Put 4 Post Lift Together (Minor Set Back is OK)

[Old Moparz]

I added some additional info about a problem I had during assembly, just scroll down to the post I made with the sketch. It was relatively minor, but I need to replace one of the cables.

It's break time, so why not click off a few pics & post them here? 

I took some vacation time at work & decided I better do something useful. Instead of spending money going somewhere warm, I decided to finally assemble the second 4 post lift I've been cursing at for almost 2 years. I bought 2 of these Bend Pak lifts at the same time, which happened to be 2 years ago this week. I only assembled one of them since it was too cold back then when I took delivery, but for a number of reasons, never did the second one later. So in a desperate attempt at making more room in the garage & getting motivated to finish some work on my cars, I pulled two cars out to have space to assemble this thing before the year ends.

Here's a few pics, including the '68 Charger collecting dust.   

[TripleBlackGator]

Damn I want one. What made you go with Bend Pak vs. any of the other 4 posts out there? I was thinking of Lifts Unlimited myself. How many people and how long to assemble?

[Old Moparz]

Some more photos & a link to what I had posted on a garage forum about the assembly.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=636&highlight=Bend+Pak

[tan top]

    nice set up .   sure would like having one in my garage    when i had mine built  only  went with a  standard hight roof 

[Old Moparz]

Damn I want one. What made you go with Bend Pak vs. any of the other 4 posts out there? I was thinking of Lifts Unlimited myself. How many people and how long to assemble?

I went with Bend Pak because of several reasons. One, is that I have seen these things everywhere for years in all kinds of professional shops. The price was good & it included the delivery fees, all of them! No hidden surprises later on. The dealer was local, but the lifts were made in the US out in CA & not China. There are other brands I considered, but these two were delivered for $5025 including 1 set of casters, 2 sets of drip pans, & nobody could touch that price.

I put the first one together over a 2 or 3 day period, but the second one was easy & most of it was unpacked & together in one day. I'll do the air lines & the hydraulics today & should be finished.

Bought them through this place:
http://www.e-autolifts.com/index.html

[Old Moparz]

I decided to copy & paste what I had posted on the garage forum so nobody has to actually go there to read it. I thought I posted it here too, but that would have been the old DC forum & now lost.

(Part 1)
I'm almost done assembling this one, (one more to go) & one thing for sure, it's FRIGGIN' HEAVY!! I could have paid an additional $175 each to have them installed, but a few reasons I decided to do it myself were:

1) I saved some money.

2) More importantly than saving the money, is if I know exactly how it goes together & it breaks, troubleshooting it will be much easier.

3) I like to do things myself as much as possible, & putting this together is more exciting than wet sanding.

My advice though, is don't even consider doing it without an overhead hoist or at least 3 or 4 other people to help. Most of my friends are not nearby, & any family members are all out of state. (I'd rather they stay away anyway.) The overhead chain hoist worked out great, & I don't think a floor standing cherry picker would get adequate height to lift it. All the components such as the posts, cross supports, hydraulic pump & reservoir & hardware can be handled, but the 2 runways must be hoisted.

Unpacking it from the steel frames on each end was a learning experience. This one has the runways bolted to the frames & forms the top & bottom of the package. The rest of the parts are inside boxed, wrapped with cardboard, stretch film & banded to the runways. Definitely a minor engineering feat in itself. Once I had the parts inside unbanded & removed, I chained the runways, hoisted them & lowered them onto a moving dollies. The second one will be easier now that I know what to expect.

All that's left on this one is to install the air lines & the casters, tighten up some misc. items & plug it in. It's a Bend Pak, HD-9 with a 9000 pound rating. I ordered the drip pans for both & one set of casters, but held off on the jacking tray. I figure for the amount of times I need to get the wheels up in the air I can do it from the floor, or place the stands on the runways.

Here's the place I bought them from, & they discounted each one $100 because I bought 2 of them.
http://www.e-autolifts.com/index.html
Shipping is included with the price, & that alone was over $500 for one from another lift company. They can deliver to your home, but since there is limited access to my house for a truck, I decided to pick them up at the local Yellow Freight terminal with my trailer.

