Quote:
Originally Posted by derklug
Four posts are good for routine maintenance, and are great for quick on and offs. The draw back is that they can be awkward when doing brakes or suspension work as you have a jack on a center bar that jacks up the individual wheel. You find yourself constantly banging into the platform. Two posts take longer to set up and involve getting on your hands and knees to set the hoist. The boss's 4 post and two post are both Rotarys and are around 25 years old with no issues in the 16 years I worked with them. The two new Rotarys have had some issues, mainly sticky relief valves that make the lift shudder when you stop lowering it, but overall have been reliable. This is in a shop where they are used every day, with hydraulics, constant use makes for longer life than occasional use. Rotarys will run more than the lifts you are looking at, and for a home garage may be overkill. With the number of dealerships that are closing, getting a used lift may be very inexpensive. My boss picked up a brake lathe and a ton of GM special service tools for a pittance at a recent auction.
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Awesome. Thanks for the feedback man! I've heard the four post and the two post have a lot of pros and cons to both. But surprisingly a lot of the response from people who actually work in shops prefer the 2 poster. I can easily see why a 2 poster would be preferred for maintenance in a shop, but I would just have it at home. Still, there's good arguments for both for a home DIY'er.
I've heard from a few people that Rotary's are pretty good. I posted that
PDF above and it contains a lot of comparative information on a bunch of lifts in contrast with the BendPak, including the Rotary and the Directlift. (I deleted the post because I'm relinking it) Though it would seem that all three of the lifts are up to par as far as shop-quality goes. I believe they're all ALI certified, but I could be mistaken.
Either way, does anyone else have any experience using lifts that would like to throw their 2 cents at me? I would greatly appreciate it as I am trying to gather as many opinions as possible before I purchase anything.
