I am looking to buy a new four post lift and I am looking for advice on what lift to buy. I have a Backyard buddy, but I don't want to spend that much for the second lift, so I was wondering what lifts other people have.

 

Rotary. Don't skimp.

 

I looked at the Backyard Buddy and the BendPack lifts along with others. I paid $2,600 delivered. I would not pay less and get a cheaper one, just don't trust the construction. If you have a backyard buddy then you know good construction costs money. I would stay with what you know, but that is my humble opinion.





Good luck with your decision.

David Howard
77Sleeper

 

I just had a lift installed in August. I did a lot of homework on this issue before committing to one. I looked at them all, lined up the specs and prices and found the best lift value was the Direct Lift Pro Park 8S. They are an American Co. I got the 4 post 8,000 lb capacity for $1,795 and that included the caster set, 3 drip pans and a jack tray ($400 bought separately). That's the best value I could find anywhere and it's an 8,000 capacity and ALI certified.

One of the big things with me was to get a lift that was ALI (Automotive Lift Institute) certified. That narrowed the list considerably. At least I know the lift design is certified to meet strict requirements for design and manufacture and the factory process is audited. If engineers in the business have certified the lift, that's good enough for me.

It also operated on 110v service which was a big thing with me so I don't have to pay an electrician a lot of money to run 220v to my garage. The only difference between 110v and 220v is the time it takes to raise the vehicle. Full lift on 110v takes 60 seconds. I can live with that. Full lift on 220v is 30 seconds.

Do your homework and you'll find the prices vary considerably but the designs and materials don't.

They also set me up with an installer who was a great guy and finished the job in 3 hours at a cost of $575.

Note also that the lift comes in one box weighing 1,770 lbs and 14 ft long. Since I had no way of handling this at home, it was delivered to the installer who showed up at the house with it. That was another big problem that was solved easily. Remember the freight company won't let you on the truck to take it apart.

Rotary is way way too expensive and is not better than the rest. Paying more doesn't guarantee a better lift.

Here is the Automotive life Institute website where you can get some unbiased info.

http://www.autolift.org/index.htm

Here is the lift I bought.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Pr...Show=TechSpecs

Here are the ones I looked at in detail:
Eagle
Bendpak
Backyard Buddy
Superlifts.com
Kwicklift
Direct Lift
Superior
Mohawklifts
All American Lifts

 

My Rotary lift ran 3k including shipping with two drip pans, two jack trays, and extended clearance ramps. This was around three years ago (Viper forum discount), so I do not know what they are currently. I assembled it myself with basic tools and a few friends on a Saturday afternoon.

It was not hard to justify the cost of it when comparing it to other lifts at all including the BYB. A Rotary weighs more, has much large pulley wheels with huge sheeve pins, can be leveled very easily (don't take this for granted), and can run on 110. The only lift I found to be more "beefy" was a Mohawk which seems like it could lift the Space Shuttle.

Every summer I attend car shows and see these people hawking 4-post lifts which just seem like toys compared to a Rotary and the pricing with all of the desired options is not that much less. Anyone thinking of buying a 4-post should visit their local dealership or service center to see what they are using. If you can still get a Revolution/Rotary for around 3k, its a no-brainer IMHO. I have no affiliation with Rotary. Just very happy with the product and extremely comfortable with the purchase.

 

The cost for the backyard buddy is $4,350 without shipping.

 

I bought a previous owned Lift, AMMCO 12,000# 18' alingment lift with
(2) rolling air jacks for $1000.oo. Yea we had to clean it up a little and used about 1gal of rustoleum, but man does it work and look great. Look around your area, not too far from here is a company that sells used automotive shop eguipment and will help with setup. Found ours in the out of town paper. JUST don't bring up about bolting them down and then you will really start something.

Good luck wro8

 

I also went with Greg Smith Equipment with my Bendpak purchase, great folks and they helped me with the construction a bunch as well as the selection, can't go wrong with Greg Smith. I opted to build mine myself rather than have it done for me but again, for $575 and three hours you cannot go wrong with the way Bobz08C6 did it as well. I also opted for the 110V versus the 220V and I got the jack tray, drip trays, oil pan, and they even threw in a can of touch up spray paint.

