mikeaford
04-25-2006, 08:23 PM
I've gotten a few e-mails about the car lift in my garage heres the deal. I would recomend calling new lift dealers, back in the day garages had lifts rated for up to 7K lbs which is normally half the weight they can handle so to be on the safe side. Dealerships however are upgrading lifts constantly to go to heavier load lifts. It takes a lot of phone calls normally - check ebay as well but shipping can KILL YOU. I bought this one for 800 cash - cash will help lower the cost when negotiating prices. I had to invest 35 for a new hydraulic hose - one had a tear, about another 40 in concrete anchors, and nearly 80 in sandpaper / spray paint. I had them load it onto a trailor and had 5 guys help move it into my garage whaere withing a week and a half I worked on "Appearance" of the lift. I also had a neighbor with a industrial hammer drill help measure remeasure then drill the holes, and hook up the electric which ran me about another 50-60 bucks (neighbor again - jack of all trades) - I had to "redo" my electric box to bring in the 220 service but hooked a garage heater to that. The heater has to be off when operating the lift - so I don't throw the fuse. The hydraulics do go into the upper part of my attic in my garage I cut holes in the attic and covered the holes with an 80 cent black mud flap from wally world to make it look better. the mud flap simply lifts along the side when the lift is up high I also have a garage door opener which I cut two small holes and disconect the opener from the garage door then push the door opener up into the attic area and bolt it down - takes 5 minutes but I only do this when I've got a big job to do. If you want send me a pm - I'll send you pics of my setup just give me time to take photos you want. Also I invite any of you to come by and use the garage if I have time - and if the job can be done in a day - just contact me and we can work out when and what needs to be done. Even though I have 10' ceiling it still gets the car over 5 feet. I also purchased stabilizer jacks so the car doesn't rock if working something out - freight harbor tools. It was a lot of work to get this thing from the early 80's somewhat rusty heavy metal to holy crap you got a lift in your garage! Also make sure any lift you buy has safety locks that work!!! I recheck the torque on the bolts monthly - AND MOST IMPORTANT MAKE SURE YOUR FLOOR IS THICK ENOUGH! I have 41/2 " of concrete which gets it done for my 2 small cars but I am scared to put the Durango on there... They recomend at least 5" but my neighbor said it's strong enough for what I need. If it isn't thick enough you can have new footers cut out and tied in then poured - but your talking money then... I have done a lot of research on this so if you have any questions regarding types of lifts etc drop me a line maybe I can get you a helpful website or send you to Bucky who is the mechanic who installs lifts where I bought mine - great guy but you'll have to go through the company to talk to him. I justified this with my chief financial officer when the dealer wanted close to 2600 to do all the hydraulics on my clutch and the clutch itself - plus took care of a leaking rear seal while I was under there which would have added another 200 or so dollars - so I saved money and came out with a lift - might work if you have a similar situation... Jacking the car up use to take me upwards of 30 minutes now it's literally 2 minutes put the stand under raise it check it's stable and continue going up watching close so I don't run it into the roof garage door opener etc. Another important factor Bucky told me always undo my t-tops before lifting the car he said this can crack them!!! I'm not going to test to see if this is true or not - I just do it to be safe... Take care and hopefully this was somewhat helpful. 4208