Hoist Spacing -Distance between Posts

[teal95]

I have a 30x30 shop that I finally got hoists for around Christmas (guy moved his shop and just bought all new). I have a pair of 9k Challenger Versymetric hoists. I have the first one up and it's going to be a bit cramped getting the second one in. I've looked through the manuals but haven't found anything on how far apart I need to keep the posts. I'm thinking as long as I can walk between them (roughly a foot between the "feet") I'm good. Any comments?

steve

 

[Farmall450]

Assuming your slab is adequate I don't see why that would be an issue. Many traditional setup shops have them in subsequent bays.

 

[Kevin54]

By the drawing, the lift post look to be fairly close together. Just make sure you have adequate room for YOUR needs. Remember that you have to have room to set the arms between vehicles.

 

[teal95]

I think my limiting factor will be leaving enough room that I can walk between them. Right now I have sufficient clearance around the first hoist (west side) but I will have to remove the pallet racking I have on the east side as the hoist post would be right up against it and that's with having it all the way west almost against the other one.

I don't have any issues with concrete. It was supposed to be min 5" but we all know how that goes. When I drilled for the farthest west post it was 4.75". When I started drilling for the east post of the west hoist (in the middle) I bottomed out the drill bit. So I went a bought a 12" drill bit and that made it through. It's 7" thick there.

steve

 

[teal95]

My first attempt at attaching a picture.

My daughter helping me bleed the hydraulics.

steve

 

[sberry]

I would have figured out if I could do the work with 1 unit in a garage this size. I could do it,,, if I was working on cars every day would add another economy unit. Not everything done on a car has to be hoisted. 30 is really too narrow for one, you are already removing shelves but this could be a 2 car garage, one in a hoist bay and one pull in. Tools in front of them both.

 

[CJseven]

My Challenger lift instructions call for 2 foot between posts or a wall. I only have one lift and it’s set center of my first bay and is right at 2 foot from the wall and it’s plenty of room.

 

[sberry]

The shop isn't all about equipment but people moving around it. Walk around and elbow room is everything. Gonna be like a squirrel walking around with all the posts.

 

[pattenp]

By the drawing, the lift post look to be fairly close together. Just make sure you have adequate room for YOUR needs. Remember that you have to have room to set the arms between vehicles.

I don't believe that picture is meant to be used as a reference for how close two lifts can be to each other. It is just for showing the arm configuration for lifting.

 

[sberry]

I been in 30 ft wide shops. The guy said shop so I am gonna figure he is gonna do some work in it.

 

[teal95]

I have a 2 car garage attached to the house and then my shop is attached to that. I also have a 40x40 pole barn for storage. The shop is just for me working.

 

[hotwiremarine]

I’d put the just far enough to walk thru if space is at a premium.

 

[like2wheel]

Offhand, I can think of 3 different situations in professional shops where you cant even walk between the posts. 1 in particular also has 16" from the other post to the wall. I asked the mechanic that works in that bay if it was a problem, he said not at all.

People love to give advice about things other than what the topic is asking. Pretty soon someone will be along to tell you that is a 1 bay garage.

You do the best with what you have.
.

 

[Farmall450]

I don't believe that picture is meant to be used as a reference for how close two lifts can be to each oyher. It is just for showing the arm configuration for lifting.

Yes. I also like how they move the car CG to make theirs look better

 

[wssix99]

(As the most conservative measure.) I suggest that you keep, at a minimum, enough distance so the hoists have double the proper "crack separation" between the two of them. The manufacturer should give you a figure for a minimum distance from the posts to any cracks in the floor.

For instance, if they give you a crack distance of 8" from anchor to crack; make sure you are 16" from anchor to anchor between your two lifts. This should prevent stresses in the concrete from communicating between the anchors and causing any potential cracking any in your floor. If you can stagger the lifts, (so they aren't side by side) that might be beneficial for you if you want to space them closer together laterally as the anchors may be further apart.

The pull-out stress the anchors impart to the concrete is concentrated in the shape of a cone:

A lot of the specs about anchors and concrete depth for your lift are driven by this effect.


The lift engineers will design the base plate and anchors such that they plan for overlap of these cones:

^ But it's hard to know what would happen with two sets side by side, taking different loads, in different ways, at the same time.

So, getting this conservative "crack separation" should give you a lot of piece of mind that the lifts' stresses won't interact with each other. Or - you could have a rule where you are only lifting with one (at a significant height) at a time.

 

[Toyomech]

If cars on both lifts and you want to rotate tires it ***** to have to squeeze through or duck under the arms. It all depends on your use. Would you want to squeeze a roll cart through? I would suggest more is better.