Do You Have a Car Lift?

[ncgirl05]

Hello!

We are in the market for a car lift - do any of you have one? What would you recommend for working on antique vehicles? We would be working on antique and newer model vehicles. 2 post? 4 post? Brand?

Hoping to get opinions from those more experienced in this area....

Many thanks!

[ex98thdrill]

Once you get a lift, you'll never know how you survived without one. They are worth every penny. Our lift has been a valuable asset in restorations. We use it to change oil, rotate tires, exhaust systems, brakes, etc. When it comes to restoration, they are great for taking bodies off and on the frames, and they are great for doing last minute detail work to the chassis prior to going to a show.

Our lift is an Eagle lift with a 9,000 lb capacity, we've bought it new, we've had it 7 years, and we haven't had a lick of trouble. Ours is electric, with two posts that are bolted to the floor, and the arms are offset.

What I would recommend in a lift.

1. Stay away from the old hydraullic type that need an air compressor to run them.

2. Make sure that you get the extensions so that you can put either a newer or an older car on the lift. In our case with the 20's through 40's vintage cars, if you don't put the extensions on the arms of the lift, you most likely stand the chance at crushing the fenders with the arms of the lift when you go to raise the vehicle up.

3. Strongly consider that you get a lift with offset posts. If you don't get a lift with offset posts, it makes it harder to open the door and get out of a vehicle when you pull near the lift. A friend of ours has a lift that does not have the offset posts. When you go to put a car on his lift you either have to get out of the car and push it towards the lift, of you can't open the door of the vehicle to get out of it.

4. Make sure that the lift you buy has the safety locks that lock into place at certain increments as you're raising a vehicle up.

- We're not the experts on this, but I hope this helps you.

[ncgirl05]

Thanks Ex98thdrill! Yes, that does help. Doing a Google search on car lifts is enough to make one's head spin with all the choices available - it's very confusing <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />. We came to the AACA forum for advice because we want to make sure we get something that will work with our antique cars, and the folks on this forum always seem to have a wealth of information.

[Mark Shaw]

I bought a Danmar four post lift. I cannot bolt a two post lift to my radiant heated floor, but I can move my lift around on the dolly kit that came with it if my shop arrangement changes.

Four post lifts are foolproof and easy to use. Mine was only $2000 delivered to my local freight company. I picked it up with my car trailer & assembled it myself.

[Ron Green]

Backyard Buddy is located in Ohio. You can also save $300 shipping by picking it up yourself like my brother did. I have used his lift several times and it is a quality unit. I have seen pictures of cheaper ones that failed and it was scary!

[tbirdman]

Careful on car lifts and shopping on price only. IMHO, there's a lot of cheap stuff out there that I would not stake my life on. I did a lot of research before I bought mine. A lot of these lifts are cheap Chinese made ones. Before you buy a lift, go look at in person and do some comparisons. It's hard to tell from pictures how much beefier the better and more expensive lifts are. I bought the 4 post revolution lift from Rotary . They were the only lift that was certified to use in a commercial shop at the time I bought it. I have not seen a $2K lift that I would walk under and trust my life to. You need to see the Rotary lift in person to tell the obvious differences. Also the Back Yard Buddy lift seemed like a good lift. The Rotary lift is $1K more than the $2K lifts, but I thought the quality and sturdiness was well worth the additional dollars. Also the Rotary lift for home use was made almost exactly like their commercial units except for the pneumatic locks. Moist of these other manufacturers don't make a commercial lift.

This my my .02.

[Guest Debby Soucia]

My hubby and our friend each bought a Eagle. Ours is the 2 post because that is all that would fit. Our Friends is the 4 post that you can move. Have had no trouble with eather.

[Shop Rat]

Didn't someone on here post photos of their vehicle after the lift had failed?

[Amphicar BUYER]

I have a mid-rise scissor type lift. Works great for suspension work, but not good for under car stuff. Not much under an Amphi, so not a problem as it gets the suspension at a perfect level for me.

[Ron Green]

A national magazine recently did an article on lifts and had many pictures of lifts that failed however I forget which one. There may have been one posted in the basement section?

[Ron Green]

I have been thinking about buying one of these scissor lifts and from your pics it seems like it would do a decent job working with brakes, etc. I see you are in the process of doing the dreaded rear axle removal.

[ncgirl05]

Ex98thdrill & Debby - I tried looking up the Eagle lift after seeing it mentioned here. The website I get is Eagleequip.com, but in looking at the lifts they appear to be Bend Pak lifts? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Is this the right site? Does Eagle sell an Eagle lift and a Bend Pak lift? Please advise.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! We still haven't made a firm decision, but at least we are being pointed in a few directions to investigate. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'd like to see the article Ron referred to - that may be of some assistance! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

[ex98thdrill]

I'm not sure about the lifts. Ours ran $2,500 back when we bought ours in '98-99. I'm sure they've gone up, and since we bought ours we haven't kept up on what's out there, what's new, what's old, what's good, what's bad, etc. The new Eagle lifts could be junk by now, and I honestly don't know.

