Minimum Garage Ceiling Height for a lift


fjpikul

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 4, 2006
11,475
Belleville, IL
Tachy, my learned suggestion is that it is time for you to retire and move into concierge medicine. Maxemus will be in dire need of a private cardiologist and you should move in with him in Miami. He has plenty of room for you and the family and multiple cars on multiple lifts.
 

Tomcat

GT Owner
My garage is deep enough so the lift is off-set from the garage door tracks/opener. In my opinion, there is no magic ceiling height. I cannot stand up underneath my car on the lift (with 9 foot ceilings) BUT I lift the car about 4-5 feet and role around on a padded stool with a few inches of pneumatic lift (to compensate for different car heights)...its great!!!

I also only put the hood of my daily driver under the lift. So the daily driver is on the floor below the door mechanism/list, with its hood under the lift (which is 4-5 feet off the floor).
 

SuperNova

GT Owner
Jul 4, 2013
116
Ashburn, VA
Glad to have found this thread - we are going to be hoping to embark on this as well soon. My situation is almost an 11' ceiling but with that pesky beam in the middle at 9'6". I'm unsure if I can make things fit, GT stacked on top of either a hatchback or likely shorter sports car.

We were actually looking at this setup, since I'm going to have potentially four cars in the garage. Not sure if anyone has any experience with this lift, I hadn't seen this until just recently:

https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/pl-6kdt/

Gary - are your posts 10'3? the ceiling?
 

TO AWSUM

Ford GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 4, 2007
1,506
Niceville FL
I installed a barrel type rollup door where the door wraps around a drum (like a paper towel roll) rather than using the 2 rails that run over the top of the car/lift. Gives you a lot more room above the lift. The mistake I made was purchasing a drum system where the center axle doesn't turn with the drum. So now I had to purchase the super expensive "commercial" motor that attaches to the drum itself with a large sprocket/chain assembly instead of the motor attaching to the center axle directly. The picture of the side motor above is the type that attaches to a moving axle and will not work with a "commercial" drum roller system. Whatever "commercial" means as mine isn't any heavier duty than a noncommercial model. Lesson learned too late.
 

Xcentric

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 9, 2012
5,213
Myakka City, Florida
Gary - are your posts 10'3? the ceiling?

Floor to ceiling is 10' 6". HD-9 ramps are 76" at max lift. Max lift + GT = 10'.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Glad to have found this thread - we are going to be hoping to embark on this as well soon. My situation is almost an 11' ceiling but with that pesky beam in the middle at 9'6". I'm unsure if I can make things fit, GT stacked on top of either a hatchback or likely shorter sports car.

We were actually looking at this setup, since I'm going to have potentially four cars in the garage. Not sure if anyone has any experience with this lift, I hadn't seen this until just recently:

https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/pl-6kdt/

Gary - are your posts 10'3? the ceiling?

You've probably already seen it on their webpage, but, BendPak also makes a far less 'gimmicky' double-wide that lifts two cars toether (no independent cable lifts).

Unless for some reason you either need or just plain WANT the independent hoisting feature, the 'simpler' double-wide should save you several thousand $$$$$s. ;-)
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
You've probably already seen it on their webpage, but, BendPak also makes a far less 'gimmicky' double-wide that lifts two cars toether (no independent cable lifts).

Unless for some reason you either need or just plain WANT the independent hoisting feature, the 'simpler' double-wide should save you several thousand $$$$$s. ;-)
not only expensive but also butt puckeringly scary as hell.... only thing keeping the cars up are the cables, no secondary backup (as far as I can tell) personally I would need some heavy medication to be able to sleet at night with that lift. I did however install the simpler kind you mentioned, and so far its been fantastic.
 
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Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
not only expensive but also butt puckeringly scary as hell.... only thing keeping the cars up are the cables, no secondary backup (as far as I can tell) personally I would need some heavy medication to be able to sleet at night with that lift. I did however install the simpler kind you mentioned, and so far its been fantastic.

Aaaaaaah, I see they've changed the color.
Mine's blue...


..."butt puckeringly scary as hell...."

My thought as well. But, "different strokes".
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
Aaaaaaah, I see they've changed the color.
Mine's blue...


..."butt puckeringly scary as hell...."

My thought as well. But, "different strokes".
haha I begged them to make me a blue one they said color change is permanent unless you are willing to pay 1800 dollars upcharge at which point I said "ugly grey" is fine thank you.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
There's always the Krylon 'rattle can' option, Doc...☝
 

RPM217

2005 white/blue stripe
Jun 18, 2010
1,658
Rye Brook, New York
I have the BendPak double wide. I don't think the ability to lower one car at a time, instead of two is worth the premium. And as EP pointed out, there doesn't appear to be any safety locks.
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
There's always the Krylon 'rattle can' option, Doc...☝
and have blue tires for the rest of my life no thanks :)
 

Propdave

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 11, 2016
124
Calgary, Canada
I have 10'6" ceilings in my garages and I can extend my lifts to full height with the GT on top. I can drive a Porsche Macan underneath with no issues. If I were to move I would want at least 10'6" ceilings so I could comfortably work under the GT.
 

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Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
and have blue tires for the rest of my life no thanks :)

Eeeeeeh! Consider offloading the cars before spraying, then!

No guts, no glory, Doc. ;-)
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
Eeeeeeh! Consider offloading the cars before spraying, then!

No guts, no glory, Doc. ;-)
in this case no glory will have to do, battle vs war scenario, I cant do every project I want Im already two years behind and Im working for myself :)
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Copy that... 🖖

I'm so far behind on mine I can see my butt about a block ahead of me...
 

unotaz

GT Owner
May 24, 2018
85
Los Angeles
You need at least 10.5 ft of floor to ceiling space to install any reputable 4 post lifts. 11ft would be better.
 

Beez

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 28, 2016
195
South Denver
You need at least 10.5 ft of floor to ceiling space to install any reputable 4 post lifts. 11ft would be better.

Just not accurate. I have 9.5 ft and a Bendpak HD-9. Working out well for these two cars.

55875
 
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soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
Just not accurate. I have 9.5 ft and a Bendpak HD-9. Working out well for these two cars.

View attachment 55875
agree, my old place I had less than 9.5 and I was able to stack two lowered cars... from the looks of your picture it seems you might even be able to drop the supra down one notch on the lift and the gt will still clear which means even at 9.1 you would still be fine, its cutting it real close but thats how my set up was less than 2" of clearance on each car.
 
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Beez

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 28, 2016
195
South Denver
Keep in mind the garage door will take up about eight inches of clearance when open even after a high lift conversion.

under 3 inches is possible
 
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