How to install an affordable automotive lift! Perfect man cave!

hey there folks this is Josh Stony Ridge farmer welcome back to another awesome day here in the mega shop on the Stoney Ridge Farm this is your first time here this is a 112 by 50 foot steel structure steel shop and today we're going to be installing a tuxedo lift it's a two post lift from Northern Tool I'll post a link to this Critter down in the video description without further Ado we're going to start moving equipment and getting things ready we're going to show you everything that we had to do in order to get set up and get this lift in the appropriate position we're also going to give you all the specs that you need to know and teach you how to install your own lift in your own shop the word I ain't afraid to play afraid to get the job done and doing my own damn way ain't afraid of life times like this if you mess with my freedom my team is what you can kiss first things first I want to tell you exactly how we're doing this this is my friend Josh I'm Josh and I'm not yeah I'm not joshing you about that it's still funny huh so Josh was in the military with me I was in the Air Force he was in the Air Force we worked in civil engineering he's a carpenter and I was an electrician so got a good Carpenter on hand right here to help me with this job really fun job and it's a two-person job for sure don't you think yeah you need two people these towers are heavy and for safety so we're gonna go over here and we'll show you the towers this again is a tuxedo lift from Northern Tool and Equipment that is Tower number one Tower number two you have one tower that has the mount point for your hydraulic pump we got our hydraulic pump sitting right there that needs to be on the driver's side or preferably on the driver's side so as we pull in to our lift right here we can hop out and it'll be real really easily accessible we won't have to run around the car in order to access it so this is Tower number two before we position Tower number two where we want it I wanted to show you guys exactly what we did so we have a string line right here you can see that pink string it goes from our garage door edges right here so we want to be in the center of the garage door we have a string line here and a string line here and we measured it all off so we have a perfect straight edge to go off of now we went over in this block you can see the cut lines in this block of concrete we want to be at least six inches off that cut line we actually went three feet off of that cut line and about two and a half feet off of that the thickness of the concrete here is about six inches it's fiber reinforced it's really strong right here is our lime for where the edge of our post is going to go so we're going to go right here and right here just so you guys know so you can see chalk line here chalk line there and that's the center Mark okay this is approximately 18 inches wide we already have the other one in position I'll show you that got a little hydraulic fluid on the ground but it's in position right there and that's how we're going to do this we're going to mount it up once we get them all into the appropriate position we have to put this plate down in between and a cable runs underneath there and a hydraulic line runs underneath there that's as far as we've gotten so far but I wanted to tell you guys exactly how we did it and how we lined everything up so it's all appropriately done you do need to read the specs for the thickness of the concrete this requires at least four and a half inches of thickness on the concrete and the anchor bolts need to be set at least three and a quarter inches and we are set to three and a half so that's it we're going to move this into position take our measurements we're going to measure twice and drill once we're gonna take a hammer drill with a three quarter inch bit go down in there drill out our holes and mount this thing as you can see we've got both Towers lined up right here this is a bit of a challenge again you need two people to accomplish this task so the distance between these two is 134 and 5 8 and we can find find that in the installation manual pretty simple Critter once we get it to that width we laid down this black ride over pad right here that is bolted down by some hex head bolts and we've already connected up our hydraulic lines which I'll show you will get you a good shot of that too so basically from this point we need to make sure that each Tower is perfectly level so we've got everything spaced out the way it should be we run our string line right down the edge here to make sure that both of these are facing each other perfectly in line then we'll go ahead and we have to level up the blocks drill our holes Place some metal shims underneath we're going to use some Window and Door shims to get it just where we need it and then we're going to go ahead and slide our metal shims into place and then we'll anchor everything down again you need to have the right concrete set up for this tuxedo lift you've got to have at least four and a half inches of concrete and they recommend a little bit more really the more concrete you have the better off you'll be and we need to be away from these relief joints so that we don't accidentally heave up our concrete pad we're pretty close to the drain over here which is kind of disappointing when I built this building I wanted the drains to line up perfectly with the doors and this