MID RISE LIFT or KWIKLIFT??

But your topic doesn't say what you are working on and what you are trying to achieve.... My crystal ball is in for it's annual service so all I can say is "Hell, yeah... get 'em both... if some is good and more is better - too much oughta be just about enough...".

The crystal ball is .... Once again, correct! I plan to use the lift for "general maintenance", lube, brakes, misc. repairs, detailing. I know the Kwiklift is a set of "large ramps" but you can jack the wheels up once it is on the lift. Does anyone have one? How do you like it? Would you rather have a mid rise lift? Both of these are in the same price range.

If the 'mid-rise lift' is that one with the two rubber topped flat platforms that hydraulically come up under the car, that will work a lot better for tire and brake work. But it would still be a pain getting to the middle of the car - grease the U-joints, no way.

With the Kwiklift ramps, even if you jack up the wheel to work on brakes you still have the ramp in the way. And with ramps you always have the choice of too (SIC) work heights - too low, or too high.

Myself, if I do anything like this I'm looking at a good old fashioned two-post lift. It would be a bunch of work to raise the roof two feet on the garage, but by no means impossible.

Or if you have a side yard you can pour a slab and install the lift outside, put a small carport over it to keep the worst of the weather off.

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Like Bruce has alluded to... either it's a lift... or it ain't.... Back when I had my own shop, I looked at many alternatives to a proper above ground hoist... Most weren't worth the time spent considering them and some were just downright scarey...

One might say that they are "better" than a jack and jackstands but after that, they can start to get in their own way... Any time saved lifting might be wasted (in spades) working around them. After this many years, I've become rather spoiled and don't even own a creeper any more.

When purchasing something like this, there are a lot of considerations... First should be the lifts capacity... length and width, certainly - but most important is the weight it is going to deal with... Yes... there is an engineered in "fudge factor"... but it is unwise and unsafe to depend on the fudge factor for added weight capacity - the idea is convenience and not heroism.

Is it going to do what is needed or is it going to be a "kinda/sorta" deal having the purchaser wish he'd save his scratch a little longer and got something a little better (there's been too many times I've wasted money buying something that would almost do what I needed it to - never again!!!).

FWIW... I'm currently looking around for the "right" deal on two above ground six or eight thousand pound two post lifts for friends personal use. One has a garage high enough for the hoist but we will have to take out part of the floor and repour it to gain sufficient depth for the anchor bolts. The other has a good pad... but we will have to raise the building and build pony walls to raise the roof.

Thats right ___________ Used Car Donation Car and Autos Zone