Let’s face it- even with its infamous reliability, your Toyota truck will require repair and maintenance from time to time. Many of the first gen and previous model trucks now have reached antique status. Its always better to work on your Toyota inside a nice warm, dry, secure garage. Many home garages now have an air compressor, tool box full of wrenches, and even a wire feed welder. More and more enthusiasts are equipping the workspace with a new or used automotive hoist. As the economy worsens, many automotive based companies are closing their doors- and liquidating their assets.  Keeping a watchful eye on Ebay, Craigslist, and the rest of the Internet can net a hoist at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one. After many years of searching, I was able to realize just such an opportunity.

While their are many different manufacturers of automotive lifts, it doesn’t take much research to conclude that Rotary lifts are the preferred brand in performance, reliability, and safety. I had decided that I wanted a twin post swing arm lift in ground design. This keeps the underside open for transmission and exhaust work as well as making it easy to remove the wheels for brake and suspension work. Since the lift is in the ground, the sides of the truck are open for body work, and the doors are not blocked while parked on the lift. The above ground lifts are much more common these days, but take up too much space for my garage. The first and most important consideration is the ceiling height. I have exactly 11′ and that is just enough for a Toyota truck. Most above ground lifts will require 12′ - 14′. However I did plan ahead before building the garage and the 11′ ceiling does meet my needs.

So out of the blue I found an ad for a Chrysler dealership that had gone out of business and was liquidating all of their assets. They had many hoists to sell but one was the exact Rotary hoist I had been looking for- a SL29 twin post in ground electric over hydraulic lift. And the price was right. The lift originally cost between $7000 and $8400 new and was about 8 years old. The only problem was it was 700 miles away. After careful consideration I decided to go for it.

I had done two hoist jobs before so I knew what was involved. Part of the deal was that I had to remove the lift from the dealers property. This is hard work and not for the inexperienced. First order of business is to jack hammer the cement from around the lift. Since the cement had cured for 8 years it was very hard and slow going. It took alot longer than I had planned- about 4 hours for a 4×8′ section around the lift. Since the lift is contained in a “cartridge”, the entire unit needs to come out of the ground in one piece. The cartridge is about 9′ deep so now it was time to dig, and dig and dig. After digging for a few hours I began to realize that it was taking alot longer than planned and I wouldn’t be able to complete the job in one day. It was a tough decision, but I decided to leave without the lift and drive back 700 miles home. Since I had rented a trailer I decided to take back with me everything that could be unbolted or wasn’t still in the ground. I unbolted the superstructure, removed the motor, lines and other accessories and left the cartridge behind.

The following weekend I was back on the road again. I drove all night Friday and started digging again at 7am Saturday morning. Finally I had dug down about 8′ on one side and 4-5′ on the other.  Now it was time to figure out how to lift the cartridge out of the hole. This is a serious problem as the lift is 9′ tall and reportedly weighs 1800 lbs. I finally managed to get a wrecker driver to come. Now how to get a 9′ lift up from a hole inside a garage with an 8′ door and 12′ ceiling? We couldn’t get the wrecker inside completely but close enough to reach the lift. The wrecker had two winches so we hooked the cables to the structure inside the lift on both sides. This turned out to be critical as we needed to rock the lift from side to side to get it started. The winches pulled the wrecker to the ground, but finally the cartridge started to move. We lifted it up about 8′ when the boom hit the garage door. We lowered the garage door onto the wrecker and then the lift was out of the hole. But now we couldn’t move it. Finally it was decided to set the lift on the cement just in front of the hole, then tip it down and then out of the door. Using the wheel lift the driver set the cartridge in a semi lay down position and drove it outside. After another 6 hours of hard work, the hoist was finally loaded on the trailer and I was back on the road again.

Back home destruction had already started. I used a diamond blade for my circular saw to cut the cement floor.  I had a bit of regret at this point to have poured a thicker floor- 5″. Plus more stress and worry about cutting through the radiant floor tubes. I had left a space in the floor for a lift, but the Rotary model was wider than I planned for. So the cuts were very close to the tube placement. After cutting as deep as the blade would allow, it was time to start jack hammering the cement out. Being very very careful I spent three days getting all of the cement out of the hole. After removing the floor insulation, it was time to dig again. Several more days of digging and the hole was ready. I also ran a 2″ tube under the floor for the hydraulic and air lines. I tried to set the lift in the hole with a tractor but once again I had to hire a wrecker to get it in. After the lift was in it was leveled and then four truck loads of pea gravel were shoveled in to fill the hole. I decided to re-add the insulation back around the hoists to minimize heat loss. Finally 15 bags of redimix concrete were mixed, filled in the hole,  and troweled smooth. I let the cement cure for one week and then bolted on the superstructure, hooked up the air and hydraulic lines, and wired the motor for 220. I drove my truck onto the lift and it worked perfectly.

 All in all it took about 4 weeks of driving and hard work to get the lift and install it in my garage. The total cost was far less than the original cost, but far exceeded my expectations. Gas, trailer rentals, jack hammer rentals, wrecker bills, cement, pipe, wire, and other miscellaneous costs totalled about $1500 above the purchase price. Luckily everything turned out OK, and this is a one time deal. The Rotary hoist is an invaluable addition to my garage. There are many different lifts, options, and price ranges out there. Plan carefully for your needs and budget. It can be done and this is proof of that. Good luck with your project!