[Shop-talk] Recommendation on Four Post Lifts

[Eric J Russell]

10' is likely a minimum for parking the pick up underneath. You'd need the 
add the heights of the two vehicles, the ramp thickness (4"-6" typically) 
then add ~ 6" to raise the lift up to a locking position and allow for 
lifting it a couple of inches off the locks to then lower it.

>From browsing the forums at Garage Journal (www.garagejournal.com) BendPak 
owners love their lifts. They have a great customer service reputation.

I bought a four post lift from Direct Lift. I wanted a lift that'd fit my 
small cars (MGA/Alfa Romeo Spider) and also fit my F250 Super Duty. The 
Direct Lift Pro Park 9 has ramps that are wider than other models. Thus they 
are close enough together to fit the MG & wide enough to fir the truck. The 
Bend Pak has a model that allows one ramp to be moved (made wider/narrower) 
but that required unbolting/bolting and made the use of a jacking bridge 
problematic. Our garage has 11'8" ceilings. I spec'd high lift tracks and a 
jack shaft door opener. The door opener is mounted on either the left or 
right side of the header above the door opening - nothing in the way above 
the parking space.

As you compare prices be sure to include shipping. I contacted a local 
distributor for Direct Lift. They were great to work with. They had the unit 
I wanted but at another location. They told me they'd waive the usual 
shipping fee if I was willing to wait until they had a truck coming from the 
other location (a matter of a couple of weeks). I then had a friend with a 
roll-back truck pick it up for me. Note that delivery to a residential 
address can add a lot to the delivery fees. Then you have to have a way to 
get it off the truck (like a fork lift).

Feel free to ask for more info or photos.

Eric Russell
Mebane, NC
http://home.mebtel.net/~ejrussell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ben Zwissler" <bjzwissler at gmail.com>
To: "Shop Talk" <shop-talk at autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 7:52 PM
Subject: [Shop-talk] Recommendation on Four Post Lifts


> Hello all,
>
> I'm looking to acquire a new project car for the winter, but if I do it'll 
> displace one of my LBCs from the "shop" and I'll be out of space to get my 
> daily driver in the "non-shop" garage.   It seems a four post lift would 
> be a good solution to double up.  The shop is not suitable for the lift 
> due to low ceilings, but the "non-shop" garage has 10 foot ceilings and is 
> otherwise a pretty typical home garage with a single, double wide overhead 
> door and little extra length.  Even with the typical garage stuff stored 
> at the end, I've got 220" of length and 114" of width for parking.  I've 
> got a roll up standard overhead door and I'd have to do something with it 
> to get it to hug the ceiling.
>
> The "top" car would be the TR4A or TR8 and the "bottom" car would be my 
> short cab, standard bed, 2WD Ford Ranger.  I've been looking at the 
> Bendpak HD7P and I'm interested in any suggestions, alternatives, lessons 
> learned, etc. before I go further.
>
> Thanks, Ben....