[HO Kenny]

website www.liftking.ca


Tell them to contact me directly and I’ll offer a discount for py
His name is Ross.

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by HO Kenny

website www.liftking.ca


Tell them to contact me directly and I’ll offer a discount for py
His name is Ross.

Wouldn't it be a small fortune to ship it across the border?

[HO Kenny]

Yes, but he may have connections to get it shipped directly there or may know of a USA distributor.

[ERIC AULL]

I am thinking of buying a 4 post lift. I have been told the "Backyard Buddy" is a very good lift. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks, Eric....and Happy , SAFE, New year to you all.

[gtobird]

I bought an Advantage lift 9000 lb 4 post about 3 years ago and I love it. Thanks for the reminder to safety inspect it.

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by ERIC AULL

I am thinking of buying a 4 post lift. I have been told the "Backyard Buddy" is a very good lift. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks, Eric....and Happy , SAFE, New year to you all.

Rotary, BendPak, Eagle, just to name a few of the good ones.

Whatever you do, don't shop price. It'll be your and perhaps your kid's azz under it.

[ERIC AULL]

Thanks Chief.....just want a good one.....fortunately I can afford a quality product...but don't want to get screwed!

[Chief of the 60's]

BendPak has a quality product, I just can't get myself past that name.

[ERIC AULL]

Bend-Pak IS a well known and respected name in the lift business....my friend has 2 of them in his shop (professional service )....just looking for options...as the one I need is for my 67 GTO..and 71 Riviera...home garage use..storage and working on !!!

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by PDC

Can I ask what 'mechanically' happened with the lift in the pic with the Red GTO on it? Not sure how it slanted off to the side like that. Did the posts fail?

I've got a 4-post that I store the TA's with - I call it their bunk bed. I'm always careful to the point of being almost paranoid around it. One time when it was quite new - or should I say when I was quite new to it - one of the rear locks was not fully engaged and when I let the tension off the cable to ease her into the locks, the rear passenger corner (of course) sagged town too far too quickly. I frantically hit the button and lifter her back up and heard the lock clack into place. No harm no foul. But one helluva' adrenaline dump.

You can see by the post length exposed with the red GTO convertible that the operator of the lift was day-dreaming when he was lowering the car. Not all of the 4 lift locks were disengaged, resulting in only one side of the lift lowering and the whole thing going sideways. Had the operator been WATCHING and listening as he began to lower the car, he'd have SEEN that one side was not lowering, and would have been able to simply raise the lift back up, and re-adjust the lock releases on the stuck side. We have about 20 of these lifts at work, and sometimes, the locks don't always release. The cure is good maintenance,, and mostly, PAYING ATTENTION when you are lowering the vehicle. Racks and lifts, operated by a skilled operator, are always safer than jackstands.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by ERIC AULL

Bend-Pak IS a well known and respected name in the lift business....my friend has 2 of them in his shop (professional service )....just looking for options...as the one I need is for my 67 GTO..and 71 Riviera...home garage use..storage and working on !!!

Bend-Pak is a commercial rated unit, totally solid. Good to hear from you, Eric! It's been awhile.

Jeff

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

You can see by the post length exposed with the red GTO convertible that the operator of the lift was day-dreaming when he was lowering the car. Not all of the 4 lift locks were disengaged, resulting in only one side of the lift lowering and the whole thing going sideways. Had the operator been WATCHING and listening as he began to lower the car, he'd have SEEN that one side was not lowering, and would have been able to simply raise the lift back up, and re-adjust the lock releases on the stuck side. We have about 20 of these lifts at work, and sometimes, the locks don't always release. The cure is good maintenance,, and mostly, PAYING ATTENTION when you are lowering the vehicle. Racks and lifts, operated by a skilled operator, are always safer than jackstands.

Uh..........

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

The lift with red vert almost torpedoing through the side wall is mine. I hoped this thread would die, but it doesn’t seem likely. The more I thought about it, the more I feel like there is an important lesson here that should be shared.

So far there has been some truth written, and some fake news. As usual, Cliff seems to have the best grasp of things.

This was my second 4 post lift. It was my gift to me for Christmas several years ago. My first four post preceded this one by a couple years. I did everything by the book when assembling and adjusting the first one including nailing down all the lock adjustments so that it sounded like four hammers striking a nail at the same time. After using it for a week or so the cables had stretched and things had settled in, and it needed to be adjusted again. Following that the lift served two years with no problems and no need for further adjustment.

Flash forward two years and lift two arrives. I spent the day assembling, again followed the book, but this time the locks just got roughed in to a starting point. Seemed like a great idea to run it up and down several times empty, load a car on it and run it up and down several time loaded, and then do the fine adjustments necessary to get that four hammer, simultaneous sound. Ran it up and down three times empty. Put the vert on it and the first time up at almost the top of the stroke the seal burst in the hydraulic cylinder. Oh sh_t. Stuff started happening fast, including hydraulic fluid spraying everywhere.

One lock was a little high and it caught, then another one caught the next step down at which point the whole thing was racking. A third one caught a millisecond after that on the same level, but that this point the thing was so contorted the fourth lock moved on down to yet a third lock level. Fortunately it stabilized in this precarious position with me bear hugging the front post where the control was to keep the base from kicking out.

I spent the next hour securing things with HD ratchet straps and Hilti anchors, and went to bed. The next morning with the help of several really good friends and All Crane the outcome ended up with only damaged pride. The lift company sent a new lift and everything had a happy ending.

Flash forward to today..... next week each lift is getting its’ annual inspection and all the locks will get their annual adjustment. Anyone reading this that has a four post should do the same.

Merry Christmas.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by ERIC AULL

Bend-Pak IS a well known and respected name in the lift business....my friend has 2 of them in his shop (professional service )....just looking for options...as the one I need is for my 67 GTO..and 71 Riviera...home garage use..storage and working on !!!

Bend-Pak has a wide range of 4 post lifts. The most affordable versions are no better than many other mfg'ers lines. Have over a dozen friends with 4 posts even 2K proced Atlas's, just have pay attention to whatever brand you buy. I'd love to own a BackYard Buddy, they are definitely expensive. if I could find a smokin deal on a used one, Id drive 600-800 miles to pick one up.

[Sirrotica]

Most 4 post lifts I have seen use the rod end of the cylinder to do the work, (pulling) this is contrary to good hydraulic system design. It reduces the mechanical advantage because there is less area on the rod end for the fluid to push on making the hydraulic pressure higher to do the same work as opposed to using the blank end.

So now the pressure is greater and the seal is being used incorrectly by using the most inefficient side of the cylinder to do the heavy lifting. A double acting cylinder is meant to do the work with the blank end, the rod end is used to return the cylinder back to the retracted position. Almost every 4 post lift I have looked at has this backwards engineering placing the load on the wrong end of a double acting cylinder. It's also a safety issue as on the opposite end has no seal to fail causing the load to drop uncontrolled checked only by the safety latches, damn poor engineering.

I repacked a leaking lift cylinder on a 4 post lift for a former friend that had a Midas Muffler franchise, and wondered WTF the engineer was thinking using the rod end of the cylinder to lift the load, if the cylinder was reversed even if the seal failed there isn't a lift failure/load drop.....

A lower hydraulic pressure would do the same work if the cylinder was engineered properly with less stress on the whole hydraulic system.