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Can't go wrong with Bendpak or Back Yard Buddy. Both very well made. I went with an industrial roll up door and avoided any space intrusion in my garage, but I also have a 16 foot ceiling over my lift area.
AND MARK THAT LIFT if things are tight...if you go one lock past the 'sweet spot' you'll ding a top or lose an antenna!
And if you have the casters, after you knock the living crap out of your shins on those pivot pins you'll wrap some water heater foam insulation around them with duct tape!
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 11-21-2016 at 06:19 PM.
Check out Advantage Lifts. They look a great deal like Backyard Buddy. Looks like they back engineered BB and made some improvements. A friend who owns a BB came over and checked out my lift, he said it was BB on steroids. Ramps are made with larger rails, locks engage better, aluminum ramps plus a safety lock system to protection in the event of a cable breakage.
After researching a lot of lifts I chose the Direct Lift 8k. It came with the casters to allow it to be moved around, a really nice feature, the bridge for the ability to lift the car with bottle jacks to pull the wheels and the drip trays, all extra costs on some of the other lifts. You can level the safety stops and the cables independantly but one of the main reasons was I didn't need to run a 220 power line to run it. I also bought the sliding hydrallic jack at the same time as there was no extra charge for freight for this unbelievably heavy piece of equipment. I use the bridge that came with it for tool storage while working.
Good Luck !
Uh, not really....I moved my center-pull garage opener to one side and it works just fine on a single garage door with standard height tracks and I get two Corvettes stacked up with no door interference...10'4" ceiling...
Keep in mind that you have to have the center torsion type spring to accomplish moving the garage door opener to the side.
They do not recommend doing it when you have the 2 springs along the side.
Also, I have 10 foot ceilings and it works OK as far as the height goes, but I wish I had another foot.
While your at it you should consider purchasing the sliding jack so you can lift the wheels off the ramps.
I have the Direct Lift 8000, it works great. They are difficult to install if you do not have a couple of people to help. VERY heavy.
Make sure you do your homework. good luck
The sliding jacks are 1/3-1/2 the price of my lift....cheapest I've found a bridge jack is $495 IIRC and the quality could be questionable.
As to using bottle jacks in the sliding tool tray - forget about it. There is no room to work the jack handle and its hard to find a good jack point on the car that far towards its center...and its a bit scary.
If you have shop air (I don't) there are some clever pneumatic jack 'bags' you can use..on the lift runways under the cars frame...
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 11-22-2016 at 05:03 PM.
I used 2 Bendpack HD9 wides. Get the wides because they are adjustable. As Frankee says, skip the bottle jack tray, it can only be used on the narrow setting. Otherwise I did the research. Most of them are the equal of each other, for me it was accessibility to a competent installer/servicer nearby. And...I can't own anything named Backyard Buddy, regardless of how good it might be. Below is a house I built last year, moved in this past July. Happy Thanks Giving!
4 post lifts are great for storage and detail work, and oil changes, but not much else. If you want storage and utility, get a twin post lift. With a twin post, your floor has to meet specs for the anchors. I went with a full height Mohawk scissors type lift for portability, access, and the fact that it takes up no shop space: park a car over it and it disappears. Not the lift to choose if you want to stack cars for parking, though!
4 ... Not the lift to choose if you want to stack cars for parking, though!...
Right, and parking was the primary consideration together with the reality that I limit my scope of work to small repairs and all maintenance. Work requiring a two post lift goes to better wrenches than I.
4 post lifts are great for storage and detail work, and oil changes, but not much else. If you want storage and utility, get a twin post lift. With a twin post, your floor has to meet specs for the anchors. I went with a full height Mohawk scissors type lift for portability, access, and the fact that it takes up no shop space: park a car over it and it disappears. Not the lift to choose if you want to stack cars for parking, though!
4 post lifts are great for storage and detail work, and oil changes, but not much else. If you want storage and utility, get a twin post lift. With a twin post, your floor has to meet specs for the anchors. I went with a full height Mohawk scissors type lift for portability, access, and the fact that it takes up no shop space: park a car over it and it disappears. Not the lift to choose if you want to stack cars for parking, though!
I agree that a 4 post is not good for work that requires the wheels to be off the ground, but I've been able to do just about everything else I wanted to do on my Corvettes. I wouldn't want to use a 2 post for storage as I wouldn't want my suspension to "hang" unsupported.
You asked for opinions/recommendations on 4 post lifts. Here's mine:
"I had a Superior lift (7,000 lb capacity) for 16 years...no issues. Sold it to the new owner of our house this year...didn't plan on it but he "wrestled me", convincing me to sell it to him (car nut like me).
