I try and calculate the cost of a lift vs repairs by a mechanic. Hard for me to justify the cost, but the 2 post lift should be just fine.
I get free tire rotation from Discount Tires and I can pay for a lot of oil changes at the cost of a lift. Now if that is what someone wants fine, just don’t tell me you bought it to save money.
For sure. Yeah, it’s not to save money. It’s because I enjoy working on my own vehicles and like the convenience of doing the work when my schedule allows. And, it’s nice to be able to have a place to help friends and neighbors with small stuff on their vehicles.
In case you didn’t realize, you can take the wheels off with a 4-post. You get a rolling bridge jack which rolls in channels on the inboard side of the ramps.
It is difficult to work on a vehicle that is on a drive-on lift, it can be easier to use jack stands. You can see that the model in the picture above is not really close enough to reach anything on the car because the platform is in the way, you need to have long arms.
Um, yeah, obviously I didn’t:-). It still looks a little tough to get good access though.
I think my BIL paid about $2000 for his four poster from Northern Tool. Really though I get free tire rotations and when I paid for them I think they charged me $40 that included balancing. Great if you want to work under cars but I get tired just thinking about it.
I disagree. I doubt that even 1 in 10 prospective buyers would want a lift in their garage. Most of the wives of those guys that want it would nix the deal, unless you remove the lift for them. If you want one and are willing to see the downsides for what they are, then fine, install the lift. On the positive side, you probably need a 220V line, and that would be a plus for anyone that wants to install a fast charging station for their EV. It may be wise to include partability in your decision.
Exactly. I have a 3 car garage with 10 foot ceilings. Perfect for a low-rise work lift or a parking lift.
The previous owners had one car in the garage. The other two bays were filled with bikes and sleds and other kid stuff. The garage didn’t even have any cabinets or shelves in it. That’s how most of the garages in my neighborhood look. Some neighbors don’t park any cars inside because they’re using the whole garage as an on-site storage unit. The only reason the number of people who do use their garages for cars do it is because winter really sucks here and it’s nice not to have to scrape the windows every morning.
I farm out a lot of the heavy work on my cars, but I’m by far the most active guy in my neighborhood for working on them, and my neighbors have a certain air of amusement about it too, because I’m definitely the garage oddball around here. No way would any of them want a lift in their garage.
I don’t think I would use a 2 post lift in my garage even if I wanted one. I would not trust one just bolted to the cement floor , I doubt if it was poured with the thought in mind to be strong enough for that purpose. I can just imagine that thing tilting and pulling the fasteners out while I am under it.
Heh heh. In my old house I built a 3rd garage stall off the back to store my stuff and also had a small shop off the garage. When the new people bought the house, they talked about turning it into a piano room (yeah a music room for cripes sake). Luckily my heart is strong but everyone has different priorities.
A lot of people will saw out a section of the floor where the posts will go, then dig the hole deeper and pour a thicker pad to support the posts. Of course, that would really suck for me since the floor is epoxy-coated. I’d hate to break the integrity of the coating.
A 4 poster isn’t really much worse than 4 jackstands. Two posters need certain thickness and psi rating of concrete.
Fortunately, many of my neighbors share my views on car repairs and hobbies. One of my neighbors just bought a 60’ telescoping boom lift to make cleaning gutters and replacing trim easier. 
Rather than thinking about installing a lift in the garage at the house, the solution might be to buy an old gas station which already has a lift and adapt the rest of the building to living quarters. Twenty some years ago, there were a lot of gas stations in my community that had gone out of business. Some were on street corners in older, but stable neighborhoods. I also remember gas stations where the owner/operator lived on the property. The oil companies apparently didn’t like the independently owned stations and forced these independents out. The oil companies wanted to own the property and lease it to the operators. We had a lot of independently owned and company owned stations on the market until quite recently.
Another alternative to a lift is a grease pit. I remember one garage where my dad traded had such a pit. For oil changed and lub jobs it workrd well.
Some guys have photo galleries on the internet of doing this. They often end up with a really nice setup. Unfortunately, my wife would not be OK with living in a gas station. 
The grease pit only works in certain parts of the country. If I installed one in my garage I’d constantly have to pump the water out. That’s OK for a sump pit because you don’t walk in it, but it wouldn’t be very much fun for a work area.
That view could have changed in recent years as the cost to dig up and replace tanks every so many years must be a pretty steep price to pay for owning the land/infrastructure. I’ve seen gas station go out of business over the costs to renovate and meet new standards…
Guy not far from me has built a replica of a vintage gas station off to the side of his main house. All the accouterments for period accuracy including the signage and glass top pumps etc. He has what appears to be an old Model T parked by one of the pumps.
Everything comes with compromises. I would choose the relative inconvenience of suspension work on a 4 poster for the ability to park under it when not in use. If I decide to sell and move, it’s either coming with me or being sold on Ebay if the new owner doesn’t think it’s the best thing since sliced bread…Told the wife the next time I move it will be in an urn so hopefully she doesn’t read this…
You don’t want a gas station. A friend had a small store/office building that was on a former gas station site back 60 years ago. He sold the building a couple years ago but it was very expensive for the soil borings and legal work to OK the sale. If any residue is found, the site has to be dug up and the soil disposed of as hazardous waste.
Anything with old tanks in the ground is a guaranteed headache.
I know some farmers who had underground fuel tanks and had to dig them up. Some former gas stations in my community have been repurposed as a Baskin & Robbins ice cream store, a beauty salon, and a barbecue restaurant. Two stations have been converted to living quarters. One station became a liquor store. Two new car dealerships have been converted to churches when the dealer moved to s higher traffic area. I don’t know whether or not the lifts were left in place. The lift might be activated if the congregation sings the hymn “Rise Up, Oh Men of God”.
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I remember watching an old Andy Griffith show…where Gubber was digging an oil pit. I asked my uncle about it (it was early 60’s), since he owned an Atlantic station at the time. He told me he had 2 oil pits on the property, and was going to dig another one next year. I can’t imagine what the cleanup cost for that garage is going to be. I’m glad that practice isn’t done anymore.