2 post lift

Hello I've ordered a 9000 lb 2 post lift from Team lift in Texas. From the photos it would appear that the top 2 feet or so is a cable chase and pulley support. When I ordered I knew I was 2 inches short but thought I could pop my ceiling up the 2 or 3 inches I need to clear. Now that I'm poking and prodding I see that there's mechanical in the joist bay that's over the lift position. So- before I get all nervous and start planning on lowering the floor, I thought I'd consider cutting down the cable chase by 3 inches. When I ordered it they told me they could make it shorter - and I should have had them do it but now it's supposed to ship on Wednesday and I don't want to hold that up. So -having both the technology and skill to do a cut and weld - is that a feasable plan. This would be easy to determine once it's delivered but If I have to do concrete work to prep for installation I'd like to know that asap so I can start on it this weekend.

Anything else to consider with this install? Others here with experience?

Thanks Peter

Reply to
Peter Crowl
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I've got a 2 post with a chain running overhead. Don't see any problem making it shorter other than shortening the cables. My guess is they have a crimped (nicompress) collar to form a loop at each end. Personally, I would have the manf make the mods. How much longer will they take than you doing it?

Chas Hurst

Reply to
Chas Hurst

I'll be finding out Monday - but it could put me back to the end of the line which has been 3 weeks so far. Hence my keen interest in a DIY solution! Peter

experience?

Reply to
Peter Crowl

Bruce - Thanks - you put a lot of thought into your comments! My garage is attached. The ceiling of the garage is the Second floor. Construction is 16" I-Joists 16" OC. There are the drains for 2 Toilets, 5 sinks, 2 showers, and Laundry plus HVAC running all through-out the ceiling of the garage. The bay I'm under is a main trunk drain plus an HVAC line. I might be able to squeeze the 2 to 3 inches I'll need but it'll not be easy. As you probably know, 4" drain lines drop 1/2" / ft.....so clearance on one side doesn't mean clearance on the other. Hence my interest in shortening the upper struts of the lift.

Nothing's easy. Peter

Reply to
Peter Crowl

Peter, Well, a couple other things to think about. The reason for the cable chase is two-fold (at least the lifts where I used to work were for this reason and I will base my answer on them). The first reason is a safety lock so if the hydraulics fail, you won't be smooshed by your car. There are ratcheting locks that ratchet every... 6 inches or so. If you try to lower the car without disabling them, the car will come to rest on the last lock passed. To disable them, you pull a cable underneath one of the supports (which is connected via cable chase to the other side) and allows the car to be lowered and removes the possibility of having one side lock up while lowering the car and having the car fall off the lift.

The second safety feature of the cable chase is as not to raise your car too high. If the car is raised too high, it will hit the cable chase and disable the hydraulic motor. In your case, this will not be a problem because if you go beyond the cable chase, you will go into the ceiling of your garage.

I have seen some cable chases that are just enclosed in a metal beam and I assume that there are stops on the lift that won't allow you to raise your car into the chase though, I'm not sure how you could prevent that if you had a overly tall car on your lift. Just becareful I suppose.

16" I-joists gives you a lot of room to play with. The I-joists should be spaced 2 feet on center though if you have a lot of A/C ducting in addition to the 4" drain, as you've already said, you may have a problem. Don't forget that moving the lift forward or backward may still be an option if you want to avoid drains and ducts. By what you've said, I invision the I-joists running the width of the garage perpendicular to the cable chase and the drain line parallel to the cable chase. I agree that it may not be easy I was hoping to help you in giving you additional options you may not have thought of. It sounds like you have a good idea of what needs to be done.

Good luck to you and let us know how it turns out,

-Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Chang

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