Finally got a lift in my garage

[snakeyes]

Another thing when considering a lift most of if not all of the lifts one would consider for residential are made in China. Tough to get around that unless you want to pay double. But having had a couple of lifts here’s a little advice:

the lift motors are typically all the same between the different manufacturers. If you have a choice go with a 220 motor over the 110 (don’t listen to the bullshit about 110 yeah it will lift but …) the difference is night and day on lift speed and also future motor headaches.

My recommendations “Advantage lifts in PA”. I am not affiliated in anyway with them - I am a customer. Their Customer service is BEYOND EXCELLENT. They will deliver and set up for a cost and depending on where you are located. The reason I chose them is there locking holes are cut into the support beams not locked into a ladder support inside the support beam - like the Bend Pak and other manufacturers. I had a Bend Pak my experience was terrible, their CS is piss poor and they depend on outside vendors to service your lift if you have problems. So you can end up with a dude with a wrench and just a brain stem and empty brain bucket at your door when something goes wrong. ( ask me how I know ). Advantage sends their company service techs if you need service. The 220 motor upgrade for me was $225 over the shitty 110. Also, advantage lifts can be moved anywhere inside your garage they ARE NOT DRILLED TO THE FLOOR. The lift comes with the moving jacks. The price is similar to a Bend Pak but the quality is far superior in both mechanics and customer service.

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[The Chairman]

What is your ceiling height in there? Trying to figure out if I can fit one in my garage...

My garage is 9’ 6” and I can stack two Mustangs with a few inches up top and between each car. Have had it for about 5 years and love it.
BTW: I also went with the 220v option.

 

[RLE55]

Congratulations on the lift; you’re really gonna enjoy it!

My garage ceiling was only 9’-3” but it was clear space between trusses overhead so I had a 32” tray built up so the top car had a place to go. Also had to install a high headroom door kit and a side mounted motor.

Mine is intentionally designed to not bolt down and be moveable. You just put the wheel dollies under the posts and roll it anywhere you want. It’s actually a selling feature of this lift. You can see the dollies up against the wall in one of my pics. If you’re worried about it toppling over you might as well worry about an earthquake taking your house down first because that’s what it would take. You couldn’t budge this thing with a Caterpillar. I’ve seen this particular one on a couple of TV car shows in daily commercial use so I figure it’s OK.

For me this has been life changing. I have a 3 car garage but I’m considering another lift already.

WTH.....your starting a mustang museum? Nice ponies.

 

[qwk93ta]

What spoiler is that on top mustang? Bottom picture, looks like HP wheels too?

It’s a knockoff GT350 spoiler, those are real Mach 1 HP wheels I bought from Levittown Ford a few years back.

 

[MAT1955]

@qwk93ta ..... asked because my friend's lift came with instructions that recommended bolting it to the floor. Like me he's a "bit" ocd, so asked his insurance buddy who said no bolts no insurance. Buddy showed him a lift fail that wrote-off the car on the lift ('vette) due to twisted frame, wrote off lift, "vette went into the inside of the house through the garage wall and damaged the wife's adjacent car. Took the roof off the garage to crane the whole mess out. Not bolted no insurance for about a 300K bill. It got better. I insurance wanted all posts to have four bolts but agreed to an engineering report allowing two bolts both "kitty-corner" on each plate. I had poured the concrete floor over epoxy re-bar and extra air entrainment. We used commercial grade 5/8 inch by 4 inch quick bolts with a shear rating of 25K pounds. He got it all in writing, the insurance at a decent price considering the 3rd party liability for anyone who "wandered" under the lift. All's well that ends well. He sleeps at night!

 

[mabcim]

Another thing when considering a lift most of if not all of the lifts one would consider for residential are made in China. Tough to get around that unless you want to pay double. But having had a couple of lifts here’s a little advice:

the lift motors are typically all the same between the different manufacturers. If you have a choice go with a 220 motor over the 110 (don’t listen to the bullshit about 110 yeah it will lift but …) the difference is night and day on lift speed and also future motor headaches.

