I'm ready to purchase a 2 post lift for my shop. I've seen a bunch of different ones. Lookin for some advice on what to buy. I'm on the east coast so a local company would be cool but not necessary. Thanks in advance!
Go here and find a dealer near you. http://www.rotarylift.com/ I've been using these for years and they are pretty much the industry standard. Great product IMHO. Mike
I've heard good things about rotary. I've also heard pricey things about rotary. I've got about a 2k budget for one. Not sure if rotary is in that.
I believe the last one we had installed was $2500 installed not including wireing. I believe it was a 10,000lb IIRC. If you get in contact with the dealer a lot of times they have used lifts that are in good working order that they will give you deals on. Mike
What's it worth when it's broken down? I used 2 Rotary 7000 lb. lifts for over 16 years without a single problem.
good point tommy. I'm going to call rotary tomorrow morning and see what they have, great idea slick. A friend of mine owns a small auto dealership and has 2 of them too. While mine won't be part of a big operation, mostly me and my boys foolin around, i want to make sure it works well. thanks agian.
Two years now with my 10K Rotary and I'm a happy camper. Sure its a few bucks more but I'm sure they'll still be around years from now. Used is an option, a bud just picked up a well used Rotary for $800 which won't break the bank and Rotary dealers will finance the shiny ones... IMHO a lift is not the place to try and cheap out on too much.
Lots of local shops have the assemetrical lifts and we just purchased one last week. It shipped in two days. Will be installed Wednesday and they we locatated in DE. I am in VA. I will send you a report and pictures when they finish the install. All this for 2388. Which I think is a good deal. You connect the wiring. The installer is in VA. You can save 5 bills if you do it yourself but my concern was the weight and maybe needing a fork lift. I left it to the pros. Now I can wrench on a lift come thursday. The place I got mine from has ads in Hemmings, old cars weekly and the NRSA rag. Rod
I just bought this one: https://www.gregsmithequipment.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=32&osCsid=bc8a84d7f2be6764a0a857cef7345f61 It's the same as a Direct Lift, but with a different name on it. Both are made by Hanmecson(sp?) International. I don't have it installed yet, so I can't give you much of a report. But it's heavy! Call 'em and tell them you want it for $1895 + shipping, and they will do it. I had mine delivered to a nearby business that has a forklift, since they won't bring a semi to a house. Take a good long look at the anchors they supply. I should have bought better ones... caused me headaches that I'm still dealing with, but I'm 'getting there'. Instructions said to torque them to 150 foot-lbs, which I think is overkill and asking for problems. I talked to an installer (after I fucked my floor up) who said he would NEVER torque them that high! That's what I get for following the instructions instead of my intuition.
Greg Smith Equipment has a warehouse in Newark,DE so you could just pick it up. They've been advertising a 2 post lift for about $1650 so that should fit your budget.
Just talked to the a distributer at rotary. Quoted me a price of 4350.00 for a non-asymetrical installed. Since i'm not in the car business and just need this for hoggin around on my hot rods, i'm probably going to pursue other avenues.
I bought a used Rotary, 9000 lb. two post lift, from a service station supply place in Seattle last year. The lift was about five years old and cost $2000 installed.
Obviously I live in the wrong place. Two months ago, a used car guy went broke. At auction,his Rotary 9000 lb symmetrical lift went for $2800,still bolted to the floor. I think the Greg Smith/Direct lift is a pretty good deal,don't think you'll find one closer or cheaper.
I bought a 4 post Rotary at Goodguys DelMar. Including shipping was 3564. It's on my car trailer now, picked it up at Roadway terminal and they loaded it for me. May 13 is the assembly party.
I bought a used 11000 lb manufactured by wheeltronic.. now owned by snap-on.. for $1500. Best money I ever spent.. this one is made a lot better than the cheaper cable type... http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=66616&group_ID=1713&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog
That sux! Thats more than $1K more than mine installed 2 years ago... I never had any luck finding used ones till I dropped the coin on the new one,then I ran into 3 or 4 within the first month.
The guys that sold me my Rotary lift, deal in new and used service station/garage equipment. You might look around and maybe you'll find someone similar in your area. The lift that I bought was sold by them five years ago and the shop closed last year. Before closing the shop they sold all of the equipment back to the dealer that they purchased them from. These guys are Rotary dealers, so I thought them installing the stuff would work out fine.
we have a rotory 2 post 9000 lift our dually crew cab 454 regularly and my boy worked with a rotory and bend-pack rotory was his choice. we have had good luck on our used one for the parst 2 years Ed ke6bnl
I talked with Greg Smith company. They are located about 20 minutes north of me. the 10k lift is 1995. Not too bad. I called a couple rotary dealerships and nobody has any used ones. The one from Smith wont be in stock for 45 days so i'm still gonna keep my options open.
Just a word of warning about cheap lifts. THEY SUCK. If you start looking into it people are having problems with the cheap foreign (read Chinese) made lifts not living up to their ratings. How much is you life worth? Buy a quality lift, do not cut corners on this. I have friend who decided to put a cheap lift in their third bay instead of the Rotary's they have been using. The lift didn't collpase but it did list to one side with a full size truck on it. It looked like one of the welds on the bottom plate had no penetration and pulled loose...
ZMAN is 100% here. To add, if you have never installed a lift before, consider having it installed by a pro. I saw a Blue Point two post bind with a Rivi on it's rack. Had to have a flat bed roll under it to jack the car off of the lift. Kinda scary.
Haven't put mine to the test yet, but that's why I went with a 10k lb. lift, instead of 8 or 9k. The most it's going to see typically is roughly 4000 lb Buicks, with the occasional visit of my 6840 lb F-250 (which won't go full height anyway due to ceiling limitation). Should be a cakewalk. Smith's Pro V10 lift ships at roughly 2000 lb. shipping weight; it isn't a light duty piece. They have an installed base in car dealerships. If they are having problems, I haven't heard about it. I haggled it down to $1895 in 20 seconds. I say Go For It!
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