car lifts and alternatives

Dh3256 · Jul 22, 2020

Starting to think about moving, and thinking it's time to get a lift. Too many times I could not get the vehicle high enough to work on it. Current frame weld job is an example, even on jackstands it is not high enough to get in there very well.

What is the minimum practical ceiling height for a lift? Is there an alternative to consider? It seems most garages don't have enough head room for a lift, and I don't really want to build another garage.

Thanks for your suggestions and ideas.

TuxThePenguin · Jul 22, 2020

Aside from height, you have to consider your concrete thickness, condition, and grade (concrete is - or can be, anyway - rated in strength by PSI). Residential garages are often considered to not have slabs particularly suitable for a traditional lift, unless it was built by an owner that specifically wanted to support a lift (in which case the ceiling height would probably not be that low to begin with)

If your concrete is good enough, check out MaxJax; here's their "will it fit" page: https://www.maxjax.com/measure/

If your concrete isn't up to task, check out Quickjack, which is basically like jacking your car up with a floor jack and jack stands, but it does the whole car at once. https://www.quickjack.com/. It's got 2 frames you put under the car and they raise up under it. Doesn't raise it super high but is good enough for most jobs.

isb cornbinder · Jul 22, 2020

My shop is 865 sf with a 10 foot ceiling. Go higher if you can. If I did it again, I would go a minimum of 12 feet.
I would advise against buying used. I do not want to buy another persons junk.
I have done the simple math, I know it will be less expensive to buy new with a warranty and an installation package.

lolaetype · Jul 22, 2020

I'm in the middle of planning to buy one. The one I want is the MaJax portable two post lift. BendPak bought Maxjax in April and they are unavailable right now. but should be this fall. Maximum list is 48". I've got a 10'-6" ceiling in the garage. My plan is to put a wall mount garage door opener on the door to the bay where I will install the lift. Then I will have free head room of 10'-6" in which to raise the car when the garage door is closed. When the door is open I will have 90". We've got three cars the tallest of which is 58 inches so Worst case I can easily get the cars up 30 inches with the door open. Plenty high enough for tire rotation, brake work and most suspension work.

pelletman · Jul 22, 2020

We have a Hunter scissor alignment lift in a garage with a 10' ceiling, works great with a rolling seat. Also have a two post Challenger 10K in a Mort bonldg and I would say at least 13' for that and 14 is probably better.

txvwnut · Jul 22, 2020

With ten foot ceilings your max lift height will most likely be 48". I think twelve foot is the min on two post and four post lifts. I have a ten foot and change ceiling height in my shop and its the minimum for my mid-rise scissor lifts with a veedub van at max lift.

JeepJohn62 · Jul 22, 2020

I have a 2 post lift in my 10 foot ceiling. Works for my jeeps and F250. Gets the frame 4 ft off the floor. Much easier to work on things from a chair.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

joshmodelskidoo · Jul 23, 2020

I know a guy that has the max jack. Looks very handy but a full size would be better because you could go higher. If I wasn’t going to be taking a body off a frame I would probably go with a 4 post for safety. I know a guy that had a truck fall off a 2 post. He is a shop owner and that put him in the hospital for quite some time

BLUE72CAMARO · Jul 23, 2020

I have my 9k rotary two post in polebarn with 14' rafters with quite a bit of room to spare. 12' would be the minimum height I would want to work with unless you can do scissor trusses or something like that.

pbon · Jul 23, 2020

With 10’6” ceilings, I could lift my BMW E36 M3 about 6’ with the Atlas BP8000 floor plate 2 post that I had at the time. Our E61 535xi wagon would go almost as high. I am glad I did not limit myself to a 48” lift.

will335i · Jul 23, 2020

TuxThePenguin said:
Aside from height, you have to consider your concrete thickness, condition, and grade (concrete is - or can be, anyway - rated in strength by PSI). Residential garages are often considered to not have slabs particularly suitable for a traditional lift, unless it was built by an owner that specifically wanted to support a lift (in which case the ceiling height would probably not be that low to begin with)

If your concrete is good enough, check out MaxJax; here's their "will it fit" page: https://www.maxjax.com/measure/

If your concrete isn't up to task, check out Quickjack, which is basically like jacking your car up with a floor jack and jack stands, but it does the whole car at once. https://www.quickjack.com/. It's got 2 frames you put under the car and they raise up under it. Doesn't raise it super high but is good enough for most jobs.

This is more than likely correct with any residential garage, especially older homes.

The area where the post are set can be cut out and proper footings poured vs pouring a whole new slab. If you are building then know where you want to install the lift and have the concrete in that area match the vendors recommendation. The whole slab does not need to be that strength unless you plan to move the lift or install another down the road.

