car lift for my garage?

[01sapphirebob]

Does anyone know what the requirements are for putting a car lift in your garage. What I mean is height of ceiling. Would the garage door need to be rerouted etc? I have a pretty standard 2 car garage. I'm thinking about getting another viper but my wife dosent seem to be willing to give up her garage spot. Any thoughts or suggestion would be helpful.

 

[Baked]

I just put one in my standard 2 stall garage. The standard requirements is add up the height of the two cars and add another 8 inches. 4" for the ramp and 2" on top of each car. Your door will have to be above this. Most likely you will need to change your overhead door to raise it up against the top of your garage.
They work great though, good luck.

 

[01sapphirebob]

How tall is the ceiling in your garage? Mine is about 10 ft.

 

[SquadX]

I believe 8.5ft is all you need so your 10ft. is prefect.

 

[Venomiss]

This thread has a bunch of information in it.


http://forums.viperclub.org/srt10-srt10-coupe-discussions/613559-car-lift-garage.html

 

[Joseph Dell]

My current house has 8.5 ft ceilings and the lift is great! The next house will have 11ft ceilings and that will be even better!

Changing clutches/transmissions with a low ceiling is do-able. It just isn't as nice as elevating the car all the way up. But it is still very nice.

Go for it!

 

[redtanrt10]

Does anyone know what the requirements are for putting a car lift in your garage. What I mean is height of ceiling. Would the garage door need to be rerouted etc? I have a pretty standard 2 car garage. I'm thinking about getting another viper but my wife dosent seem to be willing to give up her garage spot. Any thoughts or suggestion would be helpful.

Hopefully you won't have to change your garage door, the door just needs to clear the hood or the trunk, not the top of the car.

Look how the garage door goes over my hood

 

[PittsburghRT]

I am planning to add a 4 post in the house I just bought. The garage has an 11 foot ceiling and I think it would work perfect with my Viper. What did some of you guys do to raise the garage door track and opener?

 

[ViperCr8zy]

You'll need a jackshaft opener...like this (first search I did and I have no interest in this auction):

Liftmaster 3800 Jackshaft Value Pack Garage Door Opener - eBay (item 150293025311 end time Sep-19-08 18:13:28 PDT)

 

[ViperCr8zy]

RedTanRT10, you are a genuis (compared to me, at least! ). I was seriously considering doing this in my garage, but I only have 10 foot ceilings. I was kicking myself since we did a custom architected home, and I could have spec'd anything (I'm also kicking myself for not following the simple rule that garage space must equal living space!). Anyway, your genius is that that the doors only need to clear the hood! Of course, but I never thought of it!

Question please - about how long is a Gen3/4 hood from the front of the bumper to the start of the A pillar?

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

My ceiling is 9ft, I do it the way red/tan does, back the top car in, mine is a GTS.

 

[01sapphirebob]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful posts. I'm hopeing I can put all this info to use in the near future. I never thought of backing the top car in. Great idea! Alot of people seem to go with BACK YARD BUDDY for their lifts. Anyone mind sending me a p.m. with what it cost for the lift and installation from them. I've heard cost from $1700 to $3800. I want to do it right but not get robbed either. I'm looking for a 4 post lift for my garage.

 

[FangZ]

My garage has 11 ft ceilings, and I can lift the Viper all the way up (to the highest position the lift will go) with still some space (my guess is 30+ inches) above it. I did relocate the top mounted garage door opener to the side (it can still be used) and the tracks so that the garage door goes all the way to the ceiling.

I have a DirectLift ProPark 7LL, it is a great value ($1700 plus shipping @ Greg Smith Equipment, just google them) and mechanically very sound. Have not had any issues with it (apart from the wife hitting one post with another car while the Viper was on it I almost had a heart attack)... You can put this thing together yourself, just invite a couple of friends over... 2 people can do it except for the "runways" for the car for which you need four people.

Greg Smith will ship the lift to the nearest shipping dock where you have to pick it up (having a friend with a truck and a LONG trailer is a plus here ), it is one heavy package!

Let me know if you want to see some photos!

 

[redtanrt10]

RedTanRT10, you are a genuis (compared to me, at least! ). I was seriously considering doing this in my garage, but I only have 10 foot ceilings. I was kicking myself since we did a custom architected home, and I could have spec'd anything (I'm also kicking myself for not following the simple rule that garage space must equal living space!). Anyway, your genius is that that the doors only need to clear the hood! Of course, but I never thought of it!

Question please - about how long is a Gen3/4 hood from the front of the bumper to the start of the A pillar?

Don't feel bad, I didn't think of it either. When I called the lift company the guy told me "clear the hood or trunk, no need to clear the roof".

I'll meassure the spec's tonight on the hood to A pillar

Sapphirebob,

I'm with FANGZ, I have a "Pro-Park 7" from DirectLift. I got mine from a local distributor, I paid $2,550.00 including tax, shipping and installation. It came with 6 drip pans (whole length of lift) and 1 Jack tray and the casters that you can use to move the lift around. (I don't use them).

My wife got me the aluimun ramps later for about @250.00. Get these! Don't wait till you drop one of the steel ramps on your foot/toe.

Mike

 

[Joseph Dell]

to address the garage door issue, check out the Wayne Dalton iDrive garage door opener. It gets rid of the track in the middle of the ceiling. ebay price new is like 225. I have 2 and they rock!

