Alexander Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Hi guys Thank you all for your input. A few months back I was looking to buy a car lift. I Finlay did it. here it is installed. I had to re-work the garage door to clear the 2nd car. no big deal. All is well now. I love it Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Looks great! How tall is the roof in your garage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatS.... Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Hi guysThank you all for your input. A few months back I was looking to buy a car lift. I Finlay did it. here it is installed. I had to re-work the garage door to clear the 2nd car. no big deal. All is well now. I love it Alex I think "all is well" is an understatement. Looks great! How about more details on installation and any modifications to the garage you had to make. How much did you sell your creeper for ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm's Coupe Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Those are nice. I could not use one of those in my garage though, even if I did rework the garage door. Have four cross rafter supports that are only about 8 feet off the floor. Have to make sure the hood isn't under one of those rafters before I raise it, otherwise the hood hits the rafters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Hemingway Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 That looks just like my Lift, After you have it for awhile you will wonder why it took you so long to get one. Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric wissing Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Yes, more details looks great. Where is it from? How level does the floor have to be? and do they give any requirements for concrette thickness? Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 With the gear head that I am, It was a life long dream to have one in my own house. I must admit this is one of those cheap ones (made in china). However the hydraulics is made in the US. Before buying one i went to see it live and did some research. I found that most lifts fail because the cables slip off the pulleys while the lift is in rest mode (lift is resting on safety notches). if the lift is raised while one cable is slipped off, the lift will become unbalance and collapse. to prevent this from happening: keep the cables slightly tight, and anchor the 4 post in the the concrete. otherwise the lift is very strong and made with extra heavy steal. The garage is just about 12ft tall. If you are not planing to store a tall car (like the p15) you don't need 12 ft ceilings. 10ft is all you need for service work. I had to add extra track so that the garage door goes further up before making the turn. attached are 2 pics one with the door open the other with it closed. it took my friend and I about 2 hours assemble/install the lift and about another 3 hours to re-work the garage door. The lift is a must have for those who like to tinker. It opens up a new world. I had a bad tie rod end that need to be replaced. with out the lift it would have been a half day project. jack the car, find a good point for the jack stands, take off the wheel ....ect. Now that I had the lift, I just went under the car, and took care of the tie rod end in 30 min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Well I guess if I wanted to tak out have a walkin closet, the wife's sewing room and half the gues bedroom, I could put one of those in. After having had the opportunity to have my car up on Bill Willards lift while we were down in NC, I can see how having one can be habit forming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Noticed in the pic that your garage door lift stuff looks fairly recent. Up here in the wilds of central NY, They can no longer sell and install or replace the style spring coils you have that travel withthe cable pully. We have to have the torsion spring with the pipe running through it. I did have a spring like yours break and come loose. Glad no one was near it when it went, the end put some really deep grooves in teh garage wall. After that happened, I went to the hardware store and got some bable and cable clamps and rigged a safety wire through the center of the spring and clamped each end to a securley mounted eye bolt. That way when the spring lets go, its travel is held in check byt hte lenght of cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Yeah its kind of new, but they still make the torsion system. In fact when went to the parts store they tried to talk me in to converting to the torsion system so to properly counter weight the door. Turns out I did not need. For safety, I have a steal cable running through the spring. if the spring snaps it goes no where. its will just sit like beads on a string. cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normspeed Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Alexander, I'll be over next Saturday morning with a 24 pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyHarold Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Alexander, I live in Freehold. I can REALLY be over there next Saturday morning with a 24 pack! Harold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I built my addition with 13 foot ceiling just for the lift ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_amos Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Alex, Now THAT is kool!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billwillard Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Norm's Coupe, make your ceiling caterdal and cut the rafters out. Have done that in the past. Eric, Floor does not have to be level. Find your highest corner and place shims under the other 3 legs to bring it all in level. Most lifts can also be adjusted by cables. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 You guys are all welcomed to come by, especially those who are in the area. Harold, you kind of live next door to me. I am located in Monroe NJ. I would love to meet you and the car. stay in touch Alex- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm's Coupe Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Greg G, I still have the springs on the cable pulleys in my garage. They must be original, so that means they are as old as the garage. It was built in 1958. Garage door is that old too. I know those things can be dangerous though because a neighbor lost part of a finger while working on one years ago. However, if I wanted to change mine, I'd have to also replace the garage door. The new type springs probably wouldn't lift the door because it's so heavy. It's the old wooden type. Goes up pretty easy without the opener now, but use modern springs and you probably couldn't lift the door, especially my wife couldn't. As it is, I have to use a 1/2 HP opener to operate it. billwillard: Don't know if you could remove the rafters in my garage like you mentioned. They appear to be part of the support system for the walls and roof. We need nice strong supports here in the north country to withstand the snow load. Someone ask about leveling the High Lift on an uneven floor. That brought an interesting question in my mind for people in the colder climates with detached garages. Most garages are built without a 4 foot foundation and the slab is either the foundation, or it's floating even here in the cold climates. That means during the extreme cold, frost gets under the garage floor and heaves it slightly. That will tilt the whole building since the floor is also the foundation. If that happened, it would also throw the High Lift out of level, and maybe make it unsafe. People in the warmer climates don't have to worry about that because the frost doesn't penetrate the ground as deep. Up here, we can get frost down the whole 4 feet in a cold winter snap. Just thought I'd throw that frost thing out there for the northerners. Might want to check into that before installing a High Lift. Not to mention the personal safety aspect, but also seeing that car on top fall on the one below it, damaging both cars. I had to add longer wheels on my garage door years ago due to frost heaving the floor and throwing the garage out of square. Come warmer weather I don't need those longer shaft wheels because it's back to normal. One winter years ago, it was several inches out of square simply due to frost heaving it. So, frost is something to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Interesting point Norm. Although in my case the garage is attached to the house, I will keep on eye on its level. I guess you just never know. Thanks Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatS.... Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Frostline here is also about 4 feet. A neighbor has a lift in his garage and he was told by the city that his 3 inches of concrete was not good enough to support the total designed weight of his lift. He sawcut the floor and dug some footings and good thing because there was a void under the spot where one post would have been. What you don't know could hurt you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm's Coupe Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Alex, didn't mean to put a bug in your ear. Actually, I don't think you'd have that problem for a couple of reasons. One is like you said, the garage is attached. Second, you don't get the long cold snaps for the frost to go that deep in NJ like we do in Wisconsin and other places up north. Even though places like Kentucky gets some zero weather, it doesn't last long enough for the frost to penetrate more than about a foot or so. Down there you can build a house on just a concrete slab. Can't do that here in Wisconsin, the foundation has to be at least 4 feet deep to build a house according to code here. I was throwing that question out there for people living in the real cold climates like we have up here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric wissing Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Pat, That was my thinking. I would cut a 12" x 12" square where each post would go and go down a few feet and use some rebar. Alex's house being new and the garage being attached to the house, I am sure there is a 4' footing around his walls. The floor might float but it is probably sitting on rigid insulation and has rebar running through it. I have a friend who lets me use her garage to store vehicles. It would be ideal for a lift. 12' to the rafters but the floor is pretty shoddy. It also has one side fitted with the old wood swing doors. I think the roll up doors would solve that. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat1955 Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Hey Alexander....So, which manufacturers lift did you go with? I've been looking at a few. I'm hoping next summer to build a small shop and install a lift....but haven't made up my mind on whose lift to buy. Any input would be apprecaited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Hemingway Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 splat1955, I have a Direct Lift Pro Park 7 and I love it. I use it all the time, I can lift any of my cars to work on them. I did not anchor the posts so I can use the casters to move the lift when I need/want to, so if I want to work on a car outside I can move the lift outside as I now have it in my new garage. Dennis:D http://rides.webshots.com/album/105638282NVYYSY http://www.directlift.com/propark7.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I bought the "Complete Hydraulic lift" http://www.completehydraulic.com/ Turns out most of these cheaper "made in china" lifts are all identical regardless of the name brand. The US vendors/dealers put on a sticker and sell them as there own. Dennis if you take a close look we have the same exact lift. I have the same plastic blocks that run inside the 4 posts. That being said the Back Yard buddy & Rotary brands are made in the US and have a different design. Thanks Dennis, I remember studying your pictures when deciding to go with this lift. Although it has a different name brand its still the same exact lift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billwillard Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Hope you guys keep that cold up there. Us southern boys do not need none of that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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