4 Post Lift...Rolling it out of garage?

jserr68594 · Jan 30, 2014

I appreciate the input this forum has given me so far. I am new to lifts and just want to be sure I make the right decision. I am down to my last two lift questions:

I am debating on the Bendpak HD-9XL and the HD-9XW. Both lifts are identical other than height. The XL is 88" (67" Locking) and the XW is 100" (79" locking).

My garage door opening is about 94" inches tall. With the shorter lift, I could potentially roll it outside. This would enable me to pressure wash the underside of the cars after winter, clean the lawnmower deck, and other various tasks. Is this something that you guys do with your lifts? Is it worth it to lose the height?

The taller lift would fit in my garage just fine, but it would not roll out the door. As of now, I would not benefit from the extra height much. However, if my wife gets a SUV down the road, it is possible it may not fit under the smaller lift. This is a big if though. Also, my garage height is 10' 6". I would only be able to utilize about 6" of the additional height the taller lift provides. If I do build a secondary garage, I will have tall ceiling to accommodate this lift.

My last question is on lift ramps. My car is 4.5" off the ground. Will the standard 36" ramps work OK, or will I need the extended 48" rams?

Thanks again!

GarageWarrior · Jan 30, 2014

Do you have a perfectly leveled concrete driveway? If not - rolling a 4-post lift would be a challenge.

jserr68594 · Jan 30, 2014

It is very close to level. Here is the concrete pad I have to work with:

http://s8.photobucket.com/user/jserr68594/media/2004 Cobra/Aftertint_zpsceed4ab7.jpg.html?sort=4&o=8

c39er · Jan 30, 2014

I doubt it would roll easily at all. Mine doesn't.

Matt M PA · Jan 30, 2014

If I recall correctly, your garage ceilings are at 10'6". At the tallest locked position...the taller lift would only allow a car about 40" tall to reach the highest point. My HD9 does not have the added height...but I've never needed it, either. Seems to me the taller lift is a waste for your space.

Back on topic...when I installed mine, it was hard wired. I never even thought of moving it once it was in place. We took a lot of time to make sure it was square, etc. I know they sell castors, but make no mistake the are heavy and big...meaning difficult to move...much less thread through a garage door. Even a slight ledge between the garage and the driveway will make it very difficult to move. My opinion only, but I'd rethink moving the lift around.

In fact, my midrise has the ability to be rolled around via it's power unit. I weighs a lot less than the four post....and the midrise isn't easy at all to roll.

zkdiesel · Jan 30, 2014

We roll my friends around with casters, but usually involves a skidloader with forks at one end picking it up like a dolly to move it.

Hpozzuoli · Jan 30, 2014

I have the larger of the 2 bend paks the op mentioned. I too thought I would be rolling my lift outside to clean the garage and work outside from time to time. It does not roll easily. Maybe it's the size or maybe it's the casters my kit came with. The second issue is most of us have that little lip going into the garage. Try pushing a lift up that lip. I have moved it with 2 people before (myself and my dad) but it wasn't wasn't as easy as we thought it would be.

I also measured everything to a T before ordering and prior to delivery. Once it was here and assembled, it ended up being too big for my garage. Rather than return it I brought it 2hrs to my dad's house in CT. I use it as winter storage for my Vette now. Still need to trailer the Vette there and back every year.

So the pic you see if my lift and my car in my dad's garage. He agreed to let me put the lift there because his mazada pick up fit under it and his rv had plenty of room once inside as well.

Stuart in MN · Jan 30, 2014

I have an older Stinger brand four post lift in my garage with a caster kit, and it's pretty easy to roll around even with a car on it. It does take a good push to get the casters pointed in the right direction, but once that's done it rolls pretty well and can be done easily by one person.

However, this is only inside the garage where it's flat and there aren't any joints in the concrete to roll over - going out onto a driveway that has any slope at all could be tricky.

Truman Sparks · Jan 30, 2014

I'm in "considering a lift" mode, and I have been thinking about this issue as well. It seems to me that one advantage of being able to roll the lift out would be in case you needed to sell or relocate the lift (e.g., to a new home); it could be rolled out fully assembled and transported on a car trailer.

tdkkart · Jan 30, 2014

Hpozzuoli said:
I also measured everything to a T before ordering and prior to delivery. Once it was here and assembled, it ended up being too big for my garage.

Good advice, most brands will have a full dimensioned drawing available on their websites. Use some wood blocks, jack stands, feed sacks, whatever to lay out exactly where everything will end up. I had mine all measured and marked out with a sharpie on the floor for installation and it fits perfectly. In fact, using the wood block method I realized I was actually better off buying the larger model lift. I had the floor space, and it was actually less in the way than the smaller model, so why not.

Matt M PA · Jan 30, 2014

Truman...if we're talking about moving a lift miles to another location...you'd likely need an oversize permit, etc. As a "unit"...it will be wider than a trailer.

If I were to move mine...I'd break it down into a few pieces and move. They're assembled on site...they can be taken down to moveable pieces. I wouldn't think of trying to move it to another location as a unit.

scotty t · Jan 30, 2014

mine easy. i can roll it around by myself. even over the "hump" at the garage door.

fireman · Jan 30, 2014

scotty t said:
mine easy. i can roll it around by myself. even over the "hump" at the garage door.

I agree. I've owned my lift for almost 14 years and have moved it all over my shop and outside several times. The only problem is that with 4 casters, it seems to have a mind of its own. 2 people makes keeping it going in the right direction much easier.

underpressure02 · Jan 30, 2014

I actually assembled my first 4 post lift outside and then rolled it in. It was not that hard but having two people did help.