 

[ViperCr8zy]

Thanks Red/Tan. While you are out there with the tape, would you please also measure the max height of the hood? I don't yet have my ACR, but if this is a viable option I'd like to get it done prior to delivery.

 

[01sapphirebob]

redtan, did you have to get special ramps for the lower front end of our cars or do the ramps that come with the lift work o.k.

 

[rcdice]

Do any of you guys have trouble pulling the car between the posts? The garage bay where I park my car has a 9' wide door. The actually opening is slightly less than that. As wide as the Viper is, every time I back it in I feel like I'm rather close to each side. I believe the distance between the posts of most lifts is even less.

 

[AZTVR]

For those of you with low ceiling heights, how did you modify the lift so that you are CERTAIN that you will never mash your car against the ceiling by mistake or due to some kind of switch failure?

 

[hemihead]

If you bought a 110 volt lift ( which I would recommend for personal use) and you had some sort of unlikely switch faulure where it wouldn't shut off you could reach over and unplug the lift or plug it into a switched surge strip and shut it off at the surge strip.

Lots of good info in this post and the only thing I will add is that after I turned forty (and now staring real hard at fifty) my days of crwling under cars to do stuff was over. After buying my lift I once again do work on the toy cars and change my own oil in the daily driver. I love to go out in the garage open a beer, turn on a ball game or some tunes and rub on the bottom of the toy car. When I sold my Road Runner I probably got the cost of the lift in additional money due to how clean the bottom was and the fact the buyer could walk around under it and look at it.

My point is, for a car guy a lift is a tool that will pay for itself with the additional storage, money savings from doing your own work and ability to inspect the bottom of your car.

 

[redtanrt10]

redtan, did you have to get special ramps for the lower front end of our cars or do the ramps that come with the lift work o.k.[/quote]

No I didn't get special ramps. (The aluminum ramps in the picture are longer than the standard steel ramps so the pitch is better). No issues with the nose or with the rear defusier.

Both my ACR and my '06 coupe are lowered by about 1" and I haven't had a problem either with the steel or the aluminum. Keep in mind that since the tires are almost as wide as the ramps, and, those posts are just waiting to shear your mirrors, you go very slow approaching the ramps.

As Lee stated before, I back in the top car if I plan on storing and putting the other viper below. So backing in, or driving off, I've never scraped, remember you're going very slow.

 

[redtanrt10]

For those of you with low ceiling heights, how did you modify the lift so that you are CERTAIN that you will never mash your car against the ceiling by mistake or due to some kind of switch failure?

The lift goes up fairly slowly and on mine you have to hold the button down to make it move. It probably takes 30 seconds from the floor to where I stop the lift to accomidate the lower car. I never thought of a switch failure, but, the power cord is next to the switch and if it ever took off on its own, I'd just pull the plug.

 

[hou99gts]

One more question - how do you get out of the top car when you back it in (since it looks like the drivers door would hit the wall)? I am considering another viper and would need to put a lift in my garage, so all of this information is very valuable! I never thought of backing the top one in either, but need to know how you get out. Thanks!

 

[redtanrt10]

It's a tight fit but I have room. You need to do alot of measuring so that you have room to get out, room for the car parked on the other side, etc.

I also have a park stop on the ramp so that I know where to stop the car. Behind the lift I have some cabinets built above. The park stop let's me know that when I lift the car I can't hit the cabinets either pulling in front or back.

You really need to measure your whole garage, the lift spec's, garage door clearance, the car heights, etc. etc.

the two vipers are realtive low, if I had another car on the bottom that was higher, I'd probably need to have my garage door elevated.

Garages are all fairly unique in size, think about all the variables and do lots of measuring.

 

[RoadiJeff]

Some of the pics and replies on here need to include the height of their garage ceiling included for reference. Mine is 10' 4".

Anyway, when I had to get my double wide garage door replaced last year I had them install longer tracks and an extra panel so that the door could be raised up close to the ceiling. I have a standard Craftsman center pull opener and it works fine.

My future plans are for a 4-post lift - probably a Revolution - but I'm just getting various other details taken care of prior to the install. My plan is to have the Viper stored on top and my regular DD car underneath.

 

[Gus Strakes]

The lift goes up fairly slowly and on mine you have to hold the button down to make it move. It probably takes 30 seconds from the floor to where I stop the lift to accomidate the lower car. I never thought of a switch failure, but, the power cord is next to the switch and if it ever took off on its own, I'd just pull the plug.

Same here. And as an additional precaution, I always pull the plug, and tuck away the cord after I've gotten the top car in position, just in case.

 

[redtanrt10]

Same here. And as an additional precaution, I always pull the plug, and tuck away the cord after I've gotten the top car in position, just in case.

Great advise and great reminder, I've gotten lazy

 

[ViperCr8zy]

I wonder if we could get enough interest to request a VCA discount from a specific lift vendor.

 

[viperbilliam]

I'm building a new house and paid extra to have the garage ceiling raised because the 8 ft was standard . I don't like the look of low ceilings but I dream of getting a lift so I'm going to do it but I think the ceiling will end up around 9 or ten feet. Hemihead, your note was inspirational.

 

[eucharistos]

I wonder if we could get enough interest to request a VCA discount from a specific lift vendor.

any interest??