Four Post Lift suggestions
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Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
Even though it's 4/1, I just ran into this:
3 in 1 Car Lift | C J AUTOS | Garage equipment for the classic car enthusiast
Cute, if nothing else, especially in tilt mode. Might be nice to throw into the trailer. Best argument for good jack stands I've seen in a long time.
3 in 1 Car Lift | C J AUTOS | Garage equipment for the classic car enthusiast
Cute, if nothing else, especially in tilt mode. Might be nice to throw into the trailer. Best argument for good jack stands I've seen in a long time.
Ian Anderson
Lifetime Supporter
Ron Earp
Admin
I checked my Rotary and it says made in the USA in two places. That might be a myth about Rotary being made in China, at least for the nice two post unit I have.
Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
I'm not even sure it's a myth; it may be just a miscommunication or a mistake. I believe Rotary as a company at one point was involved in selling a Chinese-sourced lift, it may have been "Revolution", but not under the Rotary brand. And I don't know that Rotary is still involved, nor whether Revolutions lifts are in fact made in China.
Are we even sure Rotary is the brand Jimbo's friend is referring to? Could he mean some other brand that starts with an R? Or maybe the well known Japanese lift maker Lotaly?
Is working on brakes, shafts and suspension components much of a problem with a four-post lift?
John
John
Had a 4 post lift from Aresco (Lift & equipment dealer) out of Pontiac, MI intalled just last week. Goes against the grain of many of the posts here, but is a Chinese made lift. Only the first week but very pleased with this 4 poster which was the right solution for me. Used primarily for parking but can already advise it will certainly be great for servicing & working on the GT40 & other vehicles. Have adequate room for the daily driver underneath and my wife's F-150 supercrew beside it. Only wish I had made the leap sooner.
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Tim
it looks really good, a nice fit, can i ask the make and model of the lift, also out of interest the height from floor to ceiling? I have a double garage but with shelves on one side, bench on the other, it's a real tight squeeze to get two cars side by side. I have 116" floor to ceiling.
Oh, by the way, I hope you have a big red button on the ceiling above the '40, just in case the lift forgets to stop!
Keith
it looks really good, a nice fit, can i ask the make and model of the lift, also out of interest the height from floor to ceiling? I have a double garage but with shelves on one side, bench on the other, it's a real tight squeeze to get two cars side by side. I have 116" floor to ceiling.
Oh, by the way, I hope you have a big red button on the ceiling above the '40, just in case the lift forgets to stop!
Keith
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If you look at the Chinese made lifts, they're mostly all exactly the same. In fact, most look identical to each other. There must be a huge factory cranking out a ton of these lifts, with a number of US distributors all distributing the same exact thing.
It looks to me like the Chinese made lifts are about half the price of the US made lifts. Mine looks to be of good quality, very heavy duty with good design including the safety mechanisms. The construction is good, the welds are well done and the moving parts and pieces are all of good quality.
Assuming the basic design and construction of the lift is adequate, what's equally important as far as safety goes is the manner by which the lift if affixed to the floor, and the quality of the floor itself. These four post lifts are meant to be solidly and permanently mounted to the floor. Just because they're four post doesn't mean they're free standing, they're not. Make sure you have a good slab which is reasonably thick and level, use good quality concrete bolts of sufficient size and you'll be in good shape.
If your four poster isn't bolted securely to the floor then you're taking a safety risk which has nothing to do with the lift itself at all. Just my $.02.
It looks to me like the Chinese made lifts are about half the price of the US made lifts. Mine looks to be of good quality, very heavy duty with good design including the safety mechanisms. The construction is good, the welds are well done and the moving parts and pieces are all of good quality.
Assuming the basic design and construction of the lift is adequate, what's equally important as far as safety goes is the manner by which the lift if affixed to the floor, and the quality of the floor itself. These four post lifts are meant to be solidly and permanently mounted to the floor. Just because they're four post doesn't mean they're free standing, they're not. Make sure you have a good slab which is reasonably thick and level, use good quality concrete bolts of sufficient size and you'll be in good shape.
If your four poster isn't bolted securely to the floor then you're taking a safety risk which has nothing to do with the lift itself at all. Just my $.02.
