Ok, looking into the possibility of a 4 post lift. Live in NJ, own our townhouse with a 1 car garage. Have a 93 Trans Am which is essentially becoming more and more a race/track only car........would like to keep both in the garage.

Using dimensions of the M813 from All American, the lift would easily fit in our garage (10 wide x 18 long x 10 high).......but.........

Is 10 feet of height enough to slide in a Vette under a 93 T/A??? Any ideas?? The T/A sits low, but not as low as the Vette. I'm REALLY considering this as it seems like it would work, but does anyone have any realistic ideas on what a minimum height needs to be to use a 4 post for a dual storage setup???

 

If you have 10 foot you are darn close to what you need....

I am sitting here with my arm in a sling tonight or I would walk down to the garage and do some actual measuring...
I have both a BYB and a Gemeni 4 post lift in my garage...(4 sided post
of the BYB is much better then the 3 sided posted Gemini BTW)...

BUT knowing that the ramp of both my lifts are approximately 4 inches tall
you can measure the height of the Race Car and add 4 inches to come up with just how high the car will sit when it is on the lift...Subtract that heoight from the ceiling hwight (less 2 inches for pieice of mind and raising the lift an inch or two so you can release the thing to lower the lift)
and you come up with an answer whigh hopefully will be larger in inches then your Corvette is tall...

In one garage I only had 8 foot ...I rmoved 3 trusses with a chain saw
and made a ran 2x8's under the ceiling (done by a contractor not me)
The car in that garage raises up into a hole in the ceiling... And the roof has withstood 3 foot of snow on it... IT works..

Sorry for the typing one handed is not easy... Arm gets free at 10 AM
Tomorrow IF there is no bleeding...

Bob G.
64 72 & 98 Ragtops
76 & 79 Coupes

 

Wow.....I should be ok then. I measured the T/A at approx 51", the vette at approx 49", so 100" plus 4" for ramps leaves me a spare 16" of space.

I'm DEFINITELY going to be the only guy on the block with this in my garage if I actually do it........

 

I have a 9'6" garage and got a vette on top with a dodge magnum underneath..

So long as you are careful, you should be able to do it...

 

Schweet! That's all I need to know.

Although a thought crossed my mind. Putting a 4 post lift is DEFINITELY going to take the functionality of my "shop" away unless I put the lift in the air with no car so I can get the car to be worked on in under it and on jackstands...........That's a lot to go through.....but parking the Vette in the garage too..........ohhhhh so nice.

 

Whoa, wait a second dude... You're seriously thinking of getting a 4 post lift, but you STILL want to use JACKSTANDS???

You're right, getting the vette inside is a must. I also understand about losing the functionality of the shop area.. but if you think about it, you'll work it out..although 10 ft wide is CLOSE for taking wheels off, etc...

Even if you can't raise your car up high enough to stand up straight under it, it's still better than on your back with the car on jackstands... If you really want to do that, run it on the lift and then raise it only a couple feet...

You could sit on a chair and work over your head on the car...

This is something to think about for sure...

If I were you, I'd use the jackstands in the jack pan(s) on the lift. You jack the car up by putting a jack in the pan and then slide Jackstands under. It's a big piece of channel iron that spans the runways. It's awesome!! Do some more research on the internet... Look up www.superlifts.com that will get you started.

Ask if you have more questions or clarification...

Good luck!!

 

See, I was thinking along the lines of header work and such, and didn't think there would be enough clearance between the rail to get a good angle to work in headers or drop a tranny or anything. I guess I haven't researched it enough because I wasn't sure if it would be safe to put a jackstand on the ramp to get a little extra bottom clearance.

Call me old school but I don't mind laying on a creeper and getting dirty under a car. I've been working on LT1 F-Bodys for 6+ years now so it's second nature.

Note to self: Ensure next house (out of Jersey hopefully) has enough land for LARGE 4-6 car garage with 2 AND 4 post lifts.....and a pit......and a dyno bay........yeah.........

 

I am with ya on that...
-=Rick

 

I USED to lay on my back and "in the pits" (I liked the pit!) but since I now have a lift, there's no going back!!! AWESOME!!!

My ramps stow between the two runways... making them approximately 36-37 inches apart. But the Superior lift is wider than most between the posts so I don't know if the runways are farther apart too??? I had researched it all last fall but I forget many of the details now... I'd have to look it up...

I'll check back tonight..

 

My ramps stow between the two runways... making them approximately 36-37 inches apart. But the Superior lift is wider than most between the posts so I don't know if the runways are farther apart too??? I had researched it all last fall but I forget many of the details now... I'd have to look it up...

