omowright
Well-known member
Can a vehicle be driven unto a raised 4-post lift? Alternatively, are there service versions of pit parking lifts?
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Pit Parking Lift vs 4-Post lift
- Thread starter omowright
- Start date
Can a vehicle be driven unto a raised 4-post lift? Alternatively, are there service versions of pit parking lifts?
Yes if the lift is secured to the ground. As for the pit parking lift, what do you considered as a "service" version? That can mean completely different things for different people.
Aahz
Well-known member
If you are asking whether you can drive on to a 4-Post lift when it is in the "raised" position and the use that same lift to lower the vehicle, I would say "It ain't recommended, but it can be done.
The issue with driving on to a raised 4 post is that the columns supporting the lift then become a fulcrum. The lift is designed to raise and lower a stationary load, especially when it is bolted to the floor. The baseplates and columns are not designed to support a moving load. They will probably work...until they don't.
If for some reason this is what you are trying to do, get a structural engineer to design bracing for the columns. We have done that for a boat showroom that wanted to put the boats on trailers and lower them into a pit to simulate the boats on water. It CAN be done, we just would never recommend doing it without having an engineer determine how to brace it first.
A home use 4 post is a hell of a lot cheaper than a recessed parking lift, no doubt. A parking lift is really not designed for maintenance and a 4 Post is really not designed for loading in the upright position.
I'm trying to picture doing maintenance around a 4 post on a rising platform that comes out of a recess...You would need a lift to lift the lift!
The issue with driving on to a raised 4 post is that the columns supporting the lift then become a fulcrum. The lift is designed to raise and lower a stationary load, especially when it is bolted to the floor. The baseplates and columns are not designed to support a moving load. They will probably work...until they don't.
If for some reason this is what you are trying to do, get a structural engineer to design bracing for the columns. We have done that for a boat showroom that wanted to put the boats on trailers and lower them into a pit to simulate the boats on water. It CAN be done, we just would never recommend doing it without having an engineer determine how to brace it first.
A home use 4 post is a hell of a lot cheaper than a recessed parking lift, no doubt. A parking lift is really not designed for maintenance and a 4 Post is really not designed for loading in the upright position.
I'm trying to picture doing maintenance around a 4 post on a rising platform that comes out of a recess...You would need a lift to lift the lift!