I decided on the 4 post because I needed the portability inside the garage. One will be dedicated for parking, & the other will be used for parking & an occasional under the car project. This weekend the first one will hopefully be operational, so I'll post back & let you know how it works & how much I like or dislike it. If I really hate it, I won't put the second one together. 

Bob

[Old Moparz]

(Part 2)
I have to apologize if this is long winded, but I tried to be thorough.

Since the lift is now operational, it was time to test it with a full load. I was very tempted to test it out with my wife's car in case I assembled it wrong, but she wasn't home.    The vehicle I tried it out with was my '69 Satellite ragtop, about 4000 pounds. I pulled up onto the ramps & runways without any traction problems or bottoming out, so the light grit applied to the paint, & the approach angle of the 24" long ramps are fine. It could be a problem with something like an AC Cobra, but I wouldn't know for sure. They do have longer ramps available though.

My 5 year old daughter was just as excited to see the lift go up & down as I was, so I let her have first crack at raising my favorite old car. (I was excited that something I assembled actually worked.) She pushed the button & held it until the car was up about 2 feet. I asked her to stop so I could check on the cables & pulleys to see if all looked well, & it did. She raised it some more, but got bored & went outside to play in the snow. I lowered it & raised it again to 2 feet a couple more times before I decided to raise it all the way.

With the step ladder handy, I brought it up & checked to see where the roof of the car was in relation to the opened garage door. The overhead doors I installed had the optional high lift track. This brings the doors closer to the ceiling to take advantage of the height. If anyone has the ceiling height for a lift, don't forget to check the garage door tracks. It would be nasty to see what would happen if the car was up & you opened the door into the tail lights or grille.

With the lift raised almost to the very top, I have 2 to 3 inches from the roof of the car, to the lowest point on the backside, face of the opened door. All the other items near the ceiling like lights, beams & fans, are much higher & not an issue. The lift wasn't quite at the top with just a few inches left, but definitely high enough to park or work under. With the overhead door closed, I could get the last 3 or 4 inches out of it if I needed to.

Raising & lowering the lift from the floor to the top, takes about one minute. The lift seemed extremely stable with the load on it, & actually much more stable than when it was empty. I tried to rock it to simulate what might move it while working on a car, but it had very little movement at all, & nothing that creates a scary feeling. Lowering this model requires an air compressor to release the safety locks. All that is needed, is to connect the hose to the fitting on the valve, & push the button to flow the air to each post.

I'll be moving this lift to a more semi-permanent spot in the garage, but I have no intention of bolting it down. I have one set of casters for both lifts & will move them around occasionally. The casters are a very good quality, & the lift rolls effortlessly. I haven't tried to move it with the vehicle on it, but will at a later date. The fit & finish is fair to good. I had trouble locating & mounting the bracket that holds the air release valve-button in a spot that didn't stick out. After bending the bracket in a vise, I found a more suitable angle to mount it where I wanted it.

My only other complaints are the way the approach ramps mount, & the quality control of the mounting locations. You have the option of letting them pivot downward as the lift rises, or to add a pair of included brackets, to keep them in a sem-permanent, horizontal position. The quality control here is terrible, because I can just about get the ramps mounted the way they are supposed to be. The slots on the ramps & the slots on the end of the runway don't line up perfect. This made sliding the metal rod through difficult, & mounting the ramps a wrestling match.

There is no easy & convenient way to install & remove them without unbending cotter pins, removing rods, & then removing each ramp. I may try to devise another method because the ramps in either position will be in the way & hazardous to your head. For me, the corner lines up with my face. I may not be pretty to look at, but I sure as hell don't need poked eyes, a broken nose, or other lift inflicted rearrangements to my mug.

So far, I would say it's a decent lift & a good value for the price, which included delivery. Aside from the weight of some parts, putting it together was not any more difficult than some old car repairs we've all done. It comes with directions & a parts list, as well as the anchors & shims if you decide to bolt it to the floor. If anyone has any questions or needs more details, just ask & I'll be glad to answer.

Bob

[Old Moparz]

(Part 3)
The one's I have are 110V & only use the electricity to operate the pump when raising the lift. The air lines have a simple connection that you attach a hose to just like any other air tool. You need to buy the correct fitting/coupler size to match what you have. The pump is not on when lowering, just the constant air flow from the compressor to hold the locks open so gravity lowers the lift.

