how much room for a lift?

[smokey0066]

How much width do I need for a lift? I've got the standard 3 car garage with the 3rd stall being the single bay that'd id be interested in putting a lift in. Of course this stall is right up against my exterior wall. I think I have a foot of space from the door opening to the exterior wall. Is it enough space or is it too tight? I realize if I had to work on that side there wouldn't be much room to pull an axel out or something. I should've planned further ahead when I built my house.

My garage is 22ft deep and has 13ft ceilings. The only thing that is making me wonder is that wall.

 

[vhol5]

The posts on mine are 11' apart.

 

[smokey0066]

Is that inside or outside of the posts?

 

[TheShrine]

Put the lift in and use your best judgement! If you ever need to pull an axle just take it to a mechanic or....you'll know exactly where to place a new door in your garage.

Just say'n.

 

[climbabout]

I just purchased the Bendpak HD9ST which is a narrow width lift and overall it is 99-3/4" wide. See here:
http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/four-post-lifts/HD-9ST.aspx

Tim

 

[Oldtymeflyr]

Two post lifts take a lot of space.

Our lift is a professional Rotary asysmetrical and it takes up about 1 1/2 bays in our 4 car garage. Ours is about 137 inches wide the narrow Rotary lift is about 120 inches wide. I can still fit a narrow car beside it and the next car without a lot of trouble.

If you narrow the recommended distances, then you may not be able to get an arm where it needs to go.

A 4 post lift will take up much less space probably right around 4 feet to 5 feet less. Use jack trays for wheel work.

The infloor/under frame lifts offer a lot of advantages. You might want to consider one of those.

Good Luck!

 

[Ironcrow]

Put a two post lift in the center of the double bay. And a four post in the single bay to gain the parking space back. Problem solved.

 

[vhol5]

Mine is 11 feet outside the posts.

 

[pattenp]

You didn’t say if you want a two post or four post lift. One thing with your wall you mentioned is that a two post should not be bolted any closer than 8 inches to the edge of the concrete slab so you can’t put the post right up to the wall in most cases. You also need to keep the floor bolts at least 8 inches from any joints in the concrete. This is not an issue with a four post lift. If you look online a lot of the lift makers have dimension and spacing suggestions for their lifts.

 

[JerseyJim]

I had limited room for a lift, so the footprint was very important to me. Obviously a lift that takes up less room will generally accommodate smaller vehicles as well. So keep that in mind as you check them out. I chose a Pro Park 8S. This lift is listed as being 103.5 inches wide (not counting the motor). If you center this on a 7 foot wide door, this means that the lift will project approximately 10 inches beyond the door. If you position the lift so that the motor is on the wider side, it sounds like you should have just enough room to install the lift. Doesn't leave you a lot of room on the wall side. The edge of the runway will only be about 15 inches away from the wall.