Lift placement

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Evan Dutch

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Hi

I’ve recently purchased an atlas 10k capacity asymmetrical 2 post lift. I’m currently setting it up in my 24’ deep by 30’ wide shop (actual useable depth is about 23’). Id like to set the posts so that if need be I can lift a crew cab long bed truck (it’ll be tight but if it’s set right I think it’s doable). Does anyone have a shop similar in size to mine? And if so, do you have a lift? What’s the largest vehicle you can fit on yours?

thanks
 
24x32 10-1/2 foot ceiling with a boxed area above hoist.
Big issue is the overhead door.
Cant lift anything with door open, and never open door with vehicle on hoist. Honestly, your shop is smaller than mine,it will be tight with a crew cab in it.
Because centre of gravity is so critical,i wouldnt even consider trying to lift big vehicles in there.
That being said, you need a couple piles put in where the posts contact floor. Mines a 4 post and it cracked my 5” slab at every post.

Your hoist needs some pretty specific installation requirements.
 
23’ isnt enough. Not at all. Not if you want it useable for 21 foot long vehicles.
 
I’d like to be able to lift a crew cab long bed but it’s not a necessity, more of a want. Where the lift is going to be mounted is 12in deep and the entire floor is 4000psi concrete. I should probably mention the doors are 10x10 feet and they’re metal roll up doors that roll up into themselves. Side walls of building are 12ft tall and the peak is just shy of 15 feet.
 
Time to brake out the graph paper.
Draw a scaled sketch of your garage.
Sketch your crew cab and dart on seperate pieces of paper. Note the lift points of two cars, make cutout lift arms, and start playing.
 
I’d like to be able to lift a crew cab long bed but it’s not a necessity, more of a want. Where the lift is going to be mounted is 12in deep and the entire floor is 4000psi concrete. I should probably mention the doors are 10x10 feet and they’re metal roll up doors that roll up into themselves. Side walls of building are 12ft tall and the peak is just shy of 15 feet.
4000 psi is probably ok if its 10” thick where the posts go. Wouldnt it suck if you had a bigass truck on the hoist and the concrete broke? I dont mean and disrespect whatsoever, i have been in the automotive trade for a long time,and hoisting a vehicle on a 2 post is sketchy under perfect conditions.
10 roll up is a bonus in this case, but hoist placement in 23 usable feet doesent leave you much to work with.
Centre of gravity on a dart compared to the truck you mentioned is like 4 feet different. Asymetrical helps but the lift points under truck are still the same. Asymetrical means its easier to open 1 door.
 
So that’s going to be tough with only 23’ depth. Plus, it’s kind of sketchy to lift a vehicle that long on an asymmetrical lift. You might want to rethink a symmetrical lift. You can use it like an asymmetrical lift but have the ability to place the vehicle offset on the lift and lift it up backwards. You really need a lot of room in front of a vehicle to lift it facing forward and at that point, you might as well have got a symmetrical lift. My lift is an Atlas symmetrical 10K extra wide and extra tall. The top of my posts are 12’8” and I mounted it 10’10” from the back wall to the center of the posts. My shop is 28’x40’ and roughly 14’ at the center for reference. I lift my CCSB Sierra 2500HD on it all the time without issue. I will say there is some bounce to the rear end of the truck when it’s up in the air and I imagine it would be a LOT worse on an asymmetrical lift. You’d definitely want to put a tall jack stand on the rear of the truck with an asymmetrical lift.

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I’m not sure if this changes anything. But my lift isn’t a true asymmetrical lift (with the tilted columns). The columns are not turned. The arms are configured in an asymmetrical setup (the front arms being shorter than the rear). If needed I might be able to purchase symmetrical arms for it. But I’m not sure
 
I’m not sure if this changes anything. But my lift isn’t a true asymmetrical lift (with the tilted columns). The columns are not turned. The arms are configured in an asymmetrical setup (the front arms being shorter than the rear). If needed I might be able to purchase symmetrical arms for it. But I’m not sure
The tilted columns are not what make it an asymmetrical lift, it’s the short front arms and long rear arms. The tilted columns is only so the doors open wider and is a relatively newer design. It’s really nice to have the option to lift a vehicle facing forwards or backwards and you just can’t do that with an asymmetrical lift.
 