one does not line up It lines up in the center of this 28-foot Bay so that's why we're doing a little bit of head scratching and we'll probably have to put a few extra shims right here because it's clearly just a little bit cattywampus this is a 220 wiring unit we will not be wiring this up because I simply don't have power up here to the shop building just yet so this is preliminary just setting it in place consult your electrician if you're going to go ahead and get it wired up into place and we'll run conduit down from the ceiling and feed this Critter right here now Josh why did we decide to go with wood shims right here instead of just shimming it up with the metal ones well it helps you get underneath it if you already have it set then you can just slide in your shim the metal shims otherwise it'll just you'll try to slide two or three at a time and that top one will always fall off and you'll be fishing it out from under there yep be wobbling a little bit it's already set you just slide them in if you're all your anchors already good to go tighten her up that is a money shot that's perfect 100 now we're ready to start drilling our holes and getting everything mounted up and we'll put our metal shims in place the drill that we're going to be using is a Milwaukee uh hammer drill this Critter right here awesome tool and again we're using a three-quarter not a 3 8 it's a three-quarter inch bit and we set this thing the depth finder on the bit all the way down to about three and a half to four inches so next thing we have to do guys is hang our hydraulic motor and pump this weighs about 45 maybe 50 pounds put those through right there drop them in the holes like a globe well that went easy huh so we've got this all mounted up guys it's just Loosely mounted for now there's an adapter right here this adapter screws into this block then it goes down via this hydraulic line right here to this banjo connector right there and then all of our Hydraulics will be hooked up we are using the recommended hydraulic fluid for this machine whatever you decide to get it says it in the instruction manual exactly what hydraulic fluid and it takes 12 quarts and we'll fill this Critter up supervisor showed up guys we really gotta crack down so now we got us a lift all right we are on officially day three of this install my buddy Josh had to leave he hopped on a plane yesterday back to Illinois and I've got a few things to button up on this Critter so I'm gonna go through everything that we've already shown you just so you know if you're installing one of these there are no good videos out here on the internet for a budget two post lift in your shop and the next lift we'll be doing will be a four post lift you can expect that in a probably month or so something like that once we get power here in the shop so let's take you through real quick exactly what we've done so far and then we'll button up all the rest of it so if you'll remember we had to Route our cables through here so the first thing we did we started with is getting everything centered so we got the two posts or pillars centered where they needed to be and our measurements needed to be correct your instruction manual will have all that information we have the arms in place right here but not fully installed I'm going to show you a little bit more about that we don't have all the bolts in here because it took six batteries on the Milwaukee hammer drill to accomplish this task now we had to go in and we had to tighten these cables these cables need to have right around a half of an inch of play in them and that's about what they have they have a lock nut and this lock nut is not in place this is the last lock nut that has to go in here I wanted to show you we snugged it down right here and that cable runs down through this Channel and right up here into here okay so down through the channel back up and back down I do believe we've already got the lock nuts in place for this one and again this cable has to have about a half inch we want to double check these after a couple of weeks and after a couple uses to make sure that they stay nice and snug and tight so that cable runs through so both of these have even tension on them and that's something that's very important this is the locking mechanism right here that locks the gear into place basically if you want to keep your lift arm in position you can see right there it has just a slight amount of play if we need to move it we'll simply lift that up and rotate it around drop it back into place where it needs to be we've still got a little bit of tightening to do there's a set screw right here that will set down in to make sure that paw engages with those gears pretty cool pretty simple stuff it's locked in place pretty good right now let's see if we can back it up nope can't do it so we got one more of those to do and it just takes a little bit of finagling on this Critter and this is what it comes like so it looks just like that and you'll slide that down through and mount it all up appropriately so we'll set that guy to the side again this is from Northern Tool it is the tuxedo lift tuxedo brand lift we will not be able to use this crater today but I wanted to show you everything how it all goes together so there's a hydraulic cylinder right in here and a chain that rides in the back hydraulic cylinder is fed through under here also so there are two cables and a hydraulic cylinder in here to the second