Portable car lifts

I know this has been covered a few dozen times, but I have a somewhat unique situation that might tweak your recommendations. My long-time dream of living in a warehouse with a couple 2-post lifts somehow took a turn for the normal and I now have a 2-bedroom house with a 1-car garage. Long term goals are up in the air (pun intended) for several reasons so I don't know if I'll be staying there long enough to invest in a larger garage.

Home looks like THIS. You may have to zoom or scroll a bit to see it. Here is a view from google earth that sorta shows a birds-eye look.

The driveway in front of the garage is very old asphalt, and the new neighbor offered me the use of his bobcat, so I was thinking of digging up that section of driveway and putting in a 12' wide by 24' long concrete pad. Then I could roll out some portable lift booms for working on stuff. It would be outside which is a bummer, but it basically means I have to limit my wrenching to weather-appropriate days.

Most of my stuff involves customization; engine swaps, tranny swaps, etc. There will be a large amount of maintenance stuff as well, but I want the ability to yank a transmission easily. Translated; I don't want the lift to limit what kind of work I can do. Therefore one of THESE is probably not the best.

This could be slick if it weren't for the big bar across. I can't imagine finding a home for that behemoth in my garage, and the bar would limit access to certain undercar things.

Thoughts?

I think it basically comes down to either a QuickJack or a MaxJax, depending on how portable you want it to be.

On the non-portable side, a MaxJax is probably something you can put in anchors in the concrete pad, then wheel out of the garage and set up to use on a sunny day (at least, that's what I've read, but I haven't ever actually used one). It, however, is not going to be something you toss in the bed of the truck to take to the track with you. If you want that level of portability, then you need a QuickJack (I own one of these and have done exactly that with it).

Based on the options you you are looking at, I'm guessing you don't need to haul it to the track, just need to take it inside when not in use. If that's the case, I think MaxJax is your best bet. Put the anchors in your new slab and wheel it out when you need it. Bonus points are it will take up less space when you are not using it, and being a midrise you can probably set up a temporary garage over the car to give you shade.

On a totally unrelated note, did you buy that house just because of the street name?

Most 4-post lifts these days have casters to move them with.

You need a MaxJax with an extra set of anchors. Install one set inside the garage and another set out on your new concrete slab. You should be able to move the MaxJax from one spot to another in about 15 minutes.

Max Jax are new to me. I wish now that I had never seen them because they have become burned into my brain surrounded by a halo of light and an angel chorus.

It's the first thing I've ever seen that allows easy access to the whole underside of the car AND gets it high enough off the ground to let me sit up and weld rather than lying on my back where I can't see a damn thing because I can't get my bifocals lined up through the welding hood onto the torch.

But my set of four 18-inch high wheel supports, made out of a solid stack of 2x10 pine, and a floor jack, is all that will ever be in the budget for this role. Damnit.

How about these?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7mTxB-8CTIU

I know they are quite popular in Europe and a local place sells them for 600 CAD (about 100 USD?)

The biggest problem with those portable lifts is where do you store them when you are not using them?

They've got a big footprint.

In reply to JBasham:

Are you sure it'll never be in the budget? I mean, what if you saw an $1800 Miata you really wanted - I bet you could figure out a way to buy it. Just skip one junky project car and you have a lift that will last you decades. ;-)

(I'm really bad at enabling...)

fanfoy wrote: How about these? https://www.youtube.com/embed/7mTxB-8CTIU I know they are quite popular in Europe and a local place sells them for 600 CAD (about 100 USD?)

I really like that.

Woody wrote: You need a MaxJax with an extra set of anchors. Install one set inside the garage and another set out on your new concrete slab. You should be able to move the MaxJax from one spot to another in about 15 minutes.

Unsurprisingly Woody has the correct answer. I'm very close to pouring an outside slab just for this.

SVreX wrote:

fanfoy wrote: How about these? https://www.youtube.com/embed/7mTxB-8CTIU I know they are quite popular in Europe and a local place sells them for 600 CAD (about 100 USD?)

I really like that.

Yeah, very cool. No hydraulics to mess with.

Robbie wrote:

SVreX wrote:

fanfoy wrote: How about these? https://www.youtube.com/embed/7mTxB-8CTIU I know they are quite popular in Europe and a local place sells them for 600 CAD (about 100 USD?)

I really like that.

Yeah, very cool. No hydraulics to mess with.

Website says available soon in USA. Guess we'll all be watching.

This looks very promising, and nearly affordable.

