Mike J

I have been debating about a mid-rise lift vs. a two post. I have fairly tall ceilings in the garage (10' +) but most two post lifts won't fit.

Does anyone have any experience with these units? They are priced right since they are not much more than a mid-rise lift and the dimensions will fit my garage.

I am a contractor so I will pour extra large footings so the unit will be installed "right" so that part is not a problem. I also have lots of room so having two posts is also not a problem.

I have not searched too far yet but many people on the list are happy with the Greg Smith mid lifts so how about these?

Greg Smith Two Post - 8000lbs

Greg Smith Two Post - 9000lbs

Any opinions?

Cheers,

Mike

BrokenE

Mike, in the sep 06 edition of Roundel mag, there's an article about a guy who installed a Forward9000B lift into his 10' ceiling garage. The 9000B is a 2 post lift.

http://www.forwardlift.com/
http://www.forwardmfg.com/pdfs/TwoPost.pdf

If i had the room for it, I would go with the 2 post lift because it gives you much better accessibility. Plus I think it would be more stable too.

Garth S

With a base plate style two-post, 10+ ft ceilings should do nicely - the floor pan to roof of a 993 is ~3'8", which is the critical dimension to subtract from available height. The first lift (8000#) shown is equipped with symmetric arms - go for an asymmetric arm option ..... it greatly increases the utility of a lift IMHO, as it allows wider opening of the cars doors.

I did a rehab & install of a used two post base plate style lift, described here : the garage extension where it was installed has 9 ft ceilings, and that works fine - and the asymmetric arms do not inhibit easy use of the area for daily parking. (Since the pics, an additional 5' of 3x2 steel angle extensions were added to the base to further anchor and distribute the load).

Anyway, one of the key points of any such install ( for me) was to map out the preferred vehicle position, note the lift points .... and work back from the arm contacts & angles to determine column position - and 'work around' space needs. Then, worry about drilling forthe anchor bolts ...

Mike J

I am not too worried about the anchor bolts...I have all the concrete drilling tools I need (since I am a contractor). I was thinking of overkill since I am standing underneath this puppy...how about getting my concrete cutting guy in and cutting two 3' square holes in the floor and pouring two new support pads in the floor, say 3'x3' wide x18" deep with rebar and imbedding high strengh J anchors at the right spots sound?..

Cheers,

Mike

John95cab

I don't know where the whole stability issue comes from regarding the scissor lift. They are very stable. I have seen vehicles slip off two post lifts so I think operator awareness is more key. I drove up to the Greg Smith showroom in Delaware and all their lifts are well made. It's nice to be able to walk around each one & see the size differences and try each one out. I don't know about testing the outer limits of their weight capacities. For example I am not going to put my 6000lb pickup on my scissor lift. From a strictly mechanical usefulness point of view the two post is the way to go.

Bill Verburg

If you have the room a 2 post is defintitly the way to go.

Garth S

That should be adequate .... for the average 100' crane .... plenty for a hoist.
Seriously, compression/vertical loads are not generally the issue, for we think nothing of putting the 6000# SUV up on four jackstands: the total area of their 16 contact points is far less than that of a two post lift, which makes the contact PSI greater. It is the bending moment of off center loads & forces that generally tries to tear the hoist from the floor.
To combat that, I extended the base footprint area - and used 5/8" Hilti studs in a slab of 5" of 4400 psi concrete. - no signs of movement yet.
The J-studs are great, but may be difficult to position accurately: that's why I used the base as a template - and drilled with it in place.

jnx

I agree with Bill, I would rather have a 2 post than my scissor if I had the room.

Mike J

Good idea, I was thinking of drilling a template to hold the bolts when pouring. I am not sure what the slab thickness is in my garage yet...I think I will poke a hole through the slab and see...once I decide if a two-post lift is in my plans.

Did you construct new base plates and weld them on?

