87: i'm not sure why you think the hitch mounts won't work for a vise and would like to hear more of your thoughts on that. i'm not going to use a hitch mount for any of my big vises that weigh over 100 pounds, but the smaller ones that have different uses i'm going to.
any pictures of a drywall lift or of a grinder station you are talking about because i'm all ears to save a little of my shop's floor space. i'm also thinking of mounting the grinders on a piece of plywood with a 2 x 2 or 2 x 4 screwed to the base that i can put in a wood vise mounted to my wood bench. i don't mind a little exercise taking the grinders on and off the shelf next to it, but always looking to see what the other guy's use or think of.
perhaps i wasn't clear in what i was trying to say. what i was trying to convey, was to consider the idea of a telescoping stand for your bench grinders. a telescoping stand would more than likely not be realistic for bench vises. the vise in a hitch method is awesome. i have many of my own vises in hitch mounts, as well as some other tools that make my bench more versatile. it works great; especially on sub 100lb vises.
back to telescoping bench vise stand... the footprint would be such that it would be similar to a single stand, but would have all of your bench grinders on it, thereby making it a more efficient space. there are many viable lift mechanisms that could be considered, i threw drywall lift as one such example, and probably one of the cheapest methods to execute. obviously other lift mechanisms could be considered (acme thread, electric actuator, hydraulic, etc).
obviously the previously mentioned methods of making a stand with a receiver and interchangeable bench grinders is much simpler, but then you have to physically lift the grinders and plug/unplug them every time you use a different one. if you're that hard up for floor space, and willing to spend the time, i believe a telescoping stand is both possible and reasonable if built right.
