twinvipers
Enthusiast
I'm sure many of you use a 4 post lift for car storage. I need to make more space to store cars and would appreciate any input on which brand you use and how much you paid. Pic's would be great also.
Which 4 post lift for storage ?
- Thread starter twinvipers
- Start date
THOR
Viper Owner
<Lurking> Me too. 
scottgf
Viper Owner
...me three
Joseph Dell
Enthusiast
I use this one: https://www.gregsmithequipment.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=41 . Sometimes for stacking and often for storage. I went to home depot and had a piece of plywood cut to fit between the "runways" and I store lots of stuff on top. Tires... pressure washer... lawn mower...
JD
JD
Bill B
Enthusiast
I have 2 Perfect park 7000's. And I'm very happy with them. Eagle also offers them, I have their 2 post that I like.
larry milo
Enthusiast
Back Yard Buddy...
Great lift...
Silly name...
Great lift...
Silly name...
Achilles99
Enthusiast
Most of the lifts listed above have the same latching mechanism. I don't find them to be super sturdy... if you push on it without a car on top, it moves quite a bit. I looked at an Autolifter in person, and it was a LOT sturdier for a couple of hundred bucks more.
http://www.autolifters.com/m6.html
http://www.autolifters.com/m6.html
BS99GTS
Enthusiast
I have an Autolifter four post lift and would not recommend it...poor quality components and I have had many problems! My brother has two Backyard Buddy's they work really well for storage, he has had no problems.
Hissses
Enthusiast
I looked at a bunch of them at Barrett Jackson last year and was inpressed with R-Top lift. The owner though he could build a better lift and started his own company. Also the price included delivery and set up! Very nice to deal with. Great customer support. I changed my mind and wanted to get the wider lift after they had already delivered and set up my lift. Came back out and changed it out, no hassles!
I wish I had purchased one alot sooner! Here is a link to there site.
http://www.rtoplift.com/
Good luck
I wish I had purchased one alot sooner! Here is a link to there site.
http://www.rtoplift.com/
Good luck
Achilles99
Enthusiast
Really? Can you be more specific about the problems you had? I went and looked at two of them, and they really impressed me with their structural rigidity... what exactly went wrong? Why wasn't it covered under warranty?
Jerry Dobson
Enthusiast
There are a lot of lifts out there. Many are very similar.
Most of the lifts do not have a "Double Catch" lock. If you are lowering the lift and the cable breaks, a double catch will not allow the car to fall. Revolution has a double catch system.
If you are looking for a lift, I would recommend a lift that is ALI certified.
http://www.autolift.org/members.html
I like Revolution lifts.
Most of the lifts do not have a "Double Catch" lock. If you are lowering the lift and the cable breaks, a double catch will not allow the car to fall. Revolution has a double catch system.
If you are looking for a lift, I would recommend a lift that is ALI certified.
http://www.autolift.org/members.html
I like Revolution lifts.
snakebitdave
Enthusiast
I am still very happy with my Rotary "Revolution" lift. See the pictures of it in my gallery.
Achilles99
Enthusiast
Dang Dave, that is one heck of a nice stable!
Jerry Dobson
Enthusiast
I will start a new post with the price of on Revolution.
Dohhunter
Enthusiast
I have a Direct Lift. Known as the cheapest lift on the market I was a little worried at first. I did a lot of research on it and others, here, on corvetteforum and a few other boards.
I have another small disadvantage being in Canada, and we do have to pay tax/brokerage and more freight coming across the border so I was shopping with price in mind, but didn't want to sacrifice reliability or safety.
I must say, i have had no problems with the Direct Lift, and she works wonderful.
I have another small disadvantage being in Canada, and we do have to pay tax/brokerage and more freight coming across the border so I was shopping with price in mind, but didn't want to sacrifice reliability or safety.
I must say, i have had no problems with the Direct Lift, and she works wonderful.
BS99GTS
Enthusiast
Achilles99,
Without going into a really really long story, basically I have had two complete bearing failures on the lift's pulleys. Some of the bearings they used in their pulley's were/are ball bearings and other pulleys utilize brass sleeves.
Both failures were while the lift was in motion.
The failures were with the pulley's with ball bearings, the bearings outer race essentially cracked and the bearing failed, in this state the balls in the bearing are free to fall out. When this happens the pulley then twists on it's shaft and the cable comes off the pulley and then the lift with your car on it attempts to fall. Needless to say this is a very scary moment !!!
