Garage Car Lifts

2,188 Views | 19 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by Roger350
schmellba99
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AG
Seriously considering one of the "portable" scissor style lifts for the garage now that my daughter has a car. It sits pretty low to the ground and the thought of putting it up on jack stands do have enough room to do mundane things like oil changes isn't all that appealing to me.

Has anybody used one? Quick Jack has a model that looks good, and then there is Vevor off of Amazon that has what is essentially the exact same thing. Don't want to drop a ton, if it isn't cost effective then the jack and jackstand combo will do.

Ceilings are only 10', so no post lifts or anything like that would be beneficial. Just something that will give me 20"-24" or so of lift so there is plenty of clearance to get to the underside of the car when necessary.
Aston 91
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I've got a garage with 10 foot ceilings and managed to fit a 4 post Bendpak and stack 2 cars, so where there's a will there's a way. Granted, one of the cars was a go kart-sized MGA, but it can be done. FYI, the MGA is now gone and the S2000 resides under the Chevy II, but I do have to lower the top in the S2000 before putting it under the Chevy II. I don't have any personal experience with scissor lifts, but in my opinion they're probably not worth it for oil changes. If I'm just doing an oil change, I generally still use ramps in the driveway, b/c it's faster than rearranging all the cars to put one on the lift. I wouldn't think dragging out a scissor lift would be worth the effort for an oil change. If you could keep the scissor lift stored where it wasn't much hassle to get it in position to lift the car, it might be worth it.

tree91
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Is this the one that you are looking at? https://www.quickliftusa.com/product-page/auto-utv-scissor-lift-6-000lb

I've never used one of these, but I'd also be interested if anyone can share experiences with it.
schmellba99
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Post lift isn't happening because it woudln't be useful with my truck or my wife's Tahoe and because the layout of my garage would ensure that 1 or all 4 posts would be in a crap position no matter what I wanted to do.

Scissor style lift would be stored on the garage floor no issues. Maybe moved in rare occasions. I change my oil in the garage because the garage floor is epoxy coated and it is inevitable that I wil spill some oil every single tme. It's law or something. I rarely do any work outside on the driveway.
schmellba99
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AG
Quick Jack 7000
Roger350
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I have these quick jacks. I love them, but they are heavy and take time to position perfectly - because I'm anal about maintaining the pinch welds on my unibody vehicles. In fairness, I used to take nearly as much time positioning my jack stands, and would have this issue for any frame lift product. The only drawback of these quickjacks is they are heavy, so fine tuning their position so they contact the pinch welds perfectly is more difficult than a jack stand.

I use them for oil changes and tire rotations on my entire fleet. They live on the floor under my EVO in the 3rd car garage when not in use.

I don't recall their max height, but they get high enough for my fat @ss to go anywhere under all my vehicles, and if I need leverage I usually have to lower them from the top stop to the lower stop. Fully raised my 5 gal plastic gas can I drain my oil into fits easily, as do any of the home Depot 5 gallon buckets.

Where these really shine is any operation that requires you going up / down multiple times. For me, that is pre-track maintenance on the EVO where checking all the turbo/manifold/downpipe bolts requires a bunch of up / down iterations to remove heat shields, and get wrenches on all the fasteners. Doing these inspections before I had quick jacks was so cumbersome I used to only do them every 3rd event, which caused me to lose a turbo attach bracket bolt somewhere on the 3.1 at MSRC Cresson . Now I do these inspections every track weekend. Corner weighting is also way easier with these due to all the up / down iterations.

I usually change the oil in 3 of my 4 cars on the same day or at least weekend to reduce the cleanup time, so I position these at least 3 times in a day. If they had a wireless remote control option it would be worth every penny, because putting the pump on one side of the car means the controller won't reach far enough to the other side to help when you are going up/down sighting where they need to be to contact the frame perfectly.

I have never had a stability problem, although some reports of issues are on the internet. I chalk those up to someone not placing them at the correct points and / or being careless or stupid in how they placed them. I use these on the EVO, a 2007 Tahoe, a 2015 Sonata hybrid, and a 2022 Pacifica hybrid. I got the 7000 XL (long version). Believe it or not they fit my shortest vehicle (EVO) the best, but that is because of the lack of aero cladding on it versus the hybrids where the pinch welds are only out in the open at very discreet locations.

