Lift placement

[Charles (in GA)]

In placing a two post lift in a garage (in this case, asymmetric) how much room do you allow from the garage door to the posts?

About the longest vehicle I can find specs on that I might ever have on a lift is something akin to a GMC/Chevy 1500 4 dr pickup, which is 21 ft overall.

My best guess is that posts placed about 15 ft from the door is a good point.

I want the posts of the lift as close to the door as practical. Generally I would only be lifting smaller stuff, a VW new Beetle, my '99 Breeze, my '91 Ranger short bed, '67 Falcon 4 dr, and '70 Mustang, but could see a full size PU or mini-van.

What did you do?

Charles

 

[dougmac]

In placing a two post lift in a garage (in this case, asymmetric) how much room do you allow from the garage door to the posts?

About the longest vehicle I can find specs on that I might ever have on a lift is something akin to a GMC/Chevy 1500 4 dr pickup, which is 21 ft overall.

My best guess is that posts placed about 15 ft from the door is a good point.

I want the posts of the lift as close to the door as practical. Generally I would only be lifting smaller stuff, a VW new Beetle, my '99 Breeze, my '91 Ranger short bed, '67 Falcon 4 dr, and '70 Mustang, but could see a full size PU or mini-van.

What did you do?

Charles

Mine are 15 feet from the door and seem to work for just about any vehicle. I have lifted new beetles to crew cab pickups. When loading a long wheel base pickup, they generally load farther forward due to running out of length on the rear arms of the lift. A crew cab pickup on my lift loads almost like it would on a symmetric lift.

 

[Challenger lifts]

Our recommended bay size is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Though, this recommendation is for our particular brand.

 

[bluesman2a]

I have a rotary 10K asymetric and have lifted just about everything within it's capabilities. Long and short.

The bay it sits in is 25' deep X18' wide.

On recommendation from a friend with similar setup I looked at the center-line then mounted the lift 2' in front of that, which puts it about 15.5' from the door.

For most spaces I would think the + 2' forward should work, as you will rarely have a vehicle that goes that far off the front arms.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Our recommended bay size is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Though, this recommendation is for our particular brand.

Welcome to the board...Glad you showed up to offer some additional insight from another lift manufacturer.

 

[carcruse]

Our recommended bay size is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Though, this recommendation is for our particular brand.

How much of the recommended 25' is in front of the post and how much behind?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

How much of the recommended 25' is in front of the post and how much behind?

That was my issue, how much from the outside roll up door to the CL of the lift posts? I ended up setting them at 15 ft for the worst case scenario, and am kinda kicking myself, as I wished it had set them at about 13 ft. This is in the side of a 60x60 aircraft hangar so the posts leave me 40+ feet open between them and the pallet racking on the opposite wall. Still enough room to get a light aircraft past the posts if need be, but the couple of extra feet would have been nice. As they say, hind sight is 20/20.

The lift in question is a Challenger 39000

Charles

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Our recommended bay size is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Though, this recommendation is for our particular brand.

Welcome to the board, and please do stick around. Lots of lift issues come up and even some general advise is good to have from experts. You guys steered me to some pretty good folks to move the lift (though I was left wondering what I had got myself into when they first pulled up and got out of their van, as it looked like Lurch and his little buddy).

Charles

 

[pattenp]

I have the Challenger 9000# Versymmetric two post lift and the installation instructions called for a minimum of 6 feet to any obstruction on the front and 12 feet on the rear from the center line of the posts.

 

[Speedbird]

I have had a Challenger lift for almost 3 years now. I haven't seen much talk about Challenger on here. I think it's a very well made lift and highly recommend them.

 

[pattenp]

I have had a Challenger lift for almost 3 years now. I haven't seen much talk about Challenger on here. I think it's a very well made lift and highly recommend them.

I've had my Challenger lift for about 6 years and have been very pleased with it. Mine was stamped as made in the USA, but I believe they are now made in China. I'm sure The Challenger lift guy will correct me if that's wrong.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I've had my Challenger lift for about 6 years and have been very pleased with it. Mine was stamped as made in the USA, but I believe they are now made in China. I'm sure The Challenger lift guy will correct me if that's wrong.

Recently discussed in another thread. They apparently have one particular model that is made in China, all others are USA made. This is based on an email from them to GeorgiaHybrid answering his request for this information.

Charles

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I've had my Challenger lift for about 6 years and have been very pleased with it. Mine was stamped as made in the USA, but I believe they are now made in China. I'm sure The Challenger lift guy will correct me if that's wrong.

