Anyone with experience using a scissor lift?

[rp17]

Max Jax is a nice setup for home use.

[coreseller]

I have the Atlas Scissor lift from Greg Smith Equipment, similar to the one you are looking at. Fine for Porsches, could present a problem with front engined cars if looking to drop transmission or exhaust, most other jobs are not an issue. 2 post lifts such as MaxJax would work better for those jobs, but they also have their drawbacks (set-up time, storage issue, opening doors, etc.). I would suggest you go to The Garage Journal Board (The Garage Journal Board - Powered by vBulletin) and spend some time browsing before deciding. Good Luck.......


Just read your bottom sentence, it is not a pain to use at all, especially if you recess it into the garage floor. If you do not recess it, you will need to make ramps on either side of it to drive your Boxster up on to for clearance, THAT is something I saw as a pain so I recessed mine. It also serves as a helluva workbench......

[NewArt]

WOW! That's a sweet setup!

[Jack Olsen]

The only downside to the MaxJax is the inconvenience factor: it's either in your way when you're not using it (assuming it's set up and ready to go) or it requires 15 minutes or so to move it into place and bolt it down again so you can use it.

A recessed scissors lift is always available and it's never in the way. The downside to one like mine, which has a single-piece top, is that it works great for my rear-engine car -- but is a lot less useful for my other cars, which are all (conventional) front wheel drive.

The better solution is a scissors jack where there are two units -- one for each side of the car. They leave the center open for work, and can be recessed down just like mine is. I know Bend Pak is working on a new model like this and expects to have it out early next year. But there are others out there.

This is a randomly grabbed image of one that goes to full height, but you'll get the idea:



Mine sinks into the ground and is tiled to match the rest of the floor. For my 911, it's just perfect.

[coreseller]

Originally Posted by Jack Olsen

The only downside to the MaxJax is the inconvenience factor: it's either in your way when you're not using it (assuming it's set up and ready to go) or it requires 15 minutes or so to move it into place and bolt it down again so you can use it.

A recessed scissors lift is always available and it's never in the way. The downside to one like mine, which has a single-piece top, is that it works great for my rear-engine car -- but is a lot less useful for my other cars, which are all (conventional) front wheel drive.

The better solution is a scissors jack where there are two units -- one for each side of the car. They leave the center open for work, and can be recessed down just like mine is. I know Bend Pak is working on a new model like this and expects to have it out early next year. But there are others out there.

This is a randomly grabbed image of one that goes to full height, but you'll get the idea:



Mine sinks into the ground and is tiled to match the rest of the floor. For my 911, it's just perfect.

I'm glad I saw that last still picture in your post Jack, I thought your garage always looked too neat and organized.

[violametallic-S-]

Hey JACK OLSEN is your garage on the houzz app? I know I've seen it somewhere...

[Jack Olsen]

Originally Posted by coreseller

I'm glad I saw that last still picture in your post Jack, I thought your garage always looked too neat and organized.

Thanks. It cleans up fast, which makes it easy to have it look that way in pictures. But most of the time it's 'in use' -- which isn't nearly as pretty.

Originally Posted by violametallic-S-

Hey JACK OLSEN is your garage on the houzz app? I know I've seen it somewhere...

I don't think so. I just looked it up to see what that is -- it's a cool site.

For garages, there's one place to look -- the forums at: The Garage Journal

If you want to see more of my garage, and how it was put together: The 12-Gauge Garage