I would recommend measuring the max / min spread on the jack points for all your vehicles to determine the proper length. I want to say that C7 or C8 users reported needing the long version, even though those are comparatively short cars. The longs do fit the current mustangs too. I made sure of all those before buying, just in case another track toy enters my garage... There is a pretty wide spread of lengths for the lift blocks, but my long jacks are about 4-6 inches too short to hit the jack points perfectly on the Sonata of all things. If I had a truck longer than the Tahoe I might not love how short these really are, but they work just fine.

I have rambled long enough, if you have specific questions ask away...
Roger350
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AG
Adding I might second the opinion on ramps if it is just for oil changes.

I have the EVO set on my quickjacks in my tiny 3rd car garage for some extended mods/service and I am thinking about buying a set of ramps because the van is due for an oil change and there is no way I'm dropping the EVO and moving the quick jacks for that. They were a biotch to place in a tiny garage stall with barely shoulder width between the car and both garage walls.

Back in the day of metal ramps I used to have a set that I would butt up to the 1" concrete step from the driveway to the garage that kept them from sliding and it was dang easy to drive up them.

Like you I hate doing oil changes on the driveway because of the inevitable spills, but using that lip took all the guess work out of ramps. The old metal ones were heavy as hell, but I assume the plastic rhino ramps are pretty light. I just don't know how I feel about working under plastic ramps.

I'll probably just cheap out and use a floor jack and jack stands for the van oil change this time.

Random thought, Costco and Home Depot sell the quickjacks, or did. I got them from quickjacks directly during their black Friday sale that was cheaper.
schmellba99
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Appeciate the feedback.

Yeah, it would be mostly for oil changes but also to rotate tires and whatever else. I've never had great luck with ramps and am really not much of a fan of them. I'd rather jack and use jack stands than ramps, and since I'm getting lazier by the day I'm looking for alternatives to that.

Plus, if i could get all 4 tires off the ground like these can, I'd be a lot more apt to actually rotate my tires than I am now.

Still looking and debating.
aggie_wes
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schmellba99 said:

Appeciate the feedback.

Yeah, it would be mostly for oil changes but also to rotate tires and whatever else. I've never had great luck with ramps and am really not much of a fan of them. I'd rather jack and use jack stands than ramps, and since I'm getting lazier by the day I'm looking for alternatives to that.

Plus, if i could get all 4 tires off the ground like these can, I'd be a lot more apt to actually rotate my tires than I am now.

Still looking and debating.


I'm in the same boat. With trucks and SUVs, I don't really need ramps to do simple oil changes. The issue I have is with a floor jack and jack stands, it takes me about 5x as long to rotate tires as it does to do oil changes and so I don't do them as often as I need to.

I am looking at either the quick jacks, or I found some bottle jacks that have jack stands built in basically. That would only be about $500 instead of $2700 so I may go that route. Still better than rolling a floor jack around, I think.
Silvy
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An alternative could be air jacks, but I would certainly have legitimate jack stands placed if you were going to get under the vehicle
Roger350
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Having the quickjacks has definitely increased the frequency of my tire rotations. It is the perfect task to knock out while you're waiting for the oil to drain. I pretty much rotate them every 5k miles at each oil change. Except for the Tahoe, because those wheels and tires weigh like 75 lbs each and require 150 lbft, so it still doesn't get rotations as frequently as it should
Roger350
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So based on your intended use, it comes down to the jack points on your vehicles in my opinion.

Most unibody cars only really have the 4 reinforced spots on the pinch welds, and no other good jack points, so it makes putting the car up on 4 jack stands using a floor jack a pain in the @ss and a bit of a balancing act. In that case, the quickjacks are better and safer in my opinion, with the only knock being they are heavy and positioning them perfectly can be a chore.

If you are fortunate enough that your unibody cars have primary and secondary jack points so that you can jack the front up at a central engine mount cross member with the floor jack and get 2 jack stands under the front pinch welds spots, and then jack the back up at the differential or other central structure and get the 2 jack stands under the rear pinch welds spots, then I'd say that is easier and a whole lot cheaper than quickjacks. Of my fleet, the EVO is the only car that has 6 jack points like that, so it was the only one that was easy to do with floor jacks and jack stands.

