2 post lift, where do you position your truck?

[aerotruk63]

I am only allowed to build a 16ft x 24ft garage 19ft high, so I'm trying to find where the truck gets positioned on the lift, to locate the lift in the small space. I guessing the difference for a short box and long box is minor?
Still in the planning stage.
The 24ft side has a southern exposure so lot's of windows planned. A garage door max allowed 10ft x 9ft high. Is there anything you wish you had done to your garage now that it's complete?

[firemanjimtfd]

I had custom trusses that go up 4' higher in the middle than side wall. I also had the garage door rails run up at the angle with trusses on car lift side see other side is normal. So when you open the garage door it don't hit your truck on the lift.

[donthekawguy]

Sounds like it will be tight but it will be worth it.

[NEWFISHER]

Have you looked at the mobile drive ons with the additional slide tray lifts? A buddy has one and the ability to move it around out weighs the few times you have to reach over the rails

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by firemanjimtfd

I had custom trusses that go up 4' higher in the middle than side wall. I also had the garage door rails run up at the angle with trusses on car lift side see other side is normal. So when you open the garage door it don't hit your truck on the lift.

I'm thinking of a flat roof (Green Roof ) so I can create a mezzanine around the truck to store parts and me.
This garage will also become my living space. 9ft from a radiant heated floor with about 7ft for the mezzanine to ceiling clearance. The garage door will be a single swing out design.

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Have you looked at the mobile drive ons with the additional slide tray lifts? A buddy has one and the ability to move it around out weighs the few times you have to reach over the rails

I've seen the Buddy Lifts but still prefer the two post minimum floor space occupancy.

[brokenspoke]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

I'm thinking of a flat roof (Green Roof ) so I can create a mezzanine around the truck to store parts and me.
This garage will also become my living space. 9ft from a radiant heated floor with about 7ft for the mezzanine to ceiling clearance. The garage door will be a single swing out design.



I've seen the Buddy Lifts but still prefer the two post minimum floor space occupancy.

Does it snow much where you are? Flat roof doesent sound like a good idea

[kieth]

I bought a 4 post lift with 7' height underneath it when it is raised to max height. Being able to walk under the lift makes it take up a lot less space. You can walk underneath it and we even put fluorescents on one side of the lift so there is a lot of light. The 2 post lift never goes out of the way. JMO Kieth


We found a extra swb frame , and when we were building my 66 put all the body parts on the extra "mule frame" rolled it on the lift and raised it out of the way. Worked underneath the lift until we were ready to start on the body.
http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-GMC/i-L69GHd5


When we finished the body work and got ready to shoot paint we tarped the lift off, put fans in one end, watered the floor , and sprayed the truck in pieces. You can also see the lights mentioned earlier.

http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-GMC/i-FPCxZt5

[earl84]

Nothing to add, but I am VERY interested in your shop build, aerotruck63. I plan to move to Colorado, and want to build a shop with living space initially if I end up buying a lot versus a pre-existing home. Any more details on it, and do you plan on documenting and sharing it on here or another forum?

[rambler]

Originally Posted by earl84

Nothing to add, but I am VERY interested in your shop build, aerotruck63. I plan to move to Colorado, and want to build a shop with living space initially if I end up buying a lot versus a pre-existing home. Any more details on it, and do you plan on documenting and sharing it on here or another forum?

same here,, I was going to mention radiant floor heating .. but looks like you got that covered..

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by earl84

Nothing to add, but I am VERY interested in your shop build, aerotruck63. I plan to move to Colorado, and want to build a shop with living space initially if I end up buying a lot versus a pre-existing home. Any more details on it, and do you plan on documenting and sharing it on here or another forum?

You must be new here, I share everything with this forum. lol
But please feel free to add your own thoughts and idea's. I used to renovate houses, and did a lot of construction work, and always had the idea's for other peoples living spaces, but somehow, I'm in panic mode, of designing my own.

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by brokenspoke

Does it snow much where you are? Flat roof doesent sound like a good idea

I'm in the Montreal area. We don't get dumped on like NY state, Pa and the rest of the east coast. We get short bursts of snow and of course freak storms, ice storms, but, we have flat roofs throughout the region that do fine. Not my first choice but it's the limitations I'm dealt.

