OT: Best 2 post vehicle lift ?

Spud · Aug 25, 2020

Not in-ground

10K or 12K two post vehcile lift.
12 foot height

What brand do professional automotive shops prefer ?

Rotary? Bendpak? Challenger ?

At the local trade school's automotive shop they have Challenger.

Milland · Aug 25, 2020

I've been happy with my 10K BendPak, but it sees little use and wear. It's also ~15 years old, so manufacturing and other details may have changed enough to not be comparable to current offerings. Two post, overhead connector (free floor).

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

Spud said:
Not in-ground

10K or 12K two post vehcile lift.
12 foot height

What brand do professional automotive shops prefer ?

Rotary? Bendpak? Challenger ?

At the local trade school's automotive shop they have Challenger.

Local garage here has indoor lifts, three bays, the busiest bay, State inspection, cycling about every 20 - 30 minutes, 7+ hrs a day, 5 1/2 days a week. The other bays might cycle once in two to six hours.

THAT is "professional" wear and tear. Very few of us actually NEED that many cycles, all year, and for many years, between rebuilds or replacement.

Even so, parked around the side, outdoors, no overhead limit, is something you might be interested in researching.

A movable SIDE lift. I thought the new price had to be way to Hell and gone out of MY budget. Their one surely WOULD be. It is meant for heavier trucks too tall to get into their indoor bays. Powerful bugger, built accordingly!

But I don't need even 10K. 6K is plenty for me. So maybe not so out of reach?

With nought but an 8-foot ceiling 2 1/2 car garage or carport, either one BUT a triple wide driveway reasonably level? I can see laying down a strip of steel plate. Or even setting-in a flush reinforced concrete pad. Or using it indoors or on the carport when all I need is enough lift to do a brake job off a comfortable gas-strut stool.

Then.... a unit I could move inside, outside, or just "a-side" when not in use - I could be interested in. Gittin' too old and stiff to keep on using creepers and jack stands!

This is the general type:

Hoffman Portable Single Lift | Mini Lift for Cars & Trucks

There is competition. Lots of it:

M-1 Single Post Car Lift Made in USA - American Custom Lifts

And I LIKE the "Made in USA" part!

roll-a-leblond · Aug 25, 2020

Thermite stick to what u know best,post dribble about a topic u know nothing about.

I've had my auto shop for 11 years now,lifts vary in price and construction.

Mowhawk is the most expensive by double brands like challenger or bend pack or rotary.but they are the best.

I have 3 bendpacks because they are made the heaviest in the middle price range. 10k lift costing $3-4000.

The oldest one I just had to replace the ram seals and hydraulic lines after 11 years of use.probally cycle 10 times a day.

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

roll-a-leblond said:
Thermite stick to what u know best,post dribble about a topic u know nothing about.

*yawn*

Well I'm grateful not to have to break routine and go study-up on pernicious assholes, given you are ever ready to jump-in and demonstrate what THEY do!

Thanks for that much!

Could was not everyone wants to waste eleven years when a bit of research as to what is in the market NOW can save some time on "detours"?

gustafson · Aug 25, 2020

BOught a cheap lift, works fine

galls me is the width which I paid no attention to.

If I did it again and had the money I would go with an extra wide

DDoug · Aug 25, 2020

Why is the OP always asking for "The Bestest".... :nutter:

There is no one "Best", if you've ever worked under one, you'd realize that.

Try cartalk.com

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

gustafson said:
BOught a cheap lift, works fine

galls me is the width which I paid no attention to.

If I did it again and had the money I would go with an extra wide

One local guy had the bay width, did so. The other one I just cited did not and could not. OTOH? Not all their lifts are post type, so ...

Most frequent and obvious diff? With wide, yah can get the damned DOORS open to attach electronics and manipulate various controls. Side lift WILL block one side.

OTOH, the off side can be wide-open... And yah get to choose, so.. factor that s**t in..

GregSY · Aug 25, 2020

Dang. I thought I'd be the first to say 'Mohawk' but I got beat .

It's funny....BendPak and the like get all the press, and guys consider them to be top -line. But they're garbage compared to a Mohawk. A Mohawk is made out of steel, and lots of it.

I'm amazed when you see some guy with a BendPak under an 8500lbs dually hammering away while the whole rig is shaking. Not for me.

As a disclaimer of sorts, the guy who's the boss at Mohawk (Steve?) is a dick. That aside, the product is unequalled.

Of coruse, when most people say they want the best, what they really mean is they want a Rolls Royce at a Kia price, and if they can't get that they'll take a Kia at a Kia price. So I'd guess a BendPak will be ordered....

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

GregSY said:
Of coruse, when most people say they want the best, what they really mean is they want a Rolls Royce at a Kia price, and if they can't get that they'll take a Kia at a Kia price. So I'd guess a BendPak will be ordered....

Got THAT shot right! "If even" a BendPak.

US or European made the rating has a safey-factor. Chinese made, the rating already INCLUDES the safety factor. If any.

Mohawk used would be nice.

But whom d'yah know as ever gave one of 'em up there wasn't somebody already there, ahead of yah, and/or may as well be new price?

bsg · Aug 25, 2020

Mohawk like others mentioned!
I have two, bought used, built like a tank!

Mohawk Lifts System I - Buy 2 post home automotive lifts, two post auto lift contracts | Mohawk Lifts

Spud, one thing not to be overlooked, investigate what you need for concrete.....I also hope your talking overall height when you said 12' and not lift height?

Kevin

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

bsg said:
.. not to be overlooked, investigate what you need for concrete.....

+1

Folks who do my Jaguar work had just bought-out another service firm for its larger building, were still moving in when first I made contact.

