Four Post Lift Anchoring

[jerkyboy]

I am seriously considering a four post lift for my garage and recently watched the byb video, which advertises that their is no need to bolt their lift to the floor. Anyone own another four post brand that does not require a bolt down installation but is still rigid with no wobble?

 

[OldCarGuy]

I never bolted any of my Stinger four-post lifts to the floor.

 

[mikeyr]

I don't have my lift bolted down either.

I like being able to move my lift out to the driveway when its nice and sunny outside (new garage header is 3/4" to short ) but I see no reason to bolt it down and I am in earthquake country.

I considered it only because of earthquakes but could not find any info saying it would be better bolted down or better able to move around.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I have a Stinger brand lift in my garage as well, and it's not bolted down either. With the weight of a car on it, it's not going anywhere. As mentioned, you can get wheel kits to move the lifts around (only with the car lowered to the bottom, of course.)

 

[Kev442]

No bolt down on the Propark either over here. I have the wheel kit for and have used it to roll it around.

 

[mad57]

no bolt down for me neither for my byb extended. solid as a rock.

 

[The Hot Rod Grille]

Mine's not bolted down, and I also have the wheel kit.

Jim

 

[wormwood]

no bolt down for me neither for my byb extended. solid as a rock.

I'll second that.

Get the wheel set and you can roll it from bay to bay or even outside if you want.

 

[gsport]

same here... not bolted down. i've got the wheels for it and used the lift as a scafold when putting up insulation last year (dannmar lift)

 

[jerkyboy]

Thanks for the speedy replies. How about your experiences with jacking your vehicles up on the rails to do brake/suspension work; do you use a jacking system that is an accessory for your system or simply use a bottle or traditional jack?

 

[gsport]

actually i use neither.. i raise the lift (with car on it) about three feet up and put a 4x4 post under the cross member and down on the floor, slowly lower the lift (the post will hold the car up) till the tires are off the lift and place a jack stand under the frame, on the lift runner, raise the lift slowly till the car is resting on the jack stands... works great and no jacking involved...

 

[cyamaha2007]

Ours at work is bolted down at work due to one collapsing when it was bumped with the back of a trailer. It was a mess. Ill bold mine down. The truck on it fell 7 feet and practically ruined it. Its now just a around the property truck.

 

[Cryptic1911]

What do you do when your floor is sloped? Mine is sloped 2-3" over 30ft towards the door. Will that cause an issue since the poles won't sit straight up and down?

 

[mooman]

Sounds like you've got to shim it.

 

[OldCarGuy]

What do you do when your floor is sloped? Mine is sloped 2-3" over 30ft towards the door. Will that cause an issue since the poles won't sit straight up and down?

I didn't want floor drains in my garage. So I poured the floor with a 2" slope over 26' toward the door. I installed my lifts without any shims and they slop with the floor. Like my last garage, there hasn't been any problems...

 

[wormwood]

What do you do when your floor is sloped? Mine is sloped 2-3" over 30ft towards the door. Will that cause an issue since the poles won't sit straight up and down?

I didn't want floor drains in my garage. So I poured the floor with a 2" slope over 26' toward the door. I installed my lifts without any shims and they slop with the floor. Like my last garage, there hasn't been any problems...

Agreed, I have a BYB and a 2 inch in 24 foot slope, no problem.

 

[wormwood]

Ours at work is bolted down at work due to one collapsing when it was bumped with the back of a trailer. It was a mess. Ill bold mine down. The truck on it fell 7 feet and practically ruined it. Its now just a around the property truck.

Was the lift a open channel lift (like Stinger) or a closed post lift (like BYB)?

 

[E.rodz]

I have a direct lift at home not bolted. have brought the lift outside to presure wash the bottom of a couple of cars.it is way to nice of an option to be able to move it around.if your slab is out of level just put some shim pads under the apropriate legs just use somthing grippy like plywood with a bedliner materail on it so it does not slide when you drive on to it.

 

[Hemihead2]

My byb isn't bolted down. I have the wheel kit to move it around and have had no issues with sloping floor, either. The jack up cars, I have the rolling jack tray and an air jack. I also sometimes use floor standing screw jacks (2500Lb capacity each) to lift axles. The floor jack height starts at about 5+ feet and extends up from there. I used both when I installed a lowering kit on a friend's Chevy SSR. Worked just fine.

 

[jerkyboy]

actually i use neither.. i raise the lift (with car on it) about three feet up and put a 4x4 post under the cross member and down on the floor, slowly lower the lift (the post will hold the car up) till the tires are off the lift and place a jack stand under the frame, on the lift runner, raise the lift slowly till the car is resting on the jack stands... works great and no jacking involved...

Would you recommend purchasing a Danmar? Also, I have 12' ceilings in my garage, would this be sufficient for the taller lift......also, what does it run on (110/220/air)?

 

[Cryptic1911]

I didn't want floor drains in my garage. So I poured the floor with a 2" slope over 26' toward the door. I installed my lifts without any shims and they slop with the floor. Like my last garage, there hasn't been any problems...

Agreed, I have a BYB and a 2 inch in 24 foot slope, no problem.

