[Lloyd-TX]

Happened at a good friend's auto repair shop yesterday morning. Thank God the tech was out from under this pickup, hunting a hammer, when the lift failed.

7000# lift, most likely offshore junk. The pickup most likely weighs that much empty, or slightly more. Crew cab, 8' box with a camper shell.
Lift was most definitely poorly maintained. Lift pads are smooth steel, rubber pads fell off and were not replaced. Owner neglect.

Owner sees this as a non-event. I say he's damned lucky he's not burying his ONLY tech. He does carry good insurance.

Guys - DO NOT SCRIMP on lifts, jacks and stands. Buy good, American manufactured equipment and have those lifts professionally installed. PLEASE!

Words to the wise . . .

[Lloyd-TX]

And some close-ups of the pickup . . .

[Judge273]

Wow!

[400 4spd.]

Looks to me like the rt. rear lift arm kicked out. Maybe no locks to prevent rotation when off the floor? I'm amazed at the locations some people will place a lift arm or jack stand, just inviting disaster.
If it was lift failure and not user error, what failed?

[johnta1]

DO NOT SCRIMP on lifts, jacks and stands. Buy good, American manufactured equipment and have those lifts professionally installed.

Guess it depends on when it was bought?

Looks like until 2012 it was American owned and built.
Then sold.

Western Lifts

[bird72]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

Looks to me like the rt. rear lift arm kicked out. Maybe no locks to prevent rotation when off the floor? I'm amazed at the locations some people will place a lift arm or jack stand, just inviting disaster.
If it was lift failure and not user error, what failed?

X2 on this

[salem1912]

Which guy you think was operating the lift.

[400 4spd.]

The goofy looking one.

[SRR]

All the arms appear to be OK, how did the lift fail?
My policy is pick it up just off the ground and shake the vehicle because it's better to fall 6" then 6'.

[screamingchief]

IMO,that was an operator error,not a lift failure.

Even with metal pads it should'nt have come off if it were racked up properly.

That is fairly common with some lifts & trucks as the arms wont always go where it'll balance the weight properly as the frames are often uneven front to rear.

I used to see it all the time back when I was a tech.

Some trucks even require rack adapters to account for uneven frames & such.

And racks with uneven length arms (ie: longer rear arms vs. front arms) can be problematic with trucks as well.

Point is,some racks just are'nt designed all that well for vehicles like P/U trucks.

FWIW

Bret P.

[Lloyd-TX]

Agreed on ALL counts concerning operator error and such . . but . . .

I believe that it more shop owner error. Crappy, stamped "light gauge" metal lift and poor maintenance, along with the tech most likely NOT centering the vehicle mass and lift arm positions correctly. Plus the fact that the lift was slightly overloaded.

[njsteve]

I'd guess that the truck probably has frame damage/bending issues now.

[Alvin]

Wow! Looks like an ad for that 'Merican made lift "buddy" company; OR my personal garage! it's all good fun since no one was injured...

Still can see the marks on my F150's cab where the DEALERSHIP (no longer in business La Porte Ford) lifted my brand new truck using the cab instead of the frame for one of its 1st oil changes! No joke!

I was the one to point it out to the dumb asshats as they were clueless of any problem.

[GT182]

Stupid.. you deserve to poop yer pants!

[goatless]

Originally Posted by screamingchief

IMO,that was an operator error,not a lift failure.

Even with metal pads it should'nt have come off if it were racked up properly.

Agree with Bret on this one! I don't see anything broken on the lift? Looks like the arms were set poorly and load not centered.

[geeteeohguy]

Been using these lifts since they became popular over 25 years ago. Definitely operator error. Vehicle CG not centered, and arms not locked. Real lifts have arms that will stay locked until the lift arm hits the ground and pushes the lock pin free. Lift owners and operators need to know the equipment, and how to use it. I personally would not use a lift without safety locks any more than I'd get under a car that was propped up with a jack. Darwin's Law applies here.

[Lemans64]

Those trucks are bad for that, LOL. The frame slopes upward on the rear and if you are not careful the arms will spit out, even if arms have locks they can do this. Seen it twice at the GM store I used to work at. Kinda made me super paranoid working under these trucks. most of the frames had a slippery wax coating on them from factory which made it even worse. One incident at the GM store I was working at, when the arm came out and truck started to fall a guy tried to grab the truck and steady it, we just yelled at him Get the f away from it. That one was way worse then the one shown here, they had to put a cab side on it.

[Ben M.]

I fail to see how the lift caused this. Would have happened with a $10k "high quality" lift or the average cheapest one you can buy. Improperly placed arms. I've always been super paranoid about placing the arms on a vehicle, especially a truck or modern tiny little cars. SRR made sure to make me aware of the safety aspect of it all ;-)

[62cat]

That truck was way to big for that lift. End of story.

[72projectbird]

Seen the same thing happen with a 94 Sierra 3/4 ECLB, except it was nose first off the lift. Man you should of heard the sound that thing made when it fell. The kid working on it was underneath it 30 seconds before it fell.