4 post lift question (and a 2 post lift question too)

I have started shopping lifts and have a question about the measurements. One candidate is the Bendpak HD-7P. According to the (specs), the width between columns is 90.25" (H below) and the drive-thru clearance is 76.5" (I below). Which do I pay attention to when figuring out if a car will fit inside the 4 posts with a car already up in the air?

I'm also considering a 2 post but am concerned about the width. The 4 post is 99.75" and the 2 post is 125". Did I read that right? I did not realize a 2 post was so much wider.

I would use Dimension I - Dimension H is to the inside of the columns but does not take pads, etc into account.  

Based on those diagrams and my experience, neither.

For parking underneath a car up on the lift, H is the closest of the given choices, but you don’t really want to be driving over the foot plates of the columns— my lift, which isn’t anchored to the floor sways in a rather disturbing manner when my wife does that. You’d probably rather avoid driving over any installed anchors as well.

Then there’s also some thought to be given too how much margin would you like to have between the car you’re driving and the columns, because if you hit one, you’ll be wearing the car up on the lift as a hat!

Yes, it's "H" minus a few inches.  I have an HD-7W and can stick pretty much anything I care to underneath it.  You want the ID from tower to tower dimension, which you should be able to find online.  I can measure mine, but like I said, I have the "W" version, which is wider.  To give you an idea, I easily put my GX470 under it, with room to spare, even with Thule crossbars on the top AND I don't have to be careful about how I pull in underneath it or have to fold in the side view mirrors. 

It's awesome.  I highly recommend it if you have the space.  Also be aware that the RBJ4500 bridge jacks have quite a stack height, a bit over 4".  While my 996 will clear it, I still put down a 2x12 to lift the car another 1.5" off the deck.  I don't like it, I think it's totally red neck but there isn't another better choice.

I've run 4 post lifts with and without the lag bolt anchors.  It's TOTALLY worth spending the time to bolt it into the floor.  They're not in the way and it makes a substantial difference in the solidity of the lift.  You can't move the lift around as easily once you've done it but to be honest, the only time I'll move this lift is into another garage, so that doesn't matter.

docwyte said:

Yes, it's "H" minus a few inches.  I have an HD-7W and can stick pretty much anything I care to underneath it.  You want the ID from tower to tower dimension, which you should be able to find online.  I can measure mine, but like I said, I have the "W" version, which is wider.  To give you an idea, I easily put my GX470 under it, with room to spare, even with Thule crossbars on the top AND I don't have to be careful about how I pull in underneath it or have to fold in the side view mirrors. 

It's awesome.  I highly recommend it if you have the space.  Also be aware that the RBJ4500 bridge jacks have quite a stack height, a bit over 4".  While my 996 will clear it, I still put down a 2x12 to lift the car another 1.5" off the deck.  I don't like it, I think it's totally red neck but there isn't another better choice.

I've run 4 post lifts with and without the lag bolt anchors.  It's TOTALLY worth spending the time to bolt it into the floor.  They're not in the way and it makes a substantial difference in the solidity of the lift.  You can't move the lift around as easily once you've done it but to be honest, the only time I'll move this lift is into another garage, so that doesn't matter.

Thanks Doc. So the 'W' version gets you an extra 10" for both the H and I measurement. 90.25" minus a few inches for the non-W model sounds a little narrow. I don't own anything particularly wide, but, I think I have the room, so I might go with the 'W' model instead.

Height is not an issue for me, as the ceiling is vaulted nicely in this bay.

A two post needs to be wide enough for the arms to swing their arc and clear the wheels when they are fully retracted. They need to be closer to each other to have enough reach to get to the lifting points of a long wheelbase vehicle (truck), but need to be far enough apart to get them to swing past the tires of a sports car.

Truck---> Posts need to be close to each other.

Miata---> Posts need to be far apart.

Woody said:

A two post needs to be wide enough for the arms to swing their arc and clear the wheels when they are fully retracted. They need to be closer to each other to have enough reach to get to the lifting points of a long wheelbase vehicle (truck), but need to be far enough apart to get them to swing past the tires of a sports car.

Truck---> Posts need to be close to each other.

Miata---> Posts need to be far apart.

I don’t understand this comment. 

2 post lifts have a fixed distance, and usually a plate connecting them. The arms swing, but they also extend. 

I never had any problem using the same 2 post lift to lift both my Miata and my F-250. Just extend the arms as needed. 

In reply to SVreX :

MaxJax

Yes, 2-posts are super wide.  This is partly because the posts are in the center of the car, which means if you make them narrow them you can't open the doors.  A 4-post has the posts in front of & behind the car, so they can be narrow without being in the way.

