Infloor scissor lifts?

I'm going to build a new house and shop and at the design stage now for a spring start.

While I was just going to go with a typical 2 post hoist the space they take up when not in use is a pain in the neck,I've watched vids with in floor scissor lifts and like those a lot.

Anyone have any experience with them?,btw I want 6' of lift not the approx. 40" lift of most I've seen.

I dismissed scissor lifts when adding a lift to my garage because I wanted to be able to use the lift for parking as well as service, and the scissors don't do that.

IMHO the best compromise was a 4-post lift with roller jacks. It solves the width problem (it's only about a foot wider than the car on either side, vs more like 3 feet on either side for a 2-post), it's a lot more stable with a car on it (a big deal here in earthquake country) and the roller jacks solve the "how do I take the wheels off" problem. The presence of the ramps does mean there's less access to the suspension than with a 2-post, but it was the best compromise from my standpoint.

I thought of the 4 post for the same stacking of cars deal,I'm building 30x40 so I figure a set of car skates and I can roll 2 or 3 cars into close quarters if I need more space.

I don't think I'd be happy working around the deck of a 4 post.

If I had 1200 square feet I'd just put in a 2-post. There's no question that's the best lift for service, one look in a pro repair shop will make that clear. :) I was initially concerned about the ramps of the 4-post, but haven't found them to be an issue.

If minimizing space taken up when not using it is a priority, they make in-ground, 2-post lifts, although I have no idea what they cost.

Garage Journal thread.

The scissor lifts I've seen are a giant compromise because you can't use them for doing stuff like exhausts and clutch jobs.

I went back and forth about one for the new place I'm buying and was really hot on the idea. Bendpak and a couple other companies make pretty good quality ones that make the height that you want.

However: They're close to double the price, before the concrete work, that a two post or a four post would be. You're looking at a bit over 4.3k for one using the Bendpak SP-7X as a reference point.

There's something to be said for having an out of the way lift but I'm not sure its worth that much to me. I'm also probably going to go with a 4 post with an RJ-45 jack bridge for somewhere between half to three quarters the price. Plus there's the parking aspect and not having to CG the car like a two post. Plus I don't have to worry about my toddler smashing my doors into posts.

We'll see how the move goes first, in my case, and I'll report back if I end up with one.

FWIW, here's my 4-post:

With the Miata on the roller jacks:

Codrus: Out of curiosity. What's your ceiling height ?

I forget the exact number -- it's somewhere between 9.5 and 10 feet. It's not quite tall enough for me to walk under the Miata. I considered trying to raise it, but that would have required re-engineering the roof on the garage (it's a bunch of trusses above the drywall) and that started at $50K so it was a non-starter.

I'm 6' tall, a friend of mine who is 5'6" can walk under the car, so it's close.

In reply to codrus:

Awesome thanks. My new garage has 12' ceilings this time around.

Also that in ground Rotary smart lift is about 7500 dollars, according to the Googles. Love the FD too.

Yikes, that's pretty spendy. I imagine it also needs a lot of concrete work to install it? One other nice thing about the 4-posts is that they just sit on the floor. Delivery was easy (go to freight depot, they forklifted it onto my trailer), and installation just required pizza, beer, and a few buddies.

I picked up the FD a few months ago, have been looking for one for a long time. :)

How much clearance is needed to clear the roller jacks with the 4 post?.

My miata is race only and LOW with big honkin' splitter,having to plank the top of the deck to use the jacks would be a pain I suspect.

kevlarcorolla wrote: How much clearance is needed to clear the roller jacks with the 4 post?. My miata is race only and LOW with big honkin' splitter,having to plank the top of the deck to use the jacks would be a pain I suspect.

Yeah, I have 2x8s on the deck for the Miata to clear the RJ-45s. They're also needed because my driveway has a fairly steep slope to it and the car will high-center driving onto the runways without it.

If I were doing it over again, I might look for low-profile roller jacks. I've seen some where the jack itself rotates 90 degrees to take up a lot less space while stored.

I looked long and hard at the Ever-Eternal in-floor scissor lift much like Jack Olsen's 12-gauge garage.

One guy's install is here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2408468

I ended up buying a 2-post rotary....

I went with a 4 post lift as I wanted it for storage as well as mechanical work. I looked into the roller jacks but found a low tech and cheap solution.

I bought a semi trailer jack stand. The thing will go up to 50" in height and will hold something stupid like 50,000lbs.

What I do is raise the car, put the semi jack stand either under the front subframe or rear diff (depending on what end I want to lift), then I drop the lift and car down on it.

