[67drake]

I bought a house with a 30x40x12 garage . It’s been my intention to put a lift in before I even bought the place. Getting older it’s just too hard to get up and down off the floor multiple times while working on my cars and trucks.
I had planned on getting a 4 post as having the extra parking space beneath it would come in handy. I already keep 3 old cars in the garage, so am out of room when I want to work on one of my daily drivers. One of my DD is my 2500 crew cab Duramax, which weighs in at almost 10,000 lbs
Now last week my son informed me that his school is thinking of selling their lift from the automotive program. I emailed the teacher to confirm. It’s a Challenger E10 10,000 lb. lift. In another thread I started some say this will be tough to reach the lift points on my Duramax. I don’t know if I should hold out for a 4 post or go for a “deal” on this one. If it’s not going to work with my truck, I’ll just wait.
Just curious if anyone has used this lift or a similar one to lift trucks?
My wife drives a 2018 Suburban 4x4 BTW, which is a huge PIA to use a floor jack and jack stands on.

[Sirrotica]

I bought my new lift this past year, and bought a 12,000 Lb. lift because corner of the car/truck isn't the same weight, the front obviously has a heavier weight bias. The lift reccomendations wanted you to make sure the front arms weren't overloaded, total vehicle weight isn't the whole story when it comes to lifting trucks.

The lift arm on a 10,000 will only safely support 2,500 lbs. I read up on this fact before I ordered my lift which will be used to lift my diesel dually trucks , as well as a IH wrecker. Another feature of the 12,000 lift is the opening between the posts is about a foot wider to accomadate larger/wider vehicles also.

I'm presently pouring 3X3 reinforced 12 inch thick pads to anchor the posts that will be 4X4 under the existing slab, (6 inches on each side larger than the hole in the slab to add stability) as well as tied into the existing slab with 3/4 inch rebar at 16 points around the circumferance of each pad. The concrete in my floor was 3-4 inches thick, and specs called for minimum of 5 inches, so I designed my own pads, and speced them much bigger than recommendations called for.

The 12,000 was $3,995, $1,000 more than the 10,000 Lb lift, but considering what I intend to use it for, I feel it's a good investment. I really don't care what anyone else has to say about how I have choosen my lift, and reinforcing pads, because I'll be the one standing under it. Because of the cold weather, and no heat in the garage, I probably won't pour the concrete until spring, holes are mostly dug, and some of the rebar holes are drilled.

I won't be using the concrete anchors that come with the lift, as there are many accounts that these anchors have a tendancy to pull out over time as the lift is being used. Instead I'll be using threaded rod, with epoxy bonding it to the concrete. This procedure is supposed to be a much better procedure over long term installs.

I've read up on the whys and why nots of buying, and installing a lift, hopefully the research has paid off, and it will be safe as well as trouble free....

This is how I determined what I was going to buy, and how I was going to install it. Good luck with your project.

BTW at 70, I have the same problem getting back up off the floor, plus I've ben in the automotive repair field for over 50 years, and have never had a lift at home, but have used them daily at work, so I know both sides of the story........ I did have one garage I had built at one of my homes that I had a grease pit, but a lift is much better alternative.

Ths is a link to the one I bought: https://www.advantagelifts.com/produ...bs-2-post-lift

[455dan]

Originally Posted by 67drake

I bought a house with a 30x40x12 garage . It’s been my intention to put a lift in before I even bought the place. Getting older it’s just too hard to get up and down off the floor multiple times while working on my cars and trucks.
I had planned on getting a 4 post as having the extra parking space beneath it would come in handy. I already keep 3 old cars in the garage, so am out of room when I want to work on one of my daily drivers. One of my DD is my 2500 crew cab Duramax, which weighs in at almost 10,000 lbs
Now last week my son informed me that his school is thinking of selling their lift from the automotive program. I emailed the teacher to confirm. It’s a Challenger E10 10,000 lb. lift. In another thread I started some say this will be tough to reach the lift points on my Duramax. I don’t know if I should hold out for a 4 post or go for a “deal” on this one. If it’s not going to work with my truck, I’ll just wait.
Just curious if anyone has used this lift or a similar one to lift trucks?
My wife drives a 2018 Suburban 4x4 BTW, which is a huge PIA to use a floor jack and jack stands on.

Can you do a test lift on your truck at the school to confirm?
Challenger 10K should lift it No problem.

I have a Bendpak 10K asymmetrical 2 post and it has no problem with my Quad cab diesel 4x4 RAM 3500 as long as I make sure to center the truck when parking to lift. I also use a support standunder the rear hitch if things are going to get physical. It adds a lot of stability on long wheel base.

What was the reason they said it would not work with your truck?

[SRR]

Originally Posted by 67drake

I bought a house with a 30x40x12 garage . It’s been my intention to put a lift in before I even bought the place. Getting older it’s just too hard to get up and down off the floor multiple times while working on my cars and trucks.
I had planned on getting a 4 post as having the extra parking space beneath it would come in handy. I already keep 3 old cars in the garage, so am out of room when I want to work on one of my daily drivers. One of my DD is my 2500 crew cab Duramax, which weighs in at almost 10,000 lbs
Now last week my son informed me that his school is thinking of selling their lift from the automotive program. I emailed the teacher to confirm. It’s a Challenger E10 10,000 lb. lift. In another thread I started some say this will be tough to reach the lift points on my Duramax. I don’t know if I should hold out for a 4 post or go for a “deal” on this one. If it’s not going to work with my truck, I’ll just wait.
Just curious if anyone has used this lift or a similar one to lift trucks?
My wife drives a 2018 Suburban 4x4 BTW, which is a huge PIA to use a floor jack and jack stands on.

