how stable are two-pole lifts?

[rusty1]

...lot's of guys getting those 2 pole auto lifts,..how stable are these with a car up in the air?...if you grab the rear bumper and try to push it up n down, does the car move much?...just curious

..I'm sure it depends on how the lift arms are placed under the car to some point.

thanks

 

[bjcouche]

There are a lot of factors here. Firstly you have to properly position the vehicle on the lift centering the weight of the vehicle on the lift and using the recommended lift points. This means for a vehicle weighing more in the front, you'd have more vehicle length sticking beyond the rear pads than you would the front pads.
Next, are you trying to lift a 5,000lb or a 9,000lb vehicle on a 10,000lb rated lift?
Then there's the lift itself. How strong is the lift, and how much steel did they use in the columns and arms? All certified lifts have certain design and safety criteria. However some lifts, when fully loaded have significant deflection of the arms. For example, my 10,000lb rated Mohawk lift is fairly beefy. Each column, not including the arms, weighs more than the entire shipping weight of other manufacturers lifts.

With all those factors, your answer could range from completely unstable to completely stable.

Do you have any specific questions or concerns?

Brian

 

[vettex2]

installed correctly and used correctly, VERY stable

 

[Wood'nMetal]

Assuming the car is placed correctly, I feel very stable working under my Atlas 10k lift. I always give it a robust shake text once the wheels clear the ground.

If I'm doing something that would require shifting large amounts of weight or prying then I add a couple harbor freight under hoist stands just for stability.

 

[Backyard Imports]

They are very stable. That being said, yes, they will bounce if you pull up and down on the bumpers. More so if the vehicle is very long and heavy.

I have a crewcab, long bed Ford F-350 dually that I routinely put up on my 10k Benwil two post, assemetrical lift. I can get it bouncing pretty good if I grab the hitch and pull myself up on it. And even though I have never been concerned with failure, I do put screw jacks under the front and rear of the frame when I am really torquing on stuff.

 

[olytdi]

They're pretty stable on their own but...there can be formidable fore/aft movement. I live in earthquake country so additional stability only makes sense. Also, as previously mentioned, when you are really torquing on something, rock solid makes sense and inspires confidence.

Some knuckleheads will swear that putting a jack stand fore and aft is unnecessary and if you do that, you don't know what you're doing.

Ignore them. It's cheap insurance against a mistake, excessive movement, or some sort of failure due to equipment. Once my fore/aft jack stands are in place, the vehicle is literally rock solid. No movement whatsoever.

Some knuckleheads will tell you that you run the risk of lowering your vehicle onto forgotten jack stands. ********. You usually have to lift the vehicle in order to release whatever safety stop the lift uses. You then remove the jack stands. Simple, smart, secure.

 

[rburke65]

My "2 pole"??? Lift is very stable in my opinion. I overbuilt the large concrete base, have a used Mohawk lift but I still use the tall jack stands under the vehicle..... Can't be too safe...

 

[555]

We had a oil change/car wash place here using a two-post lift that dropped an F150 crew cab. They started lifting the F150 and it started rocking back and forth. When they stopped it at the desired height, the truck slipped backwards off the lift. I was waiting in the car wash line and had a clear view of the whole thing. I am not going to say the lift was entirely at fault, but certainly the design was responsible for most of the rocking motion.
Regards,
John

 

[saulvg99]

We have a two post lift and it's pretty stable. Yes, the cars/trucks feel like they wobble a bit back and forth, but as long as the lift arms are placed correctly on the car, you have nothing to worry about. Kinda wished we had a four post one for the simplicity of not having to worry about moving the lift arms and just driving a car up on the lift. Especially for oil changes. Might look into getting one if I see one at the right price.

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

 

[vettex2]

They're pretty stable on their own but...there can be formidable fore/aft movement. I live in earthquake country so additional stability only makes sense. Also, as previously mentioned, when you are really torquing on something, rock solid makes sense and inspires confidence.

Some knuckleheads will swear that putting a jack stand fore and aft is unnecessary and if you do that, you don't know what you're doing.

Ignore them. It's cheap insurance against a mistake, excessive movement, or some sort of failure due to equipment. Once my fore/aft jack stands are in place, the vehicle is literally rock solid. No movement whatsoever.

Some knuckleheads will tell you that you run the risk of lowering your vehicle onto forgotten jack stands. ********. You usually have to lift the vehicle in order to release whatever safety stop the lift uses. You then remove the jack stands. Simple, smart, secure.

and some knuckleheads have no real world experience

 

[wolverine22391]

Go with a Mohawk and you won't have problems. If you take your time and look you can find a decently used, and priced Mohawk on Craigslist. I have the 7000# lift and would feel comfortable with something like a gmc3500, or f350 easily.

 

[rusty1]

...thanks for the replies,...it's just something I've always wondered about since I have no experience with them.

 

[lakeroadster]

...lot's of guys getting those 2 pole auto lifts,..how stable are these with a car up in the air?...if you grab the rear bumper and try to push it up n down, does the car move much?...just curious

..I'm sure it depends on how the lift arms are placed under the car to some point.

thanks

I have a Rotary 2 post SPOA10. Heaviest thing I have lifted with it is a '65 Chevy pickup... and an M-Class Mercedes SUV.

