I've got a 20x20 garage, so I have to be careful with space. My brother is planning on getting a removable 2 post lift. You wheel the post over it's mounting location (once the holes are already drilled) and use an impact gun to tighten the bolts down. When you're done with the lift, unbolt and wheel them out of the way.

My thinking is I hate the time it takes to get the car up on jacks, I'm sure I'll hate even more moving two 500 lb posts around.

What I'm thinking about is a mid rise lift. They are 4 1/4" collapsed, just sit on top of the garage floor (no installation), and raise to about 40" high.

The obvious problem is the center of the car is blocked by the lift. But, I could leave the lift in the center of the garage and just park over it. When I need to get the car off the ground, center the car over the lift and hit the up button. The majority of my work is going to be wheels, brakes, suspension, and oil changes.

I just wanted to hear some opinions.

Some friends had one of those in their garage. It's like a platform that lifts with a mount on one end and wheels on the other end of an X that scissors it into the air, right?

I mostly found it useless. I guess if I had a tire shop and was doing wheels and the odd brake job all day, maybe. But it just blocked too much stuff and I didn't find it very useful. I throw a low profile floor jack under one side of the car and lift the whole side. Or, I just do one wheel at a time by moving the jack. I don't find that it takes that long. In a 20x20 shop, that's going to be right in the middle, so you'll either be down to one car or always driving over half of it.

Just my thoughts, your results may vary.

Yeah, something similar to this...

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-MR...le-Midrise-Lift

That's exactly the one I was thinking about. It's a really expensive floor jack that's always in the way. If you want to do exhaust work, you're going to need to put it up on jack stands. Drop a transmission? Likely to wind up on jack stands. It's really only good for brakes and tires (basically) and if you want to pull an engine, it's going to be in the way of using a hoist (more than likely). I see them as more trouble than benefit. If it could be shoved in the corner when you're not using it, it might be more useful, but not much.

Again, just my thoughts.

Edit:

Buy 4 of these and pocket the rest (but use the Northern Tool link in the banner bar if you order, we get credit for sales traffic from the board...thanks!).

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/pro...45429_200345429

I have one and I really like it. I'm likely to buy another one (or 3) soon. They fit right under my car and lift it quite high. It's a pretty stout jack (I think shipping weight was 106 lbs) and pretty well built. And they go on sale for $129 on occasion (or they did) and I managed to get it on sale with a "Free freight on orders over $50" special. So, it was $129 to my door. At least hold out for a free shipping deal, shipping was about $60 if I was going to have to pay it.

Kevin; those are pretty nice jacks, and less than 1/2 the price of the U.S. made steel floor jacks (IF there is even a 3.5 ton, VERY low profile American made jack available ).

That lift is an expensive gimmick, it will just get in the way.

Use a heavy duty steel shop jack and 4 heavy duty stands - mark a jack point on each side and have your cage builder weld a pad with a knob on the sill pinch weld. Place them about at the CG of the car, ie about in the area of the seat.

Jack up one side, slide 2 stands in, jack up the other side, 2 more stands in place. Should take about a minute.

Save the light duty aluminum jack for the track, they won't last doing shop duty also.

Yea, it's a STOUT jack and the best imported jack I've seen. I've had mine for a year (or two) now and it gets used all the time. I'd buy another one (and I plan to, if they go on sale or free shipping again).

I have a 20x30 shop and love my 2 post Atlas from Greg Smith Equip.

If you're gonna buy a rack....buy a real one.

There is NOTHING like having a real rack at your disposal, it's the SHIT! I wish I would have put it up much sooner.

I have a MaxJax. Available from Northern, use their link on the header above.
Here is the MaxJax website. Fairly easy to install with 2 people and hammer drill. Hydraulic pump runs on house current.
http://www.maxjaxusa.com/

What about once it's "installed"? Can you easily move the posts around? Or is that still a 2 person job?