The lift drops away from the car, then I place my normal jack stands underneath the car and bring the lift back up. Tada! End is up in the air and properly supported on jack stands, ready for wheels off work.

I'd love to have a two post lift too but would need to move to a different house where I could build a detached shop

Something else I'll add to the 2-post versus 4-post lift thing--

The way my 4-post fits in the garage, the posts are only in my way. If I had put in a 2 post lift, at least one of the posts would be in SWMBO's way.

Easy decision.

Thanks guys,even more unsure about what I want now.

The house will have an attached garage for wifeys car,garage is for the 3 track only cars.I'll build a shed for the lawnmower,snowblower stuff etc etc to keep it outa my way.

Might need a car port for the 3 trailers and boat,too bad most of this stuff is old crap not new crap.

I have a 4-post at work. It's awesome for drivetrain, brakes and servicing. I don't have the "extra" trolley thingie to lift the car by the chassis and pull suspension off. When it's not being used, it's in the way. It's awesome for storage. You cannot lift a body off a frame with a 4-post in a non-questionable way.

I bought a 2-post because I only have 2 posts taking up space, and I installed an 18' wide door instead of the typical 16' wide to make up for it. I also installed the hoist a couple feet further into the shop, so if I needed to work with the vehicle doors open, I just wouldn't pull further into the shop. You may not have these options, but it was a new construction and I designed it with this in mind. You ~can~ easily lift a body off a frame with a 2-post.

Ideally you want both, they both have advantages.

If you are just into storage and/or routine maintenance and servicing, a 4-post would be my recommendation.

If you are into more adventurous repair/restoration/fabrication, I would recommend a 2-post.

After my previous projects I have slowed down quite a lot but for sure a lift isn't for storage or routine maintenance.

kevlarcorolla wrote: After my previous projects I have slowed down quite a lot but for sure a lift isn't for storage or routine maintenance.

So here's how I look at it. There are two reasons to own a lift, one is to increase your available covered parking by stacking cars vertically, the other is to provide access for working on the car. Against this, there are two main constraints on the kind of lift you can put in, they are space and money. The different lift options offer different tradeoffs against these items.

4 post lifts are better for parking, because they are more stable and they keep the car on its wheels.

When it comes to service, both a 2-post and a 4-post will rolling bridge jacks are capable of doing mostly the same set of things (there are few exceptions -- 2 post will separate a body from frame/subframe, whereas 4 post will do alignments). The 2 post will always have less stuff in the way though, so it's generally better from this perspective.

The 2 post appears smaller, but when applied to home garages actually takes up more space. This is because the 2 post requires a lot more width, whereas the increase in length of a 4 post is pretty much all in the space you'd be using to park a car anyway.

The 2 post is more expensive to install because it requires a stronger floor to bolt it down to. If you go with 2 rolling bridge jacks then the 4 post is probably more expensive to buy outright.

The in-floor scissor lift is, IMHO, inferior in almost every way. It can't stack cars, it's still got lots of stuff in the way. It can't do alignments or lift bodies off frames, and it requires a ton of floor prep. It might be cheaper, I'm not sure. It is nice in that it basically disappears when you're not using it, so it probably wins on the aesthetics front.

It sounds like you have lots of space, are building the shop from scratch (and can thus spec the floor), and don't Iive somewhere that you're worried about earthquakes so I think the 2-post is the clear winner. That's what I'd do in that situation.

In reply to codrus:

Thank you for the detailed,well thought out response.

I will likely end up with a 2 post,still the allure of nothing there when not in use is tempting.

Where scissor lifts really win is when you are very space limited. I have a 1.5 single bay attached garage. Two or four post lifts are out of the question - there simply isn't enough width.

However, I can fit two scissor lifts inside and use both of them, provided the cars are short. Right now, my Jetta is in the back of the garage about 4' in the air. The Mini is closer to the door and raised up about two feet to make the interior work I'm currently doing a bit easier. Plus, I have a 9.5' ceiling. The Jetta at full height is just about against the ceiling, so much of the benefits of a 2 or 4 post lift would be lost.

I also like being able to roll one lift outside to work on the van, which is too large to fit in my garage with room to work on it.

When I bought my first lift a number of years ago, I was pleasantly surprised how much better under car access is than I was expecting it to be. I'm not saying it's great, but I can still do exhaust work with a car on the lift.

I've looked into recessing the lifts. It would definitely be a lot of concrete work. The other option I've been considering is raising the floor of the garage.