Ladder frame trucks and SUVs are super easy to do with a floor jack and jack stands. So the quickjacks only eliminate the effort of pumping the jack handle, and I'd say positioning the heavy quickjacks is more effort than pumping the handle on a decent floor jack.

I'll also say if anyone considering buying quickjacks is thinking about them being portable, like loading them in your pickup to loan to a buddy, or taking them to another family member's house to work on / fix their broken cars, these things are HEAVY. Picking them up off the ground is something I have never tried out of fear my back will be shot. The shorter 5000 lb ones are lighter, but these long 7000 lb ones are a chore to move around. The rollers on one end are great, for wheeling them into position and moving them around in the garage, but lifting them into a truck bed is a 2-person job in my opinion.

In case I forgot to mention it these things are heavy

But I do love them. As expensive as they are it would be ideal to find someone you know who has them so you could see what it takes to use them. I'm east of Dallas, but not inclined to lower my EVO at the moment, but some shiner might change my mind...
Flaith
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Roger350 said:

Most unibody cars only really have the 4 reinforced spots on the pinch welds, and no other good jack points, so it makes putting the car up on 4 jack stands using a floor jack a pain in the @ss and a bit of a balancing act. In that case, the quickjacks are better and safer in my opinion, with the only knock being they are heavy and positioning them perfectly can be a chore.
This is the main selling point for me. Getting my Jetta on jack stands for brake/suspension/etc. work is a chore.

Internet says they are ~100lbs each. Not impossibly heavy, but certainly not light to, for instance, pick up and hang on the garage wall between uses.
schmellba99
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Flaith said:

Roger350 said:

Most unibody cars only really have the 4 reinforced spots on the pinch welds, and no other good jack points, so it makes putting the car up on 4 jack stands using a floor jack a pain in the @ss and a bit of a balancing act. In that case, the quickjacks are better and safer in my opinion, with the only knock being they are heavy and positioning them perfectly can be a chore.
This is the main selling point for me. Getting my Jetta on jack stands for brake/suspension/etc. work is a chore.

Internet says they are ~100lbs each. Not impossibly heavy, but certainly not light to, for instance, pick up and hang on the garage wall between uses.
We bought my daughter a Jetta, which is why I'm researching these things. I don't mind doing basic maintenance, but the older I get the more I want to do it with relative comfort in mind, as well as safety. I've had a F250 roll over me already, not interested in anything similar happening again.

I won't be moving them much at all if I end up getting them, they would stay in the same spot for the most part. Minor adjustments aren't that big of a deal IMO.
Roger350
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Yeah, they aren't too heavy when you are picking up one end and using the rollers on the other end to wheel them around.

I haven't used the wall clips for storage, but as long as you set the height so the clips allow the wheeled end to sit on the floor they should be fine. I like to reduce failure points as a rule, and if mine are stored flat on the ground under a car that is rarely used and only driven by me, they are safe and can never fall from the vertical stored position and destroy one of my vehicles in the process.

The weight is equally distributed across the whole length, so the size and weight just would make them very unwieldy to lift up and move around without a second person if you are trying to lift both ends off the ground.

In use, where the weight is a hindrance is when you are trying to position them under the car. You wheel them next to the car no problem, but then sliding them under you get down on the floor and slide them. With their weight, and what I'll call the "teeter totter" nature, it takes some muscle to slide them, get them started moving, and then not overshoot. You have to put one hand near the front and one near the back and push evenly or otherwise it is just going to pivot about the center like a "teetor totter." This is why getting them lined up on the pinch welds is time consuming too, because sometimes you are just trying to move one end a small amount and you end up shifting the other end too, even though you didn't intend to. I usually minimize or stop that by bracing the end I don't want to move with my foot, and then using my hands to move the other end, and that works well, but due to the tendency to pivot if you don't apply the right amount of pressure with your foot you still have to go check that other end is still lined up correctly. Then you use the button to bump them up close to the car to really check that they are right, as with the arc motion of raising and lowering when you place them on the ground you are estimating the position of the lift block when it raises through its arc. Sometimes you have to lower them and readjust.

