Mid Rise Car Lift

[Joe Mopar]

Due to having a 9' ceiling height I'm limited to about 46" of lift, so I was wondering if any of you guys have one of these and can comment on it.

I guess I'm wondering about the quality of it, and whether you find it valuable in our Mopar hobby. Here's one that I'm looking at below.


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200386167_200386167

Thanks'
Joe

 

[Meep-Meep]

I'm in the same boat as you with a 9' 6" ceiling height and my buddy and I labored over this very dilemma. The problem we saw was you can't get the car high enough to stand under it comfortably (unless you're Tatoo from Fantasy Island) so we decided against it.

 

[Aussie Coronet]

I'm in the same boat, getting crowded in here, with a 9' ceiling and desperately want a hoist and though it won't be ideal, surely its better than no hoist at all?

I reckon one of those low bar stools on wheels will resolve the back strain issues.

 

[CtownChris]

I can think of a 100x I wish I had a mid lift like that.
Whole lot better than ramps and jack stands.
Faster, safer, and more lift then ramps or jacks.
I am gettin older but the right tool make the job easier.

 

[YY1]

I have a Gray "air jack" that I bought from a guy who had it sitting outside for decades. It still works, but I intend to refurb abd repaint it. It allows you to raise one end of the car by the bumper, put stands under it, then do the same for the other end. I'f you're brave and careful, you can do one side at a time too. I'f you're just changing wheels, there's really no need for stands, as it has a ratchet stop.

This is MUCH faster than a manual jack on one corner, and doesn't require nearly as much stooping/squatting. I have mine up on 4 stands as high as they will go. Gives me enough room to have my arms fully extended if I'm underneath it, and brings the drums and rotors closer to eye level.

I stole mine for $100, but I've seen them at swap meets and on c/l for $250, with much nicer paint.

My brother tried to tell me he's seen "too many" bumpers get trashed with them, but I operated one almost every day as a 17 year old on other people's cars, and never damaged a single one.
On the other hand, I HAVE seen lots of damage caused by ramps.

You could buy two for 1/4 the price of that lift, and keep one on each end of the shop.

 

[cam383]

Same boat as you

I have 9' ceilings as well.I'm still using jack stands and a creeper.She sucks man.

 

[696pack]

OK guys, here is something that may work for you.

I had a two year old house with a garage ceiling just under 10'
I bought a lift and cut the sheet rock out of the ceiling and then used 2x4s to box the trusses horizontially and vertically to the portion of the existing truss structure above. After I had all of this done, I cut the bottom of the truss horizontials that were inside the new "box." Then I finished the inside of the box with sheetrock. The roof structure was twice as strong as it was originally when I was finished with it.
The only problem was that when I cut the original ceiling out, I found that EVERY wire for the house ran right over the middle of this area coming from the breaker box. I had to extend and re-route all of these wires arount this new box.
In the end, I had a ceiling pocket that allowed the roof of the car to extend an additional 24" up for maximum lift height.

 

[Aussie Coronet]

OK guys, here is something that may work for you.

I had a two year old house with a garage ceiling just under 10'
I bought a lift and cut the sheet rock out of the ceiling and then used 2x4s to box the trusses horizontially and vertically to the portion of the existing truss structure above. After I had all of this done, I cut the bottom of the truss horizontials that were inside the new "box." Then I finished the inside of the box with sheetrock. The roof structure was twice as strong as it was originally when I was finished with it.
The only problem was that when I cut the original ceiling out, I found that EVERY wire for the house ran right over the middle of this area coming from the breaker box. I had to extend and re-route all of these wires arount this new box.
In the end, I had a ceiling pocket that allowed the roof of the car to extend an additional 24" up for maximum lift height.

I think I get your drift but can you throw up a pic or two of what you did. It's an option I am considering.

 

[Joe Mopar]

OK guys, here is something that may work for you.

I had a two year old house with a garage ceiling just under 10'
I bought a lift and cut the sheet rock out of the ceiling and then used 2x4s to box the trusses horizontially and vertically to the portion of the existing truss structure above. After I had all of this done, I cut the bottom of the truss horizontials that were inside the new "box." Then I finished the inside of the box with sheetrock. The roof structure was twice as strong as it was originally when I was finished with it.
The only problem was that when I cut the original ceiling out, I found that EVERY wire for the house ran right over the middle of this area coming from the breaker box. I had to extend and re-route all of these wires arount this new box.
In the end, I had a ceiling pocket that allowed the roof of the car to extend an additional 24" up for maximum lift height.

I spent 5 years (02-07) adding 2K sq.ft., over sized 2 car garage, and then once the new addition was finished a complete gutting and redo of the existing house. I forgot to mention our bonus room is over the garage. The only work I hired out was the new electrical service to the house and I had a buddy start up the a.c. units. Other than that I did all the work.

I was a framing contractor for 25 years so unlike my automotive skills this stuff was right up my alley.

I went from this .....

To this.........

The exterior is now complete other than paving the driveway.

At the time I had no idea that the Mopar bug would come back to haunt me otherwise the construction would have been slightly different in design. Now my poor truck stays outside, have the room for detached garage but for now I think the Maxjax would be a good option for me.



At the time I was very content with having ample room for my work truck, wife's car, and some storage space.

Seems like this is getting away from the lift slightly, LOL.

 

[YY1]

Amazing!!

 

[696pack]

I think I get your drift but can you throw up a pic or two of what you did. It's an option I am considering.

Sorry, no pictures and I no longer own the house. When I sold it I added the bottom truss cross beams back in and sheet rocked over it so it looked just like before i started on it.

Just imagine what the truss roof supports look like if the sheet rock is removed from the ceiling of the garage. Then imagine what has to be cut out to allow the roof of you car to raise above what is currently in place in the truss. It is simple to see how you add upright 2 X 4s (vertically) from the bottom of the existing truss structure to the top of the existing truss structure that will later support the bottom cross beams (2 X 4s) that you will remove. In my case with the cross beams being on 24" centers I only had to remove 3 cross beams. I boxed the existing beams from the top to bottom (vertically) of existing beams and on the bottom from beam to beam horizontally. When I was done THIS portion of the truss was MUCH stronger than the original truss as this section was "boxed."

If you are not the kind of person that has vision about these kinds of things print this out and and give it to someone that is or a carpenter and they should be able to draw you a sketch that will enlighten you to what I am explaining.