They were both very stable.

If you buy an ALI certified lift you can be assured of quality and stability. http://www.autolift.org/ali-directory-of-certified-lifts/

If you don't buy an ALI certified lift you might get this: Testing Strength Of 2 Post Lift

 

[Buckgnarly]

We had a oil change/car wash place here using a two-post lift that dropped an F150 crew cab. They started lifting the F150 and it started rocking back and forth. When they stopped it at the desired height, the truck slipped backwards off the lift. I was waiting in the car wash line and had a clear view of the whole thing. I am not going to say the lift was entirely at fault, but certainly the design was responsible for most of the rocking motion.
Regards,
John

I would say the lift was not at fault at all....why the hell would they keep going up if it was rocking from the start?...

 

[Ree75]

I used to manage a 4 different garages, and worked in five different ones. I've never seen a vehicle come of a two post lift, even when lazy, barely competent jackass tire "technicians" used them. single post are a completely different story.

 

[sberry]

We had a oil change/car wash place here using a two-post lift that dropped an F150 crew cab. They started lifting the F150 and it started rocking back and forth. When they stopped it at the desired height, the truck slipped backwards off the lift. I was waiting in the car wash line and had a clear view of the whole thing. I am not going to say the lift was entirely at fault, but certainly the design was responsible for most of the rocking motion.
Regards,
John

I am going to say huge operator error here most likely at fault too, oil change/car wash doesn't scream experienced operators. I put truck 2x that up on mine, I aint nuts about it but its stable.

 

[turfgnome]

I have seen the aftermath of 2 post lifts come over, however that does not say that it happens all that often. I did decide due to the fact that what I am loading on my lifts is so unbalanced I went with a 4 post though. I find I like the 4 post as a work bench when working and have not found anything I can not do with it.

 

[redmondjp]

We had a oil change/car wash place here using a two-post lift that dropped an F150 crew cab. They started lifting the F150 and it started rocking back and forth. When they stopped it at the desired height, the truck slipped backwards off the lift. I was waiting in the car wash line and had a clear view of the whole thing. I am not going to say the lift was entirely at fault, but certainly the design was responsible for most of the rocking motion.
Regards,
John

Operator error. You lift the vehicle until the tires are a few inches off of the ground, stop, and then rock it to see if it is stable. That way, if it slips off, it does little or no damage to the vehicle and nobody gets hurt.

Lifting pickup trucks and SUVs can be more of a challenge due to the frame being up higher, resulting in the need for lift pad extensions. Plus, if some numbnuts places the lift pads on a slanted part of the frame such as where it turns up to clear an axle, that can easily cause it to slip once up in the air.

And as already pointed out, it never hurts to use under-hoist jack stands, especially if you are removing heavy components like a transmission/transfer case or axle which can affect the weight balance on the lift, or are seriously reefing on something to get it loose.

I've used two-post lifts for years and I spend a lot of time double- and triple-checking the placement of the vehicle on the lift and its stability before I get the thing very far up in the air. We're all going to die someday, but darned if I am going to go out crushed underneath a car!

 

[Falcon67]

Mustang has been like this for several weeks, may be there another month. You can wiggle the car around some but the posts don't move and the arms don't have much give. Very stable. Re: dropped F150 - well, first rule would be to look at what you're lifting and think about where the weight is concentrated, then place the arms accordingly. Run the lift until it contacts the vehicle and double check the lift points, then take it up just enough to clear the floor. Check again, give it a good shove - whatever, but get some feedback on placement. Then run it up. First rule of lowering is to visually clear the underside area before you touch any controls. It's ain't that hard IMHO. Ask the dog water dispenser LOL - I crushed the hell out of it by not looking under before lowering.

You also better think about where the weight goes if you remove some heavy component, like if I pulled the 9" out from under the car. If it was up in the air, I'd build or buy support stands to put under the nose first. Or stack a couple hundred lbs of cylinder heads in the trunk.

 

[HairyNova]

My direct lift (8000lb, 2 post) can hold my wife's Denali with no trouble at all. I can push down on the bumper and it doesn't move at all. It came with a book that shows all the lift points for all of the different cars available for the past 20 or so years. Don't be afraid to get one. Also, I installed it myself, just had to have an electrician run 220 out to the garage.

 

[olytdi]

and some knuckleheads have no real world experience

Um...every day...

The knuckleheads emerge!

 

[Tim C]

I work under a two post every day and have one at home. When I'd lift my diesel longbed f250 for an oil change I'd didn't bother with extra stands but for any other kind of work I'd put a stand under it where appropriate. Usually under the rear hitch, but once I had to remove the burned up rear axle to replace with a junkyard unit. That time the stand went under the already heavy nose.

If I place a stand or transmission jack under a vehicle, I either kill power to the lift (both work and home have disconnects like you'd have at a piece of equipment like an HVAC unit or hot tub) after lowering it on locks. If I get ahead of myself and go to lift it to release locks, it won't go up til I restore power. The disconnect at work looks like a breaker but has no amp rating and says for switching only. The one at home has the red lever off the side of the box. If I use a lift without the cutoff, I tie a shop rag around the down handle as a reminder.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk