Another 2 post lift question

[Hondaracer2oo4]

I am getting ready to pour the slab for my 28x40 garage build. I am installing radiant in the floor so I need to figure out the location of the future lift so I can avoid this area when laying the pipe. So the garage is 40 across the front and 28 deep. 3 bays with 3 feet of frost wall then 9 foot door 2 foot of wall 9 foot door2 foot of wall then 9 foot door then 6 feet of wall. On the 6 foot wall end I have the 4 foot wide stair case to the second floor located here so I lose 4 of the 6 feet. I am thinking that the first bay would probably be best for the lift bay??? I only plan to use the lift for occasional car mechanics so the rest of the time it will be used as parking. I have a 4 door Silverado 1500 18'9", 15 foot Jetta and a 16 foot Jeep Grand Cherokee. Probably park the Jetta in the lift bay, my truck middle and wife's jeep on right. I don't want the lift to interfere with doors opening when normally parking. The lift post would be about 2 feet from the left hand wall. I think that should leave enough room to pass by and leave ample room . To work on a 6.5 foot wide truck without the wall interfering. I also am wondering about the depth into the garage. Like I said I want it to be far enough forward not to interfere with car doors for everyday parking but far enough back from the wall to allow a 24 inch bench against the back wall and be able to easily pass between the front of the vehicle and the bench. I was thinking to put the lift 18 feet in which is 10 foot off the rear wall which I figure gives 7.5 from bench to lift post. From lift post to front of truck would be in the 5 foot range giving 2-2.5 between bench and truck. Or I could leave bench out of this section freeing up more front room which might be the way to go. Any clearance pics around your vehicles while they are on your lift and the footage that you have would help me a lot. I don't have a lift yet but was thinking asymmetric and had looked at specs on a few different brands and taken the average more or less of the specs to figure width.

 

[brownbagg]

if using it for parking, get a four post so your suspension doesnt hang for periods of time

 

[Hondaracer2oo4]

Sorry, misleading statement. I meant I plan to park vehicles in the bay that has the lift on a regular basis.

 

[MrBalll]

Not sure what 'car mechanics' means for you, but if you're just changing oil and rotating tires I would get a four post lift. You don't need to secure those so you won't have to worry about your in floor heating.
I wouldn't get a two post if your vehicle will mostly be parked.

 

[Hondaracer2oo4]

Car mechanics to me means my 2005 Silverado has 276k miles and hasn't ever been to someone else to be fixed, I do everything myself. I don't want a four post because of the four posts obstructing the garage. I do like the the Marjax movable lifts but I don't like that they only get up about 4 feet.

 

[wssix99]

I don't have a lift yet but was thinking asymmetric and had looked at specs on a few different brands and taken the average more or less of the specs to figure width.

This is a problem.

I just went through the same exercise for a 28' deep garage. I wanted the lift placement to handle everything I own and also a full size pickup. Given that you need to center the load on the lift and every car has a different center of mass, the spacing needs will vary wildly as you move from your pickup to your Porsche, (the Jetta is made by the same company - close enough, right?) to your Cherokee, etc.

You'll want to pick your lift out now, look at how your cars are balanced, and then do all the math, leaving some room for error and also realizing that your garage door projects in to the room a good bit.

It would be nice to have a sweet spot where you could avoid the tubing and worry about this later. In my case, I found that not to be possible/reasonable.

 

[brownbagg]

full size chevolets are diffulcult to pick up with two post because the frame jumps up behind the cab, so its not a level frame

 

[Hondaracer2oo4]

Yes I may have to choose one manufacturer and model to use now. I lift my truck now on a rotary asymmetrical two poster that my father in law has. I place the mirrors at/just past the post. Never had any balancing problems with the truck when lifted. Always seems stable. My ceiling height is going to be 12 foot, gRage doors are 9 high and I plan to do high lift tracks with shaft driven side motors to keep the doors out of the way. The Jetta does sit a little further forward than the truck when I lift that. So maybe I am looking at 16-17 feet in from the doors maybe???? Wsssix. Did you put a lift In Yet? What did you choose for center point of the posts from the door/ back wall?

