2 post lift in the right spot

[ZukDoug]

I bought a Greg Smith 9000 KOH 2 post car lift the arms are asymmetrical. my garage is 18'6'' long from front wall to garage door. How close to the front wall can or should i put it and still be able to lift a 4 door 1/2 ton truck. Maybe a better question would be how much of the truck would stick past the columns. I mainly work on Jeeps and would prefer the jeeps be centered in the garage because that's what I mainly work on. so does anybody know how much more a truck will stick forward of the columns than a jeep. I know I'm babbling but I want to get this lift positioned right the first time. Any help would be appreciated.

here are a few pics i had of the garage. I know it's going to be tight, but we have to work with what we have till the ship comes in.....lol

 

[ZukDoug]

come on...... somebody's gotta have some info????help the new guy out..lol

 

[zkdiesel]

A 4 door truck barely fits in a 18' garage.....
Drive you truck in there and place the colums where you would lift it at

 

[Falcon67]

A 4 door truck barely fits in a 18' garage.....
Drive you truck in there and place the colums where you would lift it at

That. If I put my Super Crew in an 18' garage, one bumper would be on the wall and you could not close the door.

Tape off the exterior of the truck on the floor. Park the Jeep in the same spot, tape that off. Look at the lift docs for how the columns should be placed in relation to the vehicle and tape off the post locations. Go by an appliance store and get some fridge boxes out of their trash. Make two cardboard columns about the same size as the lift columns, stand in place and see how much room there really is.

 

[justin1795]

my Silverado had a hole in the wall my hitch went into. you hoist will be pretty far forward 15 foot seems to be the normal anser I get

 

[RandyL]

I had overhead concerns,,,,

I used a floor jack to find balance point of 4 vehicles, from a Jeep Wrangler to a full size Tundra. I then measured fore and aft from this point on each vehicle then overlayed the measurements. I set my posts so that all these vehicle would clear the overhead when loaded on the lift. I have had 100% results and love my lift. It takes a couple of hours to do the measurements and draw it out on paper, but well worth the time to have it right.

Randy

 

[ZukDoug]

Thanks for all the help so far.I guess I'm going to spend some time tomorrow marking off vehicles and finding Centerpoints.I don't own a 4 door truck(1/2ton) but would like to be able to lift one if needed. My Jeep,Samurai and Pontiac Solstice will be the ones I will be lifting most often. I'm not even sure I would put my other cars on that lift. you see the other two vechiles are a Ford Excursion and a Ford E250 work Van not sure how stable they would be on a 9000 lbs chinese lift. I got out in the garage to day and looked at things and have about decided to set it up so that I can put the Jeep,Samurai and Pontiac Solstice on the lift and still get the door closed. I'll just leave the door open for all the others if they're to long. That way I will maximize the work space in front of the cars I will be working on with the door closed.

Next ? .......now once I find the center weight point on each car how do I know where that point is on the lift. remember it is a asymmetric lift found here. http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-9KOH

 

[zkdiesel]

Most asy will line up with the leading edge of the post even with the mirror on cars
Your jeep and Sami this doesn't apply because of their odd body to wheel base

How tall is your garge door
I imagine lifting a work van or excursion you won't get any height till you smash the door

Your being unrealistic with your goals, set it to fit your car and 4x4 s and don't worry avout rest, your garage is just to small

 

[Shadowdog500]

Greg smith says the column for the asymmetric lift should be 9' or 10' from the wall in this link. http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Where-Do-I-Position-My-Two-Post-Lift-In-My-Garage. You may want more to have room to work plus room for toolboxes and workbench.

My garage is deeper than yours so I moved mine 17' from the wall and have a ton of room for a workbench and a cherry picker. You may want to set the columns to give you adequate room to work on the vehicles you intend to use it on and plan to have the bigger stuff hanging out the door on the occasional use. Not sure if I would lift a loaded work van on my 9,000 lb lift.

Make sure you have enough room from the side wall to pull an axle out of a vehicle.


Chris

 

[Scud67]

My Atlas is 10' to the center of the post off of the front wall. I have my tool box and bench to one side and have plenty of room in front of the vehicle. 18' is NOT a lot of room to work with. I don't think you will be able to lift a full size truck in your situation.....

 

[RandyL]

I have a Bendpak asymmetric and have picked up a lot of vehicles in the 8 months of so that I have had it.

When I drive vehicles on, I stop when the door mirrors are centered on the posts..this gets me real close to my lift point.

Randy

 

[fj5gtx]

Make sure you have enough room from the side wall to pull an axle out of a vehicle

Good advice!

 

[vision8]

I centered my 2-post Rotary anchor bolts 16 feet from the doorway.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I centered my 10k bendpak symetric 2post in my 24' garage (11'5" from each wall) and I can lift everything I own except the excab longbed 1 ton. Lifting that requires the garage door to be open, so it doesn't get lifted during the 230 days of winter we get every year.

 

[pstnbly]

When I'm lifting my 1 ton dually standard cab with 9' bed on my 10,000# Atlas the columns are centered on the doors. Pull the truck in where it should be and mark the columns from there.

