Dad is going be purchasing a 2-post lift for our garage in the near future. It's a 9k lb lift. we play with old hotrod/muscle cars mostly, but I'd like to be able to put my truck on it if need be.

I can't find any good hard info as to what my truck should weigh... heard anywhere from ~6500-~8500. I'm guessing the 9k lb should be able to handle my truck just fine... I'm just wanting to get some other opinions.

so, 2004.5 LLY Crew Cab Short Bed 4x4 ZF-6 manual locks/windows... what's she weigh?

would you trust a 9k lb lift to pick up and hold the truck up? (not long-term, but long enough to perform maintenance)

Yours will be 7000-7500(maybe a little under 7k). The general consensus is those lifts will be fine to lift your truck......(there's been a few threads on this subject a while ago).

I have a 9k 2-post lift from Greg Smith Equipment and its rock solid, even with crew cab dually duramax's on it.

As long as its a name-brand lift and not some generic chinese POS, it will "actually" handle well over 1.5x its "rated" capacity with no problems at all. My 9k 2-post lift has stronger/thicker/beefier-looking components/structure than some 11,000lb generic lifts ive seen.

The junk chinese no-name lifts are dangerously underspec'd and as soon as you put 9,001lbs on a "9,000lb" lift, you're risking a failure...

meant to put a link to the lift he has picked out... it is greg smith equipment.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-OH9000-Overhead-Two-Post-Car-Lift-p/atpk-oh9000.htm

Been a long time since I have looked at lifts like that. I am surpised how much lift you can buy for a fairly small amount of money. Wish I had a shop to put one in.

I have a 9k 2-post lift from Greg Smith Equipment and its rock solid, even with crew cab dually duramax's on it.

As long as its a name-brand lift and not some generic chinese POS, it will "actually" handle well over 1.5x its "rated" capacity with no problems at all. My 9k 2-post lift has stronger/thicker/beefier-looking components/structure than some 11,000lb generic lifts ive seen.

The junk chinese no-name lifts are dangerously underspec'd and as soon as you put 9,001lbs on a "9,000lb" lift, you're risking a failure...



Heard quite a few horror stories round here with cheap lifts. I would rather pay good money for a second hand named brand lift than cheap money to buy a brand new chinese lift.

If in doubt about capacity, buy a bigger lift. I just brought a pair of 20k (10k per lift) hetra mobile column lifts for a bargain price. I plan to fab up the necessary frames to lift on the chassis on my truck.

http://ahclifts.com/images/MACH4_frame_lift_kit.jpg

If you don't believe us about lift failures, take a look at this vid

Testing And Complete Failure of a 10,000 lb. Two Post Lift.flv - YouTube

I just got a 9k lift from Greg Smith Equipment. It is fantastic. No problem with your truck. They have fantastic support for people, like me, that have not installed or used a lift before. I picked it up from the store. Don't look in the store. You will need a tractor trailer to haul away everything that you want.

i have the standard atlas 9. i have used a lot of the brand name hoists up to 14k and mine is the most stable i have ever used even though it is on the least floor. money well spent. and a lot of the work i do is on cclb 1 ton diesel trucks.

by the way the customer service at greg smith equipment was incredible. there was a problem with my lift that they had no hand in and they were intent on on making sure i was happy.

I am looking at buying a Greg Smith lift here very soon- Greg Smith actually has a store and showroom 15 minutes from me. I cant wait to be able to work off of a lift- tired of working off a creeper!

-Steven

Look at Mohawk as well. Very nice and made in the USA

I personally prefer Rotary's. Just picked up a 10k and 12k. I would not buy a Challenger or Bend-Pak.

I personally prefer Rotary's. Just picked up a 10k and 12k. I would not buy a Challenger or Bend-Pak.

why not? Ive never heard anything bad about Bend-Pak

Had both at a dealer I worked at and there was always something wrong with them. Guy was servicing them often. The Bend-Pak would go up crooked so they replaced the chains and cables cause they get stretched out and then 4-6 months later going up crooked again. Service guy said lots of these failures with Bend-Paks. Challengers have cheap adapters for the arms and and the arms themselves are rectangular, not square, thus they bend easly when operated at max capacity. I think the best lift money can buy is a Rotary. Many lift service guru's say the same from what I have seen. But they are also premium dollar lifts.

