Garage Lift?

#1

Does anyone have a lift in their home garage? I am considering a 2 post lift. Some questions:

Any preferred/poor brands or models?

Did you have to modify your doors to open higher? My ceiling is 16ft+ high with central mounted opener on single door.

Can/would you park your DD underneath your car when it’s up on the lift?

Did you DIY? My wife wants it installed by a contractor due to safety issues but other than getting it off the delivery truck, it doesn’t look too difficult

Any tips from the school of experience would be appreciated

#2

I would post this on the track oriented fb page so a lot of eyes will see it. There’s also some threads here if you search for “lift”. My lift is a Harbor Freight scissor lift. It was cheap (<$900 shipped w/ 25% off coupon), it works fine, and I’ve used the heck out of it. But scissor lifts have real drawbacks, like being unable to pull the exhaust or driveshaft. Also you have to create 6" of clearance by parking the SpecE30 on a pair of 2x12’s. If I had more room in my garage I’d have gotten a real lift.

#3

Does anyone have a lift in their home garage? I am considering a 2 post lift. Some questions:

Any preferred/poor brands or models?

  • I purchased a HR8000 made by direct lift, a two post lift that allows me to put the car to the ceiling which is higher than the post itself.

Please note: there are Chinese lifts and those that that qualify for the American lift standards, make sure you look for the accreditation, the HR8000 is accredited to meet the standard.

  • purchased it from American lift for under 1500 including shipping, look for coupon codes/ sales.

Did you have to modify your doors to open higher? My ceiling is 16ft+ high with central mounted opener on single door.

  • No, the door doesn’t have to open higher, however the track must be higher. Because of my space which is 11 feet high, the track is mounted flush with the ceiling and I can take the top of the car to 11 feet with the door closed. However, with the door open and because the door opens at a “normal height” I cannot take the car above 8 feet which is where the door sits when open. If you have 16 foot ceiling and the high ceiling tracks for the door, you will have no problems at all. My solution is reflective of my ceiling and space shape limitations.

Can/would you park your DD underneath your car when it’s up on the lift?

  • I don’t but I could. All lifts have a physical locking mechanism so that the weight does not rest on the hydraulics. Therefore you raise the lift and then lower down on to the mechanical locks for stability which you must do always before you go under the car. The mechanical locks on my lift are every 4-6 inches.

Did you DIY? My wife wants it installed by a contractor due to safety issues but other than getting it off the delivery truck, it doesn’t look too difficult

  • yes, actually easily done. My lift required 220 volt so I has to have that installed and hooked up but physical installation is relatively easy.

Please note: curb side delivery at the house is a luxury you will have to pay for. I picked mine up at a local freight terminal which they loaded into my race trailer with a fork lift. At the house a buddy and myself pulled it off the trailer piece by piece…as a unit it is very heavy.

Any tips from the school of experience would be appreciated

See this link, good DYI information and essentially what I used for guidance.
http://www.lamboweb.com/Repairs_Section/All_Repairs_Lift.htm

#4

Thank you for the good info. I hadn’t seen that HR8000 lift and it’s about $500 less than the other lifts. Looks good and I noticed that ALI certification too.

#5

I had a 2 post Forward Lift installed for $3,200 last year. Totally worth the money and caries a certification from ALI (American Lift Institute). Having it professionally installed (about 45 minutes total) gave me an additional warranty (so I was told, I assume it’s true) and piece of mind it was done correctly. I built my garage with 12 1/2’ ceilings to make sure this lift fit, had the tracks for the garage door extended closer to the ceiling to make sure I could raise and lower a car with the door open.

#6

Lifts are wonderful.
I installed an Atlas OH9000 Overhead lift about 2 years ago and it has worked well with no issues. This is a 2 post lift with asymmetric arms. I use it for maintenance, not stacked storage.

I live in the Atlanta area and the lift was purchased from Greg Smith Equipment Sales. I brought the lift home in the back of my 2500 HD pickup (long bed); no problem. Price including hydraulic oil was about $2000 including sales tax. The dealer offered to deliver and install the lift for $500. But I thought that doing a self install was the manly thing to do; I saved $500; and this provided the opportunity to acquire a hammer drill (that I have never used again).

While the installation was interesting and satisfying, it was quite challenging (I did it solo, with a little help from my wife). The Atlas installation instructions rated a ‘C+’. I earned a new scar on my head and nearly crashed to the floor from the ladder a few times. The steel parts in a lift are very heavy - what a surprise!:wink: I did the 220V myself. Drilling holes in concrete is a PITA.

In retrospect, the $500 for installation would have been a bargain. Think this over carefully.

The Atlas lift is great for race car work under the car and to raise the car for working in other areas with less bending (e.g. replacing the bumper). I’ve also used it for other larger street sedans. The largest vehicle lifted was the pickup mentioned above. No problem. If you get a 2 post and you have the headroom above, I recommend getting a tall unit and including the top piece to stabilize the two posts. Otherwise the posts will wobble in a disturbing manner.

The lift is a great tool and the ease of use encourages better car maintenance.

#7

If you have some buddies help install, especially if one of them has installation experience it isn’t that bad. I rented a hammer drill from Home Depot for $50 which made drilling the holes easy. I would not do the install without some buddies, otherwise, the $500 it totally worth it.

I went w/ bendpak. This one - http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/two-post-lifts/xpr-10a-lp.aspx