Need quick advice: RE: Lift placement

[LS416TA]

Hi everyone, first I want to say that this is an awesome community that I've admired for years and always hoped I'd be posting here on day. I'm now in the process of having a 26x30 garage built with 12' walls, with plans to install a 4 post lift in the near future. I am looking for recommendations on lift placement from you all that know more about this than I do.

Pitcures should be attached to this post. Originally I had planned on placing the lift in the single 8' wide bay, as it would be out of the way and should give me plenty of room for my car (2000 Pontiac T/A). I started thinking about how the lift posts on one side will basically be against the wall and I will have very little room to work on that side of the car. I also read on there that drilling holes for the lift posts toward the edge of the concrete can lead to cracking.

I'm now considering placing the lift on the right side (if looking toward the garage) of the 16' wide entry, as this should give me plenty of room to work on all sides of the car. Unfortunately I will lose the open area, but I can't think of many reasons why I need that much open space. I will be parking a full size 1/2 ton truck to the left of it.

I need to make a decisions today due to the garage door order is already in place (only 1 LiftMaster 8500-type was ordered by the builder, so the side not getting the car lift with have standard height rails and a ceiling hanging opener) and am looking for the pros and cons of each placement. Also, are there any other factors that you all are thinking of that I'm not? Any info is appreciated!

 

[vavet]

I think it's going to be tight to put a full size truck into a 16 foot bay wide bay with a lift post on the other side of it. How far apart will the posts be spaced and where will the post on the left actually set?

Your better bet would be to put the lift on the right side of the wide bay and use the single 8 foot bay for your truck parking.

Another reason (besides concrete cracking) to avoid having the lift that close to the wall is trying to remove an axle shaft. You might not have enough room.

 

[firebirdparts]

I would stick with the original plan. Having a lift post right in the middle of that 16' door is going to be horrible, and you could stand that if you had to, but your original plan was really much better, more convenient, and obviously a lot safer.

If you want to get really crazy, bust the budget with a two car lift on the wide side.

 

[Nutty 5.0]

Agree on avoiding having it against the wall on the single bay door side. With that said, I have my two post up against wall due to width, but made sure a full size truck centered on lift could pull an axle out. Other than being a PITA to walk around one side, it's suited me for the 12 or so years now.

 

[tatra]

https://www.google.ca/search?q=four...J9NDaAhVJ_IMKHXuiA7MQ_AUIESgB&biw=375&bih=553

 

[rattle_snake]

I have a similar building and placed the lift in the middle of the 3 bays as shown.
My building is 34' wide (18' and 10' doors) and it is barely wide enough for (2 post) lift and parking on both sides, but I have a 9.5' wide boat and a CCLB superduty. There is only inches left for wall storage. My building is also 40' deep and lift is ~12' from from wall and 27' from the door. So posts are in front of where a vehicle would be parked.

If you only need space to park 2 vehicles (with T/A parked in lift bay) I would still put it in the middle. Park truck in single door (right) side and use far left for workbench, toolbox, etc.

If placed on far right, with columns would be right at the wall, and wall side would be very tight to do any work.

As for the anchors, they will be OK close to the wall. If slab is mono-pour it is much thicker at footer anyhow. Note the spacing of the anchors on the base plate, they are already close to one another (~8"). For min edge distance, this is spec'd in the anchor datasheet.

 

[Bobf]

I have a cheap Chinese 4 post and and it does not require bolting it down. I also have the casters so it can be moved around. I would think you could put it in the small bay and move it as necessary with the caster kit.

 

[LS416TA]

I appreciate the input everyone, cool to see so many different perspectives.

If my calculations are correct, a standard sized 4 post is 104.x" wide, without the motor which adds another 10"(will place the motor on front right post, from outside looking in, so it won't be in the way). I have the 2' wall between the doors so I will place 5" of the lift behind that wall, basically the width of the right side posts. My visible edge point of the lift, lining up with the right edge of the door opening, will be the lift cables for that side. I figure showing any portion of the lift columns on the right side is unnecessary wasted space.

Garage door width = 192"
Width used for lift = 100" (lift is 105", 5" hidden behind wall)
92" left for full size truck.
A new F150 for example appears to be 96.5 mirrors out, 83.5" folded in.
Mirrors folded in, would leave me with approximately 8", 4" per side.

It's tight, but I think it will work. If I park the truck on the single door side, the opening is 96". So approximately 6" of error room on each side vs. 4". I'm also not taking into account the weather stripping on each side of the door, which I may not be able to clear either way.

The more I think about, the more I want the lift on the 16' side. The two car lift that firebirdparts posted would be ideal, just can't justify that kind of money. I believe the caster kit that tatra posted will solve the space concerns, I'll just move it around if needed. If anyone sees any issues with my backwoods logic just let me know!

 

[rattle_snake]

Get another 8500 to keep your options open, for casters on the 4 post.

I would think the standard rails would be fine anyhow. How tall are your doors?

 

[LS416TA]

Get another 8500 to keep your options open, for casters on the 4 post.

I would think the standard rails would be fine anyhow. How tall are your doors?

Doors are 8' tall. Two 8500s is what we should've done, but the order has already been placed and it's my fault for making last minute changes, I told the builder a single high lift door would be fine on the 8' side. It's not an issue to move the high lift opener to the 16' side, but adding another high lift setup means his door company will have to requote ($$$), reorder, and make returns, pushing the schedule back a bit. Hate to give them the run around so I told him I'll make a decision today on which side.

 

[Partsguy57]

Order lift with casters.. Much better way to go as you can put where you want... When you want. You can also push out the door and pressure wash under a car. All very handy.. don't bolt down!! I have three lifts, two, two post lifts and one 4 post and speak from experience. I prefer my two post lifts hands down ,but love my four post for its mobility.... Cheers



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[tc-cad]

Get a Scissor lift the it can be flush in the floor NO posts. Thats what I did.

 

[brownbagg]

I got a 24x30 and the lift pretty much took up the whole shop. I would reccomend you put yours on the right side of the bldg in that single door and use a roll up door.