The key as stated by Bobz is to do your homework. I completely agree with looking for the the certifications by the Automotive Lift Institute, you know that these have been tested and demonstrated performance. My 9,000lb Bendpak is everything I wanted and hoped to acheive in buying a lift. If you are not happy with your current Backyard Buddy give Greg Smith a look, I think you will be happy you did.

Best of success and share pictures when you decide and install.

David Howard
77Sleeper

 

I am very happy with the backyard buddy, I was just looking for something a little cheaper for the second lift. It will be used for storage of my car and won't be operated very often.

 

When I looked at the Rotary lift in August it was $4,800 with no accessories, was not ALI certified and only had a 7,000 lb capacity.

I couldn't imagine dragging an 1,800 lb, 14 ft long package off an 18 wheeler in my driveway, dragging the heavy parts up to the garage, putting it together, moving into position and leveling. It was well worth the money to have a guy show up at the house with the unit, put it together in place and give me some OJT on how to use it and take care of it.

I'm very happy with this unit. A lift will pay for itself in repairs, added storage, oil changes, etc.

 

[QUOTE=77Sleeper;1567587762]I looked at the Backyard Buddy and the BendPack lifts along with others. I paid $2,600 delivered. I would not pay less and get a cheaper one, just don't trust the construction. If you have a backyard buddy then you know good construction costs money. I would stay with what you know, but that is my humble opinion.

Attachment 47630887

Attachment 47630888

Good luck with your decision.

David Howard
77Sleeper[/QUOTE

Your lift looks great, how much room do you need for it? How much was it to have the garage door altered? What brand is the lift? Thanks

 

While I don't know what model you were looking at, I find it hard to believe it wasn't ALI certified since Rotary was one of the founding members of this group along with Mohawk and Bedpak. If you look on the ALI site, a listing of all of the approved Rotary lifts are included including the model I have. This was a big deal for me as well.

I was pretty afraid of moving and assembling this lift as well. It took myself and two other people an hour to disassemble it and get it off the truck and around 5 hours on a Saturday to get it put together. The most time consuming task was leveling it as each post has an adjustment and my garage floor is not too straight. It was a good experience, however $575 sounds like a good price to pay for assembly.

I agree, a lift is a great tool as well.

 

[QUOTE=My70;1567591498]Thank you. The garage door is called a high lift track system. I actually replaced the door as well with a new insulated version as my old door was damaged. New high lift tracks, new door, and new rotary spring system and a new side mount garage door opener with remote light, remote exterior pad and interior auto pad with lock on the door was $1400 installed. It took the garage guys about four hours to install and now it is quiet, smooth, and very secure. Much nicer than my old doors and they were only eight years old. I used the old door to repair the other two garage doors and I have put the old garage door operner aside in case one of the other two break down in the future. Spare parts in some ways. That comes from owning Corvettes I think, never thow away the old part, you may need it again one day.

I bought the Bendpak 9,000 lb ALI certified lift and I am quite happy with it.
Here is a picture from outside looking in with the cars stacked.

This is my son Adam now working on one of the cars up on the rack. This has helped us a bunch on the cars.


Thanks for asking and good luck with your search.

David Howard
77Sleeper

 

I have a Pro Park 7 that I paid $1600 for and an Eagle 7000# narrow that I paid $3600 (or something like that). Eagle is considered to be a better lift but looking at the two you would be hard pressed to find any differences at all. I would go with the pro park. And the pro park accessories such as moveable jacks are more hobbyist priced.


-Justin

 

I also purchased a Pro PArk 8s from Greg Smith. I am very happy with it.

 

i bought my last lift on ebay for 500 it is a rotary 9000 lb 2 post i have 3 of these and use them eveyday for my shop i lift dual wheel diesel 4dr pickups with no problem and store cars under them for more space, in 15 years using these lifts i have never had a breakdown or failure and i use them 6 days a week

 

I installed a Direct Lift 4 post Pro Park8Plus from Derek Weaver and it's been great. No issues with assy or operation.

I also looked at all the various ones and the Derek Weaver folks almost insisted I go by the warehouse outside of Dallas that distributes almost every version out there under various names...(many are just renamed...same lift). When you get them all side by side you see the differences.


JIM

 

Here's a lift that has the same locking design as the Backyard Buddy. I think this is what your looking for.
Good luck,
Steve

http://www.allamericanlifts.com/index.html