Auto Lift and Installation

The two post lifts make me nervous just looking at them. Have you thought about the ceiling height in your garage? I've been checking out the 4 post lifts on http://www.superlifts.com . We've got a three car garage with a 12 foot high ceiling. Putting an autolift over in the third car garage would allow us to park our daily drivers in the double bay, and on the 3rd bay, hoist the parts car into the air for storage and have the Jet below where we could pull it out. Or of course, part with the parts car and let my husband have his own classic car.

A clear floor asymetrical two post lift is much more versatile than a 4 poster. I have 3 of them I picked up used between $8-1200. I personally don't like the 4 post, too much iron in the way. Installation in my area is $400 excluding wiring. If you do look for a used lift check it carefully, parts are nla for a lot of the older lifts even if the name is familiar, many of these companies no longer manufacture but are importing chinese lifts with their brand on it. Also make sure the lift is single phase, the 220v in your home garage is not 3-phase. Concrete is important but a good 4" slab should be alright except maybe in Florida. Once you have a lift you'll wonder how you ever got by without one and its much cheaper than adding on to the garage to store that extra vehicle.

66patrick66 wrote:

I'm going with boothguy's two-post for the same reason. Far less in the way, and there is much more versatility to a two-poster. I've got a 4" floor, but I plan to knock two holes in the floor where the lift will go and pour a 12" deep column that is 4" wider all around than the base of the uprights, and run long anchor bolts in the floor there. That lift won't go anywhere but up and down then. Plus, it'll hold any vehicle I currently have, including a one-ton Diesel truck!

Adding the extra footing sounds like a great idea. I've heard of people using these and not bolting them down - or bolting into concrete pads of questionable thickness and integrity...not a pretty sight!

boothguy do you have a picture of your style 2 post lift?

I have a two post lift that I installed myself. Lifts my 49 four door as well as my 2001 mercury full size car and my Safari van (loaded with tools). One at a time! As pereviously stated,The floor thickness and integrity ar VERY important. I would be suspicious of any residential garage floor. I have seen many that had thick sides, but were less than 3" thick in the centers. Drilling one hole will tell you what the thickness is. Also stay away from cracks and expansion joints. With the use of a potable shop crane and a 3/4" hammer drill, I did the whole job myself. I'm over sixty and a weakling! It's all a matter of balance. I bought mine from Affordable Equipment in Orlando Fl. About $1,400.00. I picked it up at the warehouse with my Safari van and a flatbed open trailer. it comes in two bolted together units and is loaded with a fork lift. I used my portable shop crane to unload it and erect it. It took me less than 8 hours to unload and install it with absolutely no help. Running an electrical line overhead from the panel took an extra two hours.

There are two basic types of two posters. The lower weight rating (like mine) has a diamond plate steel "speed bump" on the floor between the posts. That is a chase to run cables and hydraulic lines through. This lift is plenty tough enough to do the job but if you anticipate using a roll around transmission jack..well it could pose a problem. The next higher weight rating has the cables and hydraulics in a cross bar above the towers. That leaves the floor clear and makes the towers much stronger by tieing them together at the top.

This lift gives the most access to the underside of the car. I've used it for everything from front suspension rebuild to rear end swaps. A two poster makes it a bit difficult to open the drivers door, so Paul Large Type might opt for a four poster.

Common sense must be used when using any lift and most assuredly a two poster. If the lift is installed correctly, it will not fail, but the car can slip off the pads if not properly supported by the pads. I always double check as soon as I get the wheels to clear the gound.

I wish I had gotten mine years ago. The last two years have let me do many more things than i would ever attempt on a creeper and jack stands. I do have a few more bumps on my head though!

If your floor has rebar re-inforcement as long as you hit the 4" mark I think your going to be ok.

If you did want to dig out and pour new footings I think adding additional rebar to tie into the existing floor would work though I'm no concrete professional for sure.

Just having rebar in your floor is better than most residential floors!

I don't have any pictures, I have one Rotary that came out of a ford export facility that was closing down, very little used, bought 4 and let 3 of them go to friends- a very good lift. They had a bunch of them that all looked identical but had different weight ratings, I think it was inflated for marketing purposes. I'm sure Rotary is the biggest seller in the US and has good support. Second lift is a Nussbaum made in Germany, the guy I got it from said it was $5000 in 1990, very nice piece, I hope it never breaks. Last one is a Benwil, made in Japan, well made but a little exotic on the engineering. I think they are out of business at least in the US and I've had to rig it a little to keep it going as I can't find any parts for it. I installed all of them myself, just need a couple stout guys and a hammer drill, make sure the columns are square and plumb. The asymetricals are better balanced even though it may not appear that way. The force is all down, you'd really have to try to get one to rip a floor up. Much more likely to have a car fall off the lift so get one with functioning arm locks. They used to make a lot of lifts in Texas that were the cheap alternative before the chinese wiped everybody out, they were a bit on the crude side but worked fine and were strong. I would definitely avoid any thing that was screw driven, probably not many left around though. I'd rather have a good used lift than a chinese one, more form a political standpoint than anything else. Enough rambling- go get a lift, it will change your life- at least in the garage.