My recommendations “Advantage lifts in PA”. I am not affiliated in anyway with them - I am a customer. Their Customer service is BEYOND EXCELLENT. They will deliver and set up for a cost and depending on where you are located. The reason I chose them is there locking holes are cut into the support beams not locked into a ladder support inside the support beam - like the Bend Pak and other manufacturers. I had a Bend Pak my experience was terrible, their CS is piss poor and they depend on outside vendors to service your lift if you have problems. So you can end up with a dude with a wrench and just a brain stem and empty brain bucket at your door when something goes wrong. ( ask me how I know ). Advantage sends their company service techs if you need service. The 220 motor upgrade for me was $225 over the shitty 110. Also, advantage lifts can be moved anywhere inside your garage they ARE NOT DRILLED TO THE FLOOR. The lift comes with the moving jacks. The price is similar to a Bend Pak but the quality is far superior in both mechanics and customer service.

My brother has a Backyard Buddy, from when they were made here. Advantage now sells them. Not sure the differences, but that is definitely the place I’d buy mine from. Very well made..

 

[snakeyes]

@qwk93ta ..... asked because my friend's lift came with instructions that recommended bolting it to the floor. Like me he's a "bit" ocd, so asked his insurance buddy who said no bolts no insurance. Buddy showed him a lift fail that wrote-off the car on the lift ('vette) due to twisted frame, wrote off lift, "vette went into the inside of the house through the garage wall and damaged the wife's adjacent car. Took the roof off the garage to crane the whole mess out. Not bolted no insurance for about a 300K bill. It got better. I insurance wanted all posts to have four bolts but agreed to an engineering report allowing two bolts both "kitty-corner" on each plate. I had poured the concrete floor over epoxy re-bar and extra air entrainment. We used commercial grade 5/8 inch by 4 inch quick bolts with a shear rating of 25K pounds. He got it all in writing, the insurance at a decent price considering the 3rd party liability for anyone who "wandered" under the lift. All's well that ends well. He sleeps at night!

Is his lift a lift with "lock ladders" Lock ladders are cheap stamped steel inserts that have locking slots cutout in them and bolt inside the support posts. If the post moves while a vehicle is on it the locking support could move out of the lock cut out in the ladder losing support in that corner and causing a failure. Those type of lifts are more prone to failure (the lift lock can disengage from the locking ladder losing support in that post if that post moves), also the lift needs to be level from the start, and those units SHOULD BE BOLTED TO THE FLOOR so the posts don't move...

The Advantage lift the lift I have - recommends against bolting to the floor I had extensive conversations with them about this. Also, my lift can be moved and comes with lifting dollies to move the lift inside the garage, if you bolt you defeat that purpose.

Reason why I had the company install...

 

[qwk93ta]

@qwk93ta ..... asked because my friend's lift came with instructions that recommended bolting it to the floor. Like me he's a "bit" ocd, so asked his insurance buddy who said no bolts no insurance. Buddy showed him a lift fail that wrote-off the car on the lift ('vette) due to twisted frame, wrote off lift, "vette went into the inside of the house through the garage wall and damaged the wife's adjacent car. Took the roof off the garage to crane the whole mess out. Not bolted no insurance for about a 300K bill. It got better. I insurance wanted all posts to have four bolts but agreed to an engineering report allowing two bolts both "kitty-corner" on each plate. I had poured the concrete floor over epoxy re-bar and extra air entrainment. We used commercial grade 5/8 inch by 4 inch quick bolts with a shear rating of 25K pounds. He got it all in writing, the insurance at a decent price considering the 3rd party liability for anyone who "wandered" under the lift. All's well that ends well. He sleeps at night!