I'll check back tonight..
[/QUOTE]

I store the ramps on the rails behind the rear wheels on both my Back Yard Buddy & Gemeni lifts... easy to do and saves space.. HOWEVER I did a light weight set made locally for my Gemeni.. (50 bucks) the originals ramps on my Gemeni were much longer then the ramps on my BYB PLUS they were much heavier, even heavier then the optrional Aluminum ramps...

I can not raise my wives Mini Van up high enough to change her oil on either lift But I just pull out a small "Milking Stool" and sit down under the van to change her oil...

Major disadvantage of a 4 post lift is doing brake work...NO QUESTION about that..BUt I have never had problems pulling a tranny or doing exhaust work with one... The rails on the ramp make a very nice place to "rest" your tools while you sip on a beer...

I solved the brake work problem by buying a low raise sissor lift which only raises the car (and all 4 wheels) 40 inches off the ground...of course when the car is up with that lift you can not get under the car..

Bob G.

 

One thing I will say is that given the confines of my garage, most of my major work is undertaken in the driveway. The only work I usually do in the garage is when I KNOW the car won't be seeing the light of day for a very long time, I.E. head/cam, motor removal, ect.

 

Here's a picture of an 11 ft. ceiling. If you have a garage door openner you may have to get one that mounts on the front wall instead of the ceiling. Good luck.

 

I have a M-815 in my garage, with a 9ft ceiling. I normally have the C5 (48" tall) under the lift, and three motorcycles on top (I have the center fill panels). It's tight, but it *just* works. The tops of the bikes (mirrors) are taller than the C5, so in theory two C5s would just fit (in my dreams! ). 10ft should be no problem if there's no garage door opener above, and the garage door doesn't move into the overhead space. FWIW, I had to raise the tracks on my door to get it to run nearly flush with the bottom of the garage trusses, and replaced the overhead garage door opener with a wall-mounted unit.

Important thing to remember: Add a 3-4 extra inches to your minimum garage height -- you actually have to raise the lift higher than the stop you want to rest at, so that the locks can clear the stop holes in the posts, then you let the lift back down onto the stops (and reverse the process when lowering the lift -- 3-4" up, retract the locks, then lower). And plan on the first stop the vette will fit under to be at 51" (measured from the ground to the bottom side of the platform -- that's where the nearest stop is cut into the posts). The stops are 5" apart.

For doing work, the M-815 ramps are so far apart -- nearly to the inside sidewalls of the tires -- that there's plenty of room for doing nearly any work. For things like brake work, I've had all 4 wheels off at once, just like on the ground, using jacks and jack stands in the two jack trays (in other words, no problems at all).

While I can raise the C5 about high enough to stand with my head under the car (I'm 5'7"), I prefer to work from a comfy business-surplus executive's rolling chair, which leans back a quite the comfy angle.

 

I agree with everything you say. No more jack stands for me. With This midrise lift I can do anything except remove the TQ Tube. I can even remove the cats. It goes as high as 54" and I just sit on a stool and work. And the lift requires no drilling (into unchartered territory) and can be moved within the garage failry easily.

 

To clarify... My comments in bold...Hmm I don't have this "fine garage accessory in my garage!!"

 

or my option is the rj3500 it is a sliding jack used to raise your car off the lift.

 

Mark,
Where did you buy your lift I have seen these before and used them, I may buy one since they are the most portable and you can do alot with them..
Thanks,
-=Rick

 

Rub it in Oak, Rub it in!!!

Actually, this IS the way to go... what's a few more bucks, right?

 

The lift is the Noco 86002. I had done alot of research on these lifts because there are many of them: Norco, Bendpack, Challenger, Vanguard, and lots of others. They range in price. I've seen them a slow as $1189 (Vanguard) to $2200 (Norco) on the internet.

I would recommend the Norco for many reasons. PM me and I'll go into details. Anyway, do a search on NORCO 86002 and you will find all the different prices. I waited almost 2 years before I bought mine and I'm kicking myself in the head for not getting it sooner. It is really slick how it works.

The good thing is i stumbled upon this distributor who was nice enough to sell it to me (Normally, they only sell to businesses) for a nice price of $1849. Plus, I didnt have to pay shipping because they have 2 stores locally (they may have one near you). The norco normally sells for around $2000 plus $250-$300 shipping.

In addition, the guy delivered it to my garage in his truck (I would have needed a forklift otherwise) and set it up with no additional charge. Here is their link. Scroll down to end of page 5 and and you will see it. They have lots of other nice lifts and equiopment too.

http://www.americantiredistributors....les/latest.pdf