One of the other quirks is usually one goes up first and the other side won't raise, or at least won't raise and stay up until the first one encounters some resistance, so you get the one that goes up first set perfect, and get it bumped up against the frame until it sees some resistance from the car weight and then the other side will raise and you can go adjust things.

I know I have made these sound unreasonably heavy and difficult to set up, so I'll say it again, I love mine, and some of my issues are driven by me being anal about preserving my pinch welds perfectly.

The point of all my rambling is just to caution that you may spend $2k thinking you are going to have a way easier life in the garage, and in reality you are exchanging one set of motions and physical efforts for another. Getting them set takes a lot of laying on the floor adjusting them and then getting up and moving to the other side of the car doing the same, and then additional iterations back and forth between the sides of the car to adjust them just right, so you're standing, kneeling, laying down, and then rinse / repeat multiple times before the work starts. Pushing the controller button is super easy and gratifying, but the amount of physical effort you put in positioning them is, in my opinion, actually more than just using a floor jack and jack stands.

On the Tahoe, if it gets out of sync on oil changes with the rest of my fleet and it is the only one needing a change I usually don't screw with the quickjacks because a floor jack and jack stands will lift it high enough to get my drain can under it. And if you only need to lift one end or side of the vehicle and don't need all 4 wheels off the ground the quickjacks are more work than they are worth.

If you know all this going into you are less likely to have buyers remorse on a $2k discretionary tool purchase. I have no buyers remorse, I love them, but they are not some miracle tool that makes life less physically taxing in the garage.
Roger350
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AG
More rambling - I believe for safety it is very important to get the quickjacks as close to parallel to the car centerline as possible, and get them equally placed FWD / AFT. You can fine tune things by moving the rubberized lift blocks, but I try very hard to get the lift blocks centered in their pockets INBD / OTBD and get them placed equally FWD / AFT on both sides. Due to the arc motion of the quickjacks, if you are impresice in placing things as close to mirrored images Left / Right they will start lifting at different points, putting the chassis in a bind. Once all 4 wheels are in the air the bind should relieve itself, but honestly I think the reports of instability and people having cars fall are due to side loads induced by not getting things squared up and mirrored left / right well enough. Just my theory, since I have never had an issue.

Adding all that to say some of my iterations on perfect placement is about preserving my pinch welds, but some of it is important from a safety stand point.

Love them, but they are not perfect, so spend your money accordingly.
Roger350
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Point of reference - I worked summers at a dealership doing oil changes, so I have used 2 Post lifts extensively, and they are way easier / faster to use. But my garage spaces would not accommodate a 2 Post lift for various reasons. The quickjacks are the best solution for my space. If I ever build a new house the garage spaces will be custom designed with a real lift in mind.
Flaith
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AG


Great info for this thread!
Roger350
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Sorry, I'm currently unemployed so I have way too much time on my hands to ramble on and on about stuff on texags
Roger350
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schmellba99 said:

Post lift isn't happening because it woudln't be useful with my truck or my wife's Tahoe and because the layout of my garage would ensure that 1 or all 4 posts would be in a crap position no matter what I wanted to do.

Scissor style lift would be stored on the garage floor no issues. Maybe moved in rare occasions. I change my oil in the garage because the garage floor is epoxy coated and it is inevitable that I wil spill some oil every single tme. It's law or something. I rarely do any work outside on the driveway.


I cannot believe there has not been a TLDR yet on any of my novels...

I'm sure I'm not envisioning your storage plan correctly, so forgive this stupid / obvious comment - you can't drive over these quickjacks. You have to slide them under he car after you drive the car into position. When I say I store them under my EVO, they are pushed together under he center of the car so driving in / out over the top of them doesn't disturb them as the car is straddling them.

Also, sliding these in / out from under the car when positioning them for use is likely going to start marking up your nice epoxy floor finish. I can't say for certain because my floor is natural concrete finish. But the paint or powder coat finish on the bottoms of the quickjacks is definitely wearing through and in some places completely rubbed clean off from using them for a few years.
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