4 Post Lift Vs Quickjack

[old_blue]

Looking at a lift for the garage. My wife wanted to get me a quickjack. Looking at them they seem kind of pricey. For the one I'd want it is $1500. So I wanted to see what a 4post lift would be. I have a post tension slab garage floor so I can't drill into it. I found a few that are pretty close to the same price. I have a three car garage so I have a little room to work with. Anyone have any opinions on these?



https://www.quickjack.com/


https://www.bestbuyautoequipment.co...arking-lift-8000-lb-p/autolift-car-park-8.htm

 

[RaggedGT]

Tire shop I used to work at had lifts similar to the quick jacks, they worked fine for pulling tires and oil changes etc. we also had these thick rectangle blocks in different sizes that you added to the lift deck to be able to lift up trucks/to lift cars higher

 

[General karthief]

Go for the lift, for the price difference, that quick jack is not enought.

 

[RangerJoe]

I have looked at the quick jack. Just not worth the money. Seems it is limited on what you can do and the price is so close to that of a real lift.

If it was in the $500- $800 range, then yeah, but not $1500.

Joe

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Meh,......100 bucks is all it cost me to put a "No post" lift in my garage..

2 HF boat winches are all it takes to lift the car in the air.... Just the thing when you need to lift something, but don't want the "clutter" of having to deal w/ some post, or apparatus blocking your complete access to the underside of the car.

All it takes is a horizontal span of wood/metal to spread out the lift point load and you'll be doing things you never thought possible before....
Like:
swapping out K members while the engine is still in the car...

lifting 1953 Studebaker bodies off of their frames, so that you can transfer the body over to a rotisserie:
Then putting it back on the frame, when you decide that street rods are a pain in the ass and sell the car to a guy in Texas...

(anybody recognize the engine?.....where have we seen that thing before?)

Nothing will make your life simpler....Experience the raw terror as you wonder how much additional weight your floor joists can support before you pull either the living room or the guest bedroom floor down on top of your head, while an undetermined weight of an all steel body shell hangs in the air so you can roll the chassis back under the thing.....

You don't need no stinkin 2 or 4 post lift,......All you need are bigger balls and a Harbor freight..

 

[Mustang5L5]

I don't think I'd like to crawl under a quickjack to do a clutch job, or something like that.

As for the 4 post lifts. I've used them before. Great for oil and other fluid changes and services, but since it's a drive on style lift, it limits what you can do on the sides. I'm sure it can be worked around, but doing thinks like brake jobs just seems like a lot of work to set up off the ground. I know they come with jacking rails that you can put the car on jackstands.

They just seem better suited to gain a parking space, or allow you to do easy oil changes and trans fluid changes.

However, I'd love one right about now just to change my speedo gear out.

 

[stpete]

I was interested in a quick jack for a while. I can't put a permanent lift in my garage due to space constraints. I finally found someone that had one at the track. They are great for doing brakes/suspension work. But, you have to crawl under the car from the front or back when it's up which isn't ideal.
I put jacking rails on my 2014. They really make getting the car up on jack stands quick. I can have the car up in just a few minutes. Just jack up a side and throw the stands under, repeat on other side.
I used to do the Fox from front/back and had to have the long low jack etc. If I get another fox, first mod will be jacking rails. So much frigging easier.

 

[Nutty 5.o]

I'd recommend going to a four post lift vs the quick lifts. You're not really getting enough use to make it worth while. 4 posts usually have wheels so you can wheel the car outside your garage too depending on your location/grade. I've had a Direct Lift 4 post for 9-10 years now. It's mostly for storing my friends Vette and my wife's daily parks underneath. So I haven't really used it much to comment but I personally prefer 2 posts which is what I use for my general lift duty. (Bend Pak Asym.) You don't have to drill for the 4 post.

4 Post also give you place to store crap. Which I guess could be a negative too.

This is the 4 post I have minus extra length. I got it for around 2200 from Greg Smith back then. A little more than you want but it's worth it.

 

[Mintsick]

4 post all day.

 

[old_blue]

I agree 4 post. Anyone know anything about that brand. I want something trustworthy if I'm going to be under it working. Or if I park another car under it.

 

[Nutty 5.o]

Never heard of the brand you linked to. Looks a lot like Direct Lift which has had a decent rep for 10 years now. Garage Journal forums a great place to research lifts.

 

[Nutty 5.o]

Just helped a friend install his new Atlas Garage Pro which is identical to the DL one I put in 10 years ago. Not too much has changed, but the price if you can pick up is 2195. It took 4 of us to remove the ram ramp and took 3-4 hours putting it together. If you don't want the extra height one, you can pick it up in store for 1999. Pretty good deal. Fortunately we were able to pick up in Delaware which has no tax.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-Garage-Pro-8000-EXT

 

[JD1964]

I thought about a lift but in the end I could not justify all the space it takes up for the few times it would be handy. 4 good jack stands and a small and large floor jack gets it done for me. All I need is the car to be higher than the width of my shoulders. This makes it easy to move around under by rolling my body instead of the flat shimmy across the floor.

 

[General karthief]

I like the jack stand routine too, I can take a nap and she thinks I'm tinkering with the car and leaves me alone, ain't got caught yet!

 

[2000xp8]

I have a bendpak hd7p 4 post. I paid $1600 used but in new condition. It's like a $3500 lift. The thing is, lifts are like hot tubs, hard to sell because they are hard to move once set up.

If you have the ceiling height, a lift you can walk under is a must. Unless you want to hit your head all the time or just plain old be annoyed by having to go around it.

As for wheel removal and other work, you buy a rolling jack or slide jack that mounts to the rails. For the cheap brands they are like $700, bendpak wacks you about $1100.

Most importantly, do not forget that if your garage door goes up and back at 7-8 feet you are going to have to do a high lift conversion. It was easy for me because mine was already a jackshaft door, but if you have a standard door it will be a pain. Not sure how you handle the opener with a conventional door either but clearly it can't go where the car lifts to. I have a liftmaster 8500 which goes on the side of the door mounted to the jackshaft.

The quick jack is a neat idea, but for what you get it's really pricey and makes no sense if you have the height for a real lift.

One last thing, most lift places list the prices and shipped, so if you go pick it up there is a hefty discount, many times about $200.

 

[mrgreystone]

Hi all, new to the forum. My garage is really small, how many inches does the quick jack move the car to the front/back between up and down?
That garage the floor is tilted some, when I let go of parking brake car would slide back slowly, not very slowly it's more than slow actually. Noticed a decent amount of difference in coolant level when I park it on leveled ground. Don't use quickjack in that garage or a little tilt in the ground is ok?