I'm looking at a couple of used 2 posts, both of which are symmetric. I understand that you can't fully open the doors with this style. Is that the only drawback?

Older lifts are narrower and like you say you can't open the doors. A real PITA when doing things like the adjusting the clutch cable. Make sure you have clearance, I was told my lift was 11'-10" but the rams poked out the top another 4". My ceiling is 12'-1 1/2 inch so I now have a couple small dents in the ceiling.-

Inspect all the guide cables, rollers, hoses and safety locks. Check for leaks at the fittings. Lift a car and check for smooth operation, bounce the car at one end and look for bent arms (not sitting on all four pads).
If you don't have 3-phase wiring I'd pass on a lift that is 3 phase (unless you get a smokin' deal) as the inverter is expensive.
I wouldn't buy a used Chinese lift

For my lift they were asking for $1500, I paid $1000 cash same day and took it down myself. They had a forklift and put it on my trailer as it weighed at least 2500lbs. I have an over head crane (chain hoist) in my shop so I installed it by myself, if you don't you'll need 3-4 big guys to stand up the posts. You should have a 6" concrete floor and you'll need about $80 worth of redheads and $45 for renting a Hilti drill for a half day.

Both lifts are single phase 220 which I have easily accessible. One is a Rotary and the other an old Mohawk (massively overbuilt for my needs). I think I've only got about 4" of concrete. Is that a major problem? Biggest thing I'd be lifting is about 4500#.

My $1k 7000 lbs AAMCO lift.

I would be careful about installing one on a 4" concrete pad unless an engineer (someone on this forum) gives their blessing. I imagine that if one uses a larger base plate on the lift to spread the load, it might be OK, but I would not trust one that isn't installed to the manufacturer's specs.

I think the floor needs to be thick enough to support the weight

as well as to anchor the bolts for the uprites that carry the weight

Mark tell me about the lift you don't buy, may be interested

This is not a test just to see if you are a nice guy



IBTL

We buy american made challenger lifts used in Arlington tx for 600.00. the sticker says they were sold new by a distributor in houston. Parts are easily found. They are way over built for 7k lbs. Only thing is mine has the coating on the cables cracked from being coiled up after it was taken down. No oily connections or cylinders, 220 single phase. The pads are 40 inch x 19 using 4 inch angle iron. I'll bet there are lots of lifts installed on 4 inch slabs. I think they measure 11 ft 9 or 10 inches high and 11 feet wide on the outside of the columns with the 4 inch angle on each outside. I don't know if that is considered narrow allthough the columns are about 12 inches square so thats only 9 feet between them. I don't know the weight as we loaded them with a front end loader and mine is still on a trailer in the yard waiting for a cleaned out spot in the shop. I traded the guy that found me the lift a 79 corvette I got from him in 96 that needed the new front end glued on it and repainted for a 87 300 sdl mercedes that runs so I can at least move it around where the corvette was just taking up space in the shop.

Hey Nord, I'll shoot you the info after I get it figured out. BTW

Hey, I've got a rep to maintain.

The weight should not be a problem for the 4 inch concrete.
The problem is the torque the poles with the car on it will apply to the floor connecting point.

4" concrete is fine. But don't use 6" anchor bolts and drill your holes all the way thru the slab.

That's what I thought, but you do understand I want to lift something heavier than 1300 lbs?

The other problem is garage floors are sometimes less than 4" thick. A newer spec built house will be the ones to be careful of. You may need a larger base plate to spread the load or to cut out and add in a nice fat piece of concrete for it to sit on.

You're right. Fortunately I saw my slab poured. It was speced for 4" but I think it was well over that. I will pay careful attention to the base plate dimension though.

Mine is on 4" slab. One side the concrete was cracked. We removed and recast a 4' square. The bolts on that side were cast in place. The other side were drilled.