I’ve assembled, disassembled, and assembled 4-post lifts several times. Some of my own, and some for others, and although the brands have varied, the installation is super similar regardless of those brands. Two post lifts are a slightly different beast, but with just a couple variations they are also not a big deal. I see people asking about installations all the time on Facebook, and have been asked several times by folks who are thinking about purchasing one. I can tell you that the guys at Muscle Rod Shop, who are doing the installation in this video, have a few guys to help which makes it much easier, as well as a very small forklift. With that said, I have assembled them by myself with nothing more than a cherry picker and some furniture dollies. If you had three people you wouldn’t need any heavy lifting equipment to do assembly with the standard lift you’d have in your home garage. If you are stepping up to one of the 10,000 lb units they might be a bit heavier and a 15,000 lb unit will definitely require at least a cherry picker to get the main rails up off the ground.
The key to installing one though is just being methodical and taking your time. If you were the slowest guy on earth you could put one together in a day. I could take mine apart in an hour now and probably put it back together in an hour and a half. There are no special tools needed, just a few wrenches and sockets and a ratchet. Oh, and you’ll want to have an impact on hand to help get bolts run in quickly so you can get everything loosely bolted together before going back and tightening everything to spec.
Watch the guys do it and you’ll know what the process is like. And if you are buying your own lift, spend some time going over the instructions before it is time to actually assemble it. Then you’ll be more comfortable with what is going on. Consider this a Saturday morning project with friends, and you’ll be thrilled to death with the results.
Good article Chad, but I cringe at your choice of words for the last sentence. Considering the subject, avoiding the word death seems prudent. Tickled shitless works for me.