Recently discussed in another thread. They apparently have one particular model that is made in China, all others are USA made. This is based on an email from them to GeorgiaHybrid answering his request for this information.

Charles

pattenp,

The 2 post Versa lift is made in Kentucky. Some people think that is a backwoods country that is not part of the USA but trust me, Kentucky is still one of the 50 states..... Now if we had been talking about Mississippi you might have had a case........

 

[zmotorsports]

I had the exact question a couple of months ago and went to several local shops to measure and see if they were happy with their placement or not.

I installed the Ammco 2n1 10k pound lift and the instructions showed a recommended distance of 12' from center of post to any obstruction front or rear.

I wanted as much room as possible in front of the vehicle between it and my workbenches so I wanted to stay back as far as possible yet not have any issues closing my shop door with a four door full-size truck on the lift.

My placement ended up at 14' from roll-up door to centerline of post and 16' from leading edge of workbenches to centerline of column. With my four-door Duramax on the lift I still have 6' from the front of the truck to my workbenches and about a foot and a half clearance at the rear.

I also kept the outside edge of the post 4' from the foundation and it is perfect. Plenty of room to walk/work around and still have the abitlity to pull an axle shaft without hitting the wall or surrounding equipment. Mike.

On edit I wanted to inform you that my lift is a Asymmetric/Symmetric but mounted in the Symmetric configuration.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

pattenp,

The 2 post Versa lift is made in Kentucky. Some people think that is a backwoods country that is not part of the USA but trust me, Kentucky is still one of the 50 states..... Now if we had been talking about Mississippi you might have had a case........

Not sure what Elroy or Rickairmedic would have to say about that however.

Charles

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Not sure what Elroy or Rickairmedic would have to say about that however.

Charles

But neither one of those guys understand us down here when we say "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God...."

 

[e-tek]

Would be nice to have the other lift guys come and lend their expertise, but thus far only JSK from Bendpak had been a real contributing member - as well as adding high levels of customer service for his brand.

Most know my biases, but it doesn't help when "Challenger Lifts" comes on - who I can only surmise is affiliated with the brand - doesn't even answer the question properly, then takes off....

 

[Challenger lifts]

I've had my Challenger lift for about 6 years and have been very pleased with it. Mine was stamped as made in the USA, but I believe they are now made in China. I'm sure The Challenger lift guy will correct me if that's wrong.

We have been in business for over 28 years and we’re pleased to say that our products are American-made. Our line of car lifts is designed, manufactured, and distributed in our 140,000 square foot facility in Louisville, KY.

 

[Crazy Car Guy]

Mine are 15 feet from the door and seem to work for just about any vehicle. I have lifted new beetles to crew cab pickups. When loading a long wheel base pickup, they generally load farther forward due to running out of length on the rear arms of the lift. A crew cab pickup on my lift loads almost like it would on a symmetric lift.

ive been waiting for a hoist positioning thread.

how far is the hoist in the pics away from the side wall and would you have changed it any?

im doing a 28 deep 36 wide 16' inside wall. my lumber package is sitting in my drive way allong with the metal / insulation finally. im set for 2 doors 10x10 in front of the hoist bay and a 9x7. the thing i cant seem to figure out is how far away from the out side wall do i need to position the 1st door. 3 foot of wall on the front then the door ? or should i go 6 feet on the wall next to the door for extra room. i just don't want to build and put the hoist so tight on the wall its hard to work on that side. ideally the middle bay would be great but a loft is going to stop that idea from happening.

 

[penright]

Our recommended bay size is 25 feet long by 12 feet wide. Though, this recommendation is for our particular brand.

What are the height requirements?
Just finishing a 30' x 24'. It will have 2 bays next to each other. Here is the intoduction post (http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6194046&postcount=1). The depth (24') was about as deep as I could go. It will be awhile before I could ever afford a lift, I am curious if I can even dream of having one because of space?

I could see height differences between different lifts, but why would floor space be different or would it?

 

[lakeroadster]

I assumed a full size Silverado Extended cab , gave myself 3 ft from the workbench to the nose of the truck.

Another thing to keep in mind would be location of the overhead door, in the raised position, when the vehicle is on the lift.

I have a Rotary SPOA10 Asymmetric lift

 

[sierradmax]

I have 9' tall garage doors with a residential opener placed as high as possible. With 11' ceilings, I wanted to lift my diesel, 4 door, 8' bed GMC as high as possible. I pulled my truck into the garage and placed the rear of the cab just behind the opener. I did the math and found the trucks COG based on the wheelbase to lay out the posts of my 2 post lift.