Your truck doesn't weigh 10,000 LBs. That is a gross weight. It's probably around 7500 when empty. I have a two post lift and it's rated at 7000 lbs, I lifted a Duramax crew cab dually once and because of the frame shape it was very unstable and fell off the lift but I was only a couple inches off the ground when I did the shake test. Go for a 4 post drive on with the rolling jacks if you have the room.

[67drake]

Originally Posted by 455dan

What was the reason they said it would not work with your truck?

As some else mentioned, can’t get to a good lift point in back. They didn’t say it wouldn’t work, just sketchy PIA.
Yeah after I posted this I looked and noticed the 9300-9900 was gross weight.

Great info so far, thanks guys.

[Sirrotica]

FWIW, the link to the Advantage 12,000 Lb lift now has a Black Friday pricing at $2995............

https://www.advantagelifts.com/produ...bs-2-post-lift

Well, I never even thought about waiting til Black Friday when I purchased it, I could'a saved another grand..................

BTW, almost every current lift is made in China, no matter what name is on it, The only way you get US made is buy a used one that was made here, or pay about double the price for US made. Since mine is over speced, and isn't going to be used daily, I'm not going to worry about the country of origin.

I have a F750 Dump truck, and if I can find a reasonably priced bucket truck, I might also be adding to the fleet. Looking ahead these also may need to be on a lift, so I'm fine with the extra 2,000 lb over a 10,000 lb lift. I'd rather have the extra capacity before I need it, than lamenting not having it when I ordered the lift.

Two years ago, in the spring I bought a K3500 truck from a guy that had a really nicely set up garage. He has pulling trucks that he competes with here in Ohio. I asked him what size his lift was, and he replied it was a 10,000 Lb, but he wished he had sprung for the 12,000 lb one after having it for a few years. After i talked to him, I expanded my lift search to include 12,000 lb lifts, using his experiences. I also was intent upon buying a 10,000 lb lift, until talking to him.

[mgarblik]

I have a 10K Forward brand 2 post asymetrical lift in my shop. I have lifted 170" wheelbase Ford 3500 1 ton vans with it. Also, GMC and Ram 3500 diesel trucks with this lift. Spreading the arms and finding lift points was not an issue. The bad news is the trucks are "tippy" when in the air on my lift. If I am doing any work pushing or pulling on fasteners, I put a high jack stand under the trailer hitch for some additional stability. IMO, it's not ideal and I don't feel 100% safe under heavy vehicles like these with this rack.
What Sirrotica didn't happen to mention is the 12K rack he has is more than just an additional rating. Everything on his lift is heavier than a 10K rack. The gauge of the post metal, sometimes the box members in the arms, the cables, everything. Look at the shipping weight of a 7K, 10K and 12K rack. Quite a difference.
There are advantages to 4-post vs 2-post lifts and so forth. But IMO, if heavy trucks are what you are going to work on and you want a 2-post, I would go for a 12K model. BTW, the Advantage Brand lifts look to be very nice. I am OK with my Forward brand one, but nothing special. Factory service has been excellent. I needed an entire new power unit a month after put in service. One of the big hydraulic pistons began leaking after a year. Had parts in 3 days. They didn't want any of the old stuff back.

[67drake]

About a week after I started this post I informed the school that I was probably going with a 4 post lift. Too much talk of unstable trucks. I would be working on a variety of vehicles, but trucks and my wife’s Suburban would be on there a lot. Plus my 16 year old just brought home ‘98 2500 Silverado with a plow last week.

[Sirrotica]

FWIW, the shipping weight for the 10,000 Lb. Advantage lift is 1465 Lbs. The 12,000 lift is 2250 Lbs., so yes, the extra 2,000 Lb rating gets you quite a bit more steel (just shy of 600 Lbss.) in the construction of the lift.

At this point I waited too long to pour the thicker footing, and I'll wait until spring for warmer weather.

Having talked to Mike, and finding out his anchors have loosened up when he's retorqued them previously, I did some research to avoid this problem. The answer I have found is using a 2 part epoxy mix to actually fuse the threaded anchor rod to the concrete. From the research once this fix was done the anchors rods stay put, when they're retorqued there is no movement.

If you install conventional concrete anchors first, then they slip, you have to drill the outer casing out, or beat it clear through the concrete into the dirt below before you can use the epoxy fix. I figured just to be safe I'll epoxy them in from the get go, and avoid the drama. I want no problems after I install it, I just hate doing things over a second time.

Having spent over 5 decades working with almost every lift configuration there is, there is no configuration that lends itself to actually working on the whole bottom side of the vehicle like a 2 post does. Since I'm not going to use the lift for any other purpose than working on vehicles, this was my logical choice.....YMMV

[Bills Auto Works]

I have a 10K 2 post BendPak lift, I also have an '03 2500HD crew cab short bed AND an '02 3500 crew cab long bed.

I can tell you from years of experience & having both these trucks on the lift that the 2500HD fits much better than the 3500 does. In fact....having the dually on the lift gives me the "Willies" & I am not the kind of person that scares easily or worries about what COULD happen.

The times I have the 3500 on the lift, I put tall jack stands under the rear axle. The problem with the GM frames is they start going up over the back wheels too soon to make a good flat contact point for the rear lift arms. It is obviously a little better with the 2500HD having a short bed & a shorter wheel base.

I would assume by your comment of your truck weighing almost 10K that it must be a newer version than mine. My 2500HD (Duramax/Allison) which has every option only weighs around 7000lbs empty, so your weight is another factor to consider. Like previously mentioned, the 12K version would be better for you should you choose to go with a 2 post lift.

God Bless & Happy New Year
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...closed.614419/

[67drake]

After I posted this I realized the 10,000 was gross weight. In reality probably about 1500 lbs. lighter as it would sit on a lift. I do have a VERY beefy brush guard, as well as a 12,000 lb. winch on the front for example.