He had the big Mohawks - came with the acquisition, but the PO had them too close to a wall to suit longer vehicles, such a pickups with brothel cabs that still had room for a cargo bed.

The concrete work for new locations he was moving them to?

Careful guy. SERIOUS BIZNESS!

roll-a-leblond · Aug 25, 2020

Based on price, build quality , and beefy carriages and arms. Its bendpack,I can buy two of them for one mohawk.

DO NOT BUY A CHEAP LIFT! I had one when I first started out,it was all I could afford at the time. Fine for cars, but a dodge diesel dually 4x4 literally bent the lift arms of a supposed 10k rated lift.

After that I said my life is worth more than that and got rid of it.

roll-a-leblond · Aug 25, 2020

Also on concrete we put 8 inches of 4500 psi w fiber around where the lifts are,6" everywhere else.

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

roll-a-leblond said:
Based on price, build quality , and beefy carriages and arms. Its bendpack,I can buy two of them for one mohawk.

DO NOT BUY A CHEAP LIFT! I had one when I first started out,it was all I could afford at the time. Fine for cars, but a dodge diesel dually 4x4 literally bent the lift arms of a supposed 10k rated lift.

After that I said my life is worth more than that and got rid of it.

That's valuable input. Thank you! Also not new news.

Point you may have overlooked is that there are folks out here in PM-land who CAN turn a wrench. But their life long career, one Day Job after another, is FINDING MORE INFORMATION.. better and sooner than the same class of folks on the staff of the opposition.

It paid well. VERY!

It is even still fun into Old Age!

GregSY · Aug 25, 2020

I had the concrete guys dig an extra 'box' where the Mohawk was going to be installed. It's 14" of concrete under the feet, and I used 3/4" Hilti studs going down 12" to bolt the lift down.

In the other shops, we'd have guys come in with their plumbing trucks for transmission work. These were F-450 Ford's with the big steel cabinet box on back....filled with years of leftover copper fittings, iron wrenches, etc. The lift was rated for 9,000lbs, and sometimes we'd tell the plumbers to unload some of the junk before they brought the truck in. If they didn't, the lift would start lifting...then at some point, maybe 3 or 4 feet in the air, it would just stop, lol.

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

GregSY said:
I had the concrete guys dig an extra 'box' where the Mohawk was going to be installed. It's 14" of concrete under the feet, and I used 3/4" Hilti studs going down 12" to bolt the lift down.

ISTR Mike had them go down three feet. To start the job, he had to have a 10" floor diamond-sawed. With all that was involved, the extra excavation, still reachable tamping, then extra 'crete cost was negligible. And he figured his son - already active in the bizness - wouldn't have to worry about it either!

In the other shops, we'd have guys come in with their plumbing trucks for transmission work. These were F-450 Ford's with the big steel cabinet box on back....filled with years of leftover copper fittings, iron wrenches, etc. The lift was rated for 9,000lbs, and sometimes we'd tell the plumbers to unload some of the junk before they brought the truck in. If they didn't, the lift would start lifting...then at some point, maybe 3 or 4 feet in the air, it would just stop, lol.

Somebody has to work on Ambulances and Fire trucks too, one supposes.

Back in the '70's the closest place with seriously good guys on a wrench and really reasonable pricing was a garage that did 18 wheeler tractors, transit-mix trucks, and such mostly. Before they got successful enough they could turn-away passenger cars and pickup trucks, I'd have my MOPAR station wagon in for a third-member rebuild or even just state inpection, too!

Now. these folks had some in-floor air/hydraulic lifts worked as a team that had to have been a SERIOUS investment!

Spud?

How "professional" do you REALLY want to go?

DDoug · Aug 25, 2020

thermite said:
Back in the '70's the closest place with seriously good guys on a wrench and really reasonable pricing was a garage that did 18 wheeler tractors, transit-mix trucks, and such mostly. Before they got successful enough they could turn-away passenger cars and pickup trucks, I'd have my MOPAR station wagon in for a third-member rebuild or even just state inpection, too!

Now. these folks had some in-floor air/hydraulic lifts worked as a team that had to have been a SERIOUS investment!

Spud?

How "professional" do you REALLY want to go?

I worked at such a place, with yes, the in ground 2 post.
The back post slid in a trough.

Semi trucks no problem.

Beat and pound on the truck all day long, no worries.

In Ground Front and Rear / Fore and Aft Lifts Archives | SVI International, Inc.

Garwood · Aug 25, 2020

digger doug said:
I worked at such a place, with yes, the in ground 2 post.
The back post slid in a trough.

Semi trucks no problem.

Beat and pound on the truck all day long, no worries.

In Ground Front and Rear / Fore and Aft Lifts Archives | SVI International, Inc.

Ooooh.... Those are neat. Damn, another thing to keep an eye out for!

I had a rotary from the 70's that was way overbuilt. Real nice lift. New ones no way.

Current lift is a 9K "Western" cheapest of cheap because I was pretty broke when I moved so that's what I got. It probably goes up and down 5 times a month.

Something to keep in mind is the size of arms and therefore the minimum height increases as you go up in capacity. A few years ago there was a 30,000 lb Mowhawk 2 post for sale for $3k nearby so I went and looked at it thinking how cool that would be. It was just too massive for lighter vehicles. Usually working on 5000-8500 lb pickups and SUV's.

thermite · Aug 25, 2020

digger doug said:
The back post slid in a trough.

Yah ..well. 'stick' drawings in that link?

What goes on down in the "trough" resembles a cross-breed between the Devil's idea of hydraulic plumbing, the sub-basement of a tall building, and a through-plate railway bridge for some makes, too!

Heavy truck "scales" are another one where the kinkey-fuckery is out of plain view.

OT: Best 2 post vehicle lift ?

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