Had both at a dealer I worked at and there was always something wrong with them. Guy was servicing them often. The Bend-Pak would go up crooked so they replaced the chains and cables cause they get stretched out and then 4-6 months later going up crooked again. Service guy said lots of these failures with Bend-Paks. Challengers have cheap adapters for the arms and and the arms themselves are rectangular, not square, thus they bend easly when operated at max capacity. I think the best lift money can buy is a Rotary. Many lift service guru's say the same from what I have seen. But they are also premium dollar lifts.


I have had the same advice. spoke to quite a few service engineers and they say if you buy cheap, you tend to have problems. These problems might be related to lifts being used day in & day out by people in the trade, it might not. The cheaper lift may be ok for people who may not use them everyday. I prefer to buy a name brand lift because not only do you have your pride & joy on the lift, but you could be working underneith it if it fails and I like to know the safety's will hold .

Nice video.I have a atlas 9k from greg smith.Had for about 6yrs.Never had a problem.You can tell when you lift a 8k lb truck.But other than that.nothing else really puts a strain on it.Xcab long beds are the worst.You can't spread the arms out far enough.I usually put the tranny jack under the rear if i'm going to be tugging on something.crew cabs a solid.I would buy another.I like the over cables too.

I have an Atlas 12K 2post lift and love it. ZERO Issues so far. KNOCK ON WOOD. But I'm extremely happy with. Would recommend it to anyone. Great value for the dollar.

We have multiple Mohawks and have had zero issues and they get used heavy and often...Made in the USAas well. Quality products.

We have Rotary 9,000 lb lifts at work, and they have been extremely reliable. We have had them for 14 years, and haven't had to repair any of them so far.

We finally made a decision and ordered one yesterday afternoon. Went with a Greg Smith Equipment Atlas PV-10P 10k lb lift.
http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-PV-10P

orginally we were considering a 9,000 lb. lift, the Atlas OH9000, but opted to step it up just a little. the 10k lb. lift has thicker metal in the posts than the 9k lb. lift (.2" vs. .24") and we just felt like it was worth the extra ~$400 to get something we knew would handle everything we'll ever throw at it... peace of mind. Figured if we're gonna get one, lets get one a step above what we think we'll need, that way we know we're covered.

We will be getting it right after the first of the year. Could have had it next week possibly, but the shipping companys are hit and miss for delivering between christmas and new years... so we just requested to hold off til after the holidays so we can know exactly when it will be arriving and so we'll be ready to pick it up at the drop off location, the local factory where dad works.)

I'll try to remember to let folks know how well it performs and how we like it.

Thanks to everyone who posted in here on this. Appreciate the video too. I am looking at buying a lift for home garage. You have helped me narrow the search a great deal.

Couple more questions:
1) Someone mentioned about the arms not swinging out wide enough to carry/lift a ext cab or crew cab, I will certainly be lifting at least my Dmax crew cab. What do I need to look for in arm spread?

2) I prefer the 2 post over the 4 post so I can change tires and such. The disadvantage I see to the 2 post lift is being able to open the car/truck doors when the vehicle is on the lift. Is this a big deal or not?

3) Does anyone know the name brand of the lift in the video?

Couple more questions:
1) Someone mentioned about the arms not swinging out wide enough to carry/lift a ext cab or crew cab, I will certainly be lifting at least my Dmax crew cab. What do I need to look for in arm spread?

2) I prefer the 2 post over the 4 post so I can change tires and such. The disadvantage I see to the 2 post lift is being able to open the car/truck doors when the vehicle is on the lift. Is this a big deal or not?

3) Does anyone know the name brand of the lift in the video?

1. im not sure but id think as long as you arent bouncing the truck it wouldnt be a problem

2. the only problem with opening doors on a 2 post lift is you cant get them open very far. if your a normal sized person you could squeeze in and out.

3. no idea kinda looks like a rotary knockoff.