New garage lift

Unobtanium-inc · 01-22-2017, 03:30 PM

I was having the same problem that many of us have with the car addiction, no room to put them all. I was figuring out what to do and had a couple of options.
1. Buy a building to store them in. This wasn't ideal because it would be a lot of money and the cars would be away from me.
2. Build something else at my house. This wasn't ideal either because I live on a ridge, so my yard is a couple of acres but most of it is a sloping hill, so there wasn't anywhere really to build another garage. Then I had an idea. My two car garage had an attic above it. A friend was building a deck for me so I asked him if we could eliminate the attic and raise the ceiling in the garage. He said no if it was made with truss built, but if it was stick built, sure. Luckily it was stick built so all he had to do was raise the pitch, and he was able to re-use most of the existing lumber!

Once the garage was where I wanted it, stage two came in, the lifts. The first lift went in today. My friend Greg helped me put it in, he also ordered it for me, he's the manager of the local NAPA. He had done one before but even with his experience it isn't a simple affair. There are lots of adjustments and a couple of times we had to take stuff apart and put it back together. It took 1.5 days, so it isn't as easy as the manufacturers make it out to be, but it is do-able if you're patient and know tools.
I ordered the 2nd lift today and it should be here in a couple of weeks, which works out because the 3rd car, the 993, is coming Feb 4th and the 4th car the 65 Mustang fastback should be done around there too.

So overall my review is you can put a lift in your garage yourself but it isn't super duper easy.

---Adam

1979-930 · 1979-930's Garage

What are you going to do to keep the oil off of the car below?

SalParadise · 01-22-2017, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1979-930

What are you going to do to keep the oil off of the car below?

Right on.

Unobtanium-inc · 01-22-2017, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1979-930

What are you going to do to keep the oil off of the car below?

One of the reasons I went with the lift I did was it came with moveable drip trays. You can place them wherever you think it will drip.

Rick Brooklyn · 01-22-2017, 05:58 PM

The Mustang and the 993 will be Adam 12 and 13?

Unobtanium-inc · 01-22-2017, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Brooklyn

The Mustang and the 993 will be Adam 12 and 13?

Nope, the truck is ADAM 13, I was able to snag ADAM 5 for the CLK, ironically 14 and 15 are taken, so I guess I'll go up from there.
And 12 is taken because of the TV show. Funny story about that. I went to the DMV to get Adam 1 and Adam 2, both were taken, so I started at 10, got that 11 and when 12 came up it was taken so I got 13. When the lady, who was about 20, said ADAM 12 was taken I said that makes sense, because of the TV show. She had no clue what I was talking about. The lady next to her, who was about 50, said, "Car 1 ADAM 12, where are you?" I laughed. The young lady mumbled something about old people...

voitureltd · 08:37 AM

Also had mine done . Only difference I had the door tracks made up so they would also follow the interior roof to approx 12ft high to go over where the car roof generally is. Cheapest and best storage out there.

Unobtanium-inc · 02-11-2017, 07:48 AM

A couple people have asked me what the difference between "stick built" and "truss built" is. My garage was stick built so we were able to loft the ceiling by moving the horizontal supports higher, we were even able to re-use much of the existing wood. If you garage has trusses you can't do this without making all new trusses, which is very costly.
Here is a pic of the garage mid-build.

---Adam

NYNick · NYNick's Garage

I think a better explanation might be that roof trusses (supports) are built offsite and lifted into place on top of the walls with a crane.

"Stick built" rafters are placed one by one as the roof is built, so it is easier to modify if you're going to start messing around with them, like you did.

Southbay356 · 02-11-2017, 02:58 PM

you missed 2 spaces ,

you needed to put one below ground , then ground level and one on top.........

or how the Japanese do it with a Ferris wheel type thing........

Unobtanium-inc · 02-11-2017, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Southbay356

you missed 2 spaces ,

you needed to put one below ground , then ground level and one on top.........

or how the Japanese do it with a Ferris wheel type thing........

I already have a basement garage, but my wife wanted to turn it into a woodshop, so I moved one Porsche out of there, took over the top garage, my wife parks outside now, and all the kids bikes and stuff go in the basement garage. But the big plan is once the kids move out I'll take over the whole basement, which is ground level on the back of the house, I can probably fit 6 more cars down there.

brianz426 · 02-12-2017, 11:14 AM

I'm not sure which brand lift you got but I bought the Backyard Buddy brand a few years ago. I was able to set it up and put it together by myself in 10-12 hours. Only thing I needed a helping hand with was getting the uprights to the vertical position after assembling them on the floor.
Like Anthony I had my door tracks moved up, I still have to be careful and make sure the rear antenna is down on one car or the door will hit it (and bend it). Hopefully the second lift will go faster now that you have the experience. Good luck with it.

upwardr · 02-12-2017, 07:13 PM

Adam what height do you have to the top of the Roadster?

Unobtanium-inc · 12-03-2017, 01:09 PM

Both lifts are in, winter is here, cars are up.

Hurry up Spring!

---Adam

gwag · 12-03-2017, 05:36 PM

Adam what brand of lift is that?? Are you happy with the quality?

Unobtanium-inc · 05:40 PM

The brand is Quality, which I think is owned by Snap-On. Very sturdy, much thicker then the cheaper ones. They are 110V so no special wiring, but they aren't fast, if you had a shop, you would want 220.

I got them through my local NAPA, the manager is a Porsche guy.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/CL_Q4P07

---Adam

NYNick · NYNick's Garage

Nice to see somebody else's wife doesn't get to park in the garage either.

Toast54 · 12-04-2017, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unobtanium-inc

Nope, the truck is ADAM 13, I was able to snag ADAM 5 for the CLK, ironically 14 and 15 are taken, so I guess I'll go up from there.
And 12 is taken because of the TV show. Funny story about that. I went to the DMV to get Adam 1 and Adam 2, both were taken, so I started at 10, got that 11 and when 12 came up it was taken so I got 13. When the lady, who was about 20, said ADAM 12 was taken I said that makes sense, because of the TV show. She had no clue what I was talking about. The lady next to her, who was about 50, said, "Car 1 ADAM 12, where are you?" I laughed. The young lady mumbled something about old people...

"One Adam-12, One Adam-12...see the man......." >old person

Matt Monson · 12-04-2017, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYNick

Nice to see somebody else's wife doesn't get to park in the garage either.

Wife? I can’t even get all my own in. Working on that...

timchar · timchar's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYNick

Nice to see somebody else's wife doesn't get to park in the garage either.

My wife parks in driveway under awning. I told her when her 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee starts to appreciate, she can park in the garage. Live in Ca so it’s not that brutal outside. Tim