Garage Lifts

[ultgar]

Some folks on this list have asked me about garage lifts. Here are my opinions of the best of breed and why....see http://www.ultimategarage.com/lifts.htm . I'm not a big fan of 4-post lifts (the posts take up too much room in a small garage) unless the lift has turntables and slip-plates and is being used for wheel alignments. SD

 

[Tom Bryant]

That is the best lift I have seen. Not cheap but no posts in the way and will fit any garage that is as tall as the height of both vehicles plus 6 inches. I like that it doesn't have post to interfere with the garage door opening. Still would want to raise the door tracks up to the ceiling. I understand it is slightly more $$ with the Shelby Series 1 attached.

Tom

 

[*89x2*]

What about the Backyard Buddy??

I have been considering a 4 post lift for some time now and have narrowed it down to the Backyard Buddy brand lift. That lift uses 4 posts however, they use a different design than other lifts - Bkyd Buddy lifts use an enclsed "channel" that floats up and down and locks into the posts instead of on a "tab" welded to the post.
That seems like a solid design to me - I would be interested in hearing about other ppl's experiences w/ 4 post lifts.
I have 10 ft ceilings in my garage.
Thanks *89x2*

 

[JohnZ]

I did a lot of research before I bought my lift; as a Manufacturing Engineer, I was interested in safety features, design, material selection, and fabrication/finish quality. I finally selected the Cytech Double-Park ( www.doublepark.net ), which is the only 7000# lift that's tested to 21,000#. It's well-designed, uses quality materials, and is very well-finished. I didn't care for the Backyard Buddy, as it has external sleeves at each corner of the lift platform that slide up and down the outside of the columns - a pinch-point hazard, and it scars up the columns eventually; all the moving parts and sliders on the Cytech are fully-enclosed and captured inside the columns. Whatever you buy, get the optional aluminum ramps - they're lots easier to manhandle than the standard steel ones. I also got the caster kit, drive-thru (ramp supports at both ends), drip trays, jack bridges, and had the power unit offset to the front instead of the side.

 

[*89x2*]

... I didn't care for the Backyard Buddy, as it has external sleeves at each corner of the lift platform that slide up and down the outside of the columns - a pinch-point hazard, and it scars up the columns eventually

:confused The BkYd Buddy I looked at last year at Spring Carlisle used teflon(?) sleeves inside the "sliders" - I suppose over time the paint may wear down but I would think this design would be far sturdier than the design others use (which is a 3 sided channel w/ the cables, etc inside & welded on tabs for locks).
Last year, a "channel design" lift was part of a "Corvette fiasco" when the lift post kicked out and the platform tilted a vette off, upon another vette:eek <thats one reason the bkyd buddy seemed so apealing
I would think any lift has a pinch hazard as moving parts can be found on all brands... Am I missing something here?

I am hoping to buy a lift this year (It is between a lift and a Corvette pinball machine )
Thanks for the input

 

[RLD92]

I allready have a four post, but I really like the way yours looks and would surely go that route next time, it just looks ideal

 

[*89x2*]

I have some concerns with the design shown

I feel better w/ a safety lock at each of the 4 "support" corners of the 4 post lift w/ wrap channel design (BkYd Buddy)
Are my concerns unfounded? If so, why?
There is one lift on the market (4 post) I can take the 3 sided "channel" and flex it "apart" w/ 2 hands
I plan on buying a lift w/in the next year...

 

[*89x2*]

here is the Backyard Buddy 4 post

 

[John Mcgraw]

John,
I think that even Backyard buddy has abandoned the outside-the post-slider! I think that almost everyone now uses the semi enclosed column design like yours and mine. The external slider was allways a pain in the ass! There is now one that has even the locks enclosed inside the column, but this could cause you to miss a lock an cause a lift failure! The lift that failed and was publicised so much over at the CF was one of this design, and a post-mortem of the failure showed that this was what happened. He was lowering the lift on to the locks and one catch was not past the lock yet and settled to the next lock on that leg. When that happened, the cable jumped off the pulley and bound up at the pin. the result was a lift that was not lifting on all four posts and the lift failed. I do not think that I could be comfortable with a lift that I could not see all four locks from the operating position! When almost every lift manufacturer uses the EXACT same design, there must be something good about it!

 

[*89x2*]

The Backyard Buddy pictured above, is still the current design.