Wasn't in our "new to us" new home 3 months and really shopped for a similar sized lift. Wanted to spend the money on a 4-post lift made in America. Couldn't touch any made here for less than $4,500. Ended up caving & buying a Titan 4-post lift with 3 drip trays, sliding jack bridge, caster kit, "L" bracket, 2 sets of ramps (1 steel & 1 aluminum), shipped to my son's former tool & die shop near me (no tax) for $2,250. With the exception the new lift having threaded holes for bolts (they provided) alongside the pulleys to eliminate the cables coming off (if they're too slack), it's identical and as ruggedly made as the Superior lift of 16 years ago. Took my son and grandsons about 5 hours and we were up and running".
The specific 4-post Titan lift I bought is their TITAN SDPL-7000.
Here's some pics:
On my trailer, ready to unload in my drive
Unloaded
Some of my installers...son & grandsons
Garage is 115" floor to ceiling.
First day up, cables have since been adjusted
View of bolts that came with this unit
My garage is small. Had a door company install the Liftmaster 8500 which mounts on the side, near the top on the front wall. They also raised the track within 7" of the ceiling. That cost was $750.00.
If your short on space, My neighbor purchased single posts lifts to park his cars on. Scariest dang thing I have ever seen but he has owned them for over two years and one has a 63 Impala sitting on it. The don't take up a lot of floor space like a 2 or 4 post does.
I don't know the costs or the brand he purchased but if interested I can find out.
Last edited by SledgeHammer 2.0; 11-23-2016 at 08:45 AM.
Well, in my experience, it's the case. Spoken by a guy with over 35 years in the industry, who has used every type of lift for all kinds of mechanical work. We have dozens of 4 post lifts at work for storage at work, and have used them for mechanical work in a pinch. They are not user friendly for that. They are superb for storing cars, and doing it safely without having to drill holes in the floor, be permanently mounted, etc. Since the OP wants to stack cars, he's made the right choice.
Well, in my experience, it's the case. Spoken by a guy with over 35 years in the industry, who has used every type of lift for all kinds of mechanical work. We have dozens of 4 post lifts at work for storage at work, and have used them for mechanical work in a pinch. They are not user friendly for that. They are superb for storing cars, and doing it safely without having to drill holes in the floor, be permanently mounted, etc. Since the OP wants to stack cars, he's made the right choice.
Well, in my experience, your previous post is still nonsense.
I've been in the auto industry too for the past 35 years, both as a design engineer and a Corvette enthusiast. I've used my "lowly" four poster to pull the body off, pull the engine and/or transmission out multiple times, swapped several differentials out for gearing swaps and maintenance, alignments and ride-height adjustments (a task that two-posters aren't terribly user friendly for, to use your words), welding up different exhaust systems, and numerous brake jobs that are a fact of life with a car that gets a lot of track use. Hell, I even used the lift for an anchor plate when I was doing chassis torsion strength measurements on the modified frame I put under the '69. Off the top of my head, the only job I remember doing on the '69 that didn't involve my lift was when I painted the car several years ago.
I've got plenty of pictures of my car (on the lift) in various states of assembly described above in case the concept of a user-friendly four-poster is incomprehensible to some.
Well, in my experience, your previous post is still nonsense.
I've been in the auto industry too for the past 35 years, both as a design engineer and a Corvette enthusiast. I've used my "lowly" four poster to pull the body off, pull the engine and/or transmission out multiple times, swapped several differentials out for gearing swaps and maintenance, alignments and ride-height adjustments (a task that two-posters aren't terribly user friendly for, to use your words), welding up different exhaust systems, and numerous brake jobs that are a fact of life with a car that gets a lot of track use. Hell, I even used the lift for an anchor plate when I was doing chassis torsion strength measurements on the modified frame I put under the '69. Off the top of my head, the only job I remember doing on the '69 that didn't involve my lift was when I painted the car several years ago.
I've got plenty of pictures of my car (on the lift) in various states of assembly described above in case the concept of a user-friendly four-poster is incomprehensible to some.
I am LMAO, 69427. And am glad that you are getting the most out of your lift. Different strokes for different folks.....no harm, no foul! Have a great Thanksgiving.
Bendpak 4 post are the best. I have an hd9, hd7p, and PL-7000XR. If you are patient you can find one on craigslist. I bought two on CR almost new for around 2/3 of new. I like the hd7p because it is short and tall for my tall Ford woodies.
A 4 post lift takes up a lot of space so IMHO don't get an extra wide or long one unless you really need it. I wanted short, narrow and tall and hd7p fit the bill. I installed all three by myself with the help of an engine hoist. I had two delivered and had to haul one home myself. Installation around here is around $500 if you don't have time to DIY.
I also installed myself lift kits on my garage doors to raise up the track to the ceiling which is 12 feet. You need new springs, spools, and cables and it costs only about $200 or less per door for parts.
I got rid of my 2 post lift. It was a PITA to bend down and adjust the arms.
11-21-2016, 05:21 PM
Bendpak 4 post are the best. I have an hd9, hd7p, and PL-7000XR. If you are patient you can find one on craigslist. I bought two on CR almost new for around 2/3 of new. I like the hd7p because it is short and tall for my tall Ford woodies.