Mitty

This is not my lift or car (I wish for both), I linked to the original post below the picture.

Yes it is pretty expensive, but it is the smallest and easiest to hide.

-Darren

Ghost

Wow, some awsome garages!!!!

wormdoggy

You can say that again...............and thanks for all the posts. Some great idea's.

Cheers and safe driving.

Dave R.

I looked into 2-post lifts intensively last summer for my (new to me) residential 2-car garage, and my hands-down favorite was the Mohawk A-7, www.mohawklifts.com

The posts are 8 feet tall, so the lift fits under normal ceilings.
Design quality seemed to me superior to Bendpak and Rotary.

Check your garage slab before you buy... Mine was 2.5" thick in places, not enough for me. I was set to spring for a lift but not to repour the garage slab, so no lift for now.

Gretch

You dont need to re-pour the pad. Jackhammer a 2 foot square hole for each upright. Dig down to a depth of 8 inches and pour a footing for each upright. Use the right kind of concrete mix that will give the proper sheer strength and you will be fine. You could do it all by yourself. Get or rent the rotary hammer drill and you won't need the jackhammer....for extra strength take rebar and shove a foot of it under the old pad with 8 inches sticking into the hole for the footing. Pour the footing over the exposed re-bar.....that footing is going no where.......
BTW I looked at the mowhawk site, no prices.......how much does the 7,000 lb lift cost?

My Worth was $2,800 bucks, no delivery charge, and it was completely assembled, except for the cables.

Dave R.

Hi Gretch,

Low $4k for the A7 not including shipping and installation, as of about 8 months ago.
I liked the robust construction, low-maintenance design, and hydraulic (rather than cable) equalization. I had the sense I could pass an A7 lift on to my grandchildren.

Re the slab, I talked with the Mohawk folks, and their recommended alternative was to cut a hole and pour a single subpad keyed under the existing slab - subpad being about 1 foot thick, 4 feet wide and long enough to go beyond each post a couple feet. I suspect they recommended a single pad for torsional reasons, although when I did back-of-the-envelope calculations I realized that the sheer mass of the subslab was enough counterbalance to keep the lift from tipping even if the vehicle CG were way out from the geometric plane of the posts. A true "standalone" solution...

Of course the official recommendation is sufficient for a 7,000 pound vehicle and likely has a hefty safety margin - my vehicles top out at 4,000 so your solution may have worked fine...

I suppose the other half of the story is that I got sidetracked with the rationale that the family would have more fun with a tournament-style ski boat than Dad's lift, and now the garage has an extra inhabitant.

Gretch

I am curious how they manage the equalization without cables.........what happens if you blow out a hydraulic hose?, especially on the way down (when you have disengaged the safety stops)? At four grand that lift would also have to do basic things like change the oil in my cars by itself, to justify the premium.

That subpad recommendation from Mohawk certainly would let you sleep at night....hell you could build a 30 foot tall stone chimney on top of something like that.....How did they recommend you key it into the slab? Just undermine the slab by a foot around the perimiter of the hole? Yep, you could certainly rely on that to go absolutely nowhere. Good luck settleing in on the exact lift you choose.....let us know how it works out.

UberXY

I just ordered a four post rotary this morning for my temporary space; new two post will be ordered as soon as my permanent space is done. One nice feature of Rotary is that the local dealer will assemble them on site - I am not sure which other lift manufacturers offer this. $3100 base price.

Steve
99 996
62 356C
64 356C
76 930

Gretch

How much do they charge for the install? The two things that took some time were the rotary hammer drilling and running the 220 wiring to the panel. Once I had the uprights in place and the holes marked on the floor, the drilling took maybe a minute a hole. Then I had to eliminate the concrete dust, and install the anchors. I should have prolly used the shop vac, but I just blew the dust away with compressed air. The compressed air works better for getting the loose concrete out of the anchor holes. I spent maybe a couple of hours on the wiring to the panel, most of it just running the wire so it was a presentable install. Cable install took maybe an hour in total, hook up the hydraulic hoses, fill the reservoir and off to the races. Prolly total install time was under 10 hours. I did it myself and took my sweet time about it. I could do it again in less than half the time.

I gather the "base price" does not include shipping.......?

Seeing the options folks have suggested here, I am pretty happy with the deal I got from Northern........especially as compared to $4k for a sizzor jack.......

However I do recognize that each option has its pluses and minuses based on the specific application...I have a lot of space, two farm tractors, a dozen heavy implements and mowers, couple of sleds, couple of ATVs, a truck, three sports cars and a sedan and we are in and out of the shop working on or repairing all this stuff depending on the season. For my application this lift was the "best fruit buy" I could find.....

UberXY

Gretch: when I had a rotary two post put in a shop a few years ago, installation was free and two guys had it done in 2 hours - they were very efficient, and used dollies and the trucks liftgate to avoid every possibility of heavy lifting.

However, now there is a fee, which i didn't get into; i may pay it, or i might make all my buddies who will want to use the new lift help me.

Steve

ADias

I surely hope that the lifts leaving the wheels hanging down are only used for short term car servicing, not storage. If those cars are left up for a long time, the suspensions (shocks) will be ruined.

Dale Gribble

oh ****... define long period of time. my car's been sitting on blocks with the wheels hanging down for a few months now :|
will taking the rims off avoid this?

that snap-on center stand is a very interesting idea and seems to be a good compromise for small space situations.

how deep do you need to drill it into the concrete?

1999Porsche911

oh ****... define long period of time. my car's been sitting on blocks with the wheels hanging down for a few months now :|
will taking the rims off avoid this?

If the car is in a humid enviornment, it only takes a few weeks for surface rust to start forming on the shock's pistons. Check them out before lowering the car and clean the rust off the best you can and polish then up witha goon non-silicone lube.

ADias

1999Porsche911 said it well. You should not unload the suspension for more than a few hours. I would have your suspension checked the first time you bring the car down, and next year I would fill the tires to 55PSI and store the car sitting on the wheels.

Gretch

Anyone got proof that this is anything more than an old wives tail................?