Atlas 408SL Super Deluxe: the portable four-post built around a twice-bent column

Most 8,000 lbs four-post lifts are sold on capacity and nothing else. The 408SL's own build sheet points somewhere more useful. Its columns incorporate two special bends to increase column strength, they are a larger section than the usual hobbyist post, and the lift cables run hidden inside the columns and cross tubes instead of down the outside where they collect grit, catch a sleeve and corrode. Add commercial-grade wear blocks at the sheave points and you have a lift specified for a service life.

Everything around that is built to stay flexible. The 408SL is free-standing and portable: a caster kit with polyurethane wheels ships in the crate, anchor bolts are optional rather than compulsory, and the power unit can be positioned at any of the four corners. If you rent your building, or the bay has to go back to being a bay, that matters more than another thousand pounds of rating.

Will It Fit?

A four-post is bought on measurements far more often than it is returned on capacity. Take these to the garage with a tape before you order, not after the freight arrives.

• Ceiling. The columns stand 83" (6' 11"), which is the structure alone. If you intend to park a second car underneath, the height you need is the runway height plus the roof of the car on it, plus room to open its doors.
• Rise and working room — both figures disputed. This page lists the lifting height to the top of the runway as 70" (5' 10") and the clearance under the runways as 65 1/4" (5' 5 1/4"). Atlas publishes larger figures for both. Read the section below before you plan around either.
• Floor width. 109 5/8" (9' 1 5/8") overall without the motor, 117 1/2" (9' 9 1/2") with it. Measure to the wider figure, then add walking room down at least one side.
• Floor length. 205 3/8" (17' 1 3/8") overall including the approach ramps, with 156" (13') between the columns.
• Drive-through clearance. 82" (6' 10"), with 95 1/2" (7' 10 1/2") of clearance between the columns. Drive-through is the number that decides whether a wide-body pickup can be driven straight on.
• Runway spacing. 37 1/4" between the runways, narrowing to 34 3/8" at the rails, and 74 3/4" (6' 2 3/4") outside edge to outside edge.
• Power. 110volt operation, and it requires a 30 amp breaker. Standard household voltage, but not a standard household circuit — confirm you have a dedicated 30 amp run before delivery day.
• Fluid. The reservoir takes 3-5 Gallons of AW32/AW46 hydraulic oil, not included. Buy it with the lift so you are not stuck the day it lands.

Confirming ceiling height, floor area, slab condition and the electrical circuit is the buyer's responsibility. We cannot measure your building for you, and a lift that will not fit the room is not a warranty matter.

What parks underneath: two figures worth a written confirmation

The reason to put a four-post in a single bay is the car that sits on the floor while another sits above it, and that plan is decided by exactly two measurements on this page: the lifting height to the top of the runway, and the clearance underneath it. Atlas's current published specification for this lift disagrees with both of the figures we list. The factory numbers are the larger ones in each case, and the factory marks its lifting height as a reading taken with the lift not resting on its locks — a different measurement from a lift parked on the lock ladder. Larger is not automatically better news. It means the specification is unsettled, and stacked cars are not a thing to be optimistic about.

So read the figures in the list above and in the table below as what this listing states, not as a promise about your building. Ask us to confirm the runway height and the under-runway clearance in writing before you order. Then take what we send back out to the vehicle you intend to park below and measure it as it really stands — aerial up, roof rack on, mirrors out. The morning the crate comes off the truck is a poor time to find out the gap is short.

Why the runway design does more work than it looks

The runways are diamond plated, 18 3/4" wide and 166 3/4" (13' 10 3/4") long, on a 4 3/4" section. Diamond plate is not decoration here: a car sits on those runways for months and you walk on them wet, and a plain plate runway is genuinely slippery under a boot. The 4 3/4" section keeps deflection low across that length, so a heavy vehicle does not sit in a shallow trough at mid-span.

Width between runways is the other quiet decision. At 37 1/4" there is real room for a drain pan, a transmission jack or your shoulders, which is the difference between a lift you service cars on and one you only store cars on. Wheel stops, four plastic drip trays and the steel jack tray are included rather than sold as a kit later — the drip trays stop a stored project car marking the vehicle parked underneath it.

Locking, and what "single point" actually means for you

The 408SL uses a double lock safety system with a single point lock release. The lift rests on steel locks at height, with the hydraulics holding nothing once the locks are engaged, and you release all four corners from one position instead of walking the lift and freeing each column by hand. On a portable four-post that is a safety property, not a convenience feature: nobody is tempted to leave a lock disengaged because it was awkward to reach.

Perfect For

• The home garage that has to stay a garage. Free-standing, castered, anchor bolts optional — it can be rolled aside.
• Two-car storage in a one-car footprint, where ceiling height allows.
• The long project. A car can live on it for a season without the lift being tied up hydraulically.
• Light commercial and fleet work within the 8,000 lbs rating, where the wear blocks and hidden cables earn their keep.

What's in the Box

Per the manufacturer's own inclusion list: the caster kit with polyurethane wheels, steel approach ramps, a steel jack tray, four plastic drip trays and the wheel stops. Anchor bolts are optional and sold separately, and hydraulic oil is not supplied. Everything else needed to stand the lift up ships with it.

Specifications

Certification, honestly

The manufacturer's data for this lift does not state any third-party safety listing, and we are not going to imply one it does not claim. In North America there is an independent lift-safety listing programme, run by a body that tests and audits lifts to a published standard, and it is a separate document from a manufacturer's own declaration of conformity. Some commercial insurers, fleet policies and local authorities require equipment carrying it. If yours does, confirm the requirement before you buy and talk to us first — we would rather lose the sale than have you install a lift your policy will not cover.

Shipping and delivery

This lift ships by freight to the lower 48 only, quoted live at checkout so you see the real cost for your own address. Freight is curbside: the carrier brings the crate and getting it off the truck is your job, so you need a forklift, a tractor with forks, or enough hands and equipment for a crate this heavy. If you have none of those, take terminal pickup, or use one of our warehouse pickup locations listed further down this page. Delivery to a residential address carries a fee, applied once per brand on your order. Inspect the crate before you sign. Note any damage, however minor, on the bill of lading in the driver's presence; a signed clean BOL makes a freight claim very difficult to win afterwards.

Warranty

The 408SL carries a 2 year structural warranty and a 2 year hydraulic warranty. Do not disassemble a component you intend to claim on — a stripped cylinder or power unit is normally treated as an inspection you performed, and it can void the claim. Photograph the fault, stop using the lift, and start the claim with us. Details and the claim form are on our warranty claims page.