Dimension "I" is the "drive-through clearance".  Basically it's the width between the triangular gussets that connect the column slider parts to the horizontal beams that hold the ramps.  It only goes up a few inches from the ramp, so basically it tells the max width between the two outboard tire sidewalls.  76.5" is pretty generous for this, the only vehicle I own where the tires won't go between them is my Silverado 2500HD.  The Odyssey would fit, although it was close.  If you're putting the car underneath you get a couple extra inches there before the tires run over the mounting plates.  (I have an HD-9ST, but this dimension is identical between the two)

Dimenion "H" is the width between the vertical parts of the posts, and will limit the width of the vehicle at heights a few inches above the ground.  A number of cars that I've put on there have required folding the mirrors to fit between the posts.

Woody said:

In reply to SVreX :

MaxJax

So, MaxJax need to be reset depending on the size of the car??

SVreX said:

Woody said:

In reply to SVreX :

MaxJax

So, MaxJax need to be reset depending on the size of the car??

Possibly, but you can plan for this sort of thing and maximize the utility with careful math when you lay it out the first time. For me, I wanted the right side post dead center between two garage bays and was limited  on the other side by a knee wall. And I had a pretty big difference between two vehicles. The Miata wheelbase is 89 inches and the truck was 141.

Even if you need to set up for two different post widths, it's just a matter of adding five more anchors on one side. And then moving a post is just a five minute job.

In reply to Woody :

I understand everyone always says “It’s just a 5 minute job”. That’s 5 minutes more than I want. 

I had a 2 post lift, and loved it. I don’t want to have to move stuff around whenever I want to use it. My 2 post never needed to move to handle different vehicles.

And dyntorace doesn’t need to. He has the space for a real lift. 

In reply to dyintorace :

The "W" gives you the tallest lifting 4 post lift that'll fit in a "normal" suburban garage.  I've got 82" of height from the bottom of my decks to the floor when the lift is up on its top locks.  That lets me stack the two cars, as the GX470 is incredibly tall.  If you have the space, I'd get the wider, taller lift.  You don't have to run it up onto its top locks if you don't need to but its nice to have if you do need it.

My old 4 post lift only had around 69" of clearance on the top lock, nowhere near enough to put the GX470 underneath it.  So I sold it and bought the HD-7W.  I wish I'd planned ahead better and only made the purchase once.

In reply to SVreX :

One of the primary reasons that I chose the MaxJax is that I can knock the whole thing down and tuck it into the corner in fifteen minutes. That lets me get four cars into my three car garage for the winter. 

I recognize that my solution may not be the right solution for everyone.

docwyte said:

In reply to dyintorace :

The "W" gives you the tallest lifting 4 post lift that'll fit in a "normal" suburban garage.  I've got 82" of height from the bottom of my decks to the floor when the lift is up on its top locks.  That lets me stack the two cars, as the GX470 is incredibly tall.  If you have the space, I'd get the wider, taller lift.  You don't have to run it up onto its top locks if you don't need to but its nice to have if you do need it.

My old 4 post lift only had around 69" of clearance on the top lock, nowhere near enough to put the GX470 underneath it.  So I sold it and bought the HD-7W.  I wish I'd planned ahead better and only made the purchase once.

Makes sense. I have plenty of ceiling height to play with, so the taller lift would be nice. I'll take some measurements and see if I can do the wider version too. Based on the width of the 2 post, along with the placement of the side door into the garage, I don't think a 2 post will work. 

AnthonyGS said:

I really appreciate the discussion since a lift is in my near future.  I know I want a four post but am not decided on any size or brand yet.  I’m looking at parking a Porsche 996, Miata and Mustang with two stacked and one covered in the driveway behind them or possibly keep one at work in the rotation.  I’d like to be able to park my wife’s SUV next to it so that worries me a bit on the wide lifts.  I have a 10ft ceiling but know the garage door track and opener need to be changed to go to the top of the garage for a lift.  I’m farming that part out.

Measure carefully to figure out if you can stack the cars you have.  Keep in mind that in addition to the car heights, you need ~ 6 inches for the deck that the top car sits on (assuming 4 post), and that the lift needs to rest on the safety catches.  Those are spaced every 4 inches, so you may have 3.5 inches of extra space above the lower car that you can't use.  You also need to lift the top car up a couple inches in order to release those safety catches, so you need some slop above it as well.  All told, figure you're going to use 10-15 inches of your total height on that kind of stuff.

I suspect stacking the 996 (51 inches according to google) and Mustang (depends on year, but 53-ish seems to be median) may be an issue.  I stack an FD and a Miata in my garage (slightly less than 10 feet, call it 9'10" or so).  Both are spec'd at 48 inches, although they're both lowered from stock by a significant amount.  I've got enough extra space that I can put the Miata one notch lower and still get the FD underneath.  The Audi (a C7.5 S6, 57 inches nominally) will NOT fit under the Miata, at least not with enough clearance for me to be comfortable that the air suspension isn't going to do something unfortunate.

The measurement you need to look at is the clearance from the bottom of the deck to the floor while the lift is on its top lock.  This will be less than the lifts maximum lift height! 

I'm not worried about you fitting two sports cars, you should be fine with that.  I have a much taller garage than you at 13.5', but I can easily stack the 996 and the GX470, with plenty of room to spare.