Four Post Lifts
- Thread starter Skooterj
- Start date
e015475
Well-known member
Not a recommendation but I recently bought a 'hobby' four post lift, an Atlas Garage Pro. I bought this lift for the price and the fact it came with a wheel kit so I could move it around the shop or out on the garage apron if I wanted to
The pump said it was a 2.5KW motor, but the cord was a 15 amp cord. I needed a 30 amp service and plug in my garage to make it work. I had to have a 30 amp breaker and receptacle installed plus a new 25' service cord with #10 wire on the lift - about $300
The next problem is the garage door will limit your garage ceiling height over a significant portion of the bay. A high-lift garage door kit needs to be installed to relocate the tracks so the door open follows the ceiling closely. About $800 for the new rails, cable, pulleys, spring and installation. Your old garage door opener won't work anymore - you'll need a direct drive opener that hangs on the side - so add $600 more for that installed. Don't forget code usually requires that you have an electrical receptacle within 6' of the motor, so you'll have to add that cost in too. You might get away without a high lift door for an MGB, but you're going to limit the utility of the lift for other cars.
I'm old and don't have any friends that aren't old, so I opted to have it professionally installed, $1000, but that included trucking it 200 miles from the distributor's warehouse on a flatbed with a boom to aid in assembly.
So all in it was nearly $5K. It was worth it and I'd do it again, but it isn't a trivial task getting it functional.
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The pump said it was a 2.5KW motor, but the cord was a 15 amp cord. I needed a 30 amp service and plug in my garage to make it work. I had to have a 30 amp breaker and receptacle installed plus a new 25' service cord with #10 wire on the lift - about $300
The next problem is the garage door will limit your garage ceiling height over a significant portion of the bay. A high-lift garage door kit needs to be installed to relocate the tracks so the door open follows the ceiling closely. About $800 for the new rails, cable, pulleys, spring and installation. Your old garage door opener won't work anymore - you'll need a direct drive opener that hangs on the side - so add $600 more for that installed. Don't forget code usually requires that you have an electrical receptacle within 6' of the motor, so you'll have to add that cost in too. You might get away without a high lift door for an MGB, but you're going to limit the utility of the lift for other cars.
I'm old and don't have any friends that aren't old, so I opted to have it professionally installed, $1000, but that included trucking it 200 miles from the distributor's warehouse on a flatbed with a boom to aid in assembly.
So all in it was nearly $5K. It was worth it and I'd do it again, but it isn't a trivial task getting it functional.
View media item 112176
finn
Well-known member
I’m no electrical code expert , but I have seen other people freak out over the 30 amp breaker and 15 amp cord issue on lifts from other vendors. The answer seems to be that the design is perfectly acceptable since a lift, by nature, is a machine that operates in intermittent brief bursts. That is, the duty cycle is such that temperature never reaches unsafe temperatures since it only runs for a minute before reaching full extension, and even less, ie a few seconds, when lowering.
Still need a high capacity breaker, though, for the brief burst of power.
That’s how I understand it, anyway.
Still need a high capacity breaker, though, for the brief burst of power.
That’s how I understand it, anyway.
I have a 9' 8" ceiling and have a four post lift, I can fit my TR250 on top and Lexus IS300 below, without a lot to spare. The Triumph is a little over 4 feet tall and the Lexus a little over 4.5'. Looks like an Escape is about 10" taller and you have about a foot more than me in ceiling height so should be ok.
I have a Triumph brand lift sold by National Tool, there are a number of lifts for sale that are pretty much the same thing and I suspect have a common manufacturer, or at least share common components. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it seems fairly well built and works fine, but I would hope a lift rated for 9000 could lift my 2500 sports cars easily.
The cheap lift come with ramps, rollers and trays. The expensive ones start at about 800 more for the lift, and you generally have to pay an extra few hundred for the accessories, I couldn't justify the difference in price for my storage and occasional work use.
I raised the garage door tracks myself, in my case only raising them about 14" and upping the tension on the springs to compensate, not by the book, but seems to be working fine. Lots of knowledge and expertise here.
I went the opposite direction of the detailed and very good explanation of the work above, doing it all myself, with help from my son putting up the lift.
I have a Triumph brand lift sold by National Tool, there are a number of lifts for sale that are pretty much the same thing and I suspect have a common manufacturer, or at least share common components. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it seems fairly well built and works fine, but I would hope a lift rated for 9000 could lift my 2500 sports cars easily.
The cheap lift come with ramps, rollers and trays. The expensive ones start at about 800 more for the lift, and you generally have to pay an extra few hundred for the accessories, I couldn't justify the difference in price for my storage and occasional work use.
I raised the garage door tracks myself, in my case only raising them about 14" and upping the tension on the springs to compensate, not by the book, but seems to be working fine. Lots of knowledge and expertise here.
I went the opposite direction of the detailed and very good explanation of the work above, doing it all myself, with help from my son putting up the lift.
e015475
Well-known member
When I put that Jag in the picture on the lift, and plugged it in to a garage socket with a 20 amp breaker, it blew the CB several times getting that car off the ground.
