Fergwife and I are house shopping right now, and I got the OK for a garage lift for the new place. I'm just starting to do my research and think I want a 2 post lift for ease of working on the car (wheels suspended) But... I'm finding that 4inch base of concrete is a must, and doubt that newer homes around here have that. So I may have to go the 4 post route, My plans and hopes are 3 cars in 2 car garage, and minor 914 work made easier.

Those with lifts (Gint, Jim, ect) have any insight for me on types of lifts, good experiences with certain companys ect.

TIA

Ferg.

Regarding the 4 inch requirement for the footings, you can sawcut the garage floor in the areas that the footings are required, dig down the appropiate depth and repour the concrete. If there is a bolt pattern for the base of the lift, you could install "j bolts" while the concrete is wet. Good luck, Lou Rachwitz

There are other choices besides the two-post and four-post. The low-lift, like Kwik Lift, which is a lower, cheaper, no-220-required, you can't park anything under it four-post. There's also what I'll call the scissors lift (don't have any ready examples, though I saw at least one on this very board), which is nearly ideal for the 914, but not so ideal for anything else. These lift the car from the four corners of the 914 tub (the donuts), leaving the wheels and the driveline dangling. If you have to work on the exhaust on a front engined car, this model would suck.

The other factor with a four-post IF you intend to do the up/down parking thing is ceiling height in the prospective garage. My garage is 115" from the floor to the joists, which is not quite enough for me to park a Mini and a 914 over/under on a four poster (about 1" short). If you're only ever going to park really low cars on it, no problem. The Mini is pretty short, though.

On the concrete depth requirement for the two-poster; since the thing is going to be bolted to the floor, you could certainly have a contractor come out to dig and repour thicker sections under where the lift will be bolted. You don't have to do the whole floor, just where the posts sit.

Bingo...I'd say go with a 2-post lift if you were going through the trouble of installing one. You can do suspension work, and engine drop (car-lift, haha) really easy with a 2-post'er. There's a reason porsche shops that I know of use a 2-post lift

Pic of my kwick lift with a parts car. works well for what I need it for.

Cool, good info, I'm glad to hear that the floor can be sectioned and repoured in just the mounting sections, as far as ceiling height, that's no problem, the place we are looking at it's really high, but the garage is rather narrow 17.5 foot, by 22.5 deep.

Ferg.

Just found this option for a 4 post lift as well, doesn't look like a bad way to do it.

I think the 4 post is best for a home garage, 2 post for a pro shop. Since the lift is used more for storing a "stacked" car, that is the first factor to consider. Very easy to drive in and lift up (my wife even does the drive in part). Also, a 2 post leaves the wheels hanging (not good) and they impede access to the car below. Not so simple with a two-post. I do suspension/brake work on my 4 post frequently.

Ceiling height is critical. I believe 9'6" is minimum. I have 9'5' and it is borderline. You may have to alter ceiling lights, garage door tracks and electric openers but you can stack two Porsches with 9.5 feet. A deeper than normal garage helps too because the door is no longer an issue. Ten or 11 feet of clearance is perfect.
I once had a deep (33') garage with 11 ft. of ceiling clearance and I had two four post lifts side by side. I could get 6 small cars in my 2 car garage, 4 down, 2 up. Sure miss that garage.

Edit:The 17.5 dimension is a concern. I think my lift is 8' wide overall and a two post is likely wider.

Thanks for the input Jim, looks like the 2 posts are wider by quite a bit, 8 feet wide is doable, since only cars will be in the garage (no bikes mowers ect). But it will be tight with only 17.5 feet to work with.
I have to go back and measure the ceiling, but it's at least 12 feet I would guess.
Ferg.

Just checked my lift and the "foot print" is 8' 6" wide.
If you have 11' or more ceiling you are in great shape. You can go to max height and stand easily under the car. I can't do that, so have to stoop a bit for some jobs. With a fairly short garage you might have to back the car on for storage so the open door will clear. My 914 will go on frontwards but I have to back my 911 and 928 on to clear the door when open. You can also raise the tracks some to get more clearance.
I have an Autolifters M6000, 3rd one I've owned and I recommend it. Made in Kansas. I'm sure others are good as well. I had a jack tray with my first ones but don't have one now. Cost about $100 extra but allows lifting suspension or supporting engine for trans removal. I now use a small floor jack on the ramp to lift my 914 at the jacking donut for wheel removal/suspension work.

I prefer any lift that will get all four tires off the ground, otherwise I would stick with a good floor jack, snapon and others make nice compact 3/4 lifts that brake or body shops use, if you shop around you can find nice used ones, I picked this one up for less than 400.00. It will get my car up 42".

I have the four post Direct Lift pictured above....I like it.....runs on 110.

iamchappy: What kind of lift is that...that looks like a nice cheap alternative. Can you take a motor/tranny out with that thing? If so that might be the cheap, hot ticket for a small shop. Where did you get it from?

edit: I used the search and found out the info in this thread. Looks good! Lift Thread

If you go back and read the other threads it explains how I came by it.
Bought it out of a guys garage for about 400 bucks, I think it was manufactured in the 60's or early 70's. with the arms up and the pads up I am almost at 42". The engine drop is a breeze as the back of the lift is open and I can wheel it in and out .
Here are some threads on similar mid rise lifts
http://www.revolutionlifts.com/midLow-rise.asp
http://www.google.com/search?q=mid+rise+li...=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://www.phjjacks.com/merchant/merchant....ory_Code=PHJMRL
http://www.mile-x.com/Lift%20Equipment/Mid...idRiseLifts.htm