I have a Back Yard Buddy with 2 rolling jack platforms. What do you guys use to jack the car high enough to get jack stands under the car to remove tires, etc. I know BYB makes a rolling jack platform but I don't want to spend $1700. My goal it to have the car sit of four jack stands and remove all the wheels.

 

I use a 2x6 under the center frame support with either TWO bottle jacks, or my new toy, a two bag jack. The two bag jacks are awesome. I think I paid 179.00 for mine, the are great for low profile cars. Oh yeah don't tell the Backyard Buddy rep that you're not buying his 1700.00 cr-p. He was such a JACKASS at Bloomington Gold flaming everyone else's products I wouldn't buy a bolt from him. David

OOPS!!! yes please don't forget to use jack stands!! I checked the board I use, it's a 2'x10' Thirty inches long. I put the jack or jacks with the wood under the cross member, jack it up and put the jack stands under it and lower it onto the stands. The board is long enough for the jacks and for the stands to not interfere.

 

For the life of me, I can't understand why anybody would get a four poster and then have to jack the damn thing up anyway. What's the point of a lift? Why not get a two poster and pick it up in the first place?

Yes, yes, I know that there are rare times when you want it up in the air with the weight on it, but how often does that happen compared to when you want the weight off or you just don't care?

 

Like tellefan, I use two bottle jacks and then put my jackstands under the car. It's quick, easy, reliable and a safe way to get it in the air. Use the jackstands always after lifting and you'll be good!

 

For the life of me I don't know why anyone would buy a two post lift. Since you don't know me or how or why I have a lift I find your comments offensive. BTW, your post was very helpful.................NOT

 

I have four adjustable tall stands. I raise the car up position the stands under then lower lift till the tires clear. This keeps the car at shoulder height and the platform is only inches from tires.

 

Take a buddy. Hey, you know me and I wouldn't have bought one without a good reason. When you came to my house I think I only had two cars. Didn't really need a lift except to play on the car with, right? Well, I have three cars now and live in Indiana but still have a two-car garage. For a good part of my first year here, it sucked getting in a cold or wet car to go to work in the morning since I had to park the dd outside.

I always wanted a lift but I couldn't store a car long-term on a two-poster, plus, I don't have a high-enough ceiling for one. The four-poster meets my needs very nicely. It allows me to keep three cars in my garage so I always get in a warm, dry car in the morning. Plus, I can use the lift to do all sorts of work on the car. The inconvenience of having to jack the car to work on the wheels/suspension is not a big deal at all and I tend to work on other parts of the car more anyway. There are pretty easy ways to raise the car on the lift including the air jack, bottle jacks, scissor jacks, etc. and it's not a big deal. I'm about to do a diff/TC/header job on Carole's A4 C5 and it will not be a problem at all on the lift. I've done it before on a four-poster and it was very easy. Maybe not quite as easy as on a two-poster but a heck of a lot easier than on jack stands.

Think about why foru-posters are so popular. They are moveable, they require lower ceiling clearance (generally), they allow you to park a car underneath and they come in several sizes and capacity. It all comes down to what you really need and what makes the most sense. I could have bought a two-poster - but I would have still been scraping ice and snow off the cold dd for the foreseeable future. I think I'll keep my four-poster. Peace, my friend. Hope all is well with you and your's.

 

Patches, I could have not said it any better. Thank you, David

 

I use a Black Jack under front or rear cross member with a 2x12 and then 2 jack stands. The jack cost 99.00.

 

Do you have a link or additional info on that jack? Did you ever put "BLACK JACK" in google.......lol

 

Try this link:

http://derekweaver.com/html/blackjack.shtml

Ask for Marshall, tell him Rick sent ya.

 

I don't have a Backyard Buddy, but I have a Pro Park 7, they sell a jack called a Pro Jack that rides in between the rails, it's fully adjustable and with 2 of them raising a car for brake work or anything needing wheel removal is a piece of cake. They are $495 per, but in my opinion worth every penny. Here's a link if you want to see them....they'd probably fit your lift.


http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Ve...-Lift-s/36.htm


By the way for that other guy, I could have bought a 2 poster, but I wanted the portability and versatility of the four poster.

 

I have a BEND PAK HD9 four post lift and an adjustable width jack bridge made of heavy C-channel. For some reason the manufacturer of the jack bridge intended the jack to be placed on the top side of the C-channel which is ok for higher profile chassis cars, but not for a Corvette. I flipped the bridge over which sets the bottle jack down another four inches. I also routinely use a 2,000# tri pod under hoist screw jack. It'll easily lift the front or back of my Z16 high enough to place jack stands beneath the car.
You can see the tri pod jack in this image next to the tool chest.
http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n...s042907007.jpg
Regarding the comments about "why" use a four post rather than a two post...I've had both. I agree that a two post is more versatile for many projects, but a four post is so much easier than getting down on hands and old knees to adjust the arms.

 

Because it's a b*tch trying to store three motocycles on a two-post lift's arms:




Geez, dood -- try and open your mind up to the fact that others might have different needs/solutions to their problems!

p.s. -- Oh, and for those of use that occassionally have to move their lift around, try doing that with a 2-post.

 

This is the type of jack I've been using. http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/2-...k-p/ht3101.htm

David


If you're thinking about buying a four post lift, I bought a second jacking tray so I can have all the weels off at one time. It was much cheaper having them package and ship it with the lift.

 

Are you referring to the air jack in that link that has a minimum of 6.5"?
FYI: I like the idea of an air bag jack or air bag to lift a car. I researched for weeks and found sources, but the prices on air bags were pretty high.
If you go to the COSTCO website, they have (two) ARCAN 1.8 or 2.2 ton air jack products that are very reasonable in price $125/$150, but both still might be to high at minimum collapsed height unless you drive up on ramps/wood first.

 

How about this ?

 

American ingenuity!

 

That's a 4 Fork Lift.

 

JW,

I have one of those in the two-bag config.