I was going to ask if anyone had experience with the kwik Jak on not concrete, but they have pictures of this on gravel on the website. Much much want.

tomtomgt356 wrote: On a totally unrelated note, did you buy that house just because of the street name?

berkeley yes.

codrus wrote: I think it basically comes down to either a QuickJack or a MaxJax, depending on how portable you want it to be.

Basically, portable from the garage to the concrete pad which will be about 10' away. I could imagine maybe a buddy saying "hey can I borrow your lift" at which point I would put it in the back of the truck, but that would be rare.

oldopelguy wrote: Most 4-post lifts these days have casters to move them with.

True, but I want to be able to put it away in the corner of the garage when I'm not using it.

Robbie wrote:

SVreX wrote:

fanfoy wrote: How about these? https://www.youtube.com/embed/7mTxB-8CTIU I know they are quite popular in Europe and a local place sells them for 600 CAD (about 100 USD?)

I really like that.

Yeah, very cool. No hydraulics to mess with.

Certainly clicks the portable box, but not high enough, and imagine trying to install a T56 under there with all of that lift in the way. Plus imagine being under there, taking out a T56, and having the back of the car slam down on your feet because you just removed all that weight from the front.

That lift is great for brake jobs, but won't do what I need unfortunately.

That car tilting lift looks terrifying and horrible to me.

Woody wrote: You need a MaxJax with an extra set of anchors. Install one set inside the garage and another set out on your new concrete slab. You should be able to move the MaxJax from one spot to another in about 15 minutes.

Oh my! How did I not know about those.

I know what I'm getting for my birthday.

dculberson wrote: That car tilting lift looks terrifying and horrible to me.

That thing looks like a novel and unique way to remove yourself from the gene pool.

Sky_Render wrote:

dculberson wrote: That car tilting lift looks terrifying and horrible to me.

That thing looks like a novel and unique way to remove yourself from the gene pool.

Lifting from the middle I think is a party trick.

You could easily shift it a few inches forward or back to basically remove the possibility of seesaw.

curtis73 wrote: I could imagine maybe a buddy saying "hey can I borrow your lift" at which point I would put it in the back of the truck, but that would be rare.

It wouldn't just be rare, it would be impossible unless he just happens to have 8 properly spec'd studs in concrete wherever he wants to 'borrow' it off to.

I would like a MaxJax, but for me the quickjack works really well because I can not only put it away, but also use it anywhere without having to plan in advance, including on gravel, or in a new location when I have a car stuck in non-running condition wherever I just had the lift. Lower dead car onto jack stands, take lift away and use it elsewhere without having to install more studs in concrete. Easy.

The limiting factor in the quickjack product is the ~24" lift height. You can get transmissions out from under the car with it, but you'll still be laying on a creeper to work down there. For me, well, my garage has 6.5 ft ceilings and I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the maxjax lift range anyway. At least this way I can get the car up in the air in 2 minutes, I can work on suspension and hub stuff while sitting on a rolling stool, I can get diffs/exhaust/trans/fuel tanks out from under the car easy, and I can adjust height up/down in seconds to best suit my back while leaning in the engine bay.

Toyman01 wrote:

Woody wrote: You need a MaxJax with an extra set of anchors. Install one set inside the garage and another set out on your new concrete slab. You should be able to move the MaxJax from one spot to another in about 15 minutes.

Oh my! How did I not know about those. I know what I'm getting for my birthday.

Good question - since we talk about them during every "what lift" discussion.

I agree - if under car access is a priority along with portability, then a MaxJack is your lift.

I understand the lift posts aren't exactly light, so I don't know about casually carting them in your truck.

My scissor lifts weigh about 900 lbs, so while fairly easy to move in and out of the garage (I do that fairly often), really "moving" them is fairly involved. I've done it twice.

Robbie wrote:

Sky_Render wrote:

dculberson wrote: That car tilting lift looks terrifying and horrible to me.

That thing looks like a novel and unique way to remove yourself from the gene pool.

Lifting from the middle I think is a party trick. You could easily shift it a few inches forward or back to basically remove the possibility of seesaw.

Exactly. Although a very useful party trick when changing tires.

I see no reason why it wouldn't be perfectly reasonable to remove a transmission. You just have to make some decisions about placement.

And the freedom in the shop would be amazing when the thing is stored.

I have a full blown 2 post lift- supposedly everyone's dream. But 85% or the time it is eating up much more floor space than I would like.

In reply to Ian F:

I never read the "lift" threads because I don't have space in my shop for one. This one caught my eye because of the "portable" part. Being able to store them inside, out of the weather, means I can mount them outside in front of the shop.