2 post lift with limited depth...

[Cody27]

Good day everybody. I am in the process of installing a 2 post asymmetric 7k lift in my home garage. My garage is 21' deep and 24' wide. It is a drive through style with 8' high doors on both sides and 14' ceiling height.

I have pickup trucks and other large vehicles, but I rarely plan on lifting them. My crew cab truck barely fits because of how long it is. This lift will mainly be used for working on a couple of my third gen f body cars (camaro/trans am).

I took some rough measurements but I don't have the cars here to get accurate. I'm trying to figure out how to place the lift to get optimal space in front of the car, and have the back bumper literally a foot from the door as most of the work I will be doing is under the hood and under the car not the rear. I can always open both doors when needed.

My question is, does anyone have an asymmetric lift that can take a few measurements with a car or small pickup and tell me what the bare minimum space would be from the entrance door to centre of lift columns? I bought the lift used to it didn't come with factory recommendations.. I do have the lift up and approximately in place but I want to dial it in before bolting it down today.

As of right now, I have it placed approximately 11' from back door and 10' off the front door. I know it will be tight but like I say, I will only have cars on it that are 15' long so I'm aiming for 5' in front of the car and 1' behind.

If anybody has any input that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

 

[Jking24]

Good day everybody. I am in the process of installing a 2 post asymmetric 7k lift in my home garage. My garage is 21' deep and 24' wide. It is a drive through style with 8' high doors on both sides and 14' ceiling height.

I have pickup trucks and other large vehicles, but I rarely plan on lifting them. My crew cab truck barely fits because of how long it is. This lift will mainly be used for working on a couple of my third gen f body cars (camaro/trans am).

I took some rough measurements but I don't have the cars here to get accurate. I'm trying to figure out how to place the lift to get optimal space in front of the car, and have the back bumper literally a foot from the door as most of the work I will be doing is under the hood and under the car not the rear. I can always open both doors when needed.

My question is, does anyone have an asymmetric lift that can take a few measurements with a car or small pickup and tell me what the bare minimum space would be from the entrance door to centre of lift columns? I bought the lift used to it didn't come with factory recommendations.. I do have the lift up and approximately in place but I want to dial it in before bolting it down today.

As of right now, I have it placed approximately 11' from back door and 10' off the front door. I know it will be tight but like I say, I will only have cars on it that are 15' long so I'm aiming for 5' in front of the car and 1' behind.

If anybody has any input that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

I have a direct lift 8000 asymmetric in almost the identic al space length wise i can't measure it until Tuesday or Wednesday but if that helps you i would be glad to do it.

Sorry i just reread your post and realized you said today. 11'sounds about right. I'm getting ready to move my lift to my new shop and if i recall correctly i believe i came up with about 13'for the new shop and i know i wanted to pick up 2' give it take

 

[Cody27]

Sure that would be awesome!

 

[lolaetype]

I just installed my MaxJax portable in a 20' X 20' garage. I determined where to place the towers by putting each of the three cars I'll be lifting in the garage bay and then measuring the distance between the front and rear lifting points of each car, leaving 6" between the bumper and closed garage door I halved that and marked that spot on the floor. After doing that for all three cars I placed the centerline of the towers on the mark farthest from the door. The centerline of the towers are 8' from the doors.

Our longest car is just under 16 feet so I have sufficient distance in front to do whatever I'm going to be doing. A 24'X24" garage would be better but I had to play the hand I was dealt.

 

[Cody27]

I just installed my MaxJax portable in a 20' X 20' garage. I determined where to place the towers by putting each of the three cars I'll be lifting in the garage bay and then measuring the distance between the front and rear lifting points of each car, leaving 6" between the bumper and closed garage door I halved that and marked that spot on the floor. After doing that for all three cars I placed the centerline of the towers on the mark farthest from the door. The centerline of the towers are 8' from the doors.

