4-Post Lift
 

Hi everyone -

Most of you know that I have a house with several garages... That is an awesome luxury - But - with the recent E23 purchase, I have now exceeded how many cars I can house inside them. The only thing that works in my favor (storage wise) is the E9 is in California being worked on - but, when that car comes back in the summer - I'll need to do something...

Anyone have experiences with 4-post lifts? Recommendations? Or ones to stay away from?

I will not need a HD one (or a large one) as I don't plan on putting any trucks on it - just ~ 4,000 lb (max) cars....
The garage space I am considering also is a bit narrow and has 120V only. So, those are considerations as well. I may need to also do some work on the building to reconfigure a beam that cuts across the middle of the bay (to increase headroom) - but that is another story.

I have seen a few lifts online - and will talk to a couple of friends locally that (I think) have them, but thought I'd see what ideas you all might have for this.

I've never used one, but thing go keep in mind is you need to make sure you don't drip oil anything else on the bottom car.

I've only seen storage lifts used at a museum -- they had several of them, including some that were 3 levels...

Bendpak.

Close the thread.

I can't recall your exact garage setup, but you might want to look at the Bendpak double wide 4-poster. If it fits, it'll give you a much more pleasant space in the garage to pull into/under. And you'll have a spare space. And the cost delta is pretty minimal.

Edit:

The HD-9SW, or ideally the HD-9SWX, which will get high enough to walk comfortably underneath. If you have the garage height for it, you *really* want one that will lift high enough to not bang your head in to.
http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/fou...s/hd-9swx.aspx

BendPak is very good, but you could probably make do with an Atlas from Greg Smith Equipment (link). They also have a "scratch and dent or used" section which often has good deals, here.

I haven't bought a lift from them, but I've been very happy with their other products and they've been very responsive when I needed parts or information.

You could make do, and there are several brands that are probably "good enough." But from what I've seen the price difference just isn't that great.

Bendpak doesn't make anything with 120V service, does it?

Atlas does, but I think Atlas needs a dedicated 30amp circiut

I believe that Bendpak offers 120v as an option. Give them a call.

Cool - Thanks for the info and leads.

I'll get into it in the next few weeks and see what happens.

Thanks again
(and if anyone thinks of something more - feel free to keep the ideas coming - this will be going on for a while)

I think that dimensions and photos of the potential lift spaces would be helpful. :)

Yes pics please !! I know I’d like to see these garages, sounds really cool !!

+1

I'll do that in a day or two.

I also just realized I will probably need to reconfigure the garage door to allow the car to be lifted at the same time as the door is up.
There is an old non-insulated steel door there now. I was going to replace it anyway with a nice insulated fiberglass one - this just make it a 'requirement' - I think.

Details to follow...

Good idea to replace the door, I did this many years ago and it makes a big difference in keeping the garage warm ... I also added a heater which REALLY makes the garage a very comfortable place to be in in the winter.

Make sure you do a jackshaft opener with a high lift kit, don't just do a standard door motor up higher.

Also, call around on quotes. Most of the door suppliers that we were looking at wanted double the final quote for our specified door. Which is a lot when it's an insulated glass Clopay.

When I was looking at doors, I found that HD runs sales that blow away any other quotes I got anywhere else - then they sub-out the work to the same guys who were giving higher quotes. We never actually bought a door, but that's another story.

FWIW, I have a Bendpak 2-post 10klb lift and it has been great.

When we need a new garage door, we just wait for a neighbor to park her stick shift car in the driveway, leave it in neutral, not set the brake, and then let her insurance pick up the tab. I thought that's what everyone does.

:lol:
That only works when the garage is downhill from the street :D

The grading of my driveway is a whole other story that I'm oping I can ignore until after one day selling the house.

LOL - that is one idea to get a new door...
But this is the door in question...

Downhill to the road...

(I'll get more info later - I just had this picture handy....)

Ah, guess an SWX won't work, and you're going to be tight for height.

Maybe it's time to build a pole barn? ;)

Close in that open side and it'd be good to go.

Yeah... Might make sense to do that instead of a lift.

Hi guys -

The right (open) bay is where my 28' car trailer is (and I like it there). :)

The building is deep (36') so, when I put in a new door I can have the track installed angling up following the roof line... That will give enough room for the lifted car - I think.
Also - I would not put an opener on it. I would keep it manual.

I figure the door track would be something kind of like this...

http://st.houzz.com/simgs/3101db0b02...e-and-shed.jpg

I don't know what the inside of your garage looks like, but from the outside it doesn't look like much more than an 8' ceiling (?) I'd say the image you posted is more like 12' if I had to guess.