Reply to "Car lifts"

I have had a Backyard Buddy for a number of years and am very pleased with it. It started out in the 'car' section of my garage which has a 9' ceiling. I could stack lower height cars like a 3rd gen Vette ,Camaro or Pantera on top of each other, but could not raise a car all of the way up. BYB has a chart on their website to help you figure out how high a ceiling you need to stack your particular cars. I decided I would like to move the lift to the 'woodworking' area of my garage which would allow me to raise the lift to the top. That meant moving the lift through a std. 8' garage door opening with dimensions of 83" high by 95" wide. It was a tight fit, but it went through. The posts on the std lift are 80" and the casters raise it about 1/4". The lift cable bolts add another 2" though. I had a plan if those bolts would not have cleared. I would have removed the upper weather strip and reattached it with screws making it easy to remove , or just made two small sections removable as it's only those cable bolts that might give you a problem. I also had to work one post at a time through the opening as it wasn't wide enough to roll straight through. No big deal. As far as the cost of the BYB, in my opinion, it's worth it. The posts are totally boxed (kind of like boxing hot rod frame rails to handle HO engines) and the locking system is a really a safe design. I'm sure that BYB loses a lot of sales due to price, but I commend them for offering a lift that is built so well. I am not suggesting that other lifts are not safe, but I also think that BYB is not overpriced for what you get. It is probaly over engineered, but I am totally at ease when my 12 yr. old son climbs under the car with me.
Dennis