Four Post Lift Question....again

[NOTV8]

Anyone here use the Four Post Lift from Direct Lift (Greg Smith)? They have the ProPark 7 and ProPark 9 Plus... Care to share your experienced? I know that most... Rotary Lift is the choice but just trying to make some comparison before my purchase. Thanks in advance.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Four-Post-Lift-Auto-...tem300064248986


http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Four-Post-Car-Li...tem300064263877

 

[snampro]

I, too, am looking for a 4-post lift, but I don't want to get jacks I have to hand crank (I have a professional grade compressor) and I am bothered by the delivery requirements...

 

[vinny2]

what is the minimum ceiling clearance required for a "standard" lift?

 

[snampro]

vinny: here's an old thread about ceiling heights:

THREAD LINK

it sounds like the only thing the ceiling height limits is how high you can lift the car, which makes sense.

 

[Gus Strakes]

I have a Pro Park 7 Direct Lift bought from Greg Smith Lifts. I bought the lift about two years ago, and have had no problems with it. I had professionals install it, so I can't be much help there, but I do remember them saying that they felt it was a quality lift. I'm happy with mine, and the customer service at Greg Smith's is excellent. Even though the reps at Greg Smith's said there was no need to bolt it down, I found it to be not as sturdy as I wanted when a car was on it, and the lift was up, so I bolted it down, and I recommend it. It's fairly easy to "un-bolt" and "re-bolt" if you ever wanted to utilize the casters.

 

[snampro]

gus, do you have bridge jacks? its important to me to be able to lift the car off its wheels, and that seems to be the best way...

 

[vinny2]

thanks!

 

[Joseph Dell]

The one I have is the pro-pack from greg smith. Vinny - you are familiar with mine... 82" is all you need to get a lift to fit in the garage. I have shoooort 9 ft ceilings in the garage and although that doesn't allow for stacking, it works nicely for basic viper maintenance. If someone needed me to take a pic of the car up in the air (and it's ceiling / floor clearance) I can do that this weekend for sure. as the car is on the lift!

 

[johnk]

Vinny,

If you go to Backyardbuddy.com they have a height calculator for their lifts, not sure whether the other companies do. BTW, I installed the BYB last Spring, just ordered another yesterday.

Good luck.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Just got done using my Rotary (Revolution) lift to put a fuel pump in my Ram Diesel... the thing is rock solid, even though it is not bolted down. Still love this lift and have no idea how I survived so long W/O it.

Have not heard anything bad about the Pro-park lifts you are looking at, The Pro-Park 9 plus's design is very similar (almost looks to be a copy?) of the Revolution lift with all parts inside the post as on the Rotary lift.

I'm thinking the outside of tire number in the ebay listing of 89.5" is actually outside of mirror to outside of mirror. The outside of tire to outside of tire cannot be much more than 79" (based on ..... runway width of 20", and 39" between 20+20+39=79), as I read the description and measured it against my Revolution, it is literally only less than an inch or so different... Gotta be a copy of my lift Not sure if it has the spring loaded secondary safety locks (but looks like it may), it does not have anti-skid runways, and the approach ramps may be to short for a lowered or Gen II Viper at 31".

 

[Jack B]

I have used my Eagle lift for five years and it has worked without any issues. You need between 9'6" and 10'-0" for it to be fully functional. I use a creeper seat with a back and it works better than standing/working. If you don't want to park a car below, it could be much lower, the viper is only about 50"H and the lift floor is only about 4" deep.

 

[snampro]

how did you guys get your lifts delivered and installed?

 

[Gus Strakes]

Ben - I do not have bridge jacks, actually I'm looking for a jack (bridge, bottle or scissor) that you can operate with air. I need one that has a minimum height of under 7 inches to be able to use it with the jack tray that came with the lift (The FE has Eibachs). If anyone knows of any, let me know.

For delivery and installation, I had the lift shipped to a freight terminal in Baltimore, I picked it up there with my car trailer (they loaded it with a fork lift), and after getting it home, I hired two guys who work with lifts for a living to do the installation. They charged me $400 to do the job, it took them about 3-4 hours.

 

[Jay Herbert]

how did you guys get your lifts delivered and installed?

