Shopping for a Lift

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Tweak

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Looking at equipping a pole barn with a lift. The concrete is reinforced and ready and I have 16' of height to work with, but I am new to the lift world. Since this will be used first and foremost for working on the tiger I was thinking two post asymmetric. Am I on the right track, or should I be thinking four post? Any brand to seek out or avoid?

Thanks in advance
 
I have a 4 post lift with a rolling or sliding center jack. The 4 post is nice to get all 4 wheels off the ground, but it's hard to jack up the wheels. The sliding/rolling jack is an accessory (extra), but is great for lifting two wheels up. Some people get 2 jacks and lift all 4 wheels up at once. The 4 post is also great for storing cars. (one car up and one car below). The 2 post has it's advantages too, but I've never had one. I got mine a long time ago and company is out of business. Wide variety in prices and quality I'am sure. Cliff
 
Lifts

I have a Greg Smith 4 post with the sliding hydraulic scissor jack and an additional jacking tray and a full set of drip trays. It is a very good pice of equipment. I also have a Rotary two post asymmetrical hoist. I use the 4 post for the most part with the Tiger or my other unibody British cars. The 2 post I think works better for me with my older Corvettes which have a proper frame as well as my modern cars. They both have their plusses and minuses, but if I could only have one lift it would be the 4 post.
I acquired the Rotary lift from an Oldsmobile dealership when Olds went out of business at such a reasonable price I could not pass it up. It was a bit of an issue to remove it and transport it to my home shop.
Rick
A couple of pictures if this works!..............
IMG_5150.JPG

IMG_4955.jpg
 
r67cat said:
I have a Greg Smith 4 post with the sliding hydraulic scissor jack and an additional jacking tray and a full set of drip trays. It is a very good pice of equipment. I also have a Rotary two post asymmetrical hoist. I use the 4 post for the most part with the Tiger or my other unibody British cars. The 2 post I think works better for me with my older Corvettes which have a proper frame as well as my modern cars. They both have their plusses and minuses, but if I could only have one lift it would be the 4 post.
I acquired the Rotary lift from an Oldsmobile dealership when Olds went out of business at such a reasonable price I could not pass it up. It was a bit of an issue to remove it and transport it to my home shop.
Rick
A couple of pictures if this works!..............
View attachment 11778

View attachment 11779
Click to expand...

Nice. I was thinking two post because I am going to take the motor out again and I thought the 4 post with the bridge would really be in the way. I get your comments on the lift points though. I was thinking two post first and maybe some day a four.

Hmm
 
I am about to head down this road myself, and decided to go with a BendPak 2-post asymmetric. In my case, the lift will be going in a hangar with limited space at the front end. The asymmetrical option allows for a little more room in the front, as well as more options to open the vehicle door from what I can tell.
I went 2-post vs. 4-post for the reasons that most of the time I have a vehicle in the air would be for working on suspension or swapping wheels. For engine / transmission work I think either lift will be fine.
The plusses for a 4-post that I considered were the ability to use the lift for storage, and the lattitude to leave the lift (depending on model) on wheels so it could be moved around the shop. Attractive options, but in my case I still decided to go with the 2-post.
I chose BendPak as they seem to be highly rated. Rotary sees to be another good option but more pricey. the Greg Smith website has a good amount of information for you to look at. I know there are a number of sub $2000 options for lifts, but ultimately I decided against those as I wanted the peace of mind that the lift wouldn't collapse if an earthquake rolled through with my 5500 pound truck in the air.
Good luck with your search!
-Kevin
 
Forrest39 said:
I am about to head down this road myself, and decided to go with a BendPak 2-post asymmetric. In my case, the lift will be going in a hangar with limited space at the front end. The asymmetrical option allows for a little more room in the front, as well as more options to open the vehicle door from what I can tell.
I went 2-post vs. 4-post for the reasons that most of the time I have a vehicle in the air would be for working on suspension or swapping wheels. For engine / transmission work I think either lift will be fine.
The plusses for a 4-post that I considered were the ability to use the lift for storage, and the lattitude to leave the lift (depending on model) on wheels so it could be moved around the shop. Attractive options, but in my case I still decided to go with the 2-post.
I chose BendPak as they seem to be highly rated. Rotary sees to be another good option but more pricey. the Greg Smith website has a good amount of information for you to look at. I know there are a number of sub $2000 options for lifts, but ultimately I decided against those as I wanted the peace of mind that the lift wouldn't collapse if an earthquake rolled through with my 5500 pound truck in the air.
Good luck with your search!
-Kevin
Click to expand...

Everything you are saying echos my thoughts. But I don't think a 4 post would be great for an engine swap. Maybe out the top, but if you drop the motor down the front crossmember needs to come out. So then you need the bridge and now you have a lateral piece of metal to work around as you attempt to drop the motor and tranny.

Since my priorities are to work on the car, and I don't need a lift for parking at this point, I am thinking two post first.

Bendpack is on the short list for me too. Hoping I can find a used Rotary for less than a new Bendpack and then I would be a happy camper. More research to do first.
 
Well, the 2 post is better for removing engine from below, but the engine & trans can still be removed from below with a 4 post lift. Raise the lift to disconnect every thing as you would without a lift. Lower lift to ground, raise car as you would with car on ground without a lift with engine support and roll front crossmember out with wheels attached or with a jack (same procedure as engine removal without a lift). I am leaving out some details but the basic idea is duable. Good luck with your lift, Cliff
 
2 vs 4

We find use for both, BUT, the 2-post seems more versatile for the Tiger needs. Our Cobra pal has a neat set of drive-on scissor ramps that raise the cars to an ideal walk-up working height. Reaching under the dash thru an opened door without gymnastics is a plus.
 
I'm loving my Bendpak HD-9ST. It is narrower than most lifts because space was an issue for me. I also didn't want to have to anchor it to the floor or have a thick concrete pad.
 
lifts

I went with BendPak 4 post lifts through the years. They used to be 100% made in the US, then parts were imported, now the entire thing is made overseas.

my suggestions:

go with the high lift version
get the longest and stoutest one you can afford
buy new, it's of course more expensive but the used ones are generally thrashed
when they deliver ask them to send out the truck with the onboard crane so they can just drop it on you driveway
install it yourself, it's not that hard
bargain on the price. all these garage equipment guys sell the same stuff and they beat each other up on price
that rolling jack is expensive but worth it
if you buy the extra wide, long and tall lift you can store 2 sunbeams sideways with some custom ramp work (thanks Buck for the suggestion)

I've stayed away from 2 post lifts because I live in CA and we have earthquakes here.

Also, type 'car lift accidents' into youtube and all you see are cars and trucks falling off of 2 post lifts. Additionally unless you have a high quality 5" thick slab with #6 bars running 12" oc your foundation will be inadequate.

Lastly I think it has to be a bad idea to have the suspension hanging down for long periods of time if they are used for storage.
 

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