Lift - 4 Post or other - Megathread


donnymac

Defered Ajudication
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 26, 2008
729
West Texas
Haven't bought a lift in ages and need to go shopping.

Any lift/brand suggestions a la GT requirements?

All coments apreciated.
 

Superfly

HERITAGE GT OWNER
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 23, 2008
2,210
Edmonton, Alberta
Hey Donny,

I'm building a new garage, so this question was very pertinent to me. I finally decided that width above all was what I wanted. :biggrin

Stormcat has a really nice Rotary Revoultion Lift, REALLY NICE. :thumbsup

MAD in NY has a really nice BendPak HD9 Lift. Also REALLY NICE! :thumbsup

FWIW, I'm getting the BendPak. It's not too long, and yet it's still nice and wide. The Rotary was nice, but while it would fit, it's a little long in my garage. BendPak also makes a really cool ONE post lift, the PL-6SPX, but that's a LOT of $$, and I'd rather save that $ for other GT mods. :biggrin

Good luck with your research. And post up pics when you finally get one. :cheers
 

Specracer

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 28, 2005
7,081
MA
We have 2 of the XLT's and 1 of the 7000I (the GT fits on the smaller). These are sourced from China, but the pump is from USA and can be found at a lot of other locations, and I think Bony even posted a Costco link. BUT from Costco you would have to put it together, and be able to unload it from a semi. I have now watched 3 of these get put toghther, and I might try it, but you do need to be sure that the cable system and lock mechanics are adjusted properly, so when we get another, I will pay the 600 premium for delivery and installation. http://www.teclifts.com/storage_parking_lifts.htm
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
There's an outfit called "Direct Lift" that has a 4 poster with 'channels' welded to the runways on each side which one can slide an optional 'jack rack' back & forth on. 'Makes it DARN HANDY to lift the car at one or both ends at the same time to do wheel swaps or whatever.

I'm going to buy one of these myself if my V-8 S-10 doesn't sell pretty soon. I'll then use my existing hoist for "stacking" and the "Direct Lift" as the work horse.

Their Fort Worth number (888-799-8083) would be the one you'd wanna call. (They don't HAVE a website as far as I know.)
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
I have a Rotary SM12NB. It's a narrow bay, shorter version of their full size lift. While it is smaller and perfect for residential use, it is still a 12,000 lb. commercial lift. It lifts my 8,000 lb. F250 with ease. It will fit in a garage with 8' ceilings (although you obviously would not be able to raise the lift fully). As you can see from the photo, the lift is plenty wide enough for the GT (the garage door is 10'wx8'h for comparison). It also bolts to the floor. Most of the homeowner lifts don't and, quite frankly, I wouldn't get under one of them. I didn't get a Bend Pak as I understand their smaller lifts are not made in the USA.

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DWR46

GT owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 20, 2008
119
I bought a Backyard Buddy. You can drive a Ford GT right on to it without any clearance problems at all. They are not inexpensive, but I don't want a $160-180,000 car to be damaged due to a cheap lift. Not at all difficult to assemble and came well packaged with clear instructions. Also American made and very excellent quality.
 

KMCBOSS

RED GT owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 3, 2006
995
Bremerton, Washington
There's an outfit called "Direct Lift" that has a 4 poster with 'channels' welded to the runways on each side which one can slide an optional 'jack rack' back & forth on. 'Makes it DARN HANDY to lift the car at one or both ends at the same time to do wheel swaps or whatever.

I'm going to buy one of these myself if my V-8 S-10 doesn't sell pretty soon. I'll then use my existing hoist for "stacking" and the "Direct Lift" as the work horse.

Their Fort Worth number (888-799-8083) would be the one you'd wanna call. (They don't HAVE a website as far as I know.)


I have two of the Direct lifts in my garage. Had them for five years now and so for - no issues. My Ford GT and my GT500 are wide bodies and just fit on the ramps. Make sure you use a spotting system for ease of driving on and off or parking a car under (you would hate yourself if you stripped a mirror off backing out. I use mirrors mounted in front of the lift wit a bulls eye to mark the location of my parking lamps when entering or leaving the garage.
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Donny, that avatar is waaaay creepier than my stuff. :lol
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
I have two of the Direct lifts in my garage. Had them for five years now and so for - no issues. My Ford GT and my GT500 are wide bodies and just fit on the ramps. Make sure you use a spotting system for ease of driving on and off or parking a car under (you would hate yourself if you stripped a mirror off backing out. I use mirrors mounted in front of the lift wit a bulls eye to mark the location of my parking lamps when entering or leaving the garage.


I don't have their brochure 'in hand' at this moment, but, I believe they offer at least 2 different widths. That should combat whatever "mirror" issues one may have.

'Side note: these are (sadly) "made in China"...as are the majority of hoists sold in the U.S. these days. So, be aware of that. But, they're the only ones I'm aware of that have those channels to slide the hyd jack platform back & forth on.
 

Superfly

HERITAGE GT OWNER
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 23, 2008
2,210
Edmonton, Alberta
'Side note: these are (sadly) "made in China"...as are the majority of hoists sold in the U.S. these days. So, be aware of that. But, they're the only ones I'm aware of that have those channels to slide the hyd jack platform back & forth on.

