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Installation of a 4 Post Storage Lift
by: Greg Gervasio
Installment 1 - High Lift Door Conversion
Now that I exceeded the parking capacity of my garage, I decided
to install a 4 post parking lift. As you can see from fig 1-3 the first problem
encountered is that the garage door and opener will be in the way of lifting the
car up. My current door uses extension springs (as seen in fig 4) which will not
work with a high lift application. Another problem that will be encountered is
that the standard door opener will also not function with a high lift door. As
can be seen from fig 5 the standard opener will try to pull the door back
immediately and a high lift door has to go straight up first. The installation
of a high lift opener will be covered in the next installment.
The first thing you will need to do is measure the clearance
from the highest point of travel of the door to the ceiling. Fig 6 shows that I
had 33" of clearance at the highest point. This point is generally as the door
travels around the curved part of the track. I purchased my parts from
DIYGarageRepairs. They can put
together a kit with all the parts needed to extend the tracks and convert to the
required torsion spring system. Calculating the size of the torsion spring
requires a special program and is not straight forward. I highly recommend
having some that knows what they are doing calculate the proper spring size. The
tracks come in 1' increments so I ordered a 3' kit and shortened the tracks to
32". This only leaves ~1" between the door and the ceiling at the highest point
of travel.
Once the parts arrived I removed the old opener, springs and
upper track. Fig 7 shows the parts stripped off. One thing I did was move the
upper roller to the very top of the door so that it would keep the door lower as
it opened. This can be seen in fig 8 & 9. You will also have to adjust the top
roller since the new tracks will be closer to the wall with the new tracks. I
had to grind the edge of the adjustable bracket to get it close enough to the
door. Next you will probably have to extend the 2X6 along the sides of the door
to mount the new tracks to (fig 10). Install the new vertical track sections and
then the old upper track (fig 11). Now install the new torsion spring assembly.
This includes a torsion shaft, outer bearings, center bearing, torsion springs,
high lift drums and new cables. The finished installation can be seen in fig 12.
Wow look at the difference in fig 14 between the height of the
my old door next to the new one. Not only does the door lift higher but it will
not extend into the garage as far as before. Fig 14 clearly shows the room above
the car. This will be more then enough room providing I keep the roof back from
the center beam.
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Fig 1
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Fig 2
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Fig 3
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Fig 4
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Fig 5
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Fig 6
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Fig 7
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Fig 8
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Fig 9
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Fig 10
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Fig 11
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Fig 12
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Fig 13
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Fig 14
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Installment 2 - Installing the Lift March 1, 2008
Barry & I both purchased a Direct Lift Model 8S (8,000lb capacity) from
Greg Smith
Equipment in Newark Delaware. Nice place with a large showroom full of
shop equipment. It is worth a visit to see all the different types of lifts
and other shop equipment they have. They hooked us up with a towing company
that was able to deliver our lifts a reasonable price. The lifts were
delivered on Thursday and we decided to install mine first on Saturday.
First I prepared the area before everyone arrived. Cleared out the garage
(fig 1) and stripped off the packing from the lift (fig 2-4). Around 9:30 AM
help arrived, Frank & Ken with Barry arriving about a half hour later (fig
5). The first thing we did was remove the top ramp with the cylinder. This
was the heaviest part and a real pain to get into the garage. We then
unpacked the legs and cross bars and assembled them in the garage (fig 6-9).
We finally got the last ramp in place and it was time for a break (fig
10-12). The heavy work was over and we strung the cables, hung the hydraulic
unit and installed the lock release bars. Then came the fun testing the
lift. First empty (fig 13-15) and we then loaded my Sunfire on for a test
lift. Later I pulled in my C3 to check position (fig 16-17). Fits perfect I
am able to get it more then high enough with several inches to spare. In
this position have 62" clearance, more then enough for the C6 and it is
about the right height to stand under and work under the car. I thought I
would need it higher but I can easily stand in the center and reach all the
parts under the care comfortably. If needed I have enough clearance to go up
another 6-8 inches. I even have enough room to park the tractor back in
front of the lift (fig 17). Once I was satisfied with the alignment of
everything I bolted the lift down and moved my 2006 into its new home (fig
18). Finally my daily driver gets its parking space back. No more having to
scrape off the frost the car before I can go to work.
Total installation took about 6 hrs, but that included a run to the auto
store and a lunch break. Barry's should go quicker now that we know the
procedure and can avoid some of the time consuming mistakes.
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Fig 1
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Fig 2
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Fig 3
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Fig 4
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Fig 5
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Fig 6
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Fig 7
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Fig 8
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Fig 9
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Fig 10
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Fig 11
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Fig 12
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Fig 13
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Fig 14
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Fig 15
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Fig 16
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Fig 17
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Fig 18
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Installment 3 - Installing the Opener March 30, 2008
The finishing touch is the addition of a new opener. I used a Liftmaster
3800. This is the only residential opener that works with a high lift door.
I included a link here for a copy of the
installation manual.
I decided to mount it on the right side out of the way. I first test fit the
opener (Fig 2) to see how it will be mounted and where I needed to place the
new outlet. I next then taped into the old opener and pulled a new cable to
the opener (Fig 3-5). After the drive is mounted the next step is to mount
the door lock pin (Fig 6). This pin extends into the track when the door
closes to prevent anyone from manually opening the door. Fig 7 shows
placement of the slack cable stop. Make sure that you mount it high enough
to clear the door as it opens. The manual said it could be mounted to the
wall board but at that level the roller would hit the 2X6 side supports and
never activate. I spaced it out level with the 2X6. I mounted the opener on
the side of the door (Fig 8). Finally mount the safety reversing electric
eyes (Fig 9 & 10) and run all the wires to the opener. Fig 11 shows the lock
extended into the track. The finished job can be seen in fig 12.
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Fig 1
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Fig 2
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Fig 3
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Fig 4
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Fig 5
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Fig 6
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Fig 7
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Fig 8
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Fig 9
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Fig 10
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Fig 11
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Fig 12
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