2 post or 4 post vehicle lift ideas

[GLJ]

I searched the forums using the search function, and could not find what I was looking for. So, here goes. ADMINS, if this is the wrong forum for this topic, apologies. Let me know if it needs to move.

Ok, so... I'm recently retired from a very long 36 year career in the US Army. I bought property in South Carolina, and recently moved into my forever home. We just broke ground for my workshop, and here is my rough floor plan. I want a vehicle lift to work on my dually, my Jeep, my UTV, etc. but I can't decide on either a 2 post or a 4 post. I have read the pro's and con's of each, and still can't make up my mind.

My brother is a 30 year heavy diesel mechanic, and has a 2 post lift at his house. He has told me the differences, and his opinion on the matter. I've never had a lift before, but I know it is a must have for my new shop.

What are your thoughts, from those who have lifts. Also, which brand do you recommend?

My shop will be 40' wide, by 60' deep. I will have three 12x12 roll up doors with aprons, situated as shown in the diagram. I'm adding drains as well. The 14' over hang will have the first 20' finished off, and will be my office. There will be a full bathroom (toilet, sink and shower) in the office area.

Shop will be insulated, and wired with both 110v and 220v.

Looking forward to your insight. Much appreciated.

View attachment 855096

Congrats on the shop. I have the shop you are planning. With a 10’ roll up on one end and a 14’ on the other end. I have a two post lift I located approx 15’ interior on the 10’ end. I ordered a 16’ high bldg so I could have a second story (and the 14’ roll up). I’ve added approx 600 sq ft upstairs for storage. Office downstairs with bath & shower (lived there while building our house). Enjoy!

 

[NewHampJim]

I searched the forums using the search function, and could not find what I was looking for. So, here goes. ADMINS, if this is the wrong forum for this topic, apologies. Let me know if it needs to move.

Ok, so... I'm recently retired from a very long 36 year career in the US Army. I bought property in South Carolina, and recently moved into my forever home. We just broke ground for my workshop, and here is my rough floor plan. I want a vehicle lift to work on my dually, my Jeep, my UTV, etc. but I can't decide on either a 2 post or a 4 post. I have read the pro's and con's of each, and still can't make up my mind.

My brother is a 30 year heavy diesel mechanic, and has a 2 post lift at his house. He has told me the differences, and his opinion on the matter. I've never had a lift before, but I know it is a must have for my new shop.

What are your thoughts, from those who have lifts. Also, which brand do you recommend?

My shop will be 40' wide, by 60' deep. I will have three 12x12 roll up doors with aprons, situated as shown in the diagram. I'm adding drains as well. The 14' over hang will have the first 20' finished off, and will be my office. There will be a full bathroom (toilet, sink and shower) in the office area.

Shop will be insulated, and wired with both 110v and 220v.

Looking forward to your insight. Much appreciated.

View attachment 855096

In the same boat, Retired Military myself of a few years now. Built a 30 x 36 steel mancave 2 yrs ago with a 7" thick rebar concrete floor where I keep my midsize and small tractors in, and am looking to install a car lift this year as well. This is my POV, wanting a 2 post, having more area exposed of the vehicle to work on, as well as having 2 less posts taking up floor space. I have a 14' ft height between the floor and overhead supports, so plenty of room.

 

[aircommuter]

Maybe not the most common use, but the 4-post sure came in handy when loading a car with an 8-degree approach angle on a trailer.

That would not work with a 2-post, unless it's a deck-over trailer and a wide enough lift.View attachment 855622

I have extra ramps for my beaver tail trailer for the low cars.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

So do I, and quite a few of them, but not quite enough to accommodate that particular car. I'm only set up to handle the Challengers, which are at 10 degrees.

The dealer has the really long Race Ramps, and concrete, so unloading was easy.

 

[dhjmd]

I searched the forums using the search function, and could not find what I was looking for. So, here goes. ADMINS, if this is the wrong forum for this topic, apologies. Let me know if it needs to move.

Ok, so... I'm recently retired from a very long 36 year career in the US Army. I bought property in South Carolina, and recently moved into my forever home. We just broke ground for my workshop, and here is my rough floor plan. I want a vehicle lift to work on my dually, my Jeep, my UTV, etc. but I can't decide on either a 2 post or a 4 post. I have read the pro's and con's of each, and still can't make up my mind.

My brother is a 30 year heavy diesel mechanic, and has a 2 post lift at his house. He has told me the differences, and his opinion on the matter. I've never had a lift before, but I know it is a must have for my new shop.

What are your thoughts, from those who have lifts. Also, which brand do you recommend?

My shop will be 40' wide, by 60' deep. I will have three 12x12 roll up doors with aprons, situated as shown in the diagram. I'm adding drains as well. The 14' over hang will have the first 20' finished off, and will be my office. There will be a full bathroom (toilet, sink and shower) in the office area.

Shop will be insulated, and wired with both 110v and 220v.

Looking forward to your insight. Much appreciated.

View attachment 855096

I searched the forums using the search function, and could not find what I was looking for. So, here goes. ADMINS, if this is the wrong forum for this topic, apologies. Let me know if it needs to move.

Ok, so... I'm recently retired from a very long 36 year career in the US Army. I bought property in South Carolina, and recently moved into my forever home. We just broke ground for my workshop, and here is my rough floor plan. I want a vehicle lift to work on my dually, my Jeep, my UTV, etc. but I can't decide on either a 2 post or a 4 post. I have read the pro's and con's of each, and still can't make up my mind.

My brother is a 30 year heavy diesel mechanic, and has a 2 post lift at his house. He has told me the differences, and his opinion on the matter. I've never had a lift before, but I know it is a must have for my new shop.