I was hoping Ultgar (or someone else familiar w/ the lifts) would answer my questions or, calm concerns of placing a car 5 ft off the ground :confused

I am planning on buying a Backyard buddy once I finish my floor coatings - I would consider other lift designs although as designed the "BB" seems the sturdiest to me.

regards, *89x2*

 

[John Mcgraw]

89X2,

I think that the current Backyard Buddy is a fine design and I would not have any qualms about it. It is a vast improvment over their old design. I looked at lifts for well over a year before selecting mine. I went with DirectLift, as their price was much lower than all the competition, and I could not find any differences in their consrtuction and all the others. I have been very pleased with the lift and the people selling it. Here is alink to the site if you are interested:
http://www.directlift.com/direct_park7.htm

If you consider them, allways ask for the car show special and you will get the drip trays and the casters thrown in for free!
No matter whose lift you buy, spend the extra money for aluminum ramps or you will regret it forever. The steel ramps are incredibly heavy!

 

[*89x2*]

Thank you John
I plan on seeing what Spring Carlisle has to offer
(I hope my wife dosen't catch wind of this )

 

[andrewcanada]

Up, up and away..

I too have been researching lifts. Specifically two post, assymetrical, etc...It seems there`s alot more to it than the paint job and glossy ad in Hemmings. Most muffler/tire chains in my friggn` feezin` area use ROTARY brand. Check for American Lift Institute (ALI) certification. A salesman for Autolifters of Kansas sent a nice video, and when he called I asked him about ALI, and he boasted about ANSI, which is ? Maybe ALI is expensive, geared towards corporations? But to answer ALI WHAT??? and he wasn`t a flunky" manning the phones for a minute". For more extensive babble on this subject, go to Hemmings/ forums, general, two post lifts. (If I was compooper savvy, I`d cut and pastie). Maybeee Mr. Moderator can do those thingies. I think I`m going to go with a Challenger 10K verymmetric wide (body?), as I have a Heabby Chebby Pick em up.

 

[Guy]

I plan on seeing what Spring Carlisle has to offer

See you there!


Guy

 

[Classicvette63]

Heres something to pay attention to. My stepdad took his '66 bb vert to a garage that had one of these "one on top of the other' lifts. The car had to be left there over the weekend so the mechanic decides he wants to put two cars in the garage. One right over top of the '66. I never knew what it would look like when brake fluid drips all weekend on the hood and ragtop of a vette, but I do now.:duh

I imagine some of these lifts have provisions of some kind to avoid this, but make sure. Classic

 

[andrewcanada]

How could he miss the obligatory warning label? It sayyyyyyyssssss, Only park andrewcanada`s TEERUK or `80 Caprice Classic JUNKMOBILE (my wifes name for my car, but she drives an `86 Hyundai!) under lift.::bash :bash ,How do yo apply the smilies? I just figured it out!

 

[Nick I.]

Two-post

IMHO...consider what you want to accomplish with your lift, and think about one of the most frequent things we wrench-turners do: pull the wheels! It seems like every time I touch a car, the wheels have to come off for brakes, flat tires, tire rotation, suspension tweaks...a four-poster gets the car off the ground for extra parking space and plenty of other jobs, but my two-poster was my clear choice simply because it lifts at the frame.

Sorry I don't have a photo...but it's a chain-driven model as I was warned away from cable-driven units. I bought it out of the Recycler, from a tranny shop...about $2200. I have a few upright extensions for the arms and they come in handy because of the sidepipes. I've had plenty of cars on and haven't found a model it wouldn't fit. I even built a table for it to lift things up to the loft.

The top of the lift is 13 feet and I can easily get things high enough to stand under...crouching might not seem so bad until you're an hour into a power-steering rebuild. Just some food for thought, but the bottom line is...you need a lift!

 

[andrewcanada]

What I need is to make up my mind as to which lift to buy. Clearly, the glossy ads in Hemmings are light duty lifts, and for only a few hundred more one can buy a commercial unit. Rotary, which is by far the most widely used, at least around these parts, uses cables. I`ve heard that Bend pak has cylinder problems. Sooooo, today I spoke with a salesman for Mohawk, probably THE best lift on the market. They have an asym., sym. "Tommahawk", only rated at 7k, $4000 installed. Their $6200 baby has cast posts (as opposed to sheetmetal), but not asym., but extra 1.5` between posts to allow full door opening. I`m still waiting to hear from the folks at Challenger (also asym.sym.)


:confused Regards, Andrew

 

[paintdaddy]

Well it sound like you know what you want.My best advice is to buy from someone that will offer a good lift as well as service and replacement parts.I love it when someone I know buys the same thing that I have and gets a good deal,then 2 months later cant find parts for it and noone wants to work on it.:crazy

 

[andrewcanada]

Can you say "mmmade in TTTTTTTaiwannnnn"? We`re still enjoying pleasant weather here. It was -10f. last night. A bunch of records were broken for northern New England. My barn is coming along. Maybe I`ll get off my derriere and post a coupla` pics.....