I'm no electrician either, but that means there was at least 20+ amps going through a Chinese cord only rated for 15 amps. I didn't dare put 50' extension cord on it and try to lift a car on the garage apron. Putting a 30 amp breaker feeding a 15-20 amp receptacle and cord rated at 15 amps seems like you're asking for trouble, intermittent use or not.
I'm no electrician either, but that means there was at least 20+ amps going through a Chinese cord only rated for 15 amps. I didn't dare put 50' extension cord on it and try to lift a car on the garage apron. Putting a 30 amp breaker feeding a 15-20 amp receptacle and cord rated at 15 amps seems like you're asking for trouble, intermittent use or not.
Yankeefarmer
Well-known member
My Advantage lift documentation says it requires a 20 amp circuit. I was surprised when the lift came with a 15 amp plug. It lifts my 4wd F250 even when the temperature is under 40 deg F. It has never tripped the breaker.
finn
Well-known member
A pond running 20 amps intermittently through that plug is perfectly fine in this situation.
The twenty plus amps would not be acceptable if it was a continuous load, like a compressor or heater.
There’s no mystery to electricity.
If you don’t like the way it was designed, you’r free to modify it, but that doesn’t make the original design wrong or incorrect, given the overall design for its intended use.
I've got this one for sale..110v but can be re-wired for 220.
https://directlift.com/product/pro-park-8s/
$2k located in Plymouth, MI
https://directlift.com/product/pro-park-8s/
$2k located in Plymouth, MI
I have a Revolution RFP9 and love it. I had to put in a 220v 30a outlet and wire the motor, but I am the son of an electrician so that was not a problem. I paid for professional assembly/installation be a local service station equipment supplier and it was worth every penny- they accepted delivery, brought it to the house on their trailer and put it together. Annual inspections thereafter. I also got two rolling bridge jacks so I can get all 4 wheels off the ground.
Jeepster04
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
- Messages
- 3,092
If I were in the market for a four post, I think I would go with wildfire.
MFortie
Well-known member
I also have an Atlas lift (9k Pro) and mine’s plugged into a 20a circuit. Tripped the breaker the first time I used it, but I ‘double-clutched’ the button (pushed, hesitated and let up, and immediately pushed again).
That was the only time and it’s run fine for the last four+ years.
That was the only time and it’s run fine for the last four+ years.
SILVERPLATE
Well-known member
Beautiful truck!
finn
Well-known member
I am getting a couple of Advantage lifts, a 9k XLT and an 11k. Pick them up Monday in Minnesota.
It came down to Advantage and Wildfire. Advantage won out solely because Wildfire didn’t have a lift big enough to fit the F450.
e015475
Well-known member
Thanks! It went on the road in early 2020 then into storage for six months while we moved. Looking forward to driving it some this summer.
I want to thank you for your write up. It made me think about a few things, but most I have covered already. I installed high lift garage doors when I built the house, which has a 26x25 attached garage with the 10'9" ceiling. When fully open, they only hang about 6 feet along the ceiling. I also installed jack shaft openers at that time. So I'm a step ahead there. My current issue is I own too many vehicles and am tired of getting into a cold car every morning before work. Not to mention snow and ice. My wife HAS to have one of the current garage spots, and I am not parking the MG outside, so I need somewhere to put it this winter. The original plan was to build a detached 2.5 car garage this summer, but lumber prices have ruled that out. Hopefully next year. I was planning on getting the lift for the new detached garage anyway, so I started thinking why not get it now, then move it when lumber prices get reasonable. But I do not want to mess with the electrical in the current garage, so any lift I get will have to work on the current electrical setting, but I have 20 Amp 110V service in the garage. So it looks like most will work. I have outlets every 6 feet in the garage now, 4 feet off the floor, plus two in the ceiling. Doing some quick math, my garage it 26 feet deep, I have a 3 foot workbench at the nose of the bay the lift will go into, and then taking away the 6 feet the garage door still takes up, leaves me 17 feet to lift the 12.5' long MG between. So that all works. My concern is the height needed to get the lift off the locks. According to the direct lift website, the stops on the lifts I am looking at are 68"(too low) or 74". At 74", plus the thickness of the ramps, plus the MG height, plus the height needed to raise it off the locks, the website calculates I need 11' ceilings. I guess I could drive the MG on the lift, let all the air out of the tires, raise it up, fill the tires back up and it would be good. I'd just have to remember to take the air out before dropping it down again. I need to finish my rewire and get the MG on the ground a really measure it, because different websites list different heights. I can store it with the convertible down, so that might save me a couple inches.
Or I might just put it in a storage shed this winter and wait till I get my new garage built next year before I worry about any of this.
racecougar
Well-known member
tdkkart
Well-known member
For nearly 10 years my Direct Lift PP9 has lifted everything I've put on it while plugged into a 120V 20A outlet.
If you pull your MG all the way forward, the door may not interfere with the roof height at all and just needs to clear the trunk.