SOT Did you install your own two post lift Options

[sww914]

I found a good deal on a used lift but I'm probably too cheap to pay anyone to install it.
Where I'd like to put it is in my driveway just in front of the garage, but the concrete there is 30 years old.
Will I get Ginted if I plant it in old concrete?

Ginted
verb
1. to have one's head partially smashed by a falling automobile due to a failed support device. ( often not fatal or disfiguring) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

I found a good deal on a used lift but I'm probably too cheap to pay anyone to install it.
Where I'd like to put it is in my driveway just in front of the garage, but the concrete there is 30 years old.
Will I get Ginted if I plant it in old concrete?

Ginted
verb
1. to have one's head partially smashed by a falling automobile due to a failed support device. ( often not fatal or disfiguring) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Ginted.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

[John]

I can feel the LOVE... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Back to the topic, I would NOT install on a typical concrete found on a driveway. Reason is it probably isn't thick enough.

What is the brand of the lift you are buying? Contact the company or look on the web to see if you can find installation instructions. I know ROTARY has info on the web.

Rotary calls out minimum 5.5" thick reinforced concrete. We knew this when building my garage, so we made the floor where the lift is plenty thick. We were not sure how deep they were going to pour the concrete and made the area a little deeper the night before the pour. It ended up 12+ inches thick. When the installer came out, his bit wouldn't go all the way through the floor!

In my opinion, I would think twice about installing a 2 post lift on a driveway slab or outdoors.


just my $0.02


How cheap did you get your lift? They aren't that expensive new.

[JPB]

Ginted? Hell no mister. I'd put one of them, there right there like you said there. I just would not stand under it though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Its not me, its that dangold red sauce I've been sipin on dowgonit.

[r_towle]

If you have a drill and a masonry bit, drill a few test holes in the driveway to determine how thick it is.

If you are ok there, rent a metal detector to see if there is re-enforcing.
Typically there is, if you dont have loads of cracks...if you do have loads of crack, its probably not re-enforced.

If you pass both tests, go for it, just use a really heavy duty concrete fastener.
If its two thin, a larger plate of 3/8 inch steel will work to spread the wieght out, figure that you need to quadruple the foot print on the ground, and you will be fine.

At the end of the day, you are placing a load of 1/2 the car and 1/2 the lift on less than one square foot of concrete.

Rich

[bernbomb914]

I just installed a 4 post lift. what I like about it is I can roll it around inside or outside. that makes it very handy and it will handle 7000 lbs. plus you can store a car on top while you work on the ground.

Bernie

[smj]

I just installed a 4 post lift. what I like about it is I can roll it around inside or outside.

What make of lift was this?
What kind did the rest of you install?

I just sent sketches off to the structural engineer for my lower level, and would like to plan ahead for a lift of one sort or another. I had been thinking about one of those knee-high jobs I've seen for a couple grand, but bigger is better, right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)