I didn't have a 220V line near where I wanted to place the lift & asked what the difference was if I got the 110V instead. I was told the 220V raises the lift quicker & recommended for anyone using the lift regularly like a repair shop. I don't use mine often, so they either remain up for parking, and only occasionally I'm using them for a repair. I think the speed difference was 45 seconds compared to 60 seconds to raise it.

I'm not in that much more of a hurry where I'd run more 220V outlets to save 15 seconds. 

Bob

[Charger_Fan]

including the '68 Charger collecting dust.   

WOAH! I see the makin's of front suspension pieces there!



You gonna make it roll on it's own soon? You do know of course, that'll make it harder to roll it sideways.

Looks good, Man.

[Old Moparz]

WOAH! I see the makin's of front suspension pieces there!

You gonna make it roll on it's own soon? You do know of course, that'll make it harder to roll it sideways.

Looks good, Man.

Hey, I forgot that front suspension was there, lol. 

Probably not anytime soon, but you never know. I have a nice huge heater now & feeling motivated to do work out there. I want to finish, (I mean start) the rear end swap on my Scamp once the lift is done. That means I might be on a roll or something, but I have to get off the computer to try that. 

That front suspension was from the parts Charger I cut....... I mean disassembled & reused. It's drum brakes, so I'll do a disc conversion later. I'd like to say I'll get to the Charger soon, but the Scamp is first, then the Road Runner. They both have paint & are much closer to seeing the pavement.

[Charger_Fan]

WOAH! I see the makin's of front suspension pieces there!

You gonna make it roll on it's own soon? You do know of course, that'll make it harder to roll it sideways.

Looks good, Man.

Hey, I forgot that front suspension was there, lol. 

Probably not anytime soon, but you never know. I have a nice huge heater now & feeling motivated to do work out there. I want to finish, (I mean start) the rear end swap on my Scamp once the lift is done. That means I might be on a roll or something, but I have to get off the computer to try that. 

That front suspension was from the parts Charger I cut....... I mean disassembled & reused. It's drum brakes, so I'll do a disc conversion later. I'd like to say I'll get to the Charger soon, but the Scamp is first, then the Road Runner. They both have paint & are much closer to seeing the pavement.

No problem, I was just razzin' ya. I just thought it was funny that there's actually something on it now, besides a bare shell.

[whitehatspecial]

www.gregsmithequipment.com

I bought a 4 post ProPark6 lift, 4 heavy metal casters, 8 gallon oil receptacle with telescoping funnel, 3 drip pans, 2 ramps, 4 tire stops, and 1 jack tray (1795.00 plus 225.00 shipping from Ind. to CT). I put it together myself in about 4 hours. Awesome lift, awesome company to deal with.
Will post pictures tomorrow.
BTW you might want to raise up your garage door tracks so they are closer to the ceiling. If not, be bery CAREFUL opening the garage door when the car is up. You may hit the car. I lifted the whole track setup so it is about 6" from the ceiling and added a piece to the bottom of the vertical track about 2' long. You may also have to remove the outside handle so it doesn't hit the outer garage door header.

[Old Moparz]

No problem, I was just razzin' ya. I just thought it was funny that there's actually something on it now, besides a bare shell.

I know when someone is busting nuts. I bet you didn't realize the front end is not actually bolted to the car, it's sitting on the floor. 

www.gregsmithequipment.com

I bought a 4 post ProPark6 lift, 4 heavy metal casters, 8 gallon oil receptacle with telescoping funnel, 3 drip pans, 2 ramps, 4 tire stops, and 1 jack tray (1795.00 plus 225.00 shipping from Ind. to CT). I put it together myself in about 4 hours. Awesome lift, awesome company to deal with.
Will post pictures tomorrow.
BTW you might want to raise up your garage door tracks so they are closer to the ceiling. If not, be bery CAREFUL opening the garage door when the car is up. You may hit the car. I lifted the whole track setup so it is about 6" from the ceiling and added a piece to the bottom of the vertical track about 2' long. You may also have to remove the outside handle so it doesn't hit the outer garage door header.

That sounds like a good price for all that.