How tall is your ceiling? And about how much clearance are you getting? Was your concrete floor already poured deep enough and reinforced for mounting a lift? IMHO this is the best and safest option vs smaller or portable lifts. But im sure its substantially pricier as well.

I went with a BendPac HD-9, 4 post drive on lift and 'rolling jack'. It works great for everything so far... but rotating tires takes a bit longer this way! I still use a floor jack outside if I'm just going front to back on the same side of the car for tire rotations. Speaking of floor jacks I like the American Forge and Foundry... which is made in china unfortunately... http://www.asedeals.com/automotive_floor_jacks.html model 200T

My garage is 24 wide by 28 deep... with a 101" ceiling.




The runways are just about the same height as the scissor lift, and the rolling jack sticks above the the runways by the same amount. On most cars this isn't a problem but on my firebird the UE torque arm chassis mount and exhaust hang pretty low in the middle so I have to drive one end of the car up on 2x6 blocks first.

I prefer a 4 post for a few reasons:
-no posts get in the way when opening our humongous doors
-no need to really worry about your floor being thick enough (mine isn't even bolted down yet)
-you can store the car in the air without hanging the suspension and with drip pans you can park another car under it for the winter (assuming you have the ceiling height)
-it's the only way to do subframe connectors
-the runways make a good alternate to a cart for tools and parts
-the runways also don't really get in the way, if you're doing suspension work odds are the car is up off the runways anyway
-you don't have to worry about the center of gravity getting out of whack when pulling a motor
-no bending over to make sure you're on the lift right... call me lazy

But there are some down sides:
-4 posts instead of 2 to get in the way, and asymmetric lifts don't always block the doors
-you still have to get the car somewhat centered when parking on it especially if you're going to use the rolling jack
-to do front springs on a non-coil over suspension I hung the front of the car off the lift and put wood blocks under the lifting points of the car. I kept the height at the average for jack stands so I could use a floor jack under the ball joints.

It is supposed to be moveable with one person, but I have never moved mine after I installed it.
Able to drop motor using the lift. Much easier to remove/replace transmission with a lift.

My trusses are 8 foot ish, the roof of the car goes up between the truss. I can raise it all the way up.

I have 5 inches of concrete.

That lift was $1650 shipped.

One to consider is the one I picked up, as you appear to have similar issues to me. Low ceiling and need to preserve space.

http://www.ezcarlift.com/

Brought it home in my Dodge Magnum. I can use it in either bay. When not used I can put it against the wall.

They say it will lift to 26" in 90 secs, it seems more like 3-4 minutes. I use a Dewalt 9amp high torque drill though, which does not have the same high rpm as they may have used.

It combines with my 12" wheel cribs seem to get me very versatile access to everything.


American made too.

Is that an Atlas 9KOH? I am building a shop right now and have been researching lifts. The Atlas 9KOH from Greg Smith is what I am leaning towards. Any advice before I pull the trigger? Thanks.

That is a 9KOH yes.

I love it, it has been flawless.

When you mount it in the floor don't picture in your mind "centering it" where you want it. You will mount the poles at least a foot or two forward from where you think it would because it's an asymmetric rack. I put my car in the shop, marked where the tires and the mirrors on the door were for reference as the poles usually line up with your mirrors when you pull it in to raise it up(a car and SWB trucks, LWB and super cab trucks don't apply as they are further forward).

Stand the poles up wiggle them close to where you want them, put the bar across the top and center it up. Mark the floor where the poles are and hammer drill your holes. I did 1 on each pole and loosely bolted them down.... then drill the rest of your holes, shim the poles up straight and bolt it down. Downhill from there.

My brother just got this Atlas in last week. It showed up on a pallet, he did nothing other than position it where he wants it and plugged it in. He got it because it allows him to have a lift in his very small 18' wide garage. And, you have access to the bottom of the car. I think I might do something like this.








And this is why he really wanted a lift. The new Factory Five 818. 1800 lbs, 300 hp, $10,000 kit, less than $20,000 completed cost. It's going to be a rocket on the track.