phenryiv1
Well-known member
With the money in my pocket and the decision to buy a lift all but made, I am waffling on 3 major options.
First off, the basics:
My garage is used daily for parking our daily drivers. I have about 20x23 with a single door. I require that whatever I buy be NOT permanently installed. I will try to snap a better picture tonight, but this gives you an idea of how tight it is:
Earlier thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171589
Pictures:
Those are OLD but the garage has not changed shape/size. Some of the garage "junk" that you see is no longer there (the wood stove, garden tools, etc.) but may have been replaced by other junk.
I do 99.9% of my own work to all of my cars, and my parents live about 200 yards away and my father (with their 5 cars) is the same way. I am 35 and he is 65 and neither of us are getting any younger, so I give some weight to making work easier with tool purchases. Second, I have 2 young kids, so saving time also has value.
What it really comes down to is the cost of convenience and capability. In almost 20 years of working on cars, I have been able to do pretty much everything that I wanted with ramps and jacks/stands, but getting under cars, fighting out from under cars to get the tool that I forgot, and generally putting off jobs because of the difficulty of the jobs has me considering a lift. I am not going to get any more excited to climb under a car, and a lift seems like a 1-time purchase with a LONG time of benefits.
I have a daily driver (2011 WRX), a truck of occasional use (1988 Jeep Comanche), my wife's daily (2008 Acura TL), and a rally car (1987 BMW). I am also considering buying another old BMW for track use. My father also has 5 cars.
A scissor lift is out because I pull exhaust, driveshafts, transamissions, etc. when working on my project cars (I am on my 5th "old" BMW now).
ANYTHING that I pick must be able to move out of the way for daily parking. I forgot that I had also ruled out the BendPak LR-60 and/or LR-60P (as mentioned in a post below) because I can't stash them away when not in use. The MJ and EZCL can be moved against a wall when not in use. At ~800 lb., the BendPak models can't lean against the wall without major effort, and can't even stash under a wide shelf or bench without a lot of effort.
So the options:
1. Buy Nothing. Why? Because when I buy tools I typically have to be able to justify their cost in savings of time and or frustration. $100 here or there is not hard to justify, but ~$2000...that takes some time to pay for itself.
2. MaxJax.
Pros:
Cons:
3. ezcarlift:
I found out about this a few weeks ago and was really excited. For most of what I do, this would do the trick. Small, slightly cheaper than the MaxJax, more portable, and with faster setup. BUT after very minor negotiations with the owner of the company, he got pretty rude. He backed off, but still- I hear that he is great to work with for most things but can be a real @$$ on the money side. He definitely showed me that range of emotions. In searching for info about the lift and its applications, I saw posts (and a whole thread) about his response to negotiating for a better price. I thought this to be sour grapes by non-buyers, but after my personal experience, I just have to wonder how common it might be. I must say that his service and support after the sale are reportedly top-notch, based on forum feedback.
Pros:
Cons:
Cliffs Notes:
The MaxJax major issue is setup time (particularly when compared to the 90 seconds for the ezcarlift). The ezcarlift does not get me much extra capability, but it buys me some "ease" in doing tasks (such as getting the vehicle in a stable servicing status). The MaxJax buys me MORE convenience, but again, at the cost of setup time. Buying nothing saves me about $2000.
Thoughts, as I pull the trigger?
First off, the basics:
My garage is used daily for parking our daily drivers. I have about 20x23 with a single door. I require that whatever I buy be NOT permanently installed. I will try to snap a better picture tonight, but this gives you an idea of how tight it is:
Earlier thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171589
Pictures:
Those are OLD but the garage has not changed shape/size. Some of the garage "junk" that you see is no longer there (the wood stove, garden tools, etc.) but may have been replaced by other junk.
I do 99.9% of my own work to all of my cars, and my parents live about 200 yards away and my father (with their 5 cars) is the same way. I am 35 and he is 65 and neither of us are getting any younger, so I give some weight to making work easier with tool purchases. Second, I have 2 young kids, so saving time also has value.
What it really comes down to is the cost of convenience and capability. In almost 20 years of working on cars, I have been able to do pretty much everything that I wanted with ramps and jacks/stands, but getting under cars, fighting out from under cars to get the tool that I forgot, and generally putting off jobs because of the difficulty of the jobs has me considering a lift. I am not going to get any more excited to climb under a car, and a lift seems like a 1-time purchase with a LONG time of benefits.