As for the higher tracks for the doors, that's a good point that a lot of people may forget. I ordered high lift tracks for the doors when I built the garage, so I was set years before I had the lifts. If you look at the photos in the first post I made, you can see the tracks well above the nose of the Barracuda on the lift. The car is all the way up & there is still plenty of room for the door when you raise it.

One thing I never anticipated, is that when a car is on the lift it blocks out a lot of the overhead lighting. I need to look into adding some fixtures or perhaps some wall mounted ones.

[vert]

Hey, Nice write-up!  You outta submit it to a magazine, seriously.  I have limited space and aren't sure I can get tracks high enough to do one.  I didn't realize an engine crane might not be high enough.  Once again, nice article!

[TripleBlackGator]

I've seen a few lifts at shows and most of them seem to have tight clearnce (width wise) between the posts as you drive onto the lift. Also I noticed some cars tires (depending on their width) tend to hang over the treads of the lift. I think I see on the Bend Pak pictures that the treads have slotted mounting holes for moving the treads inward and outward. Is that correct Old Moparz? How does the PRO PARK 6 measure up in those respects Whitehatspecial?

[BrianShaughnessy]

Cool Bob.   


I had today off.   I'd have helped ya if you would have asked.   Oh well       

[whitehatspecial]

I've seen a few lifts at shows and most of them seem to have tight clearnce (width wise) between the posts as you drive onto the lift. Also I noticed some cars tires (depending on their width) tend to hang over the treads of the lift. I think I see on the Bend Pak pictures that the treads have slotted mounting holes for moving the treads inward and outward. Is that correct Old Moparz? How does the PRO PARK 6 measure up in those respects Whitehatspecial?

Between the posts measures 92". From outside edge to outside edge of the tracks is 74". Each track is 19" wide. The tracks are not adjustable as the bolt directly through the cross arms. I've never had a problem getting a car on the lift which is slightly narrower than an avarage garage door opening. The ProPark6 (6000 lbs.) has now been replaced by the ProPark7.
Here's some pictures, my garage is chock full of stuff for the winter...boat stuff,etc. Oh and sorry for the Chevys in the picture, but the Charger gets its own bay.

[Silver R/T]

Looks nice. Too bad one of those won't fit in my low ceiling garage

[Daytona R/T SE]

I'm planning on building another garage soon. I'd like to put a lift in each bay so I can double park...3 car garage=six car parking.  What ceiling heght do you guys recommend-12FT- Higher?

How much Headroom is there under one of these lifts when all the way up?  I'm 6'4" Should I buy a Hard Hat to go with the lifts?

[Doright]

I have a simular 4 post in my shop my net lift is going to be a two post so I can do suspension work a bit easyer.

My shop has a 12 foot ceilling works good for the lift but im short

[Old Moparz]

Hey, Nice write-up!  You outta submit it to a magazine, seriously.  I have limited space and aren't sure I can get tracks high enough to do one.  I didn't realize an engine crane might not be high enough.  Once again, nice article!

Thanks, I was just trying to point out a few things I thought were important in case anyone else was hunting for a lift.

I've seen a few lift manufacturers make mention that you can get a lift into a garage with only an 8 foot ceiling. Even if that's true the tracks for the door, as well as the door when it's up, will still be an issue. The other problem is that you won't get the lift all the way up with a car on it. Lights, or door openers can also be in the way. You might be able to use it to park one car above the other, but I'd have to think it would be very tight if it does fit at all.

If you had a couple of people to help assemble one, you can get away with not using a chain hoist or engine crane. The heaviest parts were the 2 long runners that the car actually sits on. You can probably move one with two people, but the front & rear supports must be set at more than halfway up the vertical posts. Lifting a runner about chest high to set it on the supports could be very difficult & dangerous. The rest of the parts are easier & lighter, but the front & rear supports are heavy, & have to be raised to the tops of the vertical posts & then dropped into, & downward, to the halfway point.

I've seen a few lifts at shows and most of them seem to have tight clearance (width wise) between the posts as you drive onto the lift. Also I noticed some cars tires (depending on their width) tend to hang over the treads of the lift. I think I see on the Bend Pak pictures that the treads have slotted mounting holes for moving the treads inward and outward. Is that correct Old Moparz? How does the PRO PARK 6 measure up in those respects Whitehatspecial?

