4 post lift in small space? Pictures?

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my5thmopar

Life Long MOPAR Owner
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Like the title says. Will a 12x24 with 12ft ceiling dedicated to a 4 post lift be big enough? Im concerned about working around it. If anyone has limited space with a lift of any sorts, post up a photo please. Thanks Craig
 
I think the 12 foot width of the garage will make for a tight squeeze working around the lift. Might be tough to have cabinets or a work table.
 
Following because that is about the size of the rear bay in my garage

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That's enough room for a 4-post. I have one that is 8'-8" wide no motor, 9'-6" wide with motor. It's about 14'-6" long minus the ramps and a little over 17' long with the ramps. It will lift a whisker over 7'. That's enough I can get a car on the lift and another one under it, and I am 12' to the bottom of my trusses. If you are tight for working room I'd install it so the lift itself is close to the door, requiring the ramps to go outside for entry/exit. Then remove the ramps and close the door with the car on the lift. That would give you about 6' in front of the car. You can move one of these around pretty easy, mine came with a set of wheels. That lets you play with positioning till you find the sweet spot. My space here is about 20' wall to wall, but you can make do with 12'.

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Im in 24x32. And lots of junk and tools. Some days its difficult to work. As far as the overhead door, 10 foot door goes 10 feet into shop when its up. Be mindful. Car on hoist, and planning to put another under it?
Better have a 10 foot tall door. It will be tight.
 
As far as the overhead door, 10 foot door goes 10 feet into shop when its up. Be mindful.

Good call, I didn't think about this - mine is a sliding barn door. There is a way they can hang a panel door so it goes higher into the building but you're right, it might impact the ability to stack cars.

Here are a couple more pics I was looking for. The first one gives you an idea what 12' wide gives you, my door is 12' wide and it's not open all the way in this shot. The second one I can stand under it and work on the drive train, there's still about 2' of lift left to go.

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Just one more thought, if there's any way you can pull this off, I highly recommend doing so. The lift is the single best investment I made in my shop. Since the Dart is down for the count, I decided to do some quick work on the Valiant. It's on stands to get a set of helper springs in the rear, and it reminded me all over again how bad I hate doing the floor jack/jack stand thing any more. I am spoiled rotten and I know it.
 
I would like a 2 post lift to store a car and park 1 underneath. I know it's not a good idea to store unibody on that lift. If they made a ramp that could be put on and removed, would solve the problem of storing on 2 post lift. 2 post lift is so good for performing maintenance, brakes and tire rotation. Then put ramps back on to store car.
 
Good call, I didn't think about this - mine is a sliding barn door. There is a way they can hang a panel door so it goes higher into the building but you're right, it might impact the ability to stack cars.

Here are a couple more pics I was looking for. The first one gives you an idea what 12' wide gives you, my door is 12' wide and it's not open all the way in this shot. The second one I can stand under it and work on the drive train, there's still about 2' of lift left to go.

View attachment 1715603473

View attachment 1715603479

Just one more thought, if there's any way you can pull this off, I highly recommend doing so. The lift is the single best investment I made in my shop. Since the Dart is down for the count, I decided to do some quick work on the Valiant. It's on stands to get a set of helper springs in the rear, and it reminded me all over again how bad I hate doing the floor jack/jack stand thing any more. I am spoiled rotten and I know it.
Not sure if that's the way those 4 post are designed but from that picture it appears that those rear posts are canted in at the top. Are the bottom plates bolted to the floor?
 
Not sure if that's the way those 4 post are designed but from that picture it appears that those rear posts are canted in at the top. Are the bottom plates bolted to the floor?

You're right, it does look canted in the photo but it's dead plumb. It does have holes in the foot plates to be anchored, I held off doing that till I had used it enough to be sure I liked the position in the shop. I've moved it twice playing with location and spacing. I think this will be the final version, so I can secure it to the floor. It's not necessary for a 4-post but living in earthquake country I like the idea of it being completely stationary.
 
