[miker98038]

Maybe 20 years ago one of my buddy’s bought a 4 post Direct Lift. Since then, 4 of us have a total of 6 of them. 2 are mostly storage, 1 is sometimes storage, but 2 are used extensively for maintainence. They’ve gone up and down hundreds of times. Part of the reason we kept using them was the local rep was really good about service, set up, relocating, etc.

We all had standard residential concrete floors, so the response from ‘56 was part of it. We have 3 of the large hydraulic jacks, and every lift has the bottle jack tray. We’ve changed engines, transmissions, rebuilt entire front ends, rolled out rear ends, and done normal oil, lube, etc maintenance.

Particularly with pulling engines, 4 post are a work around. You’ve got to raise the vehicle enough to get the cherry picker under, and you need the vehicle all the way forward. We finally broke down and bought a bigger commercial cherry picker, for pulling big engines and trans out of med duty trucks. More height and reach. But a gantry or ceiling rail/chain hoist would be better. Sometimes, like front shocks, we end up raising the car and putting blocks under the wheels. But you’re still working around the ramps.

But we’ve gotten spoiled. We’re all north of 70 years. We raise the car in steps to wax it, clean wheels, whatever. Sit on a stool and bring the work to you.

No maintenance problems, just some pilot error. One lift is in a higher altitude area and unheated shop. Didn’t get the hydraulic oil changed until it was milk white and corroded the pump. One guy won’t get out and look, and he’s driven the front end off the side of the ramp a couple times. Go get the dunnage, block it up, drive it off.

With the wheels on an empty lift, one guy (an old guy with lots of effort) can move it on a smooth floor. Young guys, 3 or 4, could probably move a loaded one with the vehicle up just a couple inches up. Then the wheels come off and go into storage.

Got any questions, I’ll try to answer.