Can a lift arm be both asymmetrical and symmetrical? The lift I bought advertises that the lift arms can be either or. I haven’t noticed this until now but the description on the website says that the lift arms can be configured either way. I thought all 4 lift arms had to be equal length (or the ability to be) in order for it to be symmetrical

Adjustable Height 2 Post Car Lift, Atlas PV-10P, Overhead 10k lbs Cap

 
Can a lift arm be both asymmetrical and symmetrical? The lift I bought advertises that the lift arms can be either or. I haven’t noticed this until now but the description on the website says that the lift arms can be configured either way. I thought all 4 lift arms had to be equal length (or the ability to be) in order for it to be symmetrical

Adjustable Height 2 Post Car Lift, Atlas PV-10P, Overhead 10k lbs Cap


What it means is that you can use it either way. So you can pull the vehicle up to the mirrors and the front arms will be short and rear arms will extend out much further, or on a heavier vehicle you can pull it up to the B pillar and both arms will be similar in length. That’s what I was getting at with the advantage of a symmetrical lift. You can position the vehicle front to back on the lift giving you more options when you don’t have a lot of room to work around the vehicle. Plus you can lift the vehicle backed in which I find I do a lot. The big disadvantage of a symmetrical lift is on short wheelbase vehicles you have to roll the vehicle forward to get the arms under it and then back up to get the other arms under it.
 
That’s good your lift has the option to be both. Just remember that you need to mount it further away from the wall in order to pull the truck in far enough to use it like an asymmetrical lift.
 
That’s good your lift has the option to be both. Just remember that you need to mount it further away from the wall in order to pull the truck in far enough to use it like an asymmetrical lift.
Further away from the wall to the rear of the lift correct?
 
I was going to mention, if you don’t have a big industrial hammer drill, Home Depot rents them for like $25 for 4hrs to drill the holes to mount it. I bought a $50 drill bit and drilled 1 hole with my 1/2” portacable drill on the hammer setting and it started smoking. That’s when I went to Home Depot and just rented the right tool which made quick work of all 10 holes for half the cost of just the bit. Plus they will give you what ever size bits you need when you rent it.
 
Yep. With only 23’ it would almost be in the middle of the shop but that’s kind of what it is.
Yeah, the slab itself is 24ft deep and I’ve got control cuts right at 12 feet that run the length of the building. The lift manufacturing says not to anchor the lift closer than 6 inches to a seam. It’ll be tight

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I was going to mention, if you don’t have a big industrial hammer drill, Home Depot rents them for like $25 for 4hrs to drill the holes to mount it. I bought a $50 drill bit and drilled 1 hole with my 1/2” portacable drill on the hammer setting and it started smoking. That’s when I went to Home Depot and just rented the right tool which made quick work of all 10 holes for half the cost of just the bit. Plus they will give you what ever size bits you need when you rent it.

thankfully a friend of mine is going to loan me his
 
Yeah, the slab itself is 24ft deep and I’ve got control cuts right at 12 feet that run the length of the building. The lift manufacturing says not to anchor the lift closer than 6 inches to a seam. It’ll be tight

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Looks like your cut lines will dictate pretty much where the lift needs to go then. As long as you can pick cars up with the garage door closed you’re good. And as long as you center the lift with the garage door, you can pick up your truck with the door open.
 
Looks like your cut lines will dictate pretty much where the lift needs to go then. As long as you can pick cars up with the garage door closed you’re good. And as long as you center the lift with the garage door, you can pick up your truck with the door open.
I’m planning on putting the columns on this side of the cut, roughly in this location. Centered within the door.

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I’m not sure if you bought hydraulic oil or not, but I bought a 5 gallon bucket of CAM 2 AW32 from Menards for pretty cheap. You only need 3-4 gallons so you’ll have some extra. My lift has been up and working for almost 2 years now without issue.
 
Do you or someone you know own a crew cab truck?

Park it inside and see.

My building is 30w by 26 deep and I barely have room to work under the hood of my 17' long Dakota ext cab.

That should be NINE FEET of clearance, but it gets eaten up fast.
I have a 24" deep workbench along the back wall, but that's it.
Where is that SEVEN FEET?

You never want lass than a foot of clearance on each end.
Really a foot is not enough either.
 
I’m not sure if you bought hydraulic oil or not, but I bought a 5 gallon bucket of CAM 2 AW32 from Menards for pretty cheap. You only need 3-4 gallons so you’ll have some extra. My lift has been up and working for almost 2 years now without issue.

I haven’t bought fluid yet. I did however stand the columns up over the weekend. Does the fluid need to be changed yearly?
 
Do you or someone you know own a crew cab truck?

Park it inside and see.

My building is 30w by 26 deep and I barely have room to work under the hood of my 17' long Dakota ext cab.

That should be NINE FEET of clearance, but it gets eaten up fast.
I have a 24" deep workbench along the back wall, but that's it.
Where is that SEVEN FEET?

You never want lass than a foot of clearance on each end.
Really a foot is not enough either.

I’m going to have a friend of mine bring over their crew cab and park it in the bay and see how well the lift lines up. Unfortunately I’m not going to have the room to put anything along the back wall of the bay with the lift in it. My workbench will have to be elsewhere
 
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