Keith, I have a model name from Aresco which is EPF8 (8000lb.), paper work also shows the maker's item/model number as FP8K-DS. No brand detail though. In doing my research early on, many dealers referred to a company called Atlas Auto Equipment Distributors Worldwide (Likely the distributor to the dealers). Not a perfect answer to your question but what I have. Price was just under $2k USD ex-works. My ceiling height is 115 inches and clearance to garage door is 98 inches. In my personal set up , I have 2 inches of clearance for the car below, and for the GT40 above 7-8 inches of clearance to the garage door & 13 inches to ceiling respectively. Not as scary as it might appear as I can go up a full locking position before contact becomes an issue. Basic formula I was given was: Height of the car below + Height of the car above + 6 inches (4 inches for the lift platform + 2 inches to raise/lower into locking position). I then added 2 inches to the car below and made sure clearance above was ok. Everyone's scenario will be a bit different. Attached another photo for reference (This was the first time to raise the car and posts self-leveled as designed after 3 or 4 lift cycles). Hope this helps a little.
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Thanks guys. Tim BTW your 40's a beauty, what are the door mirrors off?
K
K
I have an additional question beyond brand names.
I think all the pics of the four post lifts show them on the floor surface, which of course means checking the approach angle on the ramps.
Has anyone looked at chasing out their floor to have the ramps recessed? Naturally this would be much easier to do while the garage is being built and the depth of the existing floor would need to be a consideration too.
Here in the UK building regs tend to demand you dig down rather a lot for the foundation but the floor itself not so much - the last garage floor I helped build we went down 4' to set out 12" height footings, although the slab itself only needed to be about 6" (reinforced) on a compacted 1' base (the slab increasing thickness to 9" at the main threshold and walls).
The trouble is that for a lift I was told yonks ago that 6" is the minimum concrete depth suitable, with no cracks or seams, so of course it pays to check your floor first before shelling out on a shiny new Bradbury or whatever.
I think all the pics of the four post lifts show them on the floor surface, which of course means checking the approach angle on the ramps.
Has anyone looked at chasing out their floor to have the ramps recessed? Naturally this would be much easier to do while the garage is being built and the depth of the existing floor would need to be a consideration too.
Here in the UK building regs tend to demand you dig down rather a lot for the foundation but the floor itself not so much - the last garage floor I helped build we went down 4' to set out 12" height footings, although the slab itself only needed to be about 6" (reinforced) on a compacted 1' base (the slab increasing thickness to 9" at the main threshold and walls).
The trouble is that for a lift I was told yonks ago that 6" is the minimum concrete depth suitable, with no cracks or seams, so of course it pays to check your floor first before shelling out on a shiny new Bradbury or whatever.
I wont get into whats best for a ramp but a four poster with the wheels free beams is an excellent car building tool, the car stays safely on the beams while the ramp can be dropped down half way doubling up as a really handy table. I swapped my four for a two post and the only thing I would say in the favour of the two post is the space it uses up when not in use. If space is not an issue its got to be a four post with the wheels free beams. I really miss the table:laugh:
Bob
When I was looking for a two-post lift, all the manufacturers I examined specified 4" of at least 3000 PSI concrete for mounting.
The problem I've observed is that a nominal 4" may not actually be an actual 4". And the difference isn't usually in your favor.
When building my house, I had the builder excavate two rectangular areas where I planned to place the lift columns, and so my columns are on 8" of concrete, even as the rest of the floor is a nominal 4", as is standard practice in this part of the country.
At least one friend who owned a shop found this out when he was installing his new Rotary lift, and ended up pausing for a week while he jackhammered out two pieces of the floor, dug a deeper hole, and refilled it with the proper concrete.
If you are planning to install a lift and are depending on your nominal 4" of floor thickness, you might consider drilling some unobtrusive test holes to validate the actual construction details before you actually purchase and install the lift.
Howard Jones
Supporter
Here's a good page with quite a few vendors. I need a overall narrow lift that I can put my GT40 on the bottom and my SLC on top. I recently had new garage doors installed and now I have another 6 inches of head room in "the spot" so I have begun looking at these again.
I will need to remove all the stuff along the side wall of "the spot" but I can't do that until the SLC is done and on its own wheels under power. Something like next year.
Anyway here's the page
4 Post Lifts | Four Post Car Lifts at Best Buy Automotive Equipment
I will need to remove all the stuff along the side wall of "the spot" but I can't do that until the SLC is done and on its own wheels under power. Something like next year.
Anyway here's the page
4 Post Lifts | Four Post Car Lifts at Best Buy Automotive Equipment
Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
Bob -- I don't know if I've seen the beams you are talking about. Could you point to a picture that shows how they work?
Thanks.