hydraulic cylinder which brings the lift up and down as you bring the lift up and down it has pause back here and this is the safety release latch okay so you pull that and it unlatches the safety release right now it's locked into position and it cannot go anywhere okay again you need to have at least I believe it said four and a half inches of concrete right here either rebar reinforced or reinforced with fiber concrete and that's what we have here on the Stoney Ridge is fiber concrete okay there are caps right on the top here those caps need to be bolted down those caps are partially bolted to the frame that this lift came on in the crate and if you do order this lift online you will have to have a tractor or forklift to get it off of the trailer we've got a couple bolts to Snug up on our pump right here this will be our power source it runs on 220 volt okay and this will take our hydraulic fluid right here and we got a minimum and a maximum level right there we will not fill it up with hydraulic fluid until we have power hooked up that'll be the last thing that we do but I want to show you guys how everything buttons up so I've got just a few more little details to tighten up real quick and we'll have this thing all the way installed super fun let's get busy knocking out the tiny details this is the plate that you'll run over right here and we've got to Snug it down basically takes a what is that number 10 hex head that one started right there that did not come in this socket set so we'll go ahead and snug this Critter down we're going to repeat this process on the other side so we got to Snug up our pump our pump's not hooked up to power yet again we'll have power in the shop very soon but we don't have it yet supply chain issues So Last Detail you need to know is about these arms These Arms that swing out right here so you've got a couple different pads you can put on here there's some pads that rest right on this arm and then there's a fully adjustable arm that will go up under most anything we have so any tractor on the farm I need to raise up or any Jeep or any ATV or UTV I can raise it up just by extending that arm right there this is notched or indexed and this has a little gear paw right there you can see the paws in it what I'll do is I'll pull this pin take out this washer and spring and slide this down into that hole okay I want to make sure that everything is slid down appropriately so the only adjustment you really have to make is to get that paw down there where it needs to be the appropriate place that it needs to be make a simple adjustment and Bam it's right there let me show you real quick then I'm going to take the spring and I'm going to slide it back up onto this shaft spring goes back up washer push that up and I'll reinstall my Cotter key bend that guy back good to go okay so it's spring loaded we pull up right here and this engages the Paw right there so if I want to move it I just pop it up and I'll rotate around okay you have to engage this nut all the way down onto the Paw where it squeezes it and appropriately engages it that's it [Music] well folks we've successfully installed a lift if you have to do this you're gonna need two people and it's going to take you probably about three and a half hours we spent the most time preparing to install the lift and again it's a tuxedo lift preparing it and making sure that we know exactly what we need to do so I wanted to have you can see my Dodge pickup right here I want to have enough room to park a vehicle a long truck like a quad cab truck or a dually right here and I wanted to have enough room on the other side right here to park another vehicle so I could double stack them basically the secondary process thought process here was tool boxes and workbench so we needed four feet for toolbox and workbench and another three feet out from that so what I can do here this is a 50 foot wide building I can fit two vehicles and have my workbench in here and have plenty of room to work so that's what it was all about all the planning we wanted to be centered on this door and again this is the Mega shop this is 112 by 50 foot shop and this is where we're going to be doing all sorts of awesome projects here on the Stoney Ridge Farm so guys thank you so much guys and gals for coming to see me here on the Stony Ridge hit that like button on your way out the door I'll post a link down the video description to that Critter right there I think you'll really like it the next lift we install will be the four post lift and we've got the Bronco project right over here I've got a Willy's Jeep project down in the other building we've got a lot of fun stuff to do in this shop this is your wintertime Fun Spot guys thanks a lot we'll see you next time on the Stoney Ridge Farm [Music] s some ways [Music] hey there folks this is in your own case here hold on there just a minute there we go okay something bit me nice 50 and it is a awesome [Music] thank you awesome pretty stout this is Josh Stoney rich farmer welcome to the mouthful of slobber here we go let me just walk up uh like a booger problem going on here I think I got a little bit done and we've got to and Total Control stop being a buttermouth here I know knee bear equipment we are installing Australian school yeah peanut gallery back here hey bud we're gonna get some cool bloopers on this one guys I got your butter in my mouth they said somehow what happened it's official everybody I'mma tell me