It’s been too long since I posted anything in my Substack, but I have a LOT of video to edit and share! I’ve been doing tuning runs with a new tuner who has been helping me out, and I’ll share more on that very soon.
For now, let’s talk about this lift. At the beginning of 2023 I built the addition onto my workshop expressly to have enough height for a lift. I wanted the capability to lift SUVs and trucks without running into the ceiling.
I found a deal for this lift online and picked it up at a warehouse in Indianapolis. It’s rather large, with posts about 10’ long, so rented a large twelve--foot U-haul trailer to go get it. My wife’s ML320 CDI pulled the trailer like a champ, as it was well within its towing capacity, and that OM642 provides plenty of torque for this type of work. This is just over 1,000 lb of hardware and getting it unloaded was quite a feat, taking several hours. If you buy one of these, definitely plan on getting some help. Each of the individual posts weighs approximately 400 lb. My wife and daughter helped me get the posts off the trailer so that I could return it to U-haul that evening. The following two days my friend Andrew Stead helped me out. In exchange, one of the first vehicles on this lift was his Impala and we performed a brake job on it.
I think that most of the key points that you really need to know about the installation of this lift, an Atlas 9KBP, is really covered in this video. I chose this lift because it has a 9,000 lb capacity and does not have a top plate. 9,000 lb might sound like a lot, but because of inevitable imbalances when picking up trucks, I wouldn’t use it for anything larger than a “half-ton” truck, meaning something like an F150 or 1500 series pickup or a Sprinter van.The 9,000 lb rating assumes equal loading on all four arms while heavy engines and geometry considerations nearly always dictate an uneven loading situation. Though there are limitations, it allows me to lift tall vehicles without running into a plate, and I can make use of my workshop’s height. The outside walls are 13’ tall, but the clearance increases as one moves away from the walls, because scissor trusses were used. Some people hate the bottom plates like what this one has for the hydraulic line and the sync cables, but I think it’s a minor inconvenience I’d rather deal with that than limit the height that I can use in my space.
I’ve made extensive use of this lift since it was installed and the wear and tear it saves on my aging body is well worth it! It’s amazing how much more quickly I can “get around” to doing things when this device saves me so much time and body aches.
Thanks for reading!
—Mark-A-Billy
Workshop Update: Installing a Two-Post Lift, an Atlas 9KBP