Has anyone got their own garage lift?

To have my own lift is a lifetime ambition. I have to money just about but no place to put it. So it's on the driveway with a decent jack and stands for me. Best of luck with it

how stable would it be if you really had to hang out of something stubborn like a seized nut ect? i think i would rather something bolted to the floor.

My old man put a 2 post lift in the garage at the homeplace 5 years ago. The floor wasn't think enough so we had to dig out a square where the lift was going and put in a thicker concrete pad. We got a Pacini 2 post lift fitted. Once you have one you'll ask how did I ever do car repairs without it. We did plenty of jobs down on the floor before that with jacks and stands but the lift is a god send in comparison.

Not this thread, is it?

I have looked at those before but was concerned with stability, when I had a larger rented unit I used a 2 post which was excellent, however when I built my own workshop at the back of the house I installed a scissor lift. The benefit of the scissor lift is that you can open the car doors. Also because I have counter sunk the lift I do not have clearance issues. You can also get floor mounted models which spread the weight so can use on thinner concrete

2 post or scissor lift is the way to go

Does a scissor lift not rule out exhaust and underbody work?

If you have a barn would an idea of digging a pit be a better option, would take up less space if anything else?

dont think i would trust getting under that yoke to be honest!

No but it uses the wheels typically to lift so you can't take any of the wheels off. Depending on type and size of car it may not use the wheels or you can pack up and still lift using sills.

Nearly everyone says go for 2 post lift and brand new car work out better value due to cost of refurbishing a used one and cost to repair if it brakes.

They may need a small foundation which you can do yourself and most people get a crowd to come and install it. The posts and arms can take up quite a bit of room and you may end up tripping over the arms and moving cars around a lot.

Sometimes you may know a friendly mechanic or hobbies who may allow you to use their lift or do work on the cheap. You would need a lot of work to justify the price.

I have driven up on scaffolding planks and some places made 2 wedge shaped ramps out of concrete for DIY exhaust work or washing under car. You can see some designs for wooden ramps etc. Main thing is to be 200% sure car won't fall even if you are shaking it mad say trying to undo wheel nuts. Even axle stands can jump out if car is shaking.

There really is a case for a "men's shed" type thing where a group get together and rent garage space with a lift and form a club. I'm a more than competent mechanic and post-covid have had some really bad and costly experiences with garages (think quite a few of the eastern European mechanics didn't come back) Have to replace my DPF and it can only be done with a lift as front subframe has to be dropped, tried to rent garage space with a lift before Christmas to no avail, possibly an insurance thing. Gonna have to shell out money again to people I don't trust to do a better job than me. If I had a garage at home I'd certainly consider building a pit.

I am a member of a men's shed type group. We have our own building with workshop, lathe, CNC machine etc. We have a double height roller shutter for vehicle access.

We don't have a lift but we could get one subject to cost etc.

Membership is 45 euro a month with 24/7/365 access near red cow. Open night this Saturday. Generally we would not like vehicles left on site overnight.