todinlaw

I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong place. I am in the process of finally building that Garage Aka Man cave. I have been looking at lifts. The "Backyard Buddy" brand lift clearly is of better quality but twice the cost of the Atlas.

Atlas 4 post lift sold by Greg Smiths.

anyone have any experiences pro or con on this lift. It looks as if its is not as heavy duty but may be adequate?

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Pr...Show=TechSpecs

mhm993

go over to garagejournal.com. They have as many lift opinions as we do on oil.

todinlaw

Thanks I will check it out. I am leaning towards spending the extra bucks on the American Made Backyard Buddy, Its a safety issue, what good is a man cave if your not around to enjoy it.

BerryS

Frank, I'm a longtime lurker over on Garage Journal.

The consensus seems to be that Bend Pak is the lift of choice. Jeff of Bend Pak is an active forum member and he takes care of customer service issues quickly.

Mohawk lifts are the absolute best but their price and size are prohibitive for most home users.

BerryS

38D

I have a Mohawk A7. While Bendpaks are fine, Mohawks are much stouter in nearly every respect. I'm also not sure there is any real "size" difference that makes a Mohawk less suited for home use. A new A7 is about $6k installed, and used ones are typically in the 3-4k installed range.

007DT

I just bought an Eagle 4 post lift this week after a decent amount of research. I'm installing it this weekend so no opinion as of yet? I can post next week once the job is done.

NaroEscape

Frank
I have a DirectLift 4 post. I like it, seems sturdy enough. Bought it from a guy that parked a Lambo LP640 Roadster on it, so I'll assume parking my 1800 lb 914 should be fine...

kurt M

I maintain 150 lifts at work and 1 at home and any lift that has a cert will work well in a home setting. you do not need super duty stuff in the home setting. The Made in the USA 2 post bendpack I have at home was $2300 at my door and took me 6 hours to install from start to finish. A 2 post can do what a 4 post can but a 4 post can't do what a 2 post can. A 4 post takes up a hunk of room car on or not. a car on a 2 post will have more room under it than a 4 post. You can run the arms up on a 2 post and get some floor back when it is not in use. Working on a 4 post gets to be a pain after a while. Something is always in the way.



It is not the guy that built the lift it is the guy using it that makes them safe or not.

paradisenb

To the OP. Look for a 2 post if you can make it work. Much better for working on the car, especially the wheels.

If Benpack is Made in the USA by an American company that is what I will be looking at. I was offered a really good deal on a china product but passed. I'm willing to spend more to get something made by my fellow Americans.

A couple of years ago I found a 2 post lift with very wide bases that could safely be installed into 4" concrete, which is typical for residential construction, but I can't remember who made it. Bummer.
Any ideas?

NaroEscape

while I agree 2 post lifts are much more convenient to work from, I prefer a 4 post for car storage. I'm not big on leaving the car suspension hanging for months at a time. I'd rather it sit as it's suppose to. Maybe that doesn't matter, but that's my thought.

The other thing I like about the 4 post is the ability to put drip trays. I hate having oil drip down on the car below when the one on top is being stored.

Also, if you buy the right lift, you can buy sliding jacks that will jack the car on the jack points and lift it up off the ramps. Best of both worlds: storage and ability to do wheel work.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/4-...ories-s/56.htm

Tim L

I have been looking for a bendpak, where did you get one for that price?

Tim Lynn

Chaos

I have his lift,no problems

kurt M

I went back in time about 8 years to when they were that price and still made in the usa. I understand that bendpac now went the way of many others and some of the lifts or parts are made in china.

naroescape. Itis not hard to make adaptors that convert a 2 post to a 4 post. you can also use 4 cheap ratchet type tiedown straps to hold the susp in normal ride hight position. Strap them with the car on the ground then lift. In this format you have a lot more room under the car as there is no deck or drooping wheels to hit your head on. 2 post lifts tend to lift a lot higher than 4 post as well. If room taken and service work are not high on the list and storage is is not a concern a 4 post is spot on.

smlporsche

+2

I have the 2 post 8000# lift from Greg Smith for the last two years and have been very satisfied. Sorry for the mess in the picture I had just set it up..it's alot messier now

NaroEscape

Kurt M. OK, now THAT's nice. Thanks for posting those pics...ideas for the future