Which of these lifts?

[GarageQueen]

Have been looking for a decent garage lift for some time now and narrowed it down to these two:

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?sg=3&am...

http://www.bhrepairs.co.uk/gallery.php

which of these would people recommend? anyone had any problems with these?

I can't make out what the Holden one is trying to achieve with that wide platform?

Edited by GarageQueen on Monday 10th October 16:41

[voicey]

Of those two - the top one every time.

[Piersman2]

And yet I bought the second style and it's been superb.

ETA:
Looking at the first one more closely, it seems to have a LOT of metal to get in the way of every job, doesn't seem to give much space between the car and the platform, has a lower weight limit and maybe most importantly if I'm seeing it right, when it lifts will be lifting the car up and forward at the same time which could be problem if you're in a tight garage like mine.

The one I bought, the scissor design , lifts the car straight up with no movement fore or aft and the differing height pads mean you can maximise the distance between the lift and the car.

Just my thoughts at a brief glance.

Edited by Piersman2 on Monday 10th October 21:43

Edited by Piersman2 on Monday 10th October 21:44

[sparkythecat]

If I've read it right, the first one only lifts to 24 inches whilst the second one lifts to 50 inches

[Piersman2]

sparkythecat said:

If I've read it right, the first one only lifts to 24 inches whilst the second one lifts to 50 inches

Well spotted, the scissor one gives me enough room to kneel comfortably under the cars, and would be even roomier underneath if the cars it's lifted weren't up against the ceiling.

[Sogra]

I own one very similar to the bottom one very heavy and very stable. Work underneath with no worries

Very hard to unpack and get out of the van when I got it until after spending two hours I read the instructions it explained if you turned the power on you could raise it and walk it out of the van Oops


Mine also came with wheels for moving and rollers for when in use

Well worth having. Good investment. Look at the prices of used ones nearly the same as new

[GarageQueen]

Sogra said:

I own one very similar to the bottom one very heavy and very stable. Work underneath with no worries

Very hard to unpack and get out of the van when I got it until after spending two hours I read the instructions it explained if you turned the power on you could raise it and walk it out of the van Oops


Mine also came with wheels for moving and rollers for when in use

Well worth having. Good investment. Look at the prices of used ones nearly the same as new

where did you get yours, which brand is it?

[browno]

Another happy customer of BH Repairs here - I've had mine just over a year and it has been great for my needs. I've done basic servicing, brakes, swapped manifolds on my MX-5 and now am restoring my mk1 MX-5.

For a home garage, it couldn't lift any higher (in fact even with the MX-5 on, I can't get it to the top of it's travel), but it lifts to just a nice working height for brakes/suspension work, and enough to get under and work at a reasonable height. In all of these decisions there are trade-offs, and given unlimited head-height, then another design might work better, but for my garage this works perfectly.

There may be things that are more tricky on this lift (but that both designs you link wouldn't be great for), such as access to the middle of the floorpans. For mine currently, I have the rams facing the front - at some point, I think I will turn it round 180 degrees - which will create a little more room for access under the front-centre of the car, for example if I ever need to do a rwd clutch on there (where it would be tight, but possible, I reckon)...

Here's a couple of pics of mine in-situ..

[Sogra]

GarageQueen said:

where did you get yours, which brand is it?

I am not sure and it's too cold to look in the garage. It looks the same as the BH one below. The company are near Derby and they supply Big Lifts to a number of Truck dealers I work it's so they did me a deal on it 2 years ago I paid a grand for it and it arrived on New Years Eve. I bought the narrow version as I use it for. TR6

[GarageQueen]

browno said:

Another happy customer of BH Repairs here - I've had mine just over a year and it has been great for my needs. I've done basic servicing, brakes, swapped manifolds on my MX-5 and now am restoring my mk1 MX-5.

what do you use the wood on the floor for? does it fit under the car ok without?

[Piersman2]

GarageQueen said:

browno said:

Another happy customer of BH Repairs here - I've had mine just over a year and it has been great for my needs. I've done basic servicing, brakes, swapped manifolds on my MX-5 and now am restoring my mk1 MX-5.

what do you use the wood on the floor for? does it fit under the car ok without?

For my lad's old corsa the 6 inch height of the unit was not a problem. For my Boxster and XKR I thought the 6 inch clearance required would not be enough so I built 2 ramps, that sit either side of the unit and allow me to drive up and clear of the unit. Also means I can use the longer lift leg spacers to leave more room to work on the cars when it's in the air. I used some lengths of 3*2 and the packaging from the unit to build the ramps which mean the cars being driven on the ramp need only 2-3 inches of clearance, not an issue for anything I've got anyways

When I leave the XKR in the garage over winter I leave it on top of the ramps, when the car is not in the garage I just move the ramps to be upright down the garage wall out of the way.

With regards the centre bar , I chose this particular model because it had only the centre bar and I can't say it's been an issue and I'm not sure it would be even if I was doing a centre box on an exhaust, there's plenty of space underneath to get to things especially if you can use the longest arm spacers.

I bought mine from a company on ebay, there were two advertising this model (chinese imports, you'll find them on Alibaba for about $800), but only 1 had them in stock at the time, the other was waiting for new arrivals. Paid about £1200 all in delivered. Just checked, BHRepairs didn't have any stock available at the time so bought from SJR garage equipment - mine's a red one so must lift faster!

[life in france]

Had my lift for 8 years,its worked very hard during that time on an assortment of cars boxster,slk 32 ,spider, mini, renault 4 and all the normal family car servicing. Its never had any problems or difficulty with lifting points.I did fit into floor to help with low cars but it has just been moved to a new home and rests on 2400 by 1200 by 20 panels to spread load on tiled floor Best thing i,ve every bought

Edited by life in france on Wednesday 19th October 13:10

[life in france]

Lift in its new home ,no problem with tiled floor with heavy cars

[GarageQueen]

I'm guessing from the comments and photos of the one using wood on the floor, that the Holden one wouldn't require that?

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?pCode=0...