to walk into (again).

[nickelplated5s]

My gooseneck horse trailer taught me to duck whenever I was near the nose.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by PeteKz

Last week I reminded myself (again) why I don't like 4-post lifts: I had a hat on, didn't see the rail of the lift, and walked into it, bashing my head yet again. I gotta remember to turn my baseball cap around so the bill isn't hiding what I'm about to walk into (again).

Your lift isn’t high enough. I got one that is over 7’ under the rails just because I wear hats… a lot… and I’ve got myself on cars on my 2 post a few times.

[froggert]

My body's conditioned to slouch whenever walking near the lift now. I also put a strip of bright red tape along the side/bottom of the runway, which may or may not help. Have only walked into the lift once since doing that.

[SpyderMike]

I blame my cognitive decline on the lift, for sure. I keep forgetting it's there. Ouch.

[Jack Olsen]

In my opinion, the best option is a submerged scissors lift. The biggest issue you're going to face in a small space is how much a 4-post is going to crowd your working area. When you're not using it, it's a huge nuisance. You could say you'll bring out a MaxJax, but that kills the best thing about having a lift, which is that you are always ready to raise your car up with no wasted time at all. If I had to choose between dragging out the MaxJax (or Quicklift) or simply jacking the car up really quickly, I'm going to almost always default to using a regular jack.

Ease of use and zero impact on working space goes to a midrise scissor lift. I've had mine for almost 15 years now, and the total cost of the project (if I'm remembering right) was $651.

Here's some video.

https://youtu.be/pdbDD-dpLtU

[Jay Laifman]

I have a 4 post, and keep a car on it (a convertible that needs the top down, and the windshield between the ceiling studs to go high enough).

But, the one thing I don't see anyone mention is earthquakes, as you live in California. Are any of these better or worse to be under in an earthquake?

[PeteKz]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

Your lift isn’t high enough. I got one that is over 7’ under the rails just because I wear hats… a lot and I’ve not myself on cars on my 2 post a few times.

I know, but it's what I have in my shop. The ones that go much above 6ft are usually wider too, taking up more shop space.

[H-viken]

I copied Jack O and sunk a lifting table in to my garage floor. Very happy about it. Flush w the floor when not using it. And no open holes in the floor to step in to. A couple of lifting pucks and car is ready to go up

Johan

[Bucketlist]

Found this old scissor lift in the stack lot of a body shop, was cheap but needed some work. This one is air over hydraulic and bolted to the floor. Best tool I have!

[Louisieg55]

I’ve been really happy with my KTool X90.

It goes up to about 5 ft, which has been perfect for my setup. I even reframed my garage so I could take advantage of the full lift height. Worked flawlessly for pulling and reinstalling the engine when I did the clutch and reseal.

I have had a my other car 64 corvette on it, my f150 work truck and father in-laws taco and its worked great for all them.

Why I like it:
• Portable — not light, but in 10-15 minutes I can have it rolled outside to work on a truck
• Affordable — under $3k shipped
• Solid customer service — they’ve taken care of the couple of issues I had
• Options — they make both smaller and larger versions

If you’re running a scissor lift, I highly recommend pairing it with the AeroCreeper Deluxe (or the electric if budget allows). It’s super adjustable, really comfortable, and makes working under the car so much easier. You can see it in the picture. It was a little pricy at around $600 off ebay but works great.

Future plan: cut the concrete and sink the lift into the floor so I can just drive over it when not in use.

[GH85Carrera]

When I first got my scissor lift, I did not have the pit. Even with the El Camino, I had to put down a pair of 2X12s. Those tended to move while driving up on them. So I had to use 2x4 against the stem wall to keep the 2x12 from moving.

Then I had to move the "portable" Bendpak MD6xP. Yea, it is possible to wheel it around with the supplied handle. I weigh 208 pounds, and it took all my weight to move the thing around. A small man would not be able to do it.

Storing the 2x12s when not in use was a pain as well.

The pit just made it a permanent lift. Just move the 1/2 inch plywood off, and adjust the arms to the jack points and up it goes. The 911 is a bit more difficult, as the jack points are small targets. The El Camino has a full frame, so it is super easy. The Macan is easy as well.

It was money well spent. Total happy expenditure. Mounting the pump on the wall we a great way to do it.

[unclebilly]

^^^ but could you drop the transmission in the elky with that lift?

[hotdogwater]

I just got this from ebay for about $1700 delivered to my home. I might try to sink it when I redo my garage floor (50+ year old concrete) but for now it works pretty good. It's narrow enough I can park over it without much trouble. A stripe on the floor helps to guide the car into the right place. I have 9' ceilings so this goes higher than I need it to (48" I believe) and the only pain was getting 30amp service wired to run the hydro pump. 26amp over 120v and they put a standard 120v plug so I put in a 30amp RV plug and use a converter (will cut the old plug and rewire the pump someday).

[mb911]

Wildfire lifts no questions about it