Bob,
That sounds like my kind of luck. I was lucky when I did my lift. I have a Bosch hammer drill and it worked perfectly for the 3/4 anchor bolts. When I had it bolted down, I had to shim the base plates a little bit, with some sheet metal strips, to get the posts perfectly vertical. Came out great, but took all day.

 

Don,

I'm sure if I ever do get this thing up the shimming will be very interesting. The square of cement I'm mounting on had a drain in the middle and the floor slants down to it. I figure I might have to cut up a piece of 1/4" plate to make it true.

Ah but once it's up no more laying on the ground!!

 

I am jealous! I am about to change a rear seal on mine, laying on the creeper.

 

The lift that has worked best for me is the one at the Ford dealership where my son is a mechanic.

 

Bob,
I rented a good hilti drill from the local rental place, positioned the posts where they belonged and drilled thru the bottom plate/angle iron base. Total drilling time couldn't have been even an hour. The rental fee might have been $30. I think you need to get the right tool for the job.

 

We had a couple of lifts installed at the Ford dealership that I worked at way back in the day, and they broke open a hole in the floor and inserted a cardboard tube down through the floor, then filled that with concrete....it leveled itself and looked good to boot. You could then position the bolt in the concrete (using a template) and not have to worry about the stress relief....the other thought is that these lifts will stand on their own under load and would probably be ok without that corner bolted? I know it sounds sketchy, but it's worth asking about. Hope it all work out.
w

 

I've many years doing that. Started out outside, on a gravel driveway and worked myself up to this lift. It's going to be sweet!

I think the same way when it comes to swimming pools and boats. The ones belonging to friends and neighbors are always the best.

The place I rented the original drill from is the biggest privately owned hardware store in the area. They're known for their tool selection and deal high end tools to professional contractors. They also do repair work on every type of power tool you can think of. I just assumed the last user(s) might have abused the tool and they just didn't notice it. I didn't have to pay for it and the counter guy said it would be repaired by the end of the day. I will be going back this weekend to use it again.

CTD, good advice but I don't want to cut into my floor. The building is only two years old. It should work out OK once I can get the holes drilled. It looks fairly straight forward and with the help of my youngest, who's a big, strong boy, and my forklift I think we'll get it up.

 

Very cool ! It's on my list for when I win the lottery. Enjoy !

 

Don't forget a to give your son a big pat on the back! You'll have a grin on your face for weeks...
w

 

After burning through 2 Milwaukee hammer drills putting up my shop and only getting through about half of those holes, I bought the $60 (it went up in price)one from HF (3-in-1 1" SDS Rotary Hammer). Not only did it finish up the garage, but it had no trouble with the holes for my lift. I wish I had bought it to begin with!

 

Have you ever used epoxy anchors? On floors less than a foot thick, personally I prefer them to the wedge type. I know your building is a commercial building, but I have to wonder on any non-factory building how carefully they watched the concrete mix during construction. The wedge type just seem to me to be inviting cracking under load. The epoxy type are rated virtually the same and don't put that "splitting" force on the pad. Plus you can use a jig to keep all of them vertical and in the exact spacing. JMO... if you have a Hilti or Fastenal rep near you, they can tell you what's best for your case. Are these 1/2" anchors? One thing, you'll never get an epoxy anchor out, you just have to cut them off flush.

PS -- it might be a good idea to grout under the bases if the floor isn't level.

 

Ross,

I've searching on line since I got the lift to find out the best way to anchor it. I found quite a few posts on the Garage Journal site dealing with this subject. There were many that had contributions by lift manufacturers. There were also a few than mentioned epoxy, the replies weren't very favorable. There's something about being able to achieve the proper torque. Some said applying epoxy is kind of like applying grease, it effects the torquing properties.

I also talked to one of my customers who sales and installs industrial robots. These are big monsters, able to lift and maneuver 900+ lb loads. These units see a lot more side to side stress and movement than my lift will ever see. He told me they always drill through the floor so they can knock the anchors through. Factories are always adjusting the layout the floor plan of their assembly lines.

 

Man o' man, someday I'm going ot have a lift. And for that matter, a shop to house the danged thing. Then I'll take that nasty ol creeper and torch it. Why is it that a creeper will roll like crazy when you are trying to lay down on the thing but as soon as you are on it every little spec of dust locks up a wheel?

Last year I replaced a flywheel in my 93 Suburban 4x4, and in a 77 F-250 460ci with a C6. I did them both in my driveway off of my creeper without pulling the trannys all the way out of the trucks....I would have killed for a lift!!

I'm jealous
Bobby

 

Ross,

I forgot to answer one of your questions, I'm using 3/4" anchor per manufacture instructions. They don't tell you how long they need to be, just to use the 3/4" anchors supplied with the lift. I'm the third owner of this thing, the guy I bought it from used 4 1/2" long anchors, I called the company that bought out the original manufacture and they told me they sell 5 1/2" long anchors so that's what I'm going with. I'm using a little longer anchors on the sides I have to shim.

 

Bob, IIRC you want the anchor to expand low in the slab and then add the thickness of the plate on the bottom of the column and about 1 1/2 times the nut height for the nut. I used 3/4" diameter anchors.