I'm looking into purchasing a 4 Post Lift for my garage. What manufacturer(s) and Model(s) have the best reputation for safety & reliability? Any bad experiences I can learn from? Living in So Cal, I don't want a lift to drop my '56 F100 on top of my '65 Thunderbird Convertible the next time we get hit with a 6.5 earthquake!

Thanks,

Don Felt
Long Beach, CA

 

I allso have been looking for a 4 post lift. I was told by 2 mechanic friends that a good consideration are the ones made by Eagle Equipment. They have a special going on until Labor Day. I haven't made a final decision yet only because I'm trying to envision how much room a lift will take up in my garage. Good luck, Jim

 

Check out Rotary. A lot of the shops around here use them.

MR

 

Rotary seems to be popular here in south Florida too. I've seen them in such places as Sears automotive shops and other commercial applications. Have you priced them?

 

In our shop we have some Forward brand hoists that I really like.
I found a website for them a while back but cant find it now
Any reason why you want a 4 post? I much prefer a 2 post with nothing in between the posts. On a 2 post you can work on pretty much any part of the vehicle with nothing in the way. On a 4 poster if you want to remove the wheels to work on the brakes or suspension or whatever you have to have seperate jacks to lift the wheels off the ramps.

 

I'm looking for the 4-Post because I need the extra parking. I agree the two post is much easier to work around, but 99% of the time the lift will be used to let me keep an extra car in the garage. I'm sure the 4-Post is a safer lift for my application.

Regards,

Don

 

Having surfed the net for these, I found this outfit and when the time comes--with any luck, next spring, I'll be looking at one of these:


http://www.autolifter.com/m6.html#casters

I like the portable thing. Call me silly.....

 

A 4 post has it's benefits too. Some things like driveshaft alignment, and suspension bushing final torque has to be done with the weight on the suspension. I also use a chair or a ladder to climb up onto the ramps of the lift, where I can work above and below the vehicle at the same time. And the ramps are a handy place to put nuts and bolts. They also make good saw horses and work benches if you raise the lift to a good working height without the car on the lift. I also lay 2x4's and plywood across my lift, and back my pickup up to the edge of the ramps to slide something heavy off my truck. The last thing I unloaded this way was a used snowplow I just bought.

Of course I have the best of both worlds, since I have an old used Bear alignment lift. I have a air-over-hydraulic lift up front, and a air lift in the back. These jacks bridge the gap between the lift ramps, and roll back and forth on the ramps with little metal rollers. They get in the way sometimes, but I can rotate all four tires in about 20 minutes.

I do have one problem. My garage ceiling is only 10 feet high. You need at least 12 feet for a car, and more for a truck. I am planning to modify the center part of the ceiling to make a cathedral type ceiling for more height.

 

I will be looking for one too, just as soon as I figure out what size workshop I need to build.

I think I want to have something about 30 x 40 - plenty of room for things, and have the lift under the highest part of the roof. With 12 foot eaves I should be able to lift my trucks without damaging anything.

Theo

 

theo I've got a 32X40X16' shop and I wish it was bigger.
If you think you might ever have a camper on the back of your truck you'll want more than 12' ceiling.
And remember that with hoists, bigger is better. You can always lift a small car on a big hoist but you might not be able to lift a big truck on a small hoist.
I've got a smallish 6000 lb hoist in my shop. It lifts the race car without problems but I wont put my truck on it.

 

Strong case for a 4 post -- Have you encountered anything you can't do with the 4 post or that the 2 post would have been a lot better for? I'm trying to decide between the 4 post and 2 post myself...

 

I thought a 4 post would not be very good for working in the rocker panel area. But I put floor pans on my 64 impala on this lift, and didn't run into any problems.

The only drawback I see(I have never worked around a 2 post very much) is having to walk around to the ends(either the front rear) to get to the center, unless you want to duck under the ramps all the time. Since the car wheels are sitting on the lift, the lift is not as high as a two post which is under the frame.

And I think you would have more room to work on a lawnmower or something like that if you had a 2 post that you could swing the arms out of the way. What I do now is raise my lift as high as it will go and work underneath. But you have to watch out that you don't bump your head sometimes.

I would also think the floor thickness and anchor method would be less critical with a 4 post.

 

Here is one thing you cant do on a 4 poster.... http://flatratetech.com/images/nav_how_to.htm
I find that working on most parts of a vehicle is harder on a 4 post because you are always ducking under it, the ramps are in the way for doing things on the frame such as park brake cables, in the way for doing some suspension work, it takes extra work to get the wheels off etc.
Good points are no bending down to set up the hoist arms, it's quicker to just take a look under the vehicle, the ramps are good work benches.
It's probably different for me because I use hoists for a living. If I was just tinkering at home I probably wouldn't be as picky.
When I poured the floor in my shop I made it extra thick where I thought a 2 post hoist would go, in case I ever got one. Shortly after I was done the floor I got one

 

Thanks guys. Nice assessment.

 

VERY nice!!! Thanks for the link!

Regards,
Scott