Car lifts ....................again

[Rex T.]

I may be in the market soon for a lift of some type. Does anyone have any first hand real life experience with which one is best and what the space requirements / limitations might be? I may be expanding our master bedroom and bathroom for my wife, and it just so happens that the builder says it would not cost that much more to add on to the garage below the bedroom (yeah honey, I'm a nice guy). So, any advice for a car lift? As always, thanks in advance for your advice. BTW, it will be for storage of a 64 and a 67, both coupes.
Thanks, Rex NCRS #8089

[Harmon C.]

Re: Car lifts ....................again

For storage you need a four post. With all the attachments to lift the car off the ramps you can do most any job you want. Four post lifts are portable. For storage only a 8' 8" ceiling is enough but for working under the lift 11' is better. If I had a 60 X 100 shop I would have both. For tire and brake work a two post lift would be nice.
Lyle

[John M.]

Re: Car lifts ....................again

Rex,
I would consider 10' of ceiling height as a minimum, and high-lift dors are a must if you are starting from scratch.
The highlift doors will allow you to raise the door whenever the car is up on the lift all the way. A 8' high door is necessary as well if you are planning on moving the lift out the door on to the drive on nice days. Most 4 post lifts will not quite go out a standard 7' high garage door when on the casters. I really like being able to move the lift outside when the weather is nice. Anything less than 10'ceilings will have you stooped over all the time.

Regards, John McGraw

[Patrick H.]

Re: Car lifts ....................again

I've got two Double Parks and love them.

If I were to buy a 4 post now, I'd look seriously at a Rotary (marketed as Revolution), as they make a very, very nice product.

http://www.revolutionlift.com

Patrick

[Mike R.]

Re: Car lifts ....................again

Hi
I have two lifts
If your going to work on your cars you want a 2 post lift.
I would say 10'-6" is the lowest ceiling you can have and get the car up high enough so you can walk under it. I know I have a 10'-0" ceiling in one garage and its just not high enough so you can stand up straight under the car. the best would be to have a ceiling over 12'-0" if its possible. I have 13'-3" in my other garage and a bend pak mx-10cx. I really like this lift, it requires a 12'-0" ceiling. the advantages are that you have a clear floor because the connecting plates are on the top not the floor. the cx stands for there extended model which I believe gives you 10'-0" between the columns which is a real nice feature for getting out of the car with the columns in the way. espcially if you have to put a pickup truck up, if you have one of those lifts with 108" or less between the columns, you'll never get out of the truck because you can't open the doors enough. (my other lift has the 108")Also if you have 10'-0" or less you'll have to buy a two post lift with the connecting plate on the floor which is ok but the disadvantages are you have to drive over it all the time, you can't push the car in the hoist bay over that floor plate and also if your changing transmissions you'll find that the jack we'll be half on and half off that connecting plate and you'll have to build a small wood platform to keep it level. The one lift i have is like this and its ok but if you can have a high ceiling then go for the clear floor lift. One last thing that I didn't even realize until I had both was that the taller lift is much more stable with the car up 6' and thats because it has taller columns and the carraige's that go up and down in the columns are taller which makes them more stable...........just my two cents, heck thats probably 25 cents
Mike