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looking for a car lift

1K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Peter_C 
#1 · (Edited)
Two of us are looking to buy a 9K-10K lb bendpak or rotary lift and looking for a good source with the best deal. Two post asymetrical. We are located in central Ca.
Thanks, Ken
 
#2 ·
CSK aka Kragen, and other chains will often be cheap, or shop the internet. Rotarys are cheap lifts in price and quality. Bendpaks are slightly better. If you want the best...Wheeltronics, but they are expensive and worth every penny. Whatever you go with make sure you use the proper concrete thickness and strength. Also be prepaired when the trucking company shows up to unload it with a forklift of your own.

What do you plan on lifting with it?
 
#3 ·
If you are looking for a used lift check with car dealers.Sometimes they replace their olds ones and want to sell them.My freind picked up a Western lift for cheap and was in good cond.
 
#4 ·
Peter_C said:
Also be prepaired when the trucking company shows up to unload it with a forklift of your own.
Speaking of this, how do they come? In one single package? Or a couple packages? I ask 'cause I'm looking at getting a lift soon, but the only "forklift" capability I have is a Kubota with clamp-on blades. It doesn't seem to like much more than 700 lbs on the forks based upon moving my shop press over the weekend.
 
#5 ·
It seems all the ones I see in the shops are are either rotary or bendpak. I haven't heard of any complaints about either one. I wanted a name brand with a good trac record since my life depends on it. I have a loaded down 1 ton van but also want to be prepared to lift a dually or excursion. Any other brands in the $2500-$3K price range? Thanks for the replies.
Ken
 
#6 ·
i drive a rollback and i've unloaded em off of trailers for people before, just winch it out of the truck and onto the bed, back it into the shop and slide it off. find somebody that can run the truck and they wont drop/damage it. shouldn't cost you but $50 or so. just an option to consider. i cant remember how this one was packaged, i think it was a few really long wooden crates.
 
#7 ·
I would be very leary putting an Excursion on a Rotary 9000lb. Yes I have had my K2500 Suburban on that lift many a time, but man the arms flex. Finally I got a rude wakeup call, yet I have good racking practices. After putting an F250 onto a Rotary, utilizing the slip on extensions, from the manufacturer, and shaking the hell out of the vehicle and doing a walk around double checking everything, the truck just about reached full height when it slip sideways just slightly off the rack. The guys next door helped me for 45 minutes to get the truck back on the rack, using multiple screw jacks and tranny jacks. When I went to lower it down...WHAM! the rear end of the truck fell right back off the rack hitting the ground. An hour and a half later the truck was finally back on the ground. The reason it took so long is because the rack jammed in the up position, which had to do with the fact that the carrier bushings are too close together, and with the rack cocked it could not move.

In my 15 years of the repair business it is the only vehicle I ever had fall off a lift. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how not to ever have that happen again, and came to realize many things led to it. Most are centered around the rack and some the truck itself and that is my fault for not correcting it. The truck was not loaded at all and I had it balanced very well front to back. My habit is to shake every vehicle that gets put on a rack with the tires just off the ground. This particular truck I pushed extra hard to be sure it was secure. So my mistake was not cleaning off the grease they put on the frame rails. The stuff is slicker than snot and let the truck slide off the rack pads. That is also where the rack is at fault. It used a hard rubber compound for a pad with no side pieces to keep it from sliding out from under a frame. The swing up style are more solid there. The truck also has the low frame rails in the front and the higher rails in the rear so to keep it level you must use a riser of some kind. The arms of a Rotary are weak and bend very easily and have enough play in them that they can move 6 inches up and down and about a foot side to side even with the locks engaged. They use a cable adjustment system that sucks for making sure it stays even and balanced. The towers should be one piece but they are not. That is where Wheeltronics rules. Their lifts are one piece cold rolled formed and the arms are super high quality. They also use a hydro system for balancing and shut off quick if a hydraulic line blows or the rack becomes unbalanced side to side. They are a little more than $3K but quality always costs more.

BTW a 9000lb rack will not lift a loaded down 1 ton van...ask me how I know...well I tried to use a 9000lb Hunter alignment rack to lift a van for an alignment and it just screamed at me and didn't move. Damn plummers, they think it is ok to carry Home Depot around with them. Oh well they went through transmissions every 30K, which was good for us.

So take it for what its worth...free information.
 
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