Car Lifts?

[Anthony 05 GT]

You can NEVER have enough shop space. The place my GF and I bought last year, the main selling points were almost 5 acres of land, secluded area, large enough two car garage to park both Mustangs in and still have some storage and the detached 25x30 shop in addition to the garage, didn't hurt. Of course I'm already looking to add a large shop with a 14ft bay in the middle, so I can use a full size, full rise lift, and section off one lower height bay as a paint booth.

I've never heard anyone wish they had bought a smaller TV or built a smaller shop.

Yeah man, I wanted an 80X100, but any one building can't exceed a certain percentage of the total square feet of your house in my county. That sucks because I live deep in the woods with acreage. I actually have a wrap around lean-to on the garage and when I went for the permit, they wanted me to sign off that I wouldn't build the lean-to across the front and side. I did it anyway and the inspector didn't give a damn one way or the other.

Sponsored

 

[chain]

I guess I wan't clear enough, my apologies. The post-tension cables are sandwiched in the cement (Like re-bar) but are under a lot of tension, I think it's about 6000psi. When you drill the concrete, if you hit one of them, you (And anything around you) is going to have a really bad day. I know the chances of hitting one with a 1/2" drill bit is fairly low, but I'm not a gambling person if you know what I mean. Out here, to do it right, you x-ray the floor (Best) or use ground-penetrating-radar to map them out before you drill. If it were cheap, I'd totally go for the max-jax as it was my first choice as soon as I saw it.

I think I get what you are talking about now. I am pretty sure I had the same type of cables in the foundation of my house in Houston. On that house I could actually see the patches in the foundation where the end of the cables were. If you could do that, you should be able to measure things out and figure out where they run without spending all that money. Not sure how your house is and if you can do it but it's an idea anyways.

 

[7YearAscent]

The quickjack seems like a good option. Plenty of lift and portable

 

[OX1]

I used a Direct Lift 8000 lb 4 post (little more expensive since it is certified)
in a normal 8'ish garage in my old house. Yes, it didn't go up all the way, but still very
useful for working drivetrain, brakes, even under dash/door panels as you don't have to
bend over nearly as much (or at all). Towers are more of a mid lift, but even now (moved and
built 3200 sq ft pole barn), it goes up plenty high enough.

As mentioned you can get a cross jack and these cheaper lifts come with a jacking plate
( I use jacking plate on rear, cross jack front if I need entire car lifted up) and casters to move it around.
No need to bolt it down, and I've had 6000 lb built up fullsize broncos on it.

Some things it's really nice for that you can't do on a 2 post or anything that jacks on the frame
are final tighten suspension bushings, align exhaust systems, jack control arms off the runways
(with car up in the air), wheel alignments (even home jobs). I bought a used hunter alignment
system that works great with it.

Yeah man, I wanted an 80X100, but any one building can't exceed a certain percentage of the total square feet of your house in my county. That sucks because I live deep in the woods with acreage. I actually have a wrap around lean-to on the garage and when I went for the permit, they wanted me to sign off that I wouldn't build the lean-to across the front and side. I did it anyway and the inspector didn't give a damn one way or the other.

Yeah, that's why I bought in the town I did. I happened to live in the next town over and every time
I drove through my town they had monster pole barns/garages all over the place. I only did 50 X 64,
but they didn't bat an eye, got permit in one day. Also probably helps it's the 4rd largest town
in NJ, 100 sq miles.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I have a quickjack. It's fantastic compared to a jack & jackstands. In fact, my jackstands aren't tall enough to reach any part of the car when it's at full lift.

I have taller jack stands (coincidentally exactly the height of the QuickJack) but ordered a QuickJack anyway just to not have to do all the jacking and in stages so the car doesn't ever lean so much its precarious on the stands on the far side.

 

[Strokerswild]

You can NEVER have enough shop space. The place my GF and I bought last year, the main selling points were almost 5 acres of land, secluded area, large enough two car garage to park both Mustangs in and still have some storage and the detached 25x30 shop in addition to the garage, didn't hurt. Of course I'm already looking to add a large shop with a 14ft bay in the middle, so I can use a full size, full rise lift, and section off one lower height bay as a paint booth.

I've never heard anyone wish they had bought a smaller TV or built a smaller shop.

This.

My attached garage (drivers) is 20x24' and my shop (toys, work space) is 30x33' and I wish I had more room. But I'm maxed out as far as permanent structures due to my lot size (~1 acre).....unless I'd throw up a couple more "garden sheds".

Great thread, I've been looking for a lift like these for one of my shop stalls.....

 

[CrashOverride]

You guys are making me so envious you should be able to hear me weeping

Our lots out here are less than 80x100. Yes, no joke - if you haven't been out here, there are lots that have a "zero lot line" or "PUD" which means you literally have no yard at all. So you have a 1000 sqft lot with a 1400 sqft house on it.

Don't believe me?

Even though I have a lot more land than that, everybody and their brother has to be satisfied if you want to mow your grass 1/2" shorter. Okay, I'm taking it a bit far, but there are tons of things that would have to be passed and 90% of them wouldn't fly.

I'm not complaining with my 20x30 garage, but yes, I wish that could be relegated to simply a place to park the cars, and then a whole other metal building with more parking, machine shop, toys and so forth...

I have been looking more into 4-post lifts. I wasn't going to even consider it until I saw a youtube video of how it can "lift itself" on the caster wheels and move around. Not that I would want to do it, but that's pretty cool. Bendpak is actually only about 2 hours away from where I live so I can actually save on shipping costs (So long as my truck can handle the payload).

Sponsored