You're right, it does look canted in the photo but it's dead plumb. It does have holes in the foot plates to be anchored, I held off doing that till I had used it enough to be sure I liked the position in the shop. I've moved it twice playing with location and spacing. I think this will be the final version, so I can secure it to the floor. It's not necessary for a 4-post but living in earthquake country I like the idea of it being completely stationary.
Thanks for that. I'm waiting to finish the exterior of my 30x50 pole barn and am definitely installing a lift. There was a good blurb on here with some naming the ones that they liked.
 
I got mine from Greg Smith Equipment. It's an Atlas Garage Pro 8000 EXT. I really like the lift, it's great. The only thing that stunk was the assembly instructions. It's like they were written by someone fluent in Sanskrit who took a semseter of Chinese, then translated everything into English. I have no words to describe how bad it was - missing info, incomplete steps, wrong photos, and some vital stuff not there at all. To add to it, the lift wasn't assembled correctly at the factory leading to a potentially very dangerous situation. I got it all sorted out and it's been smooth sailing since then. But JFC, the instructions were putrid.
 
That's enough room for a 4-post. I have one that is 8'-8" wide no motor, 9'-6" wide with motor. It's about 14'-6" long minus the ramps and a little over 17' long with the ramps. It will lift a whisker over 7'. That's enough I can get a car on the lift and another one under it, and I am 12' to the bottom of my trusses. If you are tight for working room I'd install it so the lift itself is close to the door, requiring the ramps to go outside for entry/exit. Then remove the ramps and close the door with the car on the lift. That would give you about 6' in front of the car. You can move one of these around pretty easy, mine came with a set of wheels. That lets you play with positioning till you find the sweet spot. My space here is about 20' wall to wall, but you can make do with 12'.

View attachment 1715603445

You’re at 20ft wide and how deep? And yours looks like my garage with all the stuff. That’s why I said if it was a dedicated space would it work.
 
The shop is 30x40, but there's an internal room running 10' wide down one side so my working space is 20x40. Yeah, I struggle badly with crapitis. I keep cleaning stuff out and selling/giving away stuff but it's like it breeds overnight to look the same the next day. I'm heading out for a bit to work on the Valiant, I'll give you a real-world measurement of what the actual floor space is when I get back in. I agree with the dedicated space. I'll grab some more pics to show how I'm set up.
 
I went building shopping today. I was surprised at the reasonable cost of a 40w by 30 deep. I’m thinking it needs to be deeper and I’m limited to the 40w. The supplier says 12 ft to bottom of truss unless I went into the next price jump. Wife is on board but, she gets a spot for her small SUV. I’m guessing that would take up 12w by 20ft deep with a 10ft door.
 
If it's a new lift, or one made by a company that's still around, you can usually go get the data sheets with the measurements.

Last one I was interested in, I used those to mark my floor to see where it would end up.

Too bad the seller completely misrepresented the lift he was selling including the brand and model.
 
My shop isn't as small as yours, but it's still pretty cozy. I built it with 14' ceilings because I wanted to be able to lift my tall camper van. Twelve-foot ceilings would probably be OK with other cars. Be sure to check the width between the posts before you buy a lift, to make sure it will clear the vehicles you want to service. I belatedly discovered that my lift won't clear the fender extensions on my dually. Doh!

lift1.jpg
 
My shop isn't as small as yours, but it's still pretty cozy. I built it with 14' ceilings because I wanted to be able to lift my tall camper van. Twelve-foot ceilings would probably be OK with other cars. Be sure to check the width between the posts before you buy a lift, to make sure it will clear the vehicles you want to service. I belatedly discovered that my lift won't clear the fender extensions on my dually. Doh!

View attachment 1715621407

How what’s the size? I see you have it pushed to the right. Does it roll? That was one concern that I couldn’t open the vehicle doors.
 
How what’s the size? I see you have it pushed to the right. Does it roll? That was one concern that I couldn’t open the vehicle doors.
Yes, it rolls on its special casters. I moved it over to the left before removing the casters and fastening it down to the floor.
 
Pulled the trigger on a four post lift for the garage today. Installation in about two weeks. Have been having problems with Vertigo for months and I can't lay under the car without making myself sick. Finally said what am I waiting for?
 
After using my brothers lift i dread using a floor jack! We use 2 4×4's with a removable zip-ties for storing cars above in the winter and while working on car's it much safer than relying on the lock system.
 
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