AMG_only

If you have a 2 post lift , cant you jack the car up and park another below it?

Steam Driver

As long as we're on this subject, what about lift points? The places shown in the lift diagram (showing the bottom of the car) don't look all that strong to me; are those really suitable jacking points?

tailwind22

I did a lot of research on this when I was shopping for a lift. Some feel that long term storage (+6 months) could cause suspension droop. Many do not agree with this and I feel strongly that 3 months would not be an issue (rotating cars could work). Droop is the only issue that surfaced in my research.

studlee

Can someone explain what the droop factor is? I'm thinking about using a scissor lift for both wrenching and storing a Porsche.

Feld

I have a two post lift which requires only 9ft height for posts ,capacity is 9000 lbs. use it for work and storage.

studlee

Feld, so do your wheels sag while it is up and stored?

rusnak

I'm lost in all of the terminology.

A bridge jack is a moving platform, suspended on 4 posts? Seems really impractical for all but the biggest shops working on heavy trucks.

Scissors jack is the platform which swings up and back? Sounds like the most space efficient. Obviously for lighter cars, not for a 1-ton truck for example. Limited in capacity, but infinitely easy to set up.

2 post lift: Seems versatile but obviously the entire rig depends on anchorage to the shop foundation. I would personally jack and re-pour footings made for this purpose. Concrete has gotten really really bad.

Feld

The suspension hangs which does no harm in my opinion, it prevents flat spots in tires also. If worried about hanging suspension remove the wheels when up for storage.

Feld

If you have at least 4" of concrete with enough wire you will be fine with drilling and anchoring the feet of the lift. They have a substantial footprint.

sithot

The local Rotary dealer (and Rotary) recommends a stand under the car on a two post lift to stabilize whatever is on it. On a 911 I use one on the flat area on the engine case behind the oil screen plate as far back as possible. It's a screw type "under hoist" stand. It is run it up to make contact and then a bit more so that it is loaded. The car will not rock. My "hoist" has a piece of Delrin a machinist friend made so it doesn't gouge the contact area.

When the concreted was poured in the garage I requested the area where the lift posts were located to be poured 3 feet thick fully re-inforced with re-bar and tied into the rest of the floor. This created a rectangle which covered about 3 feet on each side of the posts and also spanned the width between the posts making a monolith of solid concrete.
This was over-kill but there is no concern about shifting or cracking. The concrete contractor was happy to oblige.

rusnak

Dang, you could make a service pit out of that much mud.

sithot

No kidding.
I'm not keen on going underground.
There is a cool one that's been around for ages in an old gas station in town. Has filters, gear lube etc. on the shelves. OG setup.

Tremelune

I have a BendPak scissor lift. It's great. I wish I'd gone with a 2-post.

The BendPak isn't particularly tolerant of the car not being centered, and it's annoying having a long run of 2x10s on the floor. I have to do the flex disc on my M5 and the scissor will get in the way. No parking under a scissor, either.

The primary benefit of a 4-post seems to be keeping the wheels on the ground, and all of my cars get driven every month. Storing a car for half the year seems depressing and costly...

The primary benefit of a scissor is no drilling and you can act like a weirdo when you get cabin fever.

Ed Hughes

^^I don't know what you refer to about "not being tolerant if a car isn't centered". Unless you don't expect you have to be relatively close.

I've had mine for close to 15 years, with many cars on it, both directions, and I've never had a concern.