I have a daily driver (2011 WRX), a truck of occasional use (1988 Jeep Comanche), my wife's daily (2008 Acura TL), and a rally car (1987 BMW). I am also considering buying another old BMW for track use. My father also has 5 cars.
A scissor lift is out because I pull exhaust, driveshafts, transamissions, etc. when working on my project cars (I am on my 5th "old" BMW now).
ANYTHING that I pick must be able to move out of the way for daily parking. I forgot that I had also ruled out the BendPak LR-60 and/or LR-60P (as mentioned in a post below) because I can't stash them away when not in use. The MJ and EZCL can be moved against a wall when not in use. At ~800 lb., the BendPak models can't lean against the wall without major effort, and can't even stash under a wide shelf or bench without a lot of effort.
So the options:
1. Buy Nothing. Why? Because when I buy tools I typically have to be able to justify their cost in savings of time and or frustration. $100 here or there is not hard to justify, but ~$2000...that takes some time to pay for itself.
2. MaxJax.
Pros:
- Right now it is on sale.
- It does all that I would want a lift to do.
- It has enough capacity for me (6000#).
- Reviews are awesome.
- Oil/fluid changes will be more comfortable. Note: I don't always change my own oil despite doing all other car "stuff" because I hate getting under lowered or dirty (in the case of my rally car) vehicles, removing all of the shields, etc. I am lazy about it. I don't have a good excuse.
Cons:
- It costs $2000.
- It takes 10-15 minutes to setup. For a tire rotation, I might be able to do it faster with jacks (I have 3) and stands (I have 4). For brakes, suspension, etc., the setup time will probably make it worth setup time.
- Not portable (without buying more anchors).
- Increases the footprint of a car being serviced.
3. ezcarlift:
I found out about this a few weeks ago and was really excited. For most of what I do, this would do the trick. Small, slightly cheaper than the MaxJax, more portable, and with faster setup. BUT after very minor negotiations with the owner of the company, he got pretty rude. He backed off, but still- I hear that he is great to work with for most things but can be a real @$$ on the money side. He definitely showed me that range of emotions. In searching for info about the lift and its applications, I saw posts (and a whole thread) about his response to negotiating for a better price. I thought this to be sour grapes by non-buyers, but after my personal experience, I just have to wonder how common it might be. I must say that his service and support after the sale are reportedly top-notch, based on forum feedback.
Pros:
- Fast setup
- Easy storage
- Portable. I can take it to my parents' house in the back of my truck or set it up in my own driveway if I have an inoperable car.
- Better than ramps for 90% of what I use ramps to do. Easier to use than ramps on a lowered car.
- Eliminates the age-old issue that some cars have when jacking them up that you can't jack the car then use jackstands on the optimum locations because the floor jack and jackstands either use the same jack points or interfere in their footprint during placement. Solid axle vehicles and well-designed AWD/FWD vehicles have lift points AND jackstand points, but not all cars are like this. The EZCL eliminates this problem.
- When in use, does not increase the footprint of the vehicle. THis is important if the car will be on the lift for several days or longer.
Cons:
- For what it costs (almost $2000), you get convenience and a little capability that ramps don't offer, but at the end of the day, you are STILL laying under a car.
- Capacity is "only" 4400#.
- Owner insulted me (maybe unintentionally).
- I have to spend an extra $80 for the accessory needed to lift the TL. MAY need something different to lift the Comanche (will have to measure the unit if/when it arrives).
Cliffs Notes:
The MaxJax major issue is setup time (particularly when compared to the 90 seconds for the ezcarlift). The ezcarlift does not get me much extra capability, but it buys me some "ease" in doing tasks (such as getting the vehicle in a stable servicing status). The MaxJax buys me MORE convenience, but again, at the cost of setup time. Buying nothing saves me about $2000.
Thoughts, as I pull the trigger?
Last edited:
However, a quick lift jack and good stands make things go quick. I pretty much decided that if I was going to have a lift, I'd have a 4 post and make attic space for it so I could store a car under. Otherwise - I'm 56 and not getting any younger but I can slide around on that epoxy pretty well still. I do a lot of engine/trans pulls but on the hot rods it's easier to just yank the pair out together. Not much under work involved. If I was able to choose from your list and could not modify the building enough to clear a 4 post, then Max Jax.