Thanks for the info! I wasn't quite sure how that would work out.. I know if I was going to bolt one down, I would just shim it, but if I can just leave it loose, then that's even better

 

[OldCarGuy]

Thanks for the info! I wasn't quite sure how that would work out.. I know if I was going to bolt one down, I would just shim it, but if I can just leave it loose, then that's even better

Don't be so quick to shim them. On my Stinger lifts, shimming the front end increases the height of the front of the ramps. Causing the approach ramps not to fit properly. If I would have altered the ramps to fit, the angle of approach would be increased. Causing problems when driving a low clearance car on.

 

[gsport]

Would you recommend purchasing a Danmar? Also, I have 12' ceilings in my garage, would this be sufficient for the taller lift......also, what does it run on (110/220/air)?

totally pleased with my dannmar lift.. 12' ceilings are high enough and it runs on 110 volt with no air needed... check out costco.com and in the search box type in dannmar...

 

[Cryptic1911]

Don't be so quick to shim them. On my Stinger lifts, shimming the front end increases the height of the front of the ramps. Causing the approach ramps not to fit properly. If I would have altered the ramps to fit, the angle of approach would be increased. Causing problems when driving a low clearance car on.

I'm gonna need some 2x12's under the ramps to get on them anyways in my case

 

[BrooKLyn]

totally pleased with my dannmar lift.. 12' ceilings are high enough and it runs on 110 volt with no air needed... check out costco.com and in the search box type in dannmar...

how tall are the 4 posts ?

Does anyone have this in a 8 foot ceiling garage?

 

[OldCarGuy]

how tall are the 4 posts ?

Does anyone have this in a 8 foot ceiling garage?

Stinger makes two different size lifts. One has a lift of 67” with the post height of 77”. While the larger one has 77” of lift and 87” column height. Other manufacturers may be different though. With an eight foot ceiling height, you'll have limited use of the lifts capacity. A four foot high sports car would have four feet minus 6” for the thickness of the ramps clearance under the lift. That's saying you put the roof of the car to the ceiling.

But being that underside of the car is above the ramps. You have more than four feet of height to work on it... You may want to look at the MaxJack two-post lift... http://www.maxjaxusa.com/video.html



Stinger Lifts..

.

 

[e-tek]

I'm gonna start a poll to see who has which lift - would be interesting to see.....

As for bolting or not, all the forces are straight down, so it's more solid when loaded. I have even used my posts to pull a car into the shop (not for the timid!). I marked the posts on the floor and they never moved. None of the manufacturers recommend anchoring, as they all have caster kits.

 

[mikeyr]

how tall are the 4 posts ?

Does anyone have this in a 8 foot ceiling garage?

Used to have 8ft. ceilings in my old garage, had my 4post there for about 10 years, the columns are not that tall. Could only get a car about 4ft. off the ground, get a old office chair, make sure the casters work well and get to work.

 

[gsport]

how tall are the 4 posts ?

Does anyone have this in a 8 foot ceiling garage?

all the information on the dannmar lift is in the costco ad.. go to costco.com and type in dannmar in the search box. there is two different size lifts there, both have all the measurements on the site..

 

[kool55]

I'm gonna start a poll to see who has which lift - would be interesting to see.....

As for bolting or not, all the forces are straight down, so it's more solid when loaded. I have even used my posts to pull a car into the shop (not for the timid!). I marked the posts on the floor and they never moved. None of the manufacturers recommend anchoring, as they all have caster kits.

e-tek, just installed my Benpak HD 14T. They say to anchor it and even supply the anchors. No casters are available for the HD 14T, but I am told the HD 9 casters will fit. I think I will on this one since it has the extra height. I have not anchored my smaller Propark, with no problems.

 

[jerkyboy]

all the information on the dannmar lift is in the costco ad.. go to costco.com and type in dannmar in the search box. there is two different size lifts there, both have all the measurements on the site..

How high are is your garage ceiling and how high up can you get your 2500HD up to work on it?

 

[e-tek]

e-tek, just installed my Benpak HD 14T. They say to anchor it and even supply the anchors. No casters are available for the HD 14T, but I am told the HD 9 casters will fit. I think I will on this one since it has the extra height. I have not anchored my smaller Propark, with no problems.

Funny you say that: I was just discussing with a neighbour how silly it is for them to include the anchors (they must be worth a few bucks!) - then throw-in casters!!

 

[gsport]

How high are is your garage ceiling and how high up can you get your 2500HD up to work on it?

14' ceiling and can go up high enough to walk under it

 

[jerkyboy]

totally pleased with my dannmar lift.. 12' ceilings are high enough and it runs on 110 volt with no air needed... check out costco.com and in the search box type in dannmar...

I'm curious about how easily it lifts your dmax. I have an '02 2500 extended cab dmax and I believe it weighs around 6,600 pounds. Should I have any concerns about the Dannmar's ability to lift my truck with fluids and fuel?

 

[sixtnut]

I have a Direct Lift Pro Park Plus. Great lift and very afforable. Very sturdy and provides an extra parking spot.
Mine is not bolted to the floor. It also came with casters to move around if need be. It came with one jack tray and I use a 12 ton bottle jack that I got at Harbor Freight (bought two) for $9.95 each. I can jack it up with no problem and I use small jack stands. Only problem was I could do only one end at a time. So I bought another jack tray for $84.00 and $18.00 shipping. Now I can raise both ends for brakes, rotating tires, etc. I don't need a $600.00 air jack. The bottle jacks work just fine. I bought my Direct for $2,095.00 and only $154.00 shipping. It really is a great lift. They have many certifications and the company has been in business for over 75 years.

directlift.com