How About Car Lifts?

imp said:

Thank you for that. You are absolutely right about the concrete. It needs to be properly loaded with reinforcing steel, and no home garages are. That's why I'm leaning away from a 2-post. Couldn't find the pic of the crunched Bronco; I'll try again tomorrow. imp

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You might be surprised. It depends on when/where/how the garage was built. Bend-Pak even says on their website that most residential foundations meet their requirements.

If you get it inspected and it meets the requirements, you're golden. If not, it isn't the end of the world, you can have a section of the floor jackhammered out and have concrete that does meet the requirements poured.

4-post lifts are great for oil changes and exhaust work, but not a whole lot else. You can't pull tires on one unless it has trolley jacks, and even then you usually can't do suspension work on the front of the car because you're using the control arms as lift points. The concrete requirements between 2-posts and 4-posts also aren't as different as you'd think.

Here's detailed info on concrete requirements:
Mohawk: http://www.mohawklifts.com/library/manuals/Slab_Require_Recommend_11_07.pdf
Bend-Pak: http://www.bendpak.com/support/frequently-asked-questions/
Rotary: http://www.rotarylift.com/uploadedFiles/FAQ1.pdf


If you're really wanting a 4-post, Challenger does make a 4-poster designed for home garages: http://www.challengerlifts.com/CL4P9.shtml


I've researched the hell out of this because I'm going to be building a 2-bay shop on my land out in the sticks in the not too distant future, and it's going to have lifts. I've been spoiled from having one at work for far too long to want to go without.