Lift Placement

[Lariatstang]

I'm having my concrete poured in the next couple of days in my pole barn. I would like to plan for a lift down the road. My concrete guy told me he can dig out the area where I'm going to place my lift posts to make the floor thicker for more support.

I don't have a lift yet, way over budget on the build right now so this will be a future add on. I'm seeing there's a bit of a variance in the distance between posts on a lot of the 2 post lifts. (I'll be getting a 2 post). Is there roughly a standard distance between posts where I can plan for most lifts? I need to let the concrete guy know toughly where my placement will be.

Also my building is designed to be a drive through (overheard doors on both sides opposite of each other) I'd like to place the lift as far back toward the rear door as possible and still be able to put a vehicle on it without it sticking out of the door. What's the typical clearance I should have on the front/back of the lift?

Let me see some pics of anyone who's done this before!

 

[PNWguy]

Just out of curiosity, have you checked with the lift manufacturer about concrete thickness? The one I'm looking at recommends 4", which is the depth of the rest of my slab. You may not need to decide yet.

 

[fiataccompli]

I've been going down this road as well & actually had the concrete guys pouring the floor yesterday morning. Ultimately, what PNWguy said is what I landed on...the design spec for my floor (4", 3000psi) is adequate throughout (and, because it was colder yesterday morning, I ended up with 4000psi concrete). We did dig two pits based on the installation guide for the lift I am 90% decided on, so that is nice, but if I opt for another location it's also fine.

Another point to think about is whether you'll have symmetric or asymmetric arms/loading. With the latter, the lift can be located closer to the back wall for the same placement of the vehicle & I opted for 11' with 10-12' being what I've read as rough guidelines (also, I predominately work on cars that are about 5.25' x 13.5').

Good luck. It's exciting to see it finally happening but the small decisions that can have long-term implications can be tiring.

 

[tff]

I went through the same predicament last year when I built my garage. Go to the link below and my posting has a sketch of the lift pad locations. I poured 8" in two 3'X4' areas to accommodate a range of different lifts (8" for piece of mind... 4" elsewhere but contractor probably skimped). I don't have dimensions on this sketch nor handy but it is 'to scale'. Outline of garage is 19' X 29' so you could get the locations of the pads by referencing that.

Sounds like you have plenty of room. So I'd recommend 12' in front of a symmetric lift. (Some manufacturers recommend 12, some 11' minimum). You could get by with less for an asymmetric lift.


https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392654&highlight=tff

 

[Falcon67]

Pour a ground beam through that area. 18~24" wide, 12" deep, as long as you like - preferably from one end to the other.

 

[rust in the eye]

I went through the same predicament last year when I built my garage. Go to the link below and my posting has a sketch of the lift pad locations. I poured 8" in two 3'X4' areas to accommodate a range of different lifts (8" for piece of mind... 4" elsewhere but contractor probably skimped). I don't have dimensions on this sketch nor handy but it is 'to scale'. Outline of garage is 19' X 29' so you could get the locations of the pads by referencing that.

Sounds like you have plenty of room. So I'd recommend 12' in front of a symmetric lift. (Some manufacturers recommend 12, some 11' minimum). You could get by with less for an asymmetric lift.


https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392654&highlight=tff

I did essentially same, two 3x3 pads about 10" deep. Perhaps that's overkill but I like the idea of half a yard of reinforced concrete ballasting each post.

I placed them with the centers at the post centers of the lift I intend to buy.
The installation guides are on line with the dimensions for whatever lift you choose. They give recommendations for surrounding clearances too. The dimensions are all pretty much the same, with 3x3 pads I can't miss and could move it back and forth a bit if I chose to.
One pearl of knowledge passed to me by an installer is drill all the way through the concrete when setting the anchors. This way if one doesn't grab, breaks strips, whatever it can be driven down and out so the hole can still be used.

 

[MrSurly]

I had the same predicament when I poured. I was wanting to have the lift as near the door as possible while lifting a crew cab short box. My lift is an asymmetrical and I decided on 13' center of columns to door. In my case this worked perfectly. I can close the door with the truck on it and WITH a ball mount in the receiver...but I cant walk between the door and truck, even without the hitch. Yes, I could place the truck differently on the lift, but this is the preferred placement vs mirror /door /post relationships.

 

[sberry]

Scrape it out a little in the general area, 4 1/2 or 5 inches. A little improvement wont hurt, it doesn't need to be 10X stronger.

 

[astroracer]

BendPaks site says 4" of 3K concrete is good enough. If you are using any 9 or 10K lift you don't have to jump through hoops to put in a floor...
Mark

 

[Lariatstang]

Wow I had no idea this was such a common predicament

I think I'm going to put my arms on 3' pads spaced 9' from inner to inner (outer pads will be 12' apart). This seems to accommodate most of the posts I've been looking at.

I may end up going a little further away from my rear door than originally planned so that I can make sure I'll be able to close the door with a full size truck on the lift. I'm planning to go just short of my first truss. Does anyone know about how wide the top cross posts on a typical lift are? I can't seem to find those dimensions and I want to make sure I leave enough space to clear the truss while not pushing it back too far toward the door.

I guess I should mention I'll be going with at least a 10k and possibly a 12k lift. I have a crew cab F250 which I'd like to be able to put on it.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

my bendpak 2 post measure 139" out to out on the top post.

how tall is your ceiling? (bottom of truss)

how big is your barn?

 

[Lariatstang]

my bendpak 2 post measure 139" out to out on the top post.

how tall is your ceiling? (bottom of truss)

how big is your barn?

Barn is 36' x 40' bottom of trusses are 12' off of the slab. I've got a few extra feet of room between the trusses if I place the lift toward the center.

Do you know what the width of the top cross post is? I'm thinking of placing the lift 1'4" north of the last truss which will give me exactly 12' of clearance before I get to the door.

 

[Lariatstang]

Well just dug the holes, concrete gets here in about an hour. No turning back now. I settled on 10' in from the rear door and 10' apart. All measured center to center.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[MrSurly]

The good news is that even if your post placement ends up in a completely different location, a 4" slab is sufficient anyway.