Cheers,

Mike

993inNC

Thats just why I haven't bought a lift yet. Just don't look forward to cutting and reconcreting. My slab cracked right down the center which is why I have considered the upgrade, but theres no good way to get back to my garage w/concrete now so I'd have to tote it in by hand Do you have thoughts on the rebar layout? Any connection of the bar back into the original concrete?
Those are great deals BTW on the lifts tho.

Mike J

Here are some thoughts:

1 - Hire some students for the labour...they work hard, are cheap and often like the excercise. For instance I did a house that was on the water last year. It had about 40 steps to the house and we had to breakup a slab and remove it. The breaking up is no problem (my partner and myself did a 35'x`10' slab in a day) with a sledgehammer and have the kids pickup the pieces and move it to the front of the house in 5 gal buckets. It took them 3 days and they were totally bushed...but they also were on the university track team and considered it cross training! Have a disposal bin ready and you can dump right into the bin...

2 - Find a small pump truck service to repour your slab. They can pump the concrete back and you don't need to wheelbarrow. This assumes you want to replace the whole slab.

3 - If the slab has settled and cracked find a concrete jacking service and have the slab "jacked" up. If often quite a bit cheaper than removing the slab.

4 - Hire a concrete sawing service to cut the foundation pads. Once the concrete is remove dowel in 1/2" rebar into the existing slab that runs at least half way into the new foundation. I would use some Hilti expoxy to hold the rebar in...its not really required since there is primarily only shear forces on the bar but its cheap insurance. On a three foot square hole I would put at least two dowels in each side forming a mesh pattern. This will pin the new foundation to the existing slab. Drive the dowls into the existing slab at least 8". I would then make a raised support to hold the bolts in the proper positions and pour. I would also rent a small vibrator to vibrate the concrete in....it will settle around the rebar quite a bit better.

But then I overengineer everything I do...I am sure its overkill but when I am standing under my car I can feel confident the lift won't tilt over and kill me.

BTW here is an email I received from the lift company

"Mike,

If you are going to be lifting the large truck, I recommend the Pro 9F. As you can see by our website, it has much larger columns and is a stouter lift all around. I would recommend us shipping into Canada. We can handle the brokerage fee and GST tax, as well as all the paperwork. We under rate our lifts so the Pro 9F will work with no problem. The reason we can sell our lifts for so cheap is because we have 50,000 sq. foot warehouse and have no middleman. The company who makes our lifts for us is the world's largest lift manufacturer. They make lifts for Rotary/Hunter that these companies sell outside the United States. They also make Forwards lifts which Forward sells in the states (Forward is owned 100% by Rotary). So the quality of them is every bit as good as the Rotary lifts but I just cannot put the sticker on the lift and charge an extra $1000!!! Please give us a call at the number below to discuss in further detail. We have sold over 48,000 of the Atlas/Direct lifts since 2000 natiowide. Thank you.

Greg Smith Equipment Sales
5800 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46218"

Cheers,

Mike

Mike J

As an interesting note of asymmetric vs symmetric take a look at this

Cheers,

Mike

993inNC

Mike, yeah some of your rebar ideas are what I was thinking. I would only cut out the areas needed for the install, not the entire slab. My problem is getting the mud to the back garage. Pump trucks here are the huge crane type at 90/hour. First they'll have a minimum and a 3x3x9" holes not alot of concrete, plus they won't cross my driveway to get to the back nor will the conc. coumpany, so I'm probably looking at some bit of by hand. I may have to get a mortar mixer and try that

This is all why I haven't done it, to much time involved and no time to spare

See if the lift guy will do a better deal for a few sales, it may push me to do it

jnx

Chris, They rent concrete haulers. They are motorized front bucket type things that have a dump feature. I had to use one when pouring my pad. Check it out, it worked great.

Garth S

Good read - they make a valid point concerning spacing between the columns: 10 ft is their spec I believe, and at that, there is less reason to go assymetric - my lift is a tidy 8 ft between the posts, so the assymetry is mandatory .... unless I crawl out through the sunroof .
For many home shops, working space outside the posts is generally at a premium - but if the area is available, it is a minor additional expense to go to a 'full size' hoist.