I plan on raising my door horizontal railing to accommodate my four post car lift.

I've watched a few Youtube videos, so I'm an expert but would like an input from any who've done something similar.

In essence, I just need to add 12" of vertical track. This will allow my horizontal track to hug the ceiling more. I plan on keeping all the same original tracks and angles. The bottom of my door, when raised, rests just below the top of the door frame. My thinking is to keep the same neutral position at the top (to keep the door balanced). I know there are a lot of steps (removing tension from springs etc), but from what I can gather I need the following:

1) 12" vertical track (either a 12" segment to go with my 88" track, or buy a 112" new track and cut down to 100"). I have extra track length at the end of my horizontal track that I can cannibalize. I'd then move the end of horizontal bracket anchor forward (fortunately my trusses are perpendicular to the mounts, so I can slide them forward and backward easily enough).

2) Cables - My 8' door has cables that are about 9' long (center of drum/torsion bar is 9' off the ground). I think if I buy 10' cables, it will be like having a 9' door with my drum/torsion bar at 10' (ceiling is 10' 3").

3) Cable drum is maxed out with a 8' door. In order to accommodate another 12" of cable, I need a wider cable drum to hold two or three more wrappings of the cable around the drum.

4) Vertical track brackets (size 6 and 7). I'll reuse the three already in place but I'll add one or two more for the 12" portion I'm adding.

Thoughts? I'd imagine there may be some things I may run into, but I don't think I can screw it up beyond repair (famous last words).

I did a high lift conversion last year in anticipation of installing a 4 post lift later this year. My first thought was to DIY and save some money but for me, I decided not to mess around with the torsion spring. Too many horror stories and I was starting from scratch having to convert from standard garage door springs. The company I used was top notch BTW, the parts used were all commercial grade and the install was done perfectly. There are several companies that make high lift conversion kits and they're pretty affordable. You send them your garage door measurements and specs and they'll send you exactly what you need. DDM is a good one and has an online calculator, here's their info link. Even if you don't use them, they will educate you on exactly what you need to do.

The garage journal forums are a great resource as well. Here's a link to a thread about exactly what you're working on link.

Here's the finished product in my garage, I went with a Liftmaster 8500W and am very happy with it. Wifi and app work flawlessly and the lock is added peace of mind.

I agree with above.
We had our local guy do it and it was relatively cheap and works well.

LBAR15, thanks for the pics and suggestions. I did see some calculations and kits at DDM. I think my job is even more basic that what DDM suggests. Your project looks great and can understand while you opted for the pros to do the job.

I reached out to a family acquaintance who did my double door springs a few years ago. He said it'd be a quick and easy job. I'll wait when he's out in this part of town for an estimate. If I can do it for $50-100 on my own, I'm inclined to pay $100-200 to have it done right the first time by an experienced pro.

Know, I've just got to figure out how to upload photos of my four post lift and 59!

That's awesome Russ. I agree, for that price let him do it! I use Imgur for photo hosting, it's pretty easy if you want to check into it.

What lift do you have and how do you like it? I'm considering an advantage lift at this point after looking at several different brands.

I posted the pic in the lift thread, but I'll post again.

I went back and forth between a 2 and 4 post. My old Chevy does better on full length ramps, so I went with a four post. I do plan on getting a jack bridge ($600?) that will allow me to do suspension work. My wife does give me grief (understandably) for getting a four post lift just for oil changes and brake jobs.

I looked for used four post lifts due to budget constraints. There are plenty of entry level four post lifts in the $2-4K range. My guess is that they're decent enough. Many lifts on Craigslist are already disassembled and haven't been in use. I lucked out and found a used four post lift 15 miles from my house and it was still assembled. He was asking a premium ($1500) but I felt it was worth the price because I could see it function and check for leaks/damage to cables. It's the Perfect Park 7000 which is US made, although I think some of the motor/pump may be imported. It also came with ramps, drip trays, tool tray and the casters. I'm happy. I had to disassemble it too, which helped me figure out how to assemble it when I brought it home. I took advantage of an empty garage and painted too.

If I had to buy new, it'd be the Bendpak, Rotary. There are plenty of second tier stuff that likely just fine for the hobbyist.

My goal with the door adjustment is to get enough clearance to get the 59 on top and the Civic below. Down the road, I'll add the Liftmaster 8500 side mounted lift.