Well, its been a long wait...but I finally set aside some money to get a solid four post automotive lift installed in my garage.



I purchased this 12,000 pound capacity lift off of craigslist from a fellow named Wyatt. He seems to be a one-man operation in the business of selling pulled lifts as well as selling & installing new lifts for folks. He is kind and easy to work with and I have his business card should anyone ever be interested in his services.



This past Wednesday I took the day off and paid an electrician to (along with a small grocery list of things around the house) run 220 into my garage in anticipation of the installation of this lift



Wyatt arrived this Saturday morning and went straight to business. One thing that impressed me was that I'd imagined this would be a horse of a lot of work on his back to move all the parts into place...but smartly, he let the lift do all the 'heavy' work for him .



After he made necessary measurements, he placed the post uprights in their generally planned corners. Then he backed his trailer into my garage bay, with the bulk of the lift (all one piece base w/ running board/rails). Then he connected each posts' hardware to the base). Then used the lift itself to...lift itself...off his trailer . Drove the trailer out of the garage bay, lowered the lift to the floor, made final measurements/placements, did another test run up/down, and bolted posts into concrete floor. I wired the motor to my 220, but Wyatt was more than willing to advise (just didn't want the added liability, not being an electrician himself, of doing the wiring himself).

All went well, and for $1900...including delivery & installation...I now have a strong four post lift . It ain't purdy...but its fully functional and solid. I plan to make it 'look' nicer...but...well, its a lift so it doesn't really need a date for the prom . What was extra exciting was that The Bruised Banana is my 'lowest' vehicle...and it drove right up without rubbing anywhere along the way. Outside of general maintenance, my plan is to use the lift to store my Bertone over the S2000 24/7.







Final '$' part of the project will be to deal with refitting the garage door hardware & motor such that the door runs straight up the front wall (rather than breaking over at 90 degrees). Once the garage hardware is reoriented, I can run the lift up to maximum height. I figure that will cost me ~ $500-ish more in parts. I plan to do a conversion similar to >> this <<. With a 20 foot ceiling designed into my garage, I doubt my garage door will even break over once sent full up . But if it does,...it will only be the top panel. And even that will have zero impact on an automobile on the lift. Mmmm...then I will be able to change the oil in my wife's Dodge Diesel 4x4 now while standing (yeah...I'm twisted...so what of it! )

Until then...well...I'm still tickled . I'm also going to look into a 'jack tray' at some point. I reckon I'll update this post over time as I tinker with this specific project further. But it will take a few more headlight clearings & Angel Eyes installs before I can wrap this project up .

- Dave

PS. Yes...we need to schedule a tech day out at my place sometime

 

and now i have something fun to look at while i get my halos installed

 

 

Very

 

one word.

awesome.

 

very Dave

 

I want one too.

 

cool deal man i have a two post and love it you think your friends wanted to hang out earlier looks like your house is the new man cave for everyone
is it an open front and did it come with the middle jacks?

 

4 post...'bars' across the front/rear allowing the cabling to pass through to each corner...no middle jack (as I mentioned in my OP, I'll be looking for a jackplate later). The left runner is fixed, the right slides left-to-right to accommodate various axle widths. There is a grooved gutter along the inside wall of each runner where a jack plate would [will ] rest.

 

it looks GRRREAT but it could use a fresh coat of paint.... just sayin