Our longest car is just under 16 feet so I have sufficient distance in front to do whatever I'm going to be doing. A 24'X24" garage would be better but I had to play the hand I was dealt.

Good idea. I'm assuming the naxjax is a symmetric style? I ended up bolting it about 10' off the door since its asymmetric and the car will sit further back. I've tested it with a 2020 civic 4 door and a sante fe suv and so far so good. Both vehicles about a foot from the door and ample room up front for an engine lift if needed. I went 20" off the side wall so there is tons of room down the side aswell. My crew cab 6.5 bed 2500 diesel hangs out into the door which is fine because I can still lift it high enough to do brakes/wheels etc

Will report back after some more testing with some pictures!

 

[Jking24]

I was able to swing down their today the lift is 12.5' from the inside of the door to the center of the post the bay is exactly 21' well actually its a little longer but their is a low mezzanine that is at 21' in this space i can lift pretty much anything with the exception of long bed crew cabs to lift them the doors need to be open in order to clear the mezzanine. Hope this helps. I've had this setup for ten years and felt like the lift was perfectly placed

 

[u2slow]

I have played with my symmetric unequal-arm 2-post's positioning for some time now.

While I want the extra distance from the door to fit and lift a longer vehicle... what happens for non-lift work is I always end up driving smaller vehicles in much further, so the front tires are clear of the posts and arms. Since my shop is double deep (not double wide) it means the 'back' vehicle can't be very big either.

I'm leaning to moving the lift back to the door a bit. Even if it means the door has to stay open for lifting the longer rides. Still haven't pinned it down. No solutions... just perspective.

 

[Jking24]

I have played with my symmetric unequal-arm 2-post's positioning for some time now.

While I want the extra distance from the door to fit and lift a longer vehicle... what happens for non-lift work is I always end up driving smaller vehicles in much further, so the front tires are clear of the posts and arms. Since my shop is double deep (not double wide) it means the 'back' vehicle can't be very big either.

I'm leaning to moving the lift back to the door a bit. Even if it means the door has to stay open for lifting the longer rides. Still haven't pinned it down. No solutions... just perspective.

Good thoughts one thing i have always liked about where my lift is is in the short space i can have a small vehicle( pretty much any car) parked short when not lifting and be able to open the door for non lift work and still have plenty in front of the lift. Their is no perfect placement everything is a compromise

 

[Cody27]

I was able to swing down their today the lift is 12.5' from the inside of the door to the center of the post the bay is exactly 21' well actually its a little longer but their is a low mezzanine that is at 21' in this space i can lift pretty much anything with the exception of long bed crew cabs to lift them the doors need to be open in order to clear the mezzanine. Hope this helps. I've had this setup for ten years and felt like the lift was perfectly placed

That sounds good. I just checked mine again I'm.10.5' from door to centre of posts. I would love to have it forward the extra 2 feet like yours, as I could lift my.pickip with the door down but because I will be lifting cars 90% of the time (with the door closed) I opted for the extra room in front since most of my work will be under the hood.

I guess with such limited space there is compromise no matter what and it boils down to personal preference. I'll see how this works for the winter at the end of the day it beats jack stands in the driveway!!

 

[Cody27]

I have played with my symmetric unequal-arm 2-post's positioning for some time now.

While I want the extra distance from the door to fit and lift a longer vehicle... what happens for non-lift work is I always end up driving smaller vehicles in much further, so the front tires are clear of the posts and arms. Since my shop is double deep (not double wide) it means the 'back' vehicle can't be very big either.

I'm leaning to moving the lift back to the door a bit. Even if it means the door has to stay open for lifting the longer rides. Still haven't pinned it down. No solutions... just perspective.

I agree, I'm 10.5' from the door so I can just walk behind my car on the lift but I have lots of room up front. The most I will do with my truck on the lift is brakes and wheel changeovers and with my 8' doors and high lift tracks (vaulted ceiling) i will have no problem lifting it high enough to manage with the door open before the bed rails hit.