I’ve been in ins for a long time and this is the first time I’ve heard “no bolts no ins”. It would interesting to know the theory the adjuster used to deny coverage. Even if no bolts caused the loss there isn’t a specific exclusion that I’m aware of that excludes the loss described above. They would have surely looked into a manufacturing defect, I would hope.
I’ve read 1,000s of ins policies and have never read anything about bolts being required for a lift.

 

[young at heart]

I’ve been in ins for a long time and this is the first time I’ve heard “no bolts no ins”. It would interesting to know the theory the adjuster used to deny coverage. Even if no bolts caused the loss there isn’t a specific exclusion that I’m aware of that excludes the loss described above. They would have surely looked into a manufacturing defect, I would hope.
I’ve read 1,000s of ins policies and have never read anything about bolts being required for a lift.

Since you brought it up I’ll throw in a little. My middle name is cynical but there might be more to this story than meets the eye. For instance, if you’ve already got a totaled Corvette why not just cut it up and pull it out instead of destroying your roof to crane it out?

Maybe my lift is heavier duty than some, IDK. But my posts are boxed steel and the lock holes are cut directly into the posts. They demonstrated that even with a car aboard if by some fluke one lock fails to engage three will hold it fine. The ability to move the lift with the dollies is a big selling feature and they sell a crapload of these things. I’m sleeping just fine.

 

[snakeyes]

So (to help those considering a lift here are pics of my lift and set up) if you look you can see what I'm talking about the lift lock holes cut directly into the support poles (NO LOCKING LADDERS) also the 220V motor, and the side slung garage opener that you will need to install before installing the lift. Also, as you can see my lift runways - I had extra runway side plates made to make the runway extra wide to accommodate wider wheels and tires...

Anyone seriously considering a lift DM me I will help with any questions you may have - it's a big expense and you want to choose wisely as to not have any regrets after you wrote the check...

 

[Supraman]

As to the 110 vs 220, if I were a working shop trying to make money, the slow speed of the 110 would be maddening. For a hobby situation tho, it may not be worth re-wiring your garage if there's already a 110 convenient. As I recall, mine did call for a 20amp outlet instead of a typical household 15amp but I already had those throughout my backyard shop building. If you need to run a new circuit anyway, then it may be worth it to you to go ahead and put in a 220. However, another consideration for me was the ceiling height. Since I don't have clear height, my lift would go high enough to crush a car against the joists. I mounted a mirror to help me see topside. I have to watch carefully and release the button before it gets there. Just because of that, I actually appreciate the slower speed. Some cars I have to come pretty close to set it in the highest lock position and be able to walk underneath.

 

[snakeyes]

As to the 110 vs 220, if I were a working shop trying to make money, the slow speed of the 110 would be maddening. For a hobby situation tho, it may not be worth re-wiring your garage if there's already a 110 convenient. As I recall, mine did call for a 20amp outlet instead of a typical household 15amp but I already had those throughout my backyard shop building. If you need to run a new circuit anyway, then it may be worth it to you to go ahead and put in a 220. However, another consideration for me was the ceiling height. Since I don't have clear height, my lift would go high enough to crush a car against the joists. I mounted a mirror to help me see topside. I have to watch carefully and release the button before it gets there. Just because of that, I actually appreciate the slower speed. Some cars I have to come pretty close to set it in the highest lock position and be able to walk underneath.

Mirror - great idea

 

[CPT_RSV]

I’ve only had the lift for a week, but I’m glad I bought it.

I’m beside myself with jealousy. it!!!

 

[Rayman]

I got mine installed today.

 

[Grabber1]

I bought the Wildfire WF9000 3 years ago for 4,595 and pick up and delivered and professionell install was 898. The best 5,493 I have ever spent. Totally satisfied with it. My ceiling is 10 ft 8 in tall. https://www.wildfirelifts.com/wildf...qi3xOLVM8ix_s6lP_keQKhyYHe2IStyBoCcNIQAvD_BwE

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