 

[Tony_F]

All good advice above. Here's the manual for my lift, just installed this weekend. Its a Bendpak, but should be similar enough to help. Page 4...

http://www.bendpak.com/XPR-10-10A REV A 01-03-11.pdf

 

[Shadowdog500]

All good advice above. Here's the manual for my lift, just installed this weekend. Its a Bendpak, but should be similar enough to help. Page 4...

http://www.bendpak.com/XPR-10-10A REV A 01-03-11.pdf

That shows that a 24' deep garage is the minimum reccomended depth of the garage.

I reccomend that you put your jeeps, and small cars that you mainly are going to work on in the garage where you plan to work on them and position the columns just for those cars. The occasional lift of a big truck that won't fit in the garage anyway probably isn't worth moving the lift position to a position that will negatively impact the primary purpose of the lift which is jeeps and small cars.

Chris

 

[ZukDoug]

That shows that a 24' deep garage is the minimum reccomended depth of the garage.

I reccomend that you put your jeeps, and small cars that you mainly are going to work on in the garage where you plan to work on them and position the columns just for those cars. The occasional lift of a big truck that won't fit in the garage anyway probably isn't worth moving the lift position to a position that will negatively impact the primary purpose of the lift which is jeeps and small cars.

Chris

I agree

 

[ZukDoug]

Thanks everyone that has responded.All the information has been helpful. It's to bad that my garage is so small.But I'm blessed to have one at all. Amen and Amen!!!

 

[Denwood]

My 24ft long garage measures 23', front to back, inside dimensions. I raised my ceiling over the centre 16 ft in the garage, to a height of 10'. Before placing my columns, I also measured the neighbour's 2500HD 4 door, full crew cab, full 8ft box truck. It's around 22'6" long overall.

The columns for my lift (maxjax) are 11'3" back from the front door, and 11'9" from the rear wall, measured to the centre of each column. The 2500 HD is a possible lift, but the front bumper would need to be right at the front door, leaving only 6" at the back of the garage.

 

[rburke65]

Just pull the car in and go from there.

 

[zmotorsports]

Here is a link to a thread I started several years back when I was placing my 2-post lift. Lots of good information in this thread.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92596

That said, I have a few more feet in depth to work with than 18'6" so that will be your challenge. Make sure to keep it out away from the side wall plenty of distance as well to allow for axle shaft removal and for overall comfort in working on a vehicle. I have worked on several where they placed them so close to the wall it was too tight for my liking and hard to get a tool cart around.

Now after having my lift installed for several years it works perfect. I have roughly 8' or so from the front of a vehicle to my workbench for maneuverability and not to crowd my workbench area. The only time I have to really watch it is a 4-door longbed, my overhead door barely clears and depending on bumper style I have to juggle a few inches.

As for column placement in center of gravity, on a 4-door shortbed truck I have found the columns pretty much line up with the front of the backrest on the front seat, where your back leans against will be in alignment with the columns. On a Jeep it is closer to the front of the bottom of the front seat in alignment with the columns.

Mike.

 

[dynahoe]

I lift f350 diesels and dump trucks with an atlas 9k lift.it works fine.it was in the shop when i bought the business.not my first choice of lift but as long as it's there i'll use it.i bought the adapter kit and everything is ok.go to a dealership and ask the techs where they park a long truck and get some ideas from the guys that do it everyday

 

[C2 Turbo]

go to a dealership and ask the techs where they park a long truck and get some ideas from the guys that do it everyday

Listen to the wisdom ^ here

Simply go to any local repair shop and do the inquiry from the mechanic yourself and compare the space and of-course the measurements

 

[ZukDoug]

Got the lift in today decided to go 8 foot from garage door 10 foot from front wall seems to be working good so far. we lifted a four door Jeep, King Cab Chevy truck and my samurai. I can close the door on the 4 door Jeep and the samurai. Door has to stay open on trucks. I already love this thing.Thanks for all the help I will update with a report later on how things are working out.

 

[Shadowdog500]

Got the lift in today decided to go 8 foot from garage door 10 foot from front wall seems to be working good so far. we lifted a four door Jeep, King Cab Chevy truck and my samurai. I can close the door on the 4 door Jeep and the samurai. Door has to stay open on trucks. I already love this thing.Thanks for all the help I will update with a report later on how things are working out.

Glad it worked out for you! Can't wait to see the pictures.


Chris

 

[59chief]

Congrats on the lift, I've had my atlas for about two weeks now and have lifted a 1980 Fiat spider and the 59 Apache...just did my first stand-up oil change yesterday, it was sweet

 

[ZukDoug]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...3018c=1&d=1420173018173018&stc=1&d=1420173018

 

[ZukDoug]

I don't think I could have picked a better place for the lift. All three cars fit perfect. Excursion was the only one to stick out of the garage. I should be able to lift anything on this lift provided the weight doesn't exceed the lift. That being said the excursion was no problem to lift and it felt really stable.

Ps.have I said how much I love this lift!!!!!!lol

 

[ZukDoug]

I still have to get the garage door moved up.The doorman is going to come by and raise the door as close to the ceiling as he can get it.should give me about 2 more feet.

 

[rburke65]

Good for you....glad it worked out for you!