EP, you're right, almost all of them are made in China now :frown

As for your other point, almost all of them DO have the channels for a jack tray/drip pans (however it may be that if the ramp width is adjustable, the jack platform (and drip trays) will not fit the wider ramp widths). Almost all of the jack trays/drip pans do fit the 37" width, but not the 44" width. YMMV


Pro
 

PeakCompletions

Boost is an addiction...
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 6, 2007
1,414
West Texas
Donny,

I have two direct lifts in my shop.. no issues with the GTs... plus they are in Dallas and ship quickly and will even set them up for a small fee..

I have had the Rotary Revolution also and while slightly nicer a big price jump too.
 

MAD IN NC

Proud Owner/ BOD blah bla
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 14, 2006
4,211
North Carolina
Have the BendPak HD-9B - the wide one. Width between post is ~109" versus most standards lift being 86". Requires air for the saftey's :thumbsup When you move the ramps to the wider position, the drip pans won't fit. So I use a $5 hunk of particle board that lays up on the ramp channels as the channel on the inside of the ramps are also used for the rolling jack which is perfect to raise either the front or rear of the FGT, also air operated.:thumbsup I never will go without a rolling jack - never again!

BandPak is "certified" by NA standard bodies and I believe Rotary is also. The others? :confused BackYard buddy is also a good one from what I found out when I did the research.

I installed it myself (with 6 friends as the ram ramp is a heavy motha). It took four hr's and the first car that went on it was a '73 eldorado that weighed 6,000 lb's!

No problems at all. Completely satisfied with the BendPak. Cost - under $2,700 one year ago. Rolling jack ~!$1,150.

When you buy a lift make sure that at least you get free shipping to the nearest freight yard. From there you'll have to pick it up. I had a towing compnay use a flatbed to pick it up and drop it off in the driveway. Cost $100.


Go to Garagejournal.com and use the search function obver there. There are quite a few thread on lifts...
 

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Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
As for your other point, almost all of them DO have the channels for a jack tray/drip pans

Pro


That's good to know. I last checked into all this was about 2 years ago (maybe 3), and back then D.L. was the only one I could find with that feature. Thanks, 'fly. :thumbsup
 

Mullet

FORD GT OWNER
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 21, 2008
2,468
Houston Texas
My backyard buddy with the drip pans, jacking tray and casters will be here in 2 weeks. I wanted American made so it was a easy choice.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
If you plan on working on your cars and convenience overrides cost, be sure to get one a lift that supports rolling jacks and get TWO! Makes it very easy to get all four wheels off the ramps and gives extra clearance to get the the belly pan screws under the sills. I have a Bend Pak HD-9 wide version with two RJ-45 jacks. Unfortunately it seem that Bend Pak over time has changed the spec of their "rolling" jacks. I know of 3 different versions. The best had nice rollers with bearings, then rollers without bearings, then NO ROLLERS just plastic sliders. I have the 2nd version. I believe they only sell the slider version now. IMHO it is overpriced if not a true slider. If you want is jack that doesn't roll, you can buy a similar jack from ebay for less than 1/2 the price!

Note clearance of the rolling jack lift combination must be verified. I have about 3.5" of clearance. That is the jacks are above the ramps by about 3.5" My understanding are that the sliding jacks sit higher.
 

KMCBOSS

RED GT owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 3, 2006
995
Bremerton, Washington
I don't have their brochure 'in hand' at this moment, but, I believe they offer at least 2 different widths. That should combat whatever "mirror" issues one may have.

'Side note: these are (sadly) "made in China"...as are the majority of hoists sold in the U.S. these days. So, be aware of that. But, they're the only ones I'm aware of that have those channels to slide the hyd jack platform back & forth on.

I bought four of the sliding jacks for my lifts (two per lift) - they are $500 a piece. The lifts also come with drip pans - just incase you have a leaker. They come with wheels also - incase you want to move them.
 

gtinmyblood

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 23, 2007
735
Mesa Az/Aspen Co
I have one Rotary two post lift and 5 Rotary four posts. On the two post lift I went with the parallel posts rather than the rotated because I needed the extra couple inches for my larger vehicles (like my firetruck) and I wasn't so worried about the door swing. On the four posters I went with the extended model because it was longer and I have the three maseratis, the stock car etc that are huge. I had to pay attention to height and width. My ceilings are 12'4" so I needed that clearance considering the height of the cars on the top. I went with rotary because even though they are a bit more expensive they are high quality commercail units. I got a decent price because I bought so any and a good friend of mine is the distributer for them in Phoenix. I also bought extended aluminum ramps and jack bridges and oil trays

Hope that helps...
 

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standj

GT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 23, 2007
755
Wyoming
The Bendpak is a tough lift to beat for the money!!! Pls with the extra width option isn't easy on and off.

John
 

Mullet

FORD GT OWNER
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 21, 2008
2,468
Houston Texas
can you guys list the prices you paid for the kind of lift you have?

Backyard Buddy is $4500 and roughly $800 for the casters ($400), drip pans ($180) and jacking tray ($280).
 

gtinmyblood

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 23, 2007
735
Mesa Az/Aspen Co
I paid 26k for the package. Dont have the breakdown.

Package included:
one - two post parallel Rotary lift
five - four post extended Rotary Revolution lifts
three - sets of extended aluminum ramps
five - jack bridges
ten - oil drip trays
one - Rotary motorcycle lift table
15 - Air reels
one - industrial compressor
All of my benches and cabinets.
Installation