I have had a 4 post Eagle lift in my garage for about 6 years. Never had any problems with it whatsoever. Only options that I got were the aluminium ramps. The others were quite heavy. I also got the plastic drip pans for it, a very low cost option, to prevent oil, etc from dropping from above.

I like the 4 post b/c it can sit without being anchored and, as mentioned above, no problems with the suspension hanging or my wife/kids hitting their doors on it.

 

Thanks for the welcome brnsrgn. The lift will mainly be used for service and will occasionally assist with storage too.

Gary

 

I have a bend-pak 2 post assymetrical lift. Easy to open the doors as the lift beams are positioned further forward to the centerline of the vehicle. Also I optioned for the low profile lift arms which helps tremendously with lowered vehicles.

Most 2-post clear-floor lifts are 12 feet tall. My garage ceilings are 11ft 7in and the lift I ordered is 11ft 6in so it fit perfectly.

It's one of the best additions to the garage yet.

 

G Rides Inc,
Welcome and thanks for note on RA version. This must be the latest addition sounds like a must have for lowered cars. Can I ask what you where able to get one for? Installed?

 

Thanks for the welcome UberCars and glad I could help. The price I'm paying for the lift is $3295.00, freight from Rotary in IN to CA plus set-up with all the hydraulic fluid is $600.00 Also I optioned the 76 7/8" Rise for an additional $175.00, to allow more headroom while under a car.

I would of saved about $125.00 worth of freight and another $100.00 or so by taking an in-stock SPOA10 but, I feel for what I want to do, the SPOA10-RA is worth the premium. I did shop around with about four other Rotary dealers and they all offered about the same price for the lift but were a bit more on delivery costs due to them being a few hours away from where I will take delivery. I hope to receive the lift this week, if you'd like I could post some pictures of it when it arrives.

Gary

 

Gary,
Thanks for sharing. If I could speak on behalf of the others, yes please post some pix of your new Rotary lift and maybe some of your car on it too!
TIA,
Daryl

 

what are the specs for concrete flooring on a 4 post lift ???

 

I have pretty much decided upon a four post lift. As I am using it for storage more than service, I think it will work well. As to specs for the concrete, I am calling them tomorrow and will find out.

Backyardbuddy seems to be the best in terms of construction. But pricey too. Though as my wife put it so eleoquently, "I don't want to be around the day Josh (4 yr old son) drops your porsche onto your BMW".

 

Get the "padlock" option.

 

But this guy had a great set up with this lift in it. only lifts it like 3 feet

http://www.asedeals.com/mid_rise_lift.html

 

I've had the Backyard Buddy going on a year now....it's been great.

 

Yes, I am going to get the key option. Also drip trays, casters, and a rolling jack support. How hard was it to put the backyard buddy together? They say 1 day, some in 3-4 hrs some take all day. They also said 2-3 people needed to put it together.

 

I had it delivered and installed by a local guy that Backyard Buddy recommended. It has to be picked up from the freight company and requires a long flatbed trailer. The installation is straightforward but requires some strong and willing friends to help with the heavy lifting. For $500 it was well worth it to let the pro deliver and set it up. He did it himself in a couple of hours, had a portable rolling hoist and hauled all the crating and packing material away.

 

I've got a Bend-Pak MD-6XP mid-rise lift.

Scissor 'or' 4 Post?
I have a pretty good sized garage and don’t need the extra space of a four-post lift at this time.

I wanted to be able to get under the C5, but also be able to get the wheels off quickly without additional bottle/air jacks that are commonly used with four-posters. I also thought that this type of lift would make wheel detailing or cleaning out the car a lot easier.

I looked at 2 post lifts - IMO, very good for a lot of mixed service work. They do require more concrete base than I have and must be bolted to the floor. Since I'm probably going to add a 4 post for storage, I didn't pursue the 2 post very far.

The Lift
Paid $1550 for the lift (plus install/delivery mentioned above).
From what I could gather, the Bend-Pak is regarded very well vs many of the knock-off lifts out there.. Norco is alleged to be the best, but I honestly don’t know what could be more robust on this..

The lift comes with a base set of lift pads that are attached to a metal part that slides over the lift arm. It also comes standard with two riser plate sets that are handy if you’re lifting a vehicle that has exhaust or other things hanging below the jacking points. On a std. C5, this isn’t an issue as the bottom is virtually flat. I used my jacking pucks just because I had them, but the rubber lift pad is approximately 1” high and would do the job just fine.

Max lift height – on the the highest mechanical safety – puts the top of the base pad at about 43 inches. That’s essentially 44” from the bottom of the C5 to the floor – FYI in case you were tempted to add the 4 or so inches of ground clearance to the factory figure.

The minimum height listed by the factory with the pads installed is 4 ¾” – that is misleading because the safety mechanism and the hydraulic tubes are both higher than that – important because you may end up dragging your air dam over these parts. The highest ‘low’ point on the lift is the safety – 6.25” off the floor. Plan accordingly.

The lift handle has a little metal rod sticking up from it’s base plate. This cleverly allows the lift to be raised on one end (the end without the wheels – front on my pics) and move the lift around dragging it on the rear metal wheels.



My thoughts when I first saw the lift were – ‘wow, this thing is really heavy-duty’. I knew it weighed 1200 lbs or so, but the size of the cylinders/lift arms and magnitude of the welds was very impressive. Looking at it, there was no doubting this could lift it’s rated capacity of 6000 lbs.

The lift is very well suited for the lifting points on the C5 – and the weight of the car is far below the capacity. I actually lifted my X5 4.4i up a couple of feet, but due to the arm extension’s being maxed out and the weight of the truck, I was not nearly as comfortable as I would like to have been.. I personally would NOT work under my SUV in this configuration. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of jacking point options on BMW – if you have another truck and can get the jacking points closer to the center of the lift, then you may be better off.

Lot’s of room underneath the C5 with my ramps to move the lift arms into position – you can remove the jacking pad assembly and fold the lift arms over the lift.

NOTE: the lift walks from the back – meaning the front of the lift doesn’t move. You’ll want to plan for that if you’re building ramps (and you will need ramps with a stock height Corvette, 996/997, etc.).

Lift after setup


Lift arms closeup – the lift arms are about ½ plate steel – note my fat finger for comparison



Lift opened


This lift has a lot of open space when elevated – two very big cavities and a very open front and rear – more it would seem than the Norco lift I was planning on getting.



Lift at max height with my C5

Back shots




Front shots




All in all, I’m very impressed with the design, ruggedness and ease of use of this scissor lift.

Hope that helps someone here.
Chris

 

Thanks HIRISC.

That's the kind of information I was hoping to attract to this thread. If everybody on 6 speed who has a lift of some sort were to post similar info, it would be of great help to those of us in ther market. Thanks.