[Blue666]

If you cant go up, can you go down? What kind of soil, rock or groundwater conditions are you likely to encounter?


http://www.aclifts.com/Floor/

[1963c-10]

Cant help with your build issues Aerotruk63....but I did figure out how to get all my friends and their beer out to the barn and back on those long build nights.

[aerotruk63]

[QUOTE=Blue666;6561077]If you cant go up, can you go down? What kind of soil, rock or groundwater conditions are you likely to encounter?

Can't go down due to water. The inches of soil is almost peat moss like atop of a level of stone. The lake is not far away and while the water level lowers in the summer, it remains high for the other seasons. We had a 4" ABS pipe in the lowest point of the stone and in the middle of the winter, the water was level with the soil.
The location where the garage is to be built is higher and drier. A good compacted crushed stone base after removing the thin top layer of soil and filling the undulating sections between the stone.

[Okiedokie66]

We went with a 2 post lift,MOHAWK and had to bring it out about 3 ft from the south wall to clear the nose of the truck. Make sure you dig a good footing where the foot print of the lift will be over. The trusses are a 2/12 pitch inside to gain maximum height.

[aerotruk63]

Portability has really struck a chord as well as low ceiling height. Since I'm not using it everyday , nor do I need to park a second vehicle underneath, this unit might better suit the need.
I could bring it outside, to a separate concrete pad, for destruction and dirtier work, leaving a cleaner storage/living area.

Dannmar MaxJax

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Okiedokie66

We went with a 2 post lift,MOHAWK and had to bring it out about 3 ft from the south wall to clear the nose of the truck. Make sure you dig a good footing where the foot print of the lift will be over. The trusses are a 2/12 pitch inside to gain maximum height.

Is that a Jeep Scrambler?? I would love to have one of those someday !

[Cteufert]

I found the balance point for my '65 C20 was right at the door handles. Perfect placement in that it is easy to know if you are positioned right but the doors open and hit the post dead center making it hard to get in and out. I figured out the balance point by doing some calculations based on the weight on each axle (not capacity) from the service manual.

The very minimum space behind the truck is 108" measured from the lift's post to a wall / etc. to keep a C20 Long bed balance point in the right area. Just over 120" is what I left for space. From the lift post to the front needs at least 96". You will need more if you want to drop the tailgate or work in front or behind the truck.

Charlie.

[aerotruk63]

Those measurements are what I was looking for.
"Sorry Charlie"! I mean "Thanks Charlie"!

I back into most spaces, I suppose most drive into their garage.
The solution would seem to have multiple fastener positions for locating the lift inside depending on which end you want to concentrate on.
Painted lines on the floor for centering between posts or the suspended ball and string from the ceiling.
Work bench with a 32inch top and some wiggle room between the truck and bench.

Norm

[Cteufert]

I am pretty sure I don't want to be moving my lift to accommodate which end of the truck I am working on. It would be too darn hard to do. The arms on my lift are asymmetrical the front pair is shorter so they can be swung from the back to get behind the front tires on a car which has a balance point much closer to the front. It only takes a few minutes to swap the arms front to back / side to side so I can choose to lift up facing forward or backward when working on the cars. The pickup has a long enough wheelbase that it really isn't a problem getting the arms positioned so again I can lift it pointing either way. The planning part before installing the lift left me just enough room in front of the lift to back the truck on to it. The other way around there is plenty of room front and back since I have 27 feet from the shelving on the back wall to inside the garage door.

Charlie.

[aerotruk63]

So thanks to the internet I look up the equation for placement of a fulcrum on a beam with two different weights.

It worked out for a short box fleetside 47.6 inches from the center of the steering axle to the center of the lift.

The weight on the steers is 1975lbs and on the drive is 1395 according to the data book.
Now there's a page in the data book for adding weight due to accessories. To follow.

[LEEVON]

There are also variations depending on which type of lift you have. Symetric and Asymetric arms are engineered differently. The arms pictured below are Asymetric, allowing a shorter sweep behind the front wheels. Generally though, you will end up lining up with the posts near the center of the door on most light duty vehicles. I just read my manuals, and the only thing that gives me pause are long trucks and vans, but that's why we have the 4 post lift : )