How many with a lift?

[Red67Mustang]

I'm working on plans to expand my home garage in a year or two and am considering the pros/ cons of having a lift. The pros are obvious but main con is in fixing the location of where I work on the car (with one 16' door, sometimes I put the car in the middle to have clearance on all sides, then get 2 cars in when the project is done.)

So, I thought I'd ask here...

How many on this forum have a lift in your home garage? If you have one, what type?

I also need to determine the concrete foundation reqts to get that into the plans now, just in case.

Thx!

[raustinss]

I don't have one but would if I had the ceiling height, as far as concrete specs...talk to the concrete pros for what you need and if your concerned with a hoist taking up too much room consider one of those 4 post lifts that you can roll around
Ryan Austin

[Enzo Damico]

[vintageracer]

I have 2. One 2 post and 1 four post.

IF working on your car is your main reason for a lift buy a 2 post lift. You will need 6 inches of concrete below the posts. Cut your floor if you have to and re-pour the sections with concrete adding re-bar for strength.

If storage, exhaust work and transmission work is your goal a four post is fine. I would recommend bolt this lift to the floor also.

[lzdick]

I have a Rotary asymmetrical 10,000# unit. Everything that Mike suggested above is true. Depending on your needs the 2-post is far more versatile. If you do go with the 2-post, look into the asymmetrical units. The basic difference is the posts are not parallel to each other allowing you to open a car door without hitting the post; a very nice feature.

Here are a few pics:

[Winmon]

There are no cons to owning a lift One of the best purchases I have ever made. After a lot of research I went with a Rotary SPO10 (10k). BendPak was my second choice. As far as the post pads, I dug down about 8" deep (about 3'x 3' square). I believe Rotary says to go 6".

[another69]

I went with a Bendpak 4 post to make it easier to do alignments & not have to worry about the concrete. Adding a bridge jack makes it damn near as service friendly as a 2 post.

[BigDawgDavao]

I also have a Bendpak 4 post. Made up some wheels so can wheel it outside for any dirty/dusty stuff. My goal was to minimize bending over and having to get on hands and knees. That is the beauty of a 4 post. Just drive on and lift. No getting down under cars to make sure the posts are aligned with the lifting points. All I would recommend is getting a couple of jack trays (or the air lift ones if you can afford) and an extra bottle jack or 2 and you can do whatever you would ever need to do with a 4 post.

[yellow1098Greg]

How much ceiling height do you need for the 2 post? And can't you just cut/modify the ceiling? I have a 8 foot ceiling maybe 8.5...thanks guys

[lzdick]

The Rotary catalog I have shows a minimum of 10' clearance needed on their smallest model. If you are contemplating modifying the ceiling, what is upstairs/above?

My 12' lift (SPOA10 Rotary) has a cylinder that arises 12' 5" and the ceiling is 12' 0". Had to make sure the cylinders were not directly below a 2x10 ceiling joist. They enter the ceiling but do not interfere with the flooring above due to the 2x10 ceiling joists. Works fine.

[riles]

What are you going to do with the garage door? It's not as simple as just cut/modify the ceiling. A 6" pad is the recommended depth for concrete. Like Mike said, if you intend to store your vehicle to make room to park another vehicle under it, then the 4 post is the way to go.
Nice garage there, Enzo and Winmon.

[BMR Sales]

I've got a Rotary 4 Post - the Best Thing I've ever bought.

They make Casters for them to Roll, but I didn't like how it felt loose. Mine is Bolted to the Floor.

[shmoov69]

My new (to me) place has a 4 post and I've never had one before.... WOW!! Freakin awesome!! Should've spent the money on one years ago, even if it wouldn't fit in my other houses!! LoL!

[shmoov69]

Here is a pic

Well apparently the app won't let me load a pic from my phone. :-(

[TheJDMan]

I could not have built Dust Off without my Stinger 4 post lift. By dumb luck my garage has a 12ft ceiling which allowed me to buy a taller post lift. A 2 post vs a 4 post lift is a matter of personal preference. I have used both and I prefer the 4 post with jack bridges. Most 4 post lifts can be outfitted with caster wheels so you can move them around as needed. My neighbor can roll his 4 post lift outdoors if he chooses, my garage door is not tall enough. The other advantage of the 4 post lift is that it can set on a standard concrete garage floor without needing any special reinforcement. A four post lift also does not need to be anchored to the floor. We had a 6.8 magnitude earthquake here in VA three or four years ago which did a lot of damage to a lot of buildings. Dust Off was up on the lift 6' in the air when the quake struck. The lift did not appear to have moved it just absorbed the movement and the car was uneffected. I also have installed LED light strips to the lift to light the underside of the car while working on it which could not be done with a 2 post lift.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Checking the Bendpak site, most of the smaller lifts 10,000lbs and under, recommend only 4" of 3000 psi concrete.

[BMR Sales]

My Driveway is thicker than 4"

My Garage Floor is 14 Inches (House is 75 Years Old). The Installer went through 3 Drill Bits!

[latamud]

I work abroad a lot and caught myself spending a lot of money to store cars and parts. Over the years I had spent more than the value of a car. For about 2 months, I had 4 units with 4 cars stored at one time, at $150 a month per unit. I bought my last house 2 years ago, and needed a bigger garage to cut back on storage expenses. I have a 3 car with 3 4 posts. I spent about 1 years worth of storage fees to purchase the lifts so I could fit 6 cars in my garage. They all have removeable casters and moveable. Those are my PRO.

CONS:
I now have to pull cars out of the garage to roll my tool chest out to get tools. I'm constantly shifting things around to get to other things. I don't have room for too many project parts so I ended up storing literally near a ton of parts upstairs in a spare room. AND I still need a 10x20 storage unit to store other car parts, engine hoist, engine stand, extra Cobra IRS units, wheels, tires, doors, and yet another car.

[dmastrota]

Are you using it to store cars and or just work on them? If both you need a four post to support the suppension and not letting it hang. I have a Back Yard Buddy. In my opinion in is one of the best ones by far. I also have an Eagle, but one of the last American Made ones. There is no comparison at all. To see the two side by side my friends are amazed how much better the Backyard Buddy is, With the car on it, it does not move. Also I have a basement in my garage. I had a structural engineer do the loads and we have a 6 in slab.

[hifi875]

I just purchased one this summer. A 4 post challenger lift for my 2 car garage w 10ft ceilings. Best purchase I've made. Solves a lot of problems