LIFTS: delivery and installation

I recently purchased a used lift off a Ferrari mechanic and installed it in my warehouse.
The installation I had done from a guy that does it for a living. I would not, under any circumstances do it myself. Just piece of mind. Not that it is terribly complicated but I would not want to have a 4000Lbs car sitting on top of me for some dumb arse mistake I did installing the darn thing.

Delivery is a great thing. They are heavy and there again, if you have the right guy to handle them he knows how. We put the posts up and then he rocked them into place. Rocking 700Lbs posts inch by inch.

 

There is a Chicago area company that sells, delivers and installs two post Benwil 7000 lb. commercial lifts, like in the garages and dealerships. They can get good used lifts and install them for around 2K. If you are interested, I can get you the info.

Bill

 

some good info here:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6843

and here:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2358

hope this helps until someone answers your question regarding that lift. as for me, I would want them to unload and install it. heck, if the price of the install is under $600, that would 1) save my back and 2) good insurance on the proper installation of the lift.

 

you've asked the autolifters guys, and they have NO contractors available to take delivery of and install your lift?

i've found that most of the lift companies have a network of people they use for this stuff if you don't want to DIY.

doody.

 

I have 2 of the M6 lifters and have been basically happy with both. The first one I picked up at the shipper and when he put it in my pick up (3/4 ton Ford at the time) and did bend the bed a little when it was dropped in. I took it home and was able to take the parts off one by one. The heaviest parts were the side ramps and I used a hydrolic pad to lower them off and position them in place. You won't be able to lift them by your self but maybe with one or two friends (and lifting aids). The second one I bought was about 5 years later and had it delivered to my house. By that time I had moved to the country and had a big tractor to take it off their truck. It was still an ordeal moving the side ramps. I was able to do every thing by myself but had the lifts and equiptment to do it. If you don't have the right equiptment you will be much better off having someone else do it. It otherwise is not very hard to do - just bolting some parts together and running some cables and with the right equiptment takes about 5 or 6 hours.

If you get the Autolifter get the cross rails that run from side to side so you can lift the wheels up off the ramps to work on those things that require tire removal and you may want to get the adjustable jack stands. I also built some ramp extentions so I could drive my low ride height race cars on without hitting the nose area of the cars. They also have oil drip pans that are worth getting to prevent things leaking on the cars underneath.

Also, look at your garage ceiling height to make sure things will work out when you raise your car up.

I really am glad I bought mine. One I use to store my race cars in one stall and the other I use in the shop for working on my cars. If you work on your cars or even detail them they are worth every penny and if you have storage space problems in the garage it is a lot less expensive than adding on a garage.

 

well, shame on the autolifters guys.

buzz backyardbuddy.com - they definitely have local installer types.

i'm 98% sure the revolutionlifts.com guys have local installer types as well.

those are both solid-post lifts like the autolifters.

doody.

 

I bought a 4 post lift from www.teamlift.com for $2600 and that included the lift, delivery and installation. I did nothing. I park my Boxer on top and my M5 under it . I have 10 foot ceilings in my garage, but I did have to have my garage door modified to a "ceilng hugger" type which cost me an additional $350 . FYI, the TeamLift company makes a lot of the lifts for other companies who then put their own names on the lift, add a markup and sell them to people as if their company made the lift. I have had no problem with mine and highly recommend their lifts.

 

the teamlift 4-post residential lifts are c-channel lifts. the autolifters, backyard buddy, revolution lifts are almost certainly worth any extra money they cost (if any) to get a solid-post lift.

the basic physics involved are pretty straightforward to consider.

doody

 

Doody, why? While I'm no engineer, I do know that a hollow tube for example is a lot stonger than a solid tube of the same diameter and material. So, the laws of physics favors a hollow post lift over a solid post lift by a large margin. That being the case, why wouldn't a "C channel" (read hollow) also be stonger than a solid channel? In any event, since most all of the residential lifts are rated at 7,000 pounds, it is not likely that any vehicle you put on such a lift will even be 1/2 that rating. Even an H2 weighs less than 7,000 pounds!

 

the solid post lifts are hollow as well. the problem with c-channels are that the post is incomplete - it's only three sides plus a bit rather than a solid four-sided hollow post.

the c-channel post can spread apart with force - obviously a solid post cannot.

in addition, i've never seen a c-channel that has what i'd consider a "reasonable" stop-lock mechanism. it's usually a tab of metal that rests on another tab of metal. the solid post lisfts generally have substantial metal rods/blocks that slip (substantially) into holes cut in the solid post (okay, so it's 98% solid instead of 100% solid) and the bed lowers down onto that to lock it in place.

and so on and so forth.

does this mean every c-channel lift is going to fail? absolutely not. does this mean every solid-post lift will never fail? probably not, though i am unaware of any such failure ever happening (and some of the vendors do tout in their marketing material that they've never had a lift fail). can't say the same re: c-channel lifts, albeit the failures are for sure few and far between.

when you look closely at the differences b/w a c-channel and solid-post lift, it's pretty clear, even from a pure common-sense perspective, that the solid posts with external collars are more structurally optimal than the c-channel designs.

one man's opinion. i am not a structural or mechanical or materials engineer.

doody.

