I hope that this is a good place to post this. I have been saving my pennys and am looking to get a 2 or 4 post lift. Any suggestions? What do you have or want and why? I would put the 4 post in the garage, but I think that I would put a 2 post in the RV pad area.

Dave

 

It depends on why you want the lift. If you want to to work on cars and double your storage space you need to get a 4 post lift and 2 posts are not meant to hold a car for an extended period of time (well, more like cars aren't mean to sit with their suspensions unloaded for an extended period of time). They both have their pros and cons. The 4 is nice because you just drive on and raise the car. You don't have to worry basically at all about the car shifting on the lift which makes simple maintence easy. If you get some bottle jacks and use the jack pans you can also lift the car while on the 4 post to do suspension work. It also works ok for exhaust work. The 2 post is very nice when you need more access to the underside... like dropping a motor out the bottom or something like that. It is also handy for suspension work because you just pick the car up and everything is unloaded. You need to be careful pulling a motor as the car potentially could just fall of the back of the lift (had a car do that on jackstands once) when you remove a motor or cause in serious shift in the center of balance.

How high are the ceilings you are dealing with? Do the garage doors lower that clearance? Normally you can get a 4 post that doesn't require as much space as a 2 post.

 

Iv used both 2 and 4 posts. each has there pros and cons the one that i really like using is a 4 post with two air hydraulic lifts in the center that are movable by hand on rollers like this. makes things so much more easy!

 

we were planning to put a 2 post in our shop. Just has more access to the car and doesn't take up as much space when not in use. The 4 post has to much in the way especially if u are removing wheels or doing suspension work

 

Way cool. Like a 2/4 Post Lift in 1! I could only find them in bulk sales though, not for sale individually. That would just take a deeper search, but those would be great to have.

 

Like the guys above said both have their places. For a home garage a 4 post would probably be the best choice, if you have a high enough roof you can park one car on the lift raise it up and have room to park another car underneath it. For actually working on cars and not just storing them I prefer a 2 post lift, they're much easier when it come to things like brake jobs or anything that involves removing the wheels. A 4 post/drive on lift is a pain in the *** to do those type of jobs on since the lift itself tends to get in the way. A 4 post that doesn't have jacks front and rear isn't good for much more than oil changes and such. The only time I will use a 4 post lift is when it's nessicary, for example a large vehicle like a full sized van or motor home... some things to think about..

 

They have lifts like that available by themselves, I've worked in several shops that have 15 bays or so and only have a single drive on..

 

What are you guys seeing as typical prices for a 2-post vs. a 4-post? I'm looking to buy a house soon and wanted to see what to budget for. I've primarily worked on a 2-post setup and will probably get that if I purchase a house with a garage or pole barn with a high enough ceiling.

 

I have a Bend Pak 10,000lb asymetrical 2 post with the cross bar at the top. I also have a 13' ceiling. Its great but the worst part is getting the car lined up ,but that only takes a couple minutes. The 4 post take up WAY to much room and really limits you access when working on the vehicle. And I do store a vehicle on it sometimes also.

 

Hay thanks for all the great reply's. I am not sure if I want to put this in my garage or out back. A two post would most likely go out behind the garage. I have a drive-threw 3rd car garage to a big concrete area. I like the idea of a 4 post in the garage, and the fact that it is mobile. I mostly suspension and breaks with the occasional trans and exhaust system install. I am the neighborhood "mechanic". Everyone brings me there weed eaters to F-350. It would be a lot easier to just lift them instead of jack-stands and a creeper!
What brand and model would you buy. I have looked at Dannmar D-7(Costco has a great deal on this). Also http://www.derekweaver.com/update/index.aspx. Any thoughts?

 

Why does it take so long to line up? something to do with the ceiling height or something?

 

you can do more on the 2 post. even with the hydraulic jacks on the 4 post it is sometmies hard to get intto the wheel wells and get stuff undone etc. if i had to choose 1 for just work id choose the 2 post. now if u were planning on storing cars for a long time then get a 4 beucase like the others said it's not good to have the suspension unloaded for a long time

 

the two post is faster to use to actually work but the 4 post is nice for suspension related under car work (ie torque arms. panhard bar, tranny mount) but for much else I prefer a 2 post doesn't take long with the economy being bad look around for auctions of foreclosed repair shops that is where our lift came from at my buddies used car lot. I think he cave $1700 and it was no problem installing we used a forklift and hammer drill and a square. Up until adjusting that was it. took around 3 hrs.