2 post lift install in existing single garage

[JOEPRO]

Hi all,

This is my Christmas project. To finally install a good used Launch 2 post car lift into my front garage. I did intend to build a garage extension but it's still far away for now this lift will be great to have in the front garage and it will stay there for good.

Question-

The floor in this garage is sloping and too thin. So I'll need to cast in new pads below where I want to install the lift.

The base plate holes are 21mm dia. The manual says 19mm bolts.



(Pic of my used lift baseplate before it was taken down. It is a Launch lift)



Should I make my own welded bolt cage and concrete that in? Difficulty being having to lift over and set the posts onto the studs. Ideally I'd use 16mm High tensile studs to allow some fitting tolerance with this method.

Or washers and cones with 19mm bolts? Using a plywood template to hold them during concreting.

Or finally cast the pads with a good strong concrete mix and leave a month to harden before post drilling the holes and using say 300mm deep chemical anchors? This would be the most "friendly" fitting method.

 

[voipio]

Concrete pads would need to be large enough not to pull out of the surrounding concrete if the load is too far off centre.

 

[JOEPRO]

Concrete pads would need to be large enough not to pull out of the surrounding concrete if the load is too far off centre.

Yes fair point. What will help there too is that with the limited width of my garage the pads will be right against the existing walls.

So I can also drill and leave off dowels into the existing walls and to be concreted in as part of the bases. And they will be tied / cast in below the edges of the existing concrete floor. I will make the pads around 800 X 800 In size on plan and around 400 - 500mm deep.

 

[Guineafowl]

This might be of some help. Two-poster onto a paved driveway.

This chap is some sort of engineer, and with his wife has done a nut and bolt restoration of a Disco 4, including engine rebuild, which is no small task.

 

[Bobupndown]

Out of interest how much did you pick up the second hand lift for?

 

[JOEPRO]

Out of interest how much did you pick up the second hand lift for?

It was £500 at the time which was just pre covid. Friend of mine selling it as he was leaving the rented premises he was in at short notice.

It is in great condition but I will renew the balance steel cables for safety sake when re - installing it now. I had new launch jack pads for it too will need to find where I stashed them.

Thinking more about this I think I will need to cast a full width track for this and not just 2x isolated pads. Definitely will have it cast under and pinned into the existing concrete floor and side wall founds for strength. Leaning towards casting and leaving for a month then drilling chemical anchors.

 

[addjunkie]

Think if it were me, Id cut a square hole in the floor say 600sq.dig down suitable depth….for suitable pads, and use a strong mix with cones and bolts, ply template, even joined together to get spacing right.

 

[TEO]

This might be of some help. Two-poster onto a paved driveway.

This chap is some sort of engineer, and with his wife has done a nut and bolt restoration of a Disco 4, including engine rebuild, which is no small task.

Worth a watch even if you're not nutty about everything Landrover, this couple's gentle bickering & the click click torque approximater have never failed to raise a smile

 

[dieselsamurai]

Ive helped fitting a few second hand ones at friends yards all of those had much wider bolt down flanges , if it was me I would make the flange wider from to back just because i like to make things more complicated but i would feel safer too.

 

[Fazerruss]

Other option is to make a H frame base like mine and bolt it to it.
Personally I'm not a fan of small base lifts because of fear of fixings pulling out.

 

[Pete.]

Other option is to make a H frame base like mine and bolt it to it.
Personally I'm not a fan of small base lifts because of fear of fixings pulling out.

View attachment 474776

This is what I would do too. Spreading the load over a thin slab is better than cutti g though the slab and forming small but deep foundation blocks.

 

[winchman]

I would consult the manufacturer to see what spec they reccomend

 

[frank horton]

the foot plates on ur ramp really need to be a lot bigger or bolted down to a decent conc floor around 350mm deep......at least a meter in every direction from the ramp...
personally I'd be worried if the floor was anything less than that...a domestic garage floor will be cr@p concrete and prob wont have weld mesh and I dread to thinck how thick it is......
digging down and out will not be much use unless its tied into the rest of the floor....
If ur plans are to stay there for a long time I'd rip out the floor, dig down and do the job properly...
U only get one chance to do the fitting right......

mine is a German Hoffman 2.5 tonner.....comp standard....

