4 post car lift brands?

I just ordered a Backyard Buddy. I heard really good things. Called the owner and I am having them add another 3 inches to the width so I can fit my fat car on top (84 inches mirror to mirror, non-folding). Take a look.

 

I have the backyard buddy. Did a lot of research and it came up on top. I can tell you 2 years later, the research was on the money.

 

I Have a Direct Lift Propark 8. It's a 4 post lift with 8,000lb lift capacity.

I've had it for about 2-3 years now, and I love it. It's easy to use and well constructed.

I keep an 85 Mondial on top, and various other cars beneath (VW Karmann Ghia, MB W123, etc.)

My lift is 110volt. It takes about 30-45 seconds to lift from the floor to ceiling.

My ceiling is 10ft, and I can get the Mondial on top with a small to medium sedan below.
I did put in new garage door tracks to move the doors close to the ceiling (hi lift kit is what I think it was called). I also replaced the central garage door openers with side mounted openers - Chaimberlain/Liftmaster Jackshaft 3500s. That keeps them completely out of the way of the door and/or the car being lifted.

Whatever you get, try to get an extra lifting mechanism with it to lift up the cars wheels off of the rails. This lets you jack the car up while it's on the lift, and remove the wheels. On the Direct Lift this is called a Pro Jack 3500.

One other neat feature of the Direct lift is that it sits on top of the garage floor. It doesn't require fastening or bolting down. It also has a neat feature that lets you attach dolly type wheels to each post so that you can easily move the lift around the garage by hand (without a car on it of course).

I paid about $2k for the lift, 500 for delivery, 500 for installation, and about $400 for other accessories.

I have no regrets at all. Best thing I've ever bought for my garage - with the exception of the Mondial.

Sid

 

Would you please post pictures? My garage is ceiling challenged (9'3") and will need to change LiftMaster to side mount as well to get tracks up as close to ceiling as possible. Thx.

 

If I was going to build a garage to use a lift in, both for storage and working on the cars/trucks would 12' be ok or would 14' be better?

 

I'm happy with my Bendpak HD-9ST.

 

I have a bendpak HD9 with 220v power. Cieling height of 12' should be good but be sure the garage door, when opened, won't interfere with the lift or the car on the lift. Also if you have a central rail garage door opener, measure that height as we'll. It might limit your height. I redid my garage door so the rails had the door open as close to the cieling as possible and I went with a side mounted door opener. My garage is 20x20 with a 13' cieling but my true clearance is 106" with the door opened. It fits my Scuderia and Austin Healey perfectly. Order drip trays when you get the lift too. My Healey leaks oil like the "Classic" British car that it is and it's usually on the lift over the Scuderia.

 

I have a Quality Lift out of Long Island. Made in Kentucky with Chinese Steel

 

I measured my garage ceiling last night. At the centerpoint, it's 115 inches.
My total garage size is 25x30 - it's a 3 car garage, with about 5 extra feet of depth.

With the Mondial on the lift, with about 4 inches of ceiling clearance, there's 55 inches below the lift for another car.

This first set of pics, shows the empty garage, with the lift being installed.

Note the pic with the large caster like (orange) wheels. These are the devices that allow the lift to be rolled around the garage. They aren't in any other pics, as they only attach when you want to move the unit.

the last pic, shows my first test of the lift, with a relatively light car - my 67 Karmann Ghia convertible.


sid
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These show a somewhat unconventional use of the lift, in that I used it to separate the body from the floor pan (chassis) of my 1974 Karmann Ghia Coupe. You see the 67 KG on top of the lift, and the body of the 74 hanging from the lift rails.

My wife made some comment about a Darwin Award.

And the last 2 show the Mondial up on the lift. It's at the highest lift lock position before hitting the ceiling. If I had a higher ceiling, there's about another 2 feet of lift available. At the position shown, the lift is resting on the mechanical locks.


Sid
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Here's some different views.

Sorry for the crappy quality, these were done with my iphone.

Also, excuse the mess, it was garage cleanup/out day yesterday.

Also, some of the pics make the lift/cars look as if they are not level. I assure you that everything is level. Some artifact of the old iphone is causing this. My garage does slope slightly from front to back, but not enough to be noticeable

And on a further note, the 74 KG Coupe is a long term project. The pan (chassis) is fully restored at this point, however, I havent started on the body yet. In the pics, you will see the unrestored body, resting on the restored pan, all of which is sitting on furniture dollies, which allow me to more it around the garage. It's small enough to pull out from under the lift sideways, between the front and rear lift posts.

sid
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Once again, sorry about the crappy quality.

The second to last pic, shows an undercar shot. If you look closely at the lift, near the front of the car, you can see the lift jack. This allows us to lift either the front or rear of the car off the lift rails, so that we can remove wheels and do some work.

Last week, we had the rear lifted up, the passenger wheel and wheel well removed so that we could remove the alternator - it died and had to have it rebuilt. The lift made that job much easier.

sid
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I got the bendpak hd9 for the house because I needed width for the Countach. The only pain is you need compressed air for the lock system. I have six Rotary lifts in my repair shop a couple that are over twenty years old. Bendpak is great for the hobbiest, Rotary is for the professional shop environment. I thought backyard buddy was way overpriced

 

Thanks for all the pics, Sid!

 

voltage question 120v vs 240v

final result is same, the difference is in how the power is generated at the lift motor... 240v motors are more efficient when working under load... ultimately power needed is measured in watts, is the same, which means more ampere are needed at 120v... larger current (ampere ) flow requires heavier gauge wiring... typical house wiring is generally at 15 - 20 amp, the lift can be pushing the limits of the typical house circuit,
if not on a dedicated circuit, a by product of more current flow can be heat, using 240v keeps the amperes at a lower level, safer, and faster operation ( as noticed by some )

 

I am happy with my Bendpak. I got the narrow version for obvious reasons. I too found backyard buddy to be overpriced.
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Been a very satisfied Backyard Buddy owner with multiple lifts over over a decade. Are you looking for LI or Boca?

 

In my shop all are 220 of course. At the house I have all 110. For home use 110 is fine and only slightly slower. Not worth the $$$ to run a 220 line IMHO.

 

When I had my house built, I had extra 110 circuits run in the garage (and media room, and office). I was expecting and needing the circuits for things like the lift and compressor, freezer, and other items/tools.

If you are building a house, it doesn't cost very much extra to have 2 or 3 dedicated circuits added to the garage.

as for 110 for the lift, it works just fine. Takes about 30-45 seconds to fully raise it. I don't think 220 would have been that much faster. Any faster might actually be worse, as I like to watch it go up carefully and make sure I don't actually hit the ceiling.

Sid