What are your thoughts, from those who have lifts. Also, which brand do you recommend?

My shop will be 40' wide, by 60' deep. I will have three 12x12 roll up doors with aprons, situated as shown in the diagram. I'm adding drains as well. The 14' over hang will have the first 20' finished off, and will be my office. There will be a full bathroom (toilet, sink and shower) in the office area.

Shop will be insulated, and wired with both 110v and 220v.

Looking forward to your insight. Much appreciated.

View attachment 855096

As an owner of both a two post and four post lift (both Atlas), I have far more use for the four post. You already know the Pros and Cons, so depending on what you plan to do, and how much you plan to do of each activity, will probably drive your ultimate decision. I have found that I default more to the four post, generally speaking because as a Mechanical Engineer, I see the worst in everything and don’t feel as comfortable under the two post. In fact, every time I use the two post, I put tall jack stands under the front and rear to help stabilize the vehicle overall. I have both a newer dually dodge and an old two ton Chevy COE. The only thing I’d say that has been unilaterally useful in the two post was when I was putting the cab back on the COE. I have no idea how I would e easily accomplished that with a four post lift. Unless that’s something you’re planning on doing a lot of, I’d say your most generally useful version is a four post. Good luck in making your decision! Regardless, the one thing that’s for certain is that you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t get one sooner

 

[Jaygyver]

This is what worked for me anyway,
36x40 14’ eaves, 4 bay open ceiling shop. I've had my 2 post BendPak 9kxxx for 20 some years now.
Like whats been mentioned you need to know what you’re going to use it for MOST of the time and how often.

Being tall I looked at the ones that had the widest and the tallest lift dimensions. The height UNDER the arms as I didn’t want to stoop too much. My family has many vehicles and I do a lot of brake work, oil changes, tire swaps, suspension work, etc, so I needed the 2 post. I did look at 4 posters but at the time I bought mine, to get all the accessories for the 4 poster, like the roller jacks, drip pans etc, it was just not in my "needed" price range. That and I still would have to move the jacks around every time I wanted to do both ends/sides anyway and I would still have to work “around” the ramps. So for me/I, using the 2 poster for these years I have no regrets. The BendPak I bought has the cables, etc. on the floor but has a low profile metal plate that you can drive on and still pull/push stuff over it. I originally wasn’t sure if we got a camper later on or the like if it would be too high and hit the stop bar/open floor version and then I would have to still stoop under it to work on it.

Again as been mentioned, the floor/concrete specs are EXTREMELY important for a 2 poster. On my existing floor I just used a concrete saw to cut/prepared to specs and it worked out fine. I did luck out getting the wider 2 poster as years later I had to “recycle” my old pickup after I stripped it and my trailer fit fine between the lift post's to load it onto it.
Also I did buy the ASA/whatever booklet, it was pretty much worthless as it only told you where the lift points were, didn't say a bloody word about the center of gravity. Either common sense or your owners manual tells you where the lift points are for free.

As far as positioning the arms, not sure of the issues with “centering them all the time”, once you center the vehicle you should already know how to center it the next time? If you have it centered then why is there a problem storing vehicles in the lifted position? Do they move on their own or something? The manufacturer should say if it’s suggested to store long term or not. I haven’t stored anything real heavy and other then an ’80 f150 long bed and my older bronco I have stored them lifted for a few months at a time and no problems. I am looking at getting a cheaper 4 poster for long term vehicle storage to gain some floor space though. I will/do use a stabilizer stand when I remove an engine/rearend or such that will change the center of gravity. Being retired for a few years now and not as active as I was and even tho thankfully I have been blessed with a semi healthy body I have found it does take a few more minutes to set the arms so you do have that. I'm still slim-ish so squeezing between the door and post isn’t an issue -yet- but having an a-symmetrical 2 poster would fix that.

Do to how my shop is located and I have an “open ceiling” shop I built a loft above my #1 door (no lift) so we can store a fair amount of stuff OFF the floor and still drive cars in or utilize the full floor space. It goes the whole length of the bay and as my forklift finally died I finally put some stairs in at the far end. I don’t like pulling my tool boxes around so I have them in between the two bays nearest the car lift. (Walking a few steps seems to help me cool down a bit and not throw as many tools?) And they do make doors that follow the roof line.

 

[aircommuter]

So do I, and quite a few of them, but not quite enough to accommodate that particular car. I'm only set up to handle the Challengers, which are at 10 degrees.View attachment 855715

The dealer has the really long Race Ramps, and concrete, so unloading was easy.

Sometimes I use the tongue jack to help.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

If you have it centered then why is there a problem storing vehicles in the lifted position? Do they move on their own or something? The manufacturer should say if it’s suggested to store long term or not.

In my mind, vehicles are made to rest on the tires, whether they are unibody or have frames.

Some have noticeable differences in the reveals at the doors when on a 2-post.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Sometimes I use the tongue jack to help.

When picking up the first Challenger I brought ramps that were far too short, the ones in the photo above. They worked for the '65 Cadillac I loaded for the trip to the dealer.

Thankfully I had a fair amount of 2x6s with me, and combined with lifting the coupler about a foot off the ball I got it clear the splitter.

Anyway, a regular Cayman has a whole lot more clearance than that GT4 did. No need for anything special with those. Or even 911 Turbo Ss.

 

[aircommuter]

In my mind, vehicles are made to rest on the tires, whether they are unibody or have frames.

Some have noticeable differences in the reveals at the doors when on a 2-post.

If they are always resting on the tires how would you replace them? I haven’t had a problem lifting vehicles to service them in the last 62 years I have been doing it