Appreciate the pointer. Interested to have them checkout my options.

I'd really like to do a dual lift, like the "BuddyUp".

 

Hi folks! Help please?
I am just a phone call away from pulling the trigger on a Bend Pak HD-9ST. The question is whether the rolling jack is worth the $1k to spend?? If I have this, it would only be used for wheels swapping and rotation. And I rarely need to do this as I don't drive my cars much. They have a bottle jack platform that is much cheaper but it would be just a "platform". Bottle jack not provided. Obviously, the bottle jack would be hand operated instead of air operated as on the "rolling jack". Hard to justify spending the $$ for something hardly being used. After thinking out loud, I think I know the answer to my initial question but your input will be much appreciated. What you think?

 

Like you said, I think you already have the answer, my friend. If you made a wish list - there are probably more things higher on your list you'd spend $1,000 on before buying this option. I didn't buy mine because how infrequently I would use it - essentially ~10 time a year changing summer/winter tires. I can still use my floor jack on the flat floor on my lift.

 

Thank you, sir. Much appreciated.

 

So here's the final product for those that may be interested. Very happy with it so far. Had to spend 5 hours in the 100 degree garage to modify the door up 5 inches to clear the stack. At least I didn't have to change the opener to the jackscrew type. Attaching a pic taken from my phone. Hope it works.

 

How did you raise your door height? Did you modify the track to take the door closer to the ceiling? Or did you just slope it upwards by raising the back of the track and raising the opener?

 

I only needed 2 inches to make the stack work so I just tilted the track up. Never worked with garage doors before but figured it was worth a shot. If I mess it up then I could hire someone to move the whole track up toward the ceiling. Fortunately it worked out. I drew it up in autocad and was able to plan ahead on how much track to cut from the front pivot end. If u r planning to tackle this task, I can provide u with some pointers based on what I encountered.

 

LOL, sounds like we have an engineer. Personally, I would have had it lifted, it almost looks too tight, as you had to back in the BMW and the lift is only half way up. I'd image trying to work on the car would be a night with a lift half way up. My back hurts just from looking at that!!! Unless it's simply storage, then looks like you're good!

 

If you cut part of the curved track, I'm curious how you joined the sections again, since they typically have square slotted holes for the short carriage bolts. I presume you drilled new holes and used regular bolts?
In looking at mine, I determined that I would cut the 90 degree curve approximately in half, then splice in a section of about 4 feet of straight track (which would angle up to the ceiling at about 45 degrees, then join the other half of the curve to tuck the track closer and parallel to the ceiling. Of course this would require the side-mounted motor as described by others.

 

Yes. Simply for storage. I know what you mean though. Will probably change it up when I start doing more work on the cars.

Cheers!

 

In my case, tilting it 5 inches is pretty minor. I didn't have to cut any part of the 90 degree curve except to grind a new angle on the lower end of the arc where it rests on the vertical track. There were enough clearance around the existing bolts to accommodate the small tilt. I'll try to take some pics in the next couple of days to show which items I modified. Keep in mind tilting 5 inches (or 3 degree) is different than tilting 45 degree. You may have to change your springs too for proper counter balance of the door.

 

Here are some pics of what I modified.

This one shows the the top end of the door lifted five inches (or five holes). It was mounted in the first hole from the bottom. Will probably use a tennis ball to cover the sharp ends.

 

The horizontal bar is the one I have to cut off 3/4" from the end that bumps the wall. Luckily there were other holes I could use to bolt it back.

 

This pic shows the seam of the lower end of the arc (between the four bolts) where I had to file down a new angle so that it rests properly with the vertical track. Only had to do this to one side the other side a plenty if gap to accommodate the tilt. Didn't take a picture of the motor but that was moved up five inches too. Hope this helps.

 

nice work!