Contemplating geting a car lift
 

After our escapades with rusty car underbodies, my father and I are considering getting a lift for our garage. My house has a 3 car garage with 20 foot ceilings so a large high rise lift would suit us. I'm looking to keep the costs low so I was considering a 4 post with a 6 foot lift. 2K-3K in price I'd think. What do you guys recommend?

Thanks.

I prefer two posts myself

I'd rather have a two post but the 220V motors and the need for drilling will make them cost a fare bit more than a 4 post of equal lifting capacity. Also, the 4 post can be moved with not in use, the 2 cannot.

http://www.backyardbuddy.com/

Nothing like having a lift you can push around.

Look around on this site: http://www.garagejournal.com. Extensive discussions of lifts.

www.forwardmfg.com

A top brand found in Canada quite a bit. They've got dibs on all the Walmart garages for example. They are made in the US I think. They also have a slightly lower priced pro-sumer line that may be better for residential use.

http://www.adgforward.com/2post.htm

Notice on the Forward CDN website they have residential lifts pictured. I'm sure you could get those from the US warehouse.

I agree - in fact, I'm pretty sure most of those 4 post lifts require the car to sit on it's wheels. Pretty useless for an OVERALL service standpoint, in fact you probably couldn't do very many repairs with the 4 post.

4 post for storage
2 post for service

Is it not advisable to use a 2 post for storage too??

I'm seriously considering putting a lift in my garage and don't see any negatives to a 2 post except it takes a few minutes longer to put the rails under the car, and you have to be careful getting out of the car so the door doesn't smack the post, right? (I see there are unsymmetrical lifts on Bend Paks website to overcome this small problem)

Is there anything one can do with a 4 post that they can't with a 2 post? I'm struggling to think of anything.

Whatever lift I get will definitely be used so I can squeeze another car in the garage, for maintenance and repair, and for custom fabrication of parts/motor swaps etc. I'm looking for the best "jack of all trades" lift so to speak.

Any further input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance fellas.

I think I recalled reading somewhere that many of the 2-pole lifts aren't supposed to be used for long term storage. As in leaving the car on it for 'extended' periods of time.

It probably depends on the model though.

If you want to do any sort of service using the lift, I think you'll have to forget about the 4 pole - it's probably pretty much useless.

you can store on a 2 post but it's a little tricky to park the car on center and pull the arms out. with a 4 post you can just drive on and get out.

almost all lifts have locks so there's no way for it to fall down unless the metal fatigues or something crazy.

for what you need it for get a 2 post asymmetrical.

You can store a car with a 2 post, might not have quite as much clearance if you are doing trucks because of the suspension travel but honestly I use lifts to work on cars, not store them.

There is a ramp kit for 2 posts so you can drive over the lifts, the ramps have a rubber pad and when it lifts the frame rails of the car sit on the pad (BMW designs their cars to work with these ramps... all but the e39 528i which pinches a rubber fuel line, it doesn't cause any damage but makes some inexperienced techs think the car developed a fuel delivery problem sitting on the rack lol). Anyway those pads make putting a car in the air with a 2 post easier than a 4 post.

The unsymmetrical Bend Paks are for dealerships and shops so they can cram the lifts closer together and fit more of them in their service department. I've yet to run across a car to have problems with door to lift pillar clearance problems. You'd think it would be something you constantly run into but honestly it's never a problem.

4 posts are more common with exhaust shops, because they aren't doing suspension work and they need to know where everything sits when the car is loaded so they can properly route exhaust. If you don't need to take the wheels off a car ideally a 4 post would be more convenient but in practice (at least for me) a 2 post still trumps.

2 (and 4) posts have mechanical locks.

What you probably heard is some variation from you are not supposed to leave a car in the air without setting it down on the locks. The locks are like jack stands, not using them means the hydraulic pump is holding up the car and for extended periods of time it can wear out the seals.

I should read through first +1 to Dan

you should also consider the thickness of the floor in the garage