Any knowledge on Auto lifts for garages?

[atc007]

My Son's building a new home and I'm gonna surprise him with a lift in his garage. I have yet to even spend a second looking. It will be a smaller,low slung type,,. Anyone have any experience with any of these, and a guess on suggested garage heights etc..

[just ben]

10 ft ceilings should do it. A buddy of mine bought an off brand and in 10 years is yet to have an issue. You can find rotary brand used for 9-1200 that have had the snot run out of them but the off brands run 1600- 2000 new. I don't think it would matter which off brand,I'm sure they probably all come from the same factory in china.

[90nut]

Depends how much you want to lift really. If your talking two post lift the only advice I can give you is don't get one that has the cable ran across the ground between the two posts. Makes working on things a real pita. Hard to roll a tranny jack or anything like that thru there. You can get a 4 post lift that has a mast height of about 7 feet. Don't know if any of that helps but it's what I know off the top of my head!

[6speedthumper]

STAY AWAY FROM BEDPAC. We have Magnum lifts in our shop. Three 10k lbs two post lifts, and one 12k lbs two post lift. In the 9 years we have had them, we have only needed to have them serviced once. All three are used full time, everyday. They have proven to be fantastic lifts! We also have a Wheeltronics 4 post lift that is also my alignment rack. Question is what are you lifting, and how tall are your ceilings?

[sledcrazyinCT]

145 inch ceiling height you gain access to most any lift sold.

I have 143 3/8 inch ceilings and was extremely limited to what could be installed.

Only three ALA certified lifts were available when I bought mine. Rotary, Bendpak and Dannmar

I bought the Dannmar admiral 9000X and l love it http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dmr-1375646/all

All the hydraulic hose have 'bendpak' printed everywhere so glad I did not spend an extra 750 for their lift. If you go to Garage Equipment sales they will sell it to you for $2388 and throw in a 8 gallon rolling oil drain pan too. I had to wait a month for the next batch to be delivered so plan ahead





What really sold me on the Dannmar over rotary or bendpak was the clearance to drive between the post is 113 inches. Great for servicing equipment trailers! The posts are spaced 145 inches apart, the other two lift companies did not offer more drive thru clearance when I purchased mine.

[ebaccm26]

I don't know a ton about lifts but I know a few people who have Atlas branded lifts and they don't seem to have any complaints.

[plastikosmd]

did you guys install yourself when bought new or was installation available?
also i believe there are some concrete requirements for installing some of these lifts?
plan to be doing the same in a year so watching this with interest.

[sledcrazyinCT]

We did it ourselves. Install from a contractor was quoted around $600.The concrete pour cost me $340, I doubt the price a contractor charges to set up a lift would include pouring and prepping for new concrete.
Concrete is to be 3500 PSI rating pay attention to this your life depends on the lift staying bolted to the floor! The concrete contractor can pour the correct mixture needed to secure your new lift safely.

We had to cut 3x3x3 holes in the existing floor because the concrete was not dense enough -only 2500 PSI. We also didn't use the fasteners supplied with the lift they seemed too weak to do the job.


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We built a jig to make sure the lift posts were spaced properly and also upgraded to J bolts that were 21 inches in length laced together with lots of rebar.

Save your money and install yourself then you know it was done correctly

[BOB MARLIN]

I have 10,000 # Bend Pac 2 post lift. I've used it for everything from my trikes up to my 7000# diesel for over 6 years now and not one problem. I prefer the lifts that lift the frame rather than the ones that lift the wheels (the ramp style). You can't do brake jobs or axle work on the ramp style ones. Also it's a good idea to use a few of the 5 foot tall jack stands while the vehicle is on the lift. I live 1800 feet from the San Andreas Fault. The jack stands give me a little piece of mind in case something starts shaking.

[atc007]

MAN!!! You guys are awesome. I thought this might be a dudd. When I posted last night. I had never in my life so much as looked at one of these. 1st one that came up in Google that caught my eye..http://excel-equipment.com/titan-hd2...FQwV7AodOToAEg

Then I saw the ingrounds,,which isn't a biggy because we're building the garage. But I think this one above or similar will do. He's a big do it your selfer also,and drives vehicles that are paid for and have some miles on them,,so tires/brakes/services etc.. It Won't be used commercially unless something changes lol.. Looks like the concrete requirements are minimal at best! I'm laying 4000 ,thicker than what most of them are calling for.. I wouldn't even consider one with anything on the floor? I saw them and thought that would be just super tripping over that all the time...Man there are a ton of choices out there! I'm going new for sure.

[BOB MARLIN]

I mounted mine per manufacturer instructions. Witch is 8 big red heads per leg, on a six inch slab. I would prefer the "j" bolt in a footing method but my slab was already done when I got the lift. The install was pretty simple, but I had a tractor to help with the lifting of the legs.

[350for350]

I don't know about Bend Pac. When I was working in a shop that rebuilt diesel engines, we had three 8000lb Rotarys and two new 12,000lb Bend Pacs. The Rotarys lifted the heavy pickups better and the lifting arms flexed way less. I started calling the Bend Pacs Benders because of the way their lifting arms flexed. atc007, if by inground lifts, you're talking about the kind with a big cylinder in the middle, I'd stay away from those. I'd think it would be hard to do much work under the vehicles.

[keister]

Reviving this thread because I am now in the same position. Here's my situation:

Currently shopping for a new 2-post lift (unless there is a better option)
The lift will be used probably 6-10 times per year mainly for oil changes and tire rotations on Tundra pickup and Chrysler 5th Avenue.
Concrete is 6" thick and is monolithic poured. It is about a foot thick on the edges.
I'll have to go back and check the concrete PSI. That is the first thing I learned after reading this thread.
The garage is 12' to roof level, more like 16 to the peak, so I have all the clearance I need.
Right now I am leaning toward Rotary brand. The few people I've spoken to have no complaints.
I built my garage like a drive thru. I now wish I would have offset the front and rear overhead doors. I think the center post might impede how I park my car.
The garage is 24' x 40'. I'd like to be able to use the lift with both doors open, but not sure if that's possible yet.

My biggest questions at this point are:
What brands are most trusted and what brands to avoid?
There is a floor drain near the center of the garage, would the upright need to be a certain distance from that?
I have space in my electrical panel, but not sure how much voltage or amperage these commonly require.

The first picture shows the large (front) door. The truck lives in that bay and the lift will be in that bay.


From this reverse angle, you can see the back door making the drive thru.
In my mind, one post will be near the tall ladder and the other will be on the car side of the drain.


Any input of experience is greatly appreciated.

[fabiodriven]

Atlas is a very reputable company. Avoid the foreign junk, as the ratings are grossly off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLUjq6ijvVc

[big specht]

We have a atlas pro V H10,000 it has worked fine. We have used it for everything from a can crusher to atc-utv lift it works good for brushhog repair. If I had to do it over again I would buy a 15,000 lift for the extra width and longer arms. We end up making wider post that were a lot made stable and two short ones with C's to keep it from sliding off the frame in the rear