VolvoRyan · Jul 23, 2020

Bendpak has some neat looking mid-rise, open-center scissor lifts. They're not cheap, but they seem to get around the headaches that a residential garage presents (low ceilings, questionable concrete). We're planning to move ASAP, and that's what I'm working towards if we can build a bespoke shop.

I agree wholeheartedly not to by used. Money saved will pale next to the set up costs.

-Ryan

HoosierBuddy · Jul 23, 2020

I have 13 feet in my garage. If you are building from scratch, and want a lift, I would say go 12 feet minimum. When they built mine, they blocked up a foot above floor level and then went with 12 foot lumber above that.

My lift (a no name Chinese unit I got from GregSmithEquipment) maxes out before my cars hit the ceiling...so more height would not be helpful.

Phil

Ton ton · Jul 23, 2020

I like a pit.

Dh3256 · Jul 24, 2020

Ton ton said:
I like a pit.

I thought pits were generally not to code and rather unsafe?

Is there a way to use a pit for wheel and suspension work, other than jacking it up on the edges?

Do you find the fixed height of the pit to be a limitation?

Dh3256 · Jul 24, 2020

Thanks everyone for the replies, this is very helpful.

Ton ton · Jul 24, 2020

we have blocks to cover the pit that I ******** of. I feel like like it's safe.

lardy1 · Jul 24, 2020

Be careful.

WrightToolFan · Jul 24, 2020

There's also Kwik-Lift. It's a ramp you dive up on and then you jack up the other side with a floor jack and then two arms come down to support the vehicle and you release the jack.

I think QuickJack is probably where's it's at for an alternative to the traditional jack and jack stands. A proper lift is difficult for a home owner to do with concrete considerations, space, garage height, garage door height, etc.

I'd love to see more alternatives than QuickJack and Kwik-Lift.

JRC3 · Jul 24, 2020

Dh3256 said:
It seems most garages don't have enough head room for a lift, and I don't really want to build another garage.

So how high is the ceiling? Obviously that is the biggest limitation and the most important thing to state.

If it's 8' up to 10' then I'm gonna suggest the good old mid-lift.

Not to mention being the perfect lift table.

Most recent use below. 8' ceiling and a fairly tall Honda Pilot. Can't wait to move the rafter ties up a bit to get more height. Sometime I rest the vehicle on the jackstands and lower the mid-lift for exhaust or trans work.

pbon · Jul 24, 2020

That scissor lift looks like a lot of fun to crawl under. It would be my absolute last choice. MaxJax would be so much more pleasant. I’d buy quick jack before that scissor lift.

Dh3256 · Jul 24, 2020

JRC3 said:
So how high is the ceiling? Obviously that is the biggest limitation and the most important thing to state.

If it's 8' up to 10' then I'm gonna suggest the good old mid-lift.

That seems like it may be a good option, I'll explore that further. What brand is your lift? Thanks!

javyLSU · Jul 24, 2020

I've had a very good experience with my Twin Busch S3-10E Mid-Rise Scissor Lift. 6,000 lb capacity, 40" lift height, no air required, and runs on 120V. Couldn't recommend them more. My thoughts here:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7892867#post7892867

JRC3 · Jul 24, 2020

Dh3256 said:
What brand is your lift? Thanks!

Greg Smith Equipment used to sell them when they where Hanmecson Lift and then Rotary bought them to sell under the Revolution name. There are many other brands that make the same style lift. Jack stands are Sunex 1410s, you can find them on ebay for $239/pr.

Eric29 · Jul 24, 2020

I’m a big fan of this since I don’t have room for a full lift. They go on sale.

https://ezcarlift.com/

Dh3256 · Jul 25, 2020

joshmodelskidoo said:
I know a guy that had a truck fall off a 2 post. He is a shop owner and that put him in the hospital for quite some time

Can you post a bit more about that accident? What happened to cause the truck to fall?

As a newbie to lifts, I do have some concerns about the portable two post lifts. Seems like the four post lifts would be more stable and safer. Are two post lifts safe?

pbon · Jul 25, 2020

2 post lifts are the most commonly used lifts, the mind you typically find in commercial shops. They are safe.

No lift is safe if installed or assembled improperly or loaded improperly. Everyone knows a story of a lift failing. In 99.9% of cases it is due to improper assembly, installation or loading. In other words, operator error. Same thing with using jack stands and floor jacks.

The other 0.01% of failures are beyond your control and could happen with any kind of lift.

car lifts and alternatives

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