MM77

Does anyone have any suggestions in regards to car lifts with installation for a home garage in the DC area?

Thanks in advance!

0Callaway Chris

Someone else posted something similar in a thread the other day. I shared my success with the Backyard Buddy Brand lifts, where the manufacturer delivered and set up, no drama.

The BYB branded lifts are completely unique in their design, with redundant safety catches. I did not feel comfortable buying the others, and know a good design when I see it.

For low cars, to clear the front splitter, etc. I did add the lightweight race ramps which are 40" long. I hope this helps.

My ceiling is 10' and with that, plenty of room for a Z06 Corvette, with a sedan parked beneath. I hope this helps.

MM77

Sounds great thank you. I got a Z06 and a challenger HC I was looking to put in a garage so that work. I will reach out to them. Thanks again

Varmit

I bought a direct lift under 3k has a hydraulic jack that slides on rails underneath the vehicle so that u can raise the vehicle on the lift to change the tires, and a set of cammed casters that uses the lift to raise the system so that it can be rolled around.

Snorman

IMO...Bendpak.

I am pretty sure the Direct Lift (and several others) are the same as the old "SuperLifts" that went out of business and re-emerged as another company after they were bought out by even another lift "manufacturer". I have one, and (again, IMO), it's nowhere near as well built as my Bendpak HD9.
S.

boblackhardtop

Quality lift which is the consumer div of Callenger lift
They use same motor but lift is made smaller to fit in garage
Very happy with mine, well made, very sturdy

JackTripper

I went with the BendPak HD9.

Do a search for Lifts under my username.

hifi875

Same here like mine very much

MM77

Great thank you everyone for your help! I will take a look at bendpak9, direct lift and quality lift

2016 Z

Quick note - Garage Equipment Supply has solid pricing and a network of lift installers. Made purchase and install of my BendPak HD9 very simple - basically a one call affair. They arranged for the lift to be shipped to the installer who brought it by and had it done in about 4 hours.

xtaski

For those of you with lifts, have you considered using a jack drive garage door opener on the wall to give additional clearance up top? Does it help at all to have the door opener unit out of the way?

Snorman

Yes. I have Liftmaster 3800PLD side-mount units. They use a torsion bar to lift the door.
This garage has a 12 1/2' ceiling, so they aren't tucked up as tightly against the ceiling as they could be (to allow for ceiling fan clearance), but I've used the Liftmaster units in three different garages with lifts.
S.

Daekwan06

Trust your advice.

Thanks!

Daekwan06

I just got the 8500 (updated version of 3800) and all available accessories installed in my garage this spring. The unit is very small, wall mounted unit and doesn't block the center or ceiling of the garage. It also has a few advanced features that make it a 'smart' garage door opener. Here are a few attributes that make the 8500 a better solution than most other garage door openers IMO:

• Integrated locking peg - An electronically controlled physical lock on door, that shoots out of the door track when the door is completely closed. Meaning you cannot cannot roll the door up, while the locking peg is in place.
• Very quiet - The only real noise you will hear is the door itself opening and closing. Imagine operating your garage door manually.. thats about same amount of noise the 8500 will make.
• Wireless ceiling light - turns on automatically whenever the door is opened or motion sensor activated in garage. Also flashes to alert of door closing, of a problem or when programming new accessories.
• Laser line sensor - garage door will not roll down if object is blocking the invisible laser line running across the bottom of garage door opening. For example if your wife didn't pull her car in all the way in the garage.. then the door wont attempt to close at all. She will immediately know if the door wont close, she needs to pull in a little bit more. Works wonders for my wife.
• Obstruction sensor - If the door is rolling down and hits something mid-way, it will stop immediately and roll back up.
• Automatically slows down speed of door opening or closing, when it is near the top or bottom of its operation.
• Security+ 2.0 encrypted wireless radio transmission
• *Internet Gateway - allows internet connection and operation/status of the door available from computer web browser or mobile app for Android/iOS
• *Battery backup - priceless in a storm or blackout or when working the garage with the power turn off (hanging new lights or doing electrical outlet upgrades).
• *Ceiling mounted laser pointer parking guides - no more tennis ball hanging from the ceiling. When the door is opened little red dots shoot from the ceiling showing exactly where to park your car.
• *Wireless outdoor wall switch - already common but nice to have it here too
• *Extra remotes - Keychain or visor mounted. Can use cheaper 3rd party remotes commonly found around the internet and stores like Home Depot
• *Wireless control of additional lights & switches

* - Accessory sold separately

I also ordered all of the available accessories from Amazon and spent about $560 for everything. Opener was about $305, another $255 in accessories. Spent another $600 for the install which including the installation of a "high lift" door kit. Basically adding longer rails and a heavier duty door spring, the install guys raised my garage door from the original opening height of 7'.. to as high as possible 10'6" (I have 11' ceilings in the garage). Here's where I got it, look for the accessories below the main description:


This review also completely sold me on the 8500:

Snorman

I have the 828LM Internet Gateway, but just haven't installed it yet. If you're using it, does it work well and is it reliable?
S.

Boba Fett

"Suggestions for car lifts for home garage in DC area"


take cars, garage lifts, garage, house n family the hell out of DC area...

harlold

I'd love a car lift in my garage (mainly so my wife doesn't ding my doors by accident) but afraid the angle to get into the garage would make it impossible to pull in safely.

Daekwan06

It works extremely well. From the computer & the app. The app not only allows you to open and close the door, but it shows how long the door has been closed for. Which is priceless when you've left the house and can't remember if you (or your spouse/kids) closed the doors. I'll attach a screenshot. It also shows a history of date/times when the door was open and closed just incase you were keeping tabs on someone. My favorite part is when a friend or family is coming over to the house and I'm not home yet.. I can tell them pull in the driveway and simply open the garage door for them. That way they can get in the home without me being there.

Only issue I've had is actually with my phone. When I leave the garage and attempt to close the door using the mobile app.. the phone is generally stuck in limbo between my home wifi network & the cellular network. I know this because 1 out of 3 wifi bars show (instead of Verizon's cell signal). Once I drive away from the home, the phone finally drops the weak wifi signal and switches over to cellular. From there I can operate the door with no issues. Of course I can also operate the door with no issues when I'm inside the house and the wifi signal is also strong.

One of the reasons I'm giving up my iPhone jailbreak on iOS 8.4.1 for the iOS 9.0 that released today is that Apple knows that iPhones hanging on to weak wifi issues have been an on going complaint. I believe with iOS 9.0 when the wifi signal gets down to 1 bar.. the phone will automatically switch to the cellular signal on its on, if it is available. Read more about the issue here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/6/911...t-apple-iphone







Edit: Just upgraded to iOS 9 last night and the option is there to switch to cellular when weak wifi is detected. Can't wait to try it out this morning.

JackTripper

Yes, I installed a side drive opener and raised the door about 2 feet.

Nimrod

Good info, folks! Thanks!