Had mine delivered to work. We got it off the truck with our biggest forklift, and then with the overhead steel crane we placed it on my car trailer.

I hauled it home and took it off the trailer one piece at a time. I used some creative engineering (and a lot of dollies, jacks and jack stands) to get the two heaviest (ramp sections) off the trailer and into the garage.

Three of my buddies and I put it together on the following Saturday afternoon.

 

[Jack B]

Gus:

I did the same and bought an air jack to use on the jack tray and it was too tall. I ended up buying an electric scissor jack. I then built a wood block out of 4X4's. I lift one side with the jack, place the block under the frame and lift the other side and put a second block under the frame, the car is now supported by the two blocks. I can do this in the rear or the front.

I also sent the lift to my place of business and brought it home with a small truck. Two men can lift or leverage the parts into place. My wife and I assembled it in about three hours.

I never bolted to it down and used it free standing for five years, but, I recently bought another toy and did not feel right about pulling under the viper with the new car with the lift not being fastened. I just finished putting four 1/2" concrete lags in each post/plate.

 

[johnk]

how did you guys get your lifts delivered and installed?

If you don't have access to a car trailer or a trailer with a bed at least 15' long the best alternative I've found is hiring someone with a rollback to pick it up from your local freight dock. The rollback can then deliver it to your house, and gently slide it down the bed with the use of the winch. I can't speak for the others, the standard BYB is > 2500lbs as I recall. I installed mine completely by myself and would not recommend that. I used an engine puller, dollys and a pneumatic bike lift and it was still a struggle as the treads are like 450 lbs on the BYB. They can arrange for installation (I may choose that option when my 2nd lift is delivered next month) for ~450-$600. If you have a couple friends to help you shouldn't have an issue as it's a simple bolt-together deal.

Good luck..

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

My lift was delivered and installed by the mfr.

This is only available to CA residents as the mfr. is located in Ca only installs in CA. But they do have a nation wide base of installers. Installation is not rocket science but critical to safe and designed function.

 

[cayman]

10 foot ceiling in my home shop. With the car as high as it would go without going through the ceiling, I can almost stand up underneath (I'm only 5'8" ) I know the original post question was concerning 4 post lifts but, I went with the Complete Hydraulic two-post ($1,900, shipping included)so I wouldn't have to screw around with bridge jacks to get the wheels off. That's the main thing. Even if I just bring the car up off the floor a few feet, I can still wheel around on my handy dandy adjustable shop chair underneath the car and do just about anything I want. Unless you plan on parking another car underneath, the two-post gives the best of both worlds when it comes to working underneath your car, IMO.

Had it delivered to a local shipping company where we picked it up using a flatbed trailer. Took three of us to manhandle the columns into the shop and upright them. Took me about 4 hours to set it up by myself.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[wesman]

The one I have is the pro-pack from greg smith. Vinny - you are familiar with mine... 82" is all you need to get a lift to fit in the garage. I have shoooort 9 ft ceilings in the garage and although that doesn't allow for stacking, it works nicely for basic viper maintenance. If someone needed me to take a pic of the car up in the air (and it's ceiling / floor clearance) I can do that this weekend for sure. as the car is on the lift!

I would love to see this, and the amount of room under the car. I want a lift but don't think it's feasible as I have standard ceilings in the garage. I've thought of vaulting/raising the ceiling where the lift would go as there is attic space above it , but I'm sure that would get expensive.

Pics would be great tho

--wes

 

[snampro]

cayman, that two-post lift is what I really want, looks great!!!

complete hydraulics website says you need 10' ceilings, but it looks like your posts are not 10' tall, how tall are they? if I can get those in my 9.5' garage I couldn't care less if I can't get the car all the way to the top.

we'll, I just measured my ceilings and they are 9', so I guess I'm doomed to a 4-post lift. I'll dug through the specs on the complete hydraulics lifts and it looks like the lift towers are 9'3" on the base plate models. I guess I could notch the floor joices a few inches (they are 2x8) and add stiffeners to the sides...

found these:

9'1" height:
http://eagleequip.com/page/EE/PROD/LI-ETP/618-001