There are a lot of lifts out there, but you need to decide what your budget and what your needs are. I would think the four post lifts might be more sturdier, but then when you want to walk around with chords and/or hoselines, they can also be a pain in the butt too. Our Eagle has it where you can screw the pads up and down on the arms in the event that you have to place the pads on a spot on the frame that isn't level with the front, back, left or right.

I will remind you that the extensions are a must. On several of our older cars, the runningboards, fenders and spashpans sit below the frame. Because of this, the pads on the lift will not touch the lift until after it has crunched your fenders, runningboards and splashpans while trying to reach the frame. That's where the extensions on the arms come into play because the extentions touch the frame first which prevents you from damaging your fenders, runningboards and splashpans.

The scissor lifts might work for you, but in our case, if we had a scissor lift, we couldn't lift the body up and roll the frame underneath it to mount the body back on the frame. Our two post lift has saved us a lot of bullwork when it comes to doing frame up restorations, we roll the chassis out, and put the body either on a rotiseree or a cart. If you've painted a body, you don't want 4-6 people carrying the body, and then have one or all of them drop a freshly painted body trying to carry it over and put it back on the frame. We'll drop the body on, and either roll the frame underneath the body or move it with a floorjack. I could see where a scissor lift could make it harder to do brake lines, fuel lines and exhaust work.

Remember that each lift has its' own advantages and disadvantages, the problem is that you need to decide which advantage/disadvantage that you are willing to give up to buy the lift that fits your needs.

I hope i've given you enough information to help you, Good luck!!

[tbirdman]

4 post seem to be the most desireable for home garages because you can move them around and don't have to bolt them to the floor and need a adequate concrete strength and thickness which most home garages don't have. The biggest complaint about 4 post lifts is that it's harder to wheel work. If you were a commercial garage, a doing a lot of wheel work, a 4 post would not be practical. However in a home garage, you can take the extra 5 minutes to jack up the car off of the ramps. I also saw some pneumatic jacks that fit in the center section of the lifts at Hersey for both the Rotary and the Back Yard Buddy. The one for the Rotary was not made ny Rotary. The otehr benefit of a 4 post, you can use them to double your garage size if you have enough ceiling height by parking another car under them.

[Ron Green]

Those center jacks are in the $1,500 range as my brother just priced them, and decided not to buy them. He did however get the lift extensions that are a must for working on longer wheelbase vehicles like a 4-door pick-up, etc.

When inquiring about purchasing a lift always ask how much the shipping is as he saved $300 by picking it up.

[Mark Shaw]

Yes, my lift was made in Asia but designed in the USA from Bend-Pac. It has very sturdy mechanical locks on each post. It is not a commercial lift because I simply don't need one. I lift a car maybe once or twice a month. It is primarily a storage lift that I sometimes use for maintainence.

[61-63]

I have both a two post and a four post and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The two post is an AutoLifters which was made in Kansas. It is a good lift but I wish it were asymetrical as it is hard to get in and out of early 60s full size cars with the posts being in the way. I could get a slightly longer cable and longer hydraulic hose and move one post out a little but that would be a lot of trouble. I understand AutoLifters is no longer in business. As

ex98thdrill said above though if you get a two post get an asymetrical lift as you will then have no problems getting in and out of the car. Or be sure you get a wide stance lift. I should have measured more carefully before buying but I didn't.

The four post is a recent asian made import sold by the Derek Weaver Company in Ft. Worth. It came with a jack tray, a set of casters, and three drip trays and was only $1950 or so out the door. It is well made and I have no problem with it. They had two posts there when I picked the four post up and they were almost identical to my AutoLifter but with better features. You can jack a car up on the four posters if you have the jack tray by using a bottle jack or jacks; you don't have to buy

the $500+ dedicated jack. The four post is just as convenient as the two post for trans pulling and

routine maintenance but would not be near as convenient for bumper or differential swaps, tire rotation, or changing springs. I will say that I feel much safer under the four post than I do the two post. I didn't buy it to work on cars with though; it was cheaper than adding another bay to the shop.

I guess if I had it to do over again I would still have both but the two post would either be wider or be asymetrical.

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">4 post seem to be the most desireable for home garages because you can move them around and don't have to bolt them to the floor and need a adequate concrete strength and thickness which most home garages don't have. The biggest complaint about 4 post lifts is that it's harder to wheel work </div></div>

Very true, very true. I forgot to mention concrete strength. My dad and I built our shop from the ground up, and we poured the floor after we bought the lift, so it wasn't even a thought. Our building is a steel truss building and we had to have the re-enforced concrete anyways.

An advantage to a four post lift? If you are challenged for floor space, and you have the ceiling height, you could actually put in a four post lift and "stack" cars for long term storage (Like what Quaker Steak & Lube does with their restaurants). We have actually toyed with doing something like that because we could double our shop space, and not have to pay the extra money for an addition, as well as having to pay higher taxes due to a bigger building.