kgorman

Thx guys!

C4 Pazzo

Exactly. The platform rests on the stops. It shouldn't be hanging from the cables while you are working on the car. At least you have the ability to make adjustments to the steel stop ladders and to the bases on which the wheels will rest when you do the initial setup. Working on a fixed concrete garage floor doesn't give you the same flexibility. Once you have set it up, I don't think it will need to be adjusted.

Otto Mechanic

No, they're fine for brake work, dropping transmissions, engines, etc. You can also park a car under them if you don't use them for repair. They have the advantage of being relatively stable in areas prone to seismic activity. If you haven't used a four post lift you probably aren't familiar with lift jacks.

Otto Mechanic

I have to adjust mine once a year or so depending on use and mine sees pretty heavy use. You'd certainly want it on a concrete slab though I don't think they benefit from being bolted into the foundation since they're very heavy and don't move spontaneously. I need to re-level and square mine whenever I have an accidental lock up on a single post while I'm lowering a car, which only happens when my hand slips off the lock lever while lowering, and that happens, as I mentioned, about once a year.

They're heavy, rugged, solid pieces of equipment and I consider them superior to two post lifts in that respect. I use a ProPark 9+ and have had it for almost 10 years now, no complaints.

Otto Mechanic

I'm sure the procedure varies from lift to lift. On mine, there's a single bolt and Nylock nut that control the height of the lock ladder. To level the lift I use a 6' level and an 8' step ladder, moving from one post to the next raising or lowering the lock ladder as needed. I suppose a laser level would work also. It's very simple, takes about a half an hour, and I do it about once a year or whenever I screw up the lift.

Otto Mechanic

Thinking about this further though, a 4 post may not be all that good for alignments since you'd need two precision lift jacks to get the car off the wheels. I have no idea how precise the lift jacks are, but my guess is they aren't very. And you'd need two, normally you'd only have one, and since they're about $600 each for the rolling type it could be much more expensive than a dedicated alignment setup, and probably wouldn't work nearly as well.

Leveling the lift is one thing. Leveling the lift jacks is another.

Cory M

I use a 2 post for alignment with raised stands for improved access. A 2 post isn't as easy to drive on and off for storage but it gives you more access than the typical 4 post.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/8507871-post3807.html

paradisenb

Another option would be a scissor lift and stands like Cory's or what Matt linked to.

kgorman

The car wouldn't be on the lift jacks, it would be on it's tires on the ramps. I don't get what are saying here.

kgorman

I really didn't/don't want to get into 2 vs 4 post and all that stuff, it's covered so much already. Just the viability of a 4 poster for alignments instead of an MK rack.

Larry Herman

Ken, I think that your 4 post lift will work fine for alignments. You will need turn plates or some sort of home-made low friction setup (2 floor tiles with grease in between under each tire) so that you do not have to roll out the car, and like I mentioned, make sure that the posts are level if you are going to use them as a reference, but other than that, go for it. In my garage I have leveling stands that I set with a laser and then put the scales on them, and then the turn plates on them, then drop the car down from my 2 post lift on top of everything.

Otto Mechanic

Sorry, I assumed at some point you'd need to get the wheels off. On my lift I use a jack. Larry mentions stands as a solution to that. I don't use mine for alignments, just trying to visualize the setup.

If you're only concerned about leveling, it's very easy to level the ramps front to back and side to side and as long as you don't abuse the lift they stay level for a long time. I like mine.

kgorman

Ok interesting stuff. I will give it a shot and report back. Thx for all the inputs.

Larry Herman

My floor pitches to the rear and to the side, so I have 4 15"x15" stands with screw feet that I can get perfectly plumb and level with each other using a construction laser level. It only takes a few minutes, and it gives me a perfect platform to work from, plus it adds about a foot in height to give me some more room to work.

Otto Mechanic

Great idea! Now I understand the two floor tiles and grease comment you made.

I was looking a the Bend-Pak alignment lifts and the only difference I see between them and my four post is they have these built in, along with a plate that lets you turn the wheels as you describe. I wouldn't need leveling for mine but the two tiles and grease method ought to work just fine.

Thanks for the tip! I think I'll start using mine for alignments too, in the past it hadn't really occurred to me.