The first time it happened; when the bearing failed it made a sound like a gunshot and the lift platform with my car on it fell approx 5"-6" to where the safety latch catches. Thanks goodness that their safety mechanism works, however be aware that this leaves your lift platform with your car on it in a twisted state. One corner is lower than the others. This creates a real challenge when you are ready to fix the bearing and return the platform/car to a level postion.
I sent them the failed bearing and they sent me a postcard note that the bearings must be properly lubed (but the bearing had plenty of lube on the balls and other pieces that I sent them?) and they mentioned that I could purchase replacement bearings for $15.00 (I think that was the price...don't remember exactly). Since my lift is only used about four times per year and was only about 18 months old...I didn't feel that was the actual problem so I just chalked up the failure to a defective bearing and purchased two new ones (although I was pissed...who has time for this crap!). And now I really wanted a spare. I repaired the failed bearing, made sure all of them were greased and got the lift back into operation...I gotta tell ya it wasn't a pretty sight sitting there on an angle for a week or so while I waited on the new bearings.
Good thing I bought the spare because three months later another bearing failed on the opposite site. Fortunately I knew what to expect and also my car was closer to ground this time. I really wasn't buying the lube issue at this point and had absolutely no faith in Autolifter's. So I took the spare bearing to an industrial bearing supply company, to see if I could purchase something
more heavy duty. After some measurements, I was advised that this is somewhat of a special bearing, it is a metric bearing from China that is commonly used on Lawn Mower/Tractor applications for the shaft that powers the blades. It is designed for higher RPM applications and is not designed for the forces that exist on my lift. There was no exact industrial replacement for this "cheap" bearing and my pulley's would have to machined in order to fit a proper bearing.
After this experience I checked the other pulley's on my unit with ball bearings and they were cracked but had not completely failed yet.
In addition to this issue, I have had leakage problems with the rod seals on the lifting cylinder. Thus I can not recommend a AutoLifter's unit.
Sorry for the length of the message but I could go on and on about how scary it is to have a piece of equipment like this that you do feel comfortable working around.
Without going into a really really long story, basically I have had two complete bearing failures on the lift's pulleys. Some of the bearings they used in their pulley's were/are ball bearings and other pulleys utilize brass sleeves.
Both failures were while the lift was in motion.
The failures were with the pulley's with ball bearings, the bearings outer race essentially cracked and the bearing failed, in this state the balls in the bearing are free to fall out. When this happens the pulley then twists on it's shaft and the cable comes off the pulley and then the lift with your car on it attempts to fall. Needless to say this is a very scary moment !!!
The first time it happened; when the bearing failed it made a sound like a gunshot and the lift platform with my car on it fell approx 5"-6" to where the safety latch catches. Thanks goodness that their safety mechanism works, however be aware that this leaves your lift platform with your car on it in a twisted state. One corner is lower than the others. This creates a real challenge when you are ready to fix the bearing and return the platform/car to a level postion.
I sent them the failed bearing and they sent me a postcard note that the bearings must be properly lubed (but the bearing had plenty of lube on the balls and other pieces that I sent them?) and they mentioned that I could purchase replacement bearings for $15.00 (I think that was the price...don't remember exactly). Since my lift is only used about four times per year and was only about 18 months old...I didn't feel that was the actual problem so I just chalked up the failure to a defective bearing and purchased two new ones (although I was pissed...who has time for this crap!). And now I really wanted a spare. I repaired the failed bearing, made sure all of them were greased and got the lift back into operation...I gotta tell ya it wasn't a pretty sight sitting there on an angle for a week or so while I waited on the new bearings.
Good thing I bought the spare because three months later another bearing failed on the opposite site. Fortunately I knew what to expect and also my car was closer to ground this time. I really wasn't buying the lube issue at this point and had absolutely no faith in Autolifter's. So I took the spare bearing to an industrial bearing supply company, to see if I could purchase something
more heavy duty. After some measurements, I was advised that this is somewhat of a special bearing, it is a metric bearing from China that is commonly used on Lawn Mower/Tractor applications for the shaft that powers the blades. It is designed for higher RPM applications and is not designed for the forces that exist on my lift. There was no exact industrial replacement for this "cheap" bearing and my pulley's would have to machined in order to fit a proper bearing.
After this experience I checked the other pulley's on my unit with ball bearings and they were cracked but had not completely failed yet.
In addition to this issue, I have had leakage problems with the rod seals on the lifting cylinder. Thus I can not recommend a AutoLifter's unit.
Sorry for the length of the message but I could go on and on about how scary it is to have a piece of equipment like this that you do feel comfortable working around.
Gus Strakes
Enthusiast
I ordered mine today. After several weeks of research, I came to the conclusion that the Pro-Park 7 was the best deal, without sacrificing quality and safety.