 

Try Eagle Lifts.

 

My Eagle lift was delivered to my garage and off loaded by the driver, who was very helpful. I had friends there to help, but with the lift gate on the truck it came off with a fork jack in 10 minutes. Assembly was simple and straight forward, it took about 2 or so hours between my wife and myself. As stated in a earlier post the safety requirements far exceed the 7000# rating so I am confident in the construction (c-channel) and the durability.

I do work on cars while under the lift with little concern due to the fact that more than one of the safety locks would have to fail at the same time for the car to fall on me, I seriously doubt that would happen given each post and lock is supporting at most 800# of my heaviest vehicle. Of course if a failure did occur the next lock would have to support the extra weight, but still each post locks should be capable of a rated 1750#.

Eagle has great customer service and I could not be happier with the lift. I am considering adding a 2 post for wheel and brake work. Then I would be set.
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My TeamLift has the same looking type of posts as the Eagle Lift in the photo above. Call Team Lift and they can advise as to whether or not they actually make the Eagle lift and Eagle just puts their name on it? And, my lift has solid blocks welded to the post that acts as stops.

 

Got an Eagle 4 poster and had it delivered. The truch had a hyd. lift gate which the driver took off all of the parts. I assembled it myself using a floor jack in about 4 hours. Simple and works great.

 

GWat -

Dang! That's a tight fit. BUT, it gives me great hope that I can fit my 348 on top of a daily driver BMW 740i. Do you recall what your ceiling height is? I assume you needed to back the Viper onto the lift because of the way your garage door swings open, right?

-Daniel

 

Seems like most of these lifts are made in Jasper, TX and simply rebadged. Took delivery of mine with only two people and assembled in approx. 2 hours. If your too busy, its worth a couple hundred bucks, otherwise I would do it myself.

 

I don't quite recall what the exact measurement is but I had to raise the rails for the door. I do back the viper in to give me a little more room near the door, though I think it will fit either way.

The problem I do have is limited space on the bottom due to the beam in the garage. luckly I measured everything around the viper and a corvette. The Stradale is 1/2" shorter than the vette.

Let me know if you would like exact measurements.

 

Mike
I bought a Team Lift residential lift. Besides a different color (I went with Blue) it looks like the red one from Eagle, pictured below.

We did bolt it into the floor with concrete anchors. I did the job with my mechanic and his son. Alternatively, you can have it installed. From memory it was $2300 for the lift, 3 ft aluminum ramps, a lift shelf and some drip trays and a further $600 (quoted) for the install.

It works well, runs off 110 voltage. Ferrari sits on top, and we park another car (my wife's Audi) underneath. 10 ft ceilings.

FYI, it is fairly easy to jack the car up on the lift to remove wheels, do brake jobs etc. I have the car on the rack with no wheels on, suspension apart currently. We've just fitted a new length of brake line and bled the brakes. Taking all 4 wheels off needed a bit more creativity, but it is quite stable.

You are welcome to come around and see it.
Philip

 

Hey Daniel,

I just measured the clearance in my garage and the beam is at 8 feet and the ceiling is at 9 ft.

 

Gwat,

Your garage looks almost exactly like mine... I too have a beam running across it that I will have to compensate for.

I am looking to stack my 308 and my Pantera.. I have already decided that, due to how low the door has to open (because of the beam), backing the top car onto the lift will give me a better chance of everything fitting.

I already have measured several times and am still thinking that it will work. The clearance from the floor to the garage door when it is opened is my only real concern. Therefore I have two questions for you if possible... 1) What height to you raise your lift to to be able to park the 360 under it? 2) When the garage door is open how much clearance do you have from the floor to the lowest part of the door?

Thanks in advance,
Scott

'85 Ferrari 308 GTS
'71 Detomaso Pantera
and some others..

 

I bought my lift from www.teamlift.com and they delivered and had it installed all for only $2600!

 

I had the same dilemma. Autolifters has a good lift and advertises a pretty cheap price but when you put in the upgrades and the shipping, it's a thousand bucks more and they have no installers PERIOD. They ship to you and you take it off the truck and bolt it in. Furthermore, they had (as of 2 weeks ago), a 6-8 week back-log until my lift would have been shipped, meaning 8-10 weeks for me to get it!!

So I called a local installer and bought one locally (used!) and had them install it--2 days later. Nothing like instant gratification. I saved $500 and someone else brought it here, unloaded it and installed it. All I had to do was wire it.

On the other hand, now that I have seen one installed (how they level it with shims, drill big holes in the floor with a hammer drill and install "wedge" bolts) it's really no big deal.

A picture of mine is here:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41070


Birdman