Truman Sparks · Jan 30, 2014

Matt M said:
Truman...if we're talking about moving a lift miles to another location...you'd likely need an oversize permit, etc. As a "unit"...it will be wider than a trailer.

That's a good point--most lifts are wider than 8'-6".

jserr68594 · Jan 30, 2014

I am thinking the shorter lift makes the most sense at this point. I just do not want to buy it and down the road really wish I had bought the taller unit. Decisions decisions.....

jserr68594 · Jan 30, 2014

What do you guys think on the extended ramps vs standard ramps?

underpressure02 · Jan 30, 2014

My ramps are 37inches and a few of my cars are slammed to the ground and I don't have any issues getting it on. But I guess it really depends on how long your front end is after your wheel.

Falcon67 · Jan 30, 2014

I can't say specifically about lifts, but I have a lot of gizmos around here with casters, including a set of the semi-vile HF car skates. To a gizmo - taking the casters apart and checking the axles for smoothness (polishing if necessary), cleaning up the axle tubes and lubricating everything including the ball bearing rotating area results in the item being 10~50 times easier to move. The HF skates are a good example - it took my wife and I both to start moving my Falcon, which weighs 3070 without the driver. I took the casters on the skates apart, cleaned things up, etc and put the car back on the skates. I gave the back bumper a really hard shove to get it moving and it nearly spun out 90 degrees before I could stop it.

bams50 · Jan 30, 2014

In my new shop, I am going to have one in floor lift offset to one side. Then I will get a movable four post. I think that will give me the best of both worlds. The in – floor would be good for suspension and bodywork, the four posts would be good for under car and/or storage. As part of that plan, it would be a treat to be able to push the left out doors onto a concrete pad and use it outside when the weather is nice.

I have seen a few with the caster kit, and they really were not that hard to move. But even if they are, I think it would be easy to accomplish using my tractor would loader if necessary.

Matt M PA · Jan 30, 2014

Ramps. I got the extended ones so the Viper would clear. I've yet to have a car on the lift that doesn't clear with plenty of room to spare.

Remember..these ramps hang down whenthe lift is raised...so the longer ones hang down further. I bought the BendPak ramp lock things...that are worthless. So, I'm working on a way to keep the ramps "up" when the lift raises.

You'll need to remove the ramps to park a car underneath...and that's a PITA.

Don't know where you are...but I'm near Philly if you wanted to see one in person.

2011corvette · Jan 30, 2014

I went back and forth looking at 2 post vs 4 post lifts. My shop is 2400 sq ft so I had plenty of room. Only problem I saw was the 4 post lift takes up so much room itself. After talking to guys with a 4 post lift most of them said they never moved them.
I went with the 2 post in my shop. Bought it for my son at Christmas and we installed it new years day. Took 4 of us about 6 hours setting it up. Wasn't bad at all.
I bought the BendPak 10,000 lb Asymetrical lift and it is awesome.

jserr68594 · Jan 31, 2014

Thank you for the input guys! I appreciate it.

Matt, thanks for the offer to look at yours, but I am in NW Ohio.

James E · Jan 31, 2014

I've had my BendPak HD-9 for a little over two years. I have plenty of ceiling clearance but chose the shorter lift so that I could roll it out into the driveway. Big mistake.

I would gladly trade the ability to roll the lift outside for the added height of the other lift. In two years I have never even considered moving the lift outside but many times I have kicked myself because I can't park our SUV or my pickup under the lift when it is all the way up.

Just my two cents. HTH, James.

Ross/Kzoo · Jan 31, 2014

That brings up another point. IF you had to get an extra tall lift out of the garage how long would it take you to disassemble enough to move outside and how long to reassemble. I'm assuming many parts could be left intact and removed modulary.

Falcon67 · Jan 31, 2014

I suppose it varies by lift brand, but having looked at some of the install instructions I'd think you'd spend hours disassembling and moving most lifts. Not really much of a plan IMHO. Not to mention that most of the ramps would be more than one person could lift, so there's at least an engine crane that's required too.

James E · Feb 3, 2014

On the BendPaks, if the posts didn't fit through the door, you could not get the lift outside without almost completely disassembling it--making that course of action completely impractical.

ronr80 · Feb 4, 2014

I have a HD- 9 with the caster kit, rolls real easy and I work on mostly corvettes and have the regular ramps they work fine , but I'll tell you a screw up I did I had my vette on the hoist and moved it on my own and ran into a big belt sander I have and scratched my car , so have somebody help you when you move it , it moves easy but hard to control .Ron
Or move it without the car on it

6t7gto · Feb 4, 2014

Ross/Kzoo said:
That brings up another point. IF you had to get an extra tall lift out of the garage how long would it take you to disassemble enough to move outside and how long to reassemble. I'm assuming many parts could be left intact and removed modulary.

My son and I halfway disassembled one of my lifts.
Took the cables loose, removed the runners and put it on our open trailer.
We left the post intact and moved it to his house for the summer racing season.
Really wasn't a big deal.

david

ptschram · Feb 5, 2014

I couldn't move mine because of the gravel driveway but I think an outside lift is a fantastic idea and if things work out, I'll have a used two-post to put out behind the barn for just such functions.

My four-post is a PITA to move and I've only done it once. The caster thingies are another PITA to store as well.

ezzzzzzz · Feb 5, 2014

Both are taller than that!!! Bendpak doesn't include the protrusion of the cable ends. Add 2.5" and you're really in the ballpark. Ask how I 'now' know this.......

4 Post Lift...Rolling it out of garage?

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