I set in in the floor around 50mm when the floor was poured....I struggle to push a car over the hump on my own.....
the standard hold down bolts which are 20mm dia are the two nearest the 4 leg bolts....
I added the top most fitting in the photo just as a little extra security....
Under the floor those studs are in 50 cm deep concrete about 50cm wider fom the hold down part of the frame..thats inside, outside and longer than the frame.....
actually the those hold down studs had a foot plate welded on the bottom so I could adjust the hight of the ramp base plate to the floor level....
around those studs there is a welded 16mm rebar cage which is tied into two layers of rebar type weld mesh...
All around the ramp, lets say 1m in every direction the floor conc is at least 350mm thick.....with the general floor being around 250mm thick....
so if that ramp tears outta the floor the building will fall over as well......hahaha...
just sayin.....
oh the guy that did the floor only got payed 1/2 of the agreed sum as he did such a crap job.....
I'm considering sand blasting the floor and skimming with industrial leveling compound ......
trimming the studs to length, repainting the base plate and fitting the legs is a job for the near future.....need to make the doors first....

 

[JOEPRO]

All good advice there thanks. I think so long as I get a good deep well tied in concrete foundation pad with mesh then the factory base plates will be fine. I agree that the domestic garage floor concrete is not suitable to just bolt down to it without proper pads. Because the masonrry cavity walls will be inches from the posts in my garage I could also bolt and weld on a top steady bracket to both sides if I really wanted to.

The biggest challenge here will just be getting into my garage in the first place sooo much stuff and shelving all needs moved out of the way. Plus a w124 merc on jack stands that needs enough work complete to allow its galvanised rear subframe and wheels to go back in so I can pull it out of the way too.

 

[willie.macleod]

Yes fair point. What will help there too is that with the limited width of my garage the pads will be right against the existing walls.

So I can also drill and leave off dowels into the existing walls and to be concreted in as part of the bases. And they will be tied / cast in below the edges of the existing concrete floor. I will make the pads around 800 X 800 In size on plan and around 400 - 500mm deep.

The numbers you are suggesting there for the size of the pads seem very small compared to manufacturer specs I have seen? A pad of 4m x 3m x 200mm deep that the 2 posts sit on would be more like it. If you go for two cubes then you are looking at much deeper holes, twice the depth you suggest and much longer as well which may not be great when you have wall founds nearby.

 

[JOEPRO]

This was when I got it home. Actually August 2020! Since then it's been sitting outside with the control panel still fitted. I did take the pump etc off and stored it inside.



I meant to take the control board off too but you know how it goes. Never get to it and time flies by. So I was worried the circuit board could be destroyed by water and damp.

I went out just now, cut back the plastic and removed the control panel. It has survived unscathed it seems which is great news.

There were a couple of missing switch parts on it so I am ordering new replacements now.

 

[Melvyn Best]

If your going to be breaking out the concrete I would consider putting your new base pad so that the top surface is below the finished floor level by the depth of the lift base so that when installed there is no “hump” to drive over . Once the lift is installed onto the base pad the floor can be levelled. It makes thing so much easier in the future, no hump to push a dead car over or to get in the way of transmission jacks etc

 

[Dilkris]

Out of interest, are you intending to set the unit "into the floor" so to speak so as to get rid of that central floor panel that you have to push (maybe) the car over? I assume cables run in that or something, but surely it must be a real PITA at times. - I would be continually tripping over it.

 

[JOEPRO]

If your going to be breaking out the concrete I would consider putting your new base pad so that the top surface is below the finished floor level by the depth of the lift base so that when installed there is no “hump” to drive over . Once the lift is installed onto the base pad the floor can be levelled. It makes thing so much easier in the future, no hump to push a dead car over or to get in the way of transmission jacks etc

Out of interest, are you intending to set the unit "into the floor" so to speak so as to get rid of that central floor panel that you have to push (maybe) the car over? I assume cables run in that or something, but surely it must be a real PITA at times. - I would be continually tripping over it.

Yes I am planning on setting the lift a couple of inches below main floor level. This is for several reasons:

The existing slab is laid to fall so need to install lifts on level pad

The lift posts need to sit under an overhead sectional door track. They will need set down a couple inches to clear these but should be all good.

Will leave to hump to drive over when complete. I'll bolt down a chequered plate over the lot so it's a level floor to drive a car over.

 

[AVI_8]

Here’s a link to the concrete requirement for the 4 tonne lift I’ve got,
My concrete was I think C40 or C42 with fibres instead of rebar as I didn’t want the bolts hitting rebar during installation.
Though I’d imagine it would be prudent to drill and insert rebar into the edges of the old pad before pouring the concrete to tie them both together.

https://www.twinbusch.de/twimg/uk/content/downloads/fundamentplan/pdf/twinbusch_fundamentplan_2-saeulen-hebebuehnen_en.pdf