 

[wssix99]

So maybe I am looking at 16-17 feet in from the doors maybe???? Wsssix. Did you put a lift In Yet? What did you choose for center point of the posts from the door/ back wall?

My lift is not in yet. (That's a bit if an issue - my lift is taking back seat to other installations in the house. Right now, the cost of the lifts are less than the cost of a divorce laywer, so there's just a lot of arguing about that for now... I am now on strike to force the issue. The wife's car will not get fixed until the lift arrives.)

I plan to place it 12.5' from the back wall. (Layout attached.) I don't know where my calculation/notes are but this works out well for front-heavy vehicles. The lift is close to center in this space, but I'll have issues if I ever bring in a 50/50 balanced vehicle. (If I didn't have a truck, I'd probably want it closer to the door.)

 

[wssix99]

^ BTW - 8' door openings ****. I did that to keep more heat in the garage but I have a feeling that some side mirror purchases are in my future. (I should probably raid some junk yards and keep them in-stock in the garage for each of my vehicles.)

 

[koditten]

My 2 post spans over top of my pex tubing. 5.5" concrete thruout the whole thing. Like you, I wasn't sure where to put the lift.

I was much easier to just stand up the lift post and bring in different cars to find the "sweet spot". My shop is 26' deep.

With my full sized Tundra on the lift, there is not enough room in front for the tool chest to be comfortable.

 

[MarentetteService]

I went with a two post forward I10. Symmetrical posts with asymmetrical three stage arms. Best of both worlds. Optimal bay size would be 12' in front of the hoist and 12 - 15 behind it. This will accommodate anything from a 911 to a 4 door f250 superduty with a long box. If you have the money go with a rotary inground smart lift.

 

[Hondaracer2oo4]

I really like the in ground lift but no way am I spending 8k on something that i don't use for a living.

 

[firebirdparts]

hey, first poster here. When I built my garage, I built it one and a half stories, so the upper floor has a hole in it that a car goes up into. I had to plan the space requirements for vehicles, and I decided my target vehicle would be a 15 passenger size van. I can only fit one up through that hole if it's turned the right direction.

Generally I have two comments about what you've posted. First, my lift is also about 2 feet from the wall, and I can walk around there, but as the garage accumulates stuff that tends to get blocked off. It' a nice central location to store your 6 foot tall jack stands and 6 foot tall oil drain tank (which you'll love) and a broom, etc. I don't walk through there much. My lift is 15 feet from the back wall, and I have room for a deep work bench and I also have room to handle an engine on the crane between that bench and a vehicle. I tend to pull motors on the lift, it's just so much less work.

The second comment is that centers of gravity and various vehicles are not much of a problem. What's varying is how much car is hanging out each end of the lift, and the length doesn't vary all that much. The height at the corners varies a lot. The problem obstructions really are overhead, and there are three. First, you can open the garage door and hit a car. Second, you can raise a car and hit the open garage door. Third, you might raise a car with the hood or trunklid open and hit part of the building that you thought was unreachable. The stuff down the ground is easier, really.

Cars don't really get centered anyway. It's not like you'd know whether the center of gravity is just by looking.

Best regards and good luck! Enjoy your garage!

 

[brownbagg]

one thing i hate about my two post, getting on my knees to place the arms.

 

[wssix99]

Cars don't really get centered anyway. It's not like you'd know whether the center of gravity is just by looking.

You can look it up pretty easily, right?

 

[Falcon67]

>I was much easier to just stand up the lift post and bring in different cars to find the
>"sweet spot". My shop is 26' deep.

I still don't have my 2 post - yet - but I used blue painters tape on the floor, a couple of pieces of OSB cut in the size of the floor plates and some cardboard taped to that to fake some tower stubs. The sweet spot in my 23' 6" deep space was right at 11' 6" in from the door.

As for the CG, most of what I read said to use the steering wheel as a marker to line up with the posts. That seems to work for most cars and people. The lift I'll buy also has symmetric posts with multi-stage asymmetric arms.

My space is just not enough to hoist the F350 in any position, so that guy is just odd truck out LOL.