The 2 runners that the car sits on mount in one position only, & are not adjustable. The lifts I ordered were the wider ones of the 4 post lifts they offer, but I don't recall what the size difference was, maybe 18" or so. The reason is that there are 4 cables, all at a particular length each. One cable for each post on the lift, & the cable starts at the top of the post, travels inside to the front & rear supports, then around a pulley wheel to a hydraulic cylinder under one runner. They have to be a set length to raise & lower the lift evenly.

As for the tread width, there is plenty of room on mine with no overhang at all. I've had my Ford F-150 on it as well as my 1969 Satellite with P-255 tires on the back. The website in the link I posted has a page with all  the different lifts & all the dimensions of them.

Cool Bob.

I had today off. I'd have helped ya if you would have asked. Oh well

Now you tell me.   

I'm planning on building another garage soon. I'd like to put a lift in each bay so I can double park...3 car garage=six car parking. What ceiling heght do you guys recommend-12FT- Higher?

How much Headroom is there under one of these lifts when all the way up?  I'm 6'4" Should I buy a Hard Hat to go with the lifts?

I think a 12 foot height will work fine, but if you're starting from scratch & can go higher, then why not do it? It's cheaper & easier to do anything extra that you are able to from the beginning of the construction instead of modifying something later. Worse than that, is painting yourself into a corner with little or no choices & options of what "might" fit when you finally do order a lift or even anything else. Future plans sometimes change & what you think you need now may be different later. (I've been there before many times, LOL.)

I forget the exact height on my garage ceiling, but I know I have almost 12' to the bottom side of the steel I beams. The I beams are 12" high, so the floor joists on the second floor sit roughly 13' from the concrete floor of the garage. I'm 5'-10" tall & have to duck under the lift runners at full height. It's not so bad between them while under the car since it sits higher than the runner you park on. I'm not so sure if the lifts I have are available with more clearance, but you could ask the dealer I got mine from, he was very helpful when I called him before ordering.

One thing to remember once you start going higher, is that the wall height will directly affect the quantity of the building materials. You will possibly be using a "non-standard" dimension that will generate more waste. An example would be, a sheet of plywood is 4 feet wide. Going up to a 12' hight on a wall would take 3 sheets to do it. Adding another 1 or 2 feet to the height will require you to add another 1 or 2 feet of plywood all the way around the building. You'll also have to add more siding, insulation, sheetrock, hardware, & anything else you might need.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Good advise, Old Mopars,Thanks.

[rt green]

i use to align big rigs. somrtimes i would have to pack all my equiptment up and travel to their shop in a diffrent state or city. i was at one shop in minnesota, and they had a setup like yours[only larger, of course] and for lighting, they had floresent lights in a thick plastic tube that ran along the inside rails. they didnt have a tool tray, or an inside sliding hoist. i must say, you could really see under the truck! i   never had it so good.  i thought this simple, but quite ovious idea might be the solution to your lighting problem.   bruce

[Old Moparz]

i use to align big rigs. somrtimes i would have to pack all my equiptment up and travel to their shop in a diffrent state or city. i was at one shop in minnesota, and they had a setup like yours[only larger, of course] and for lighting, they had floresent lights in a thick plastic tube that ran along the inside rails. they didnt have a tool tray, or an inside sliding hoist. i must say, you could really see under the truck! i   never had it so good.  i thought this simple, but quite ovious idea might be the solution to your lighting problem.   bruce

That sounds like a great idea, thanks.

I have a few fluorescent fixtures a friend gave me that came from a renovation that are the wall mounted type. I'll mount them somewhere, but maybe I'll see if there's a way to modify one or two of them to temporarily clamp onto the lift.

[Old Moparz]

Okay, here's a sketch I made showing a problem I had during the installation. The cables run inside the hollow supports at the front & rear of the lift, & travel under one of the parking runners to the hydraulic cylinder. There are guide wheels at both ends of the runner, but one cable jumped off the wheel & got wedged when the lift was in the up position.

I couldn't lower the lift, so & had to partially disassemble it to correct the problem. The cable ended up above the bolts that hold the parking runners to the front & rear supports. They must all be below the bolts to keep them perfectly horizontal to the floor. There's no mention of this in the installation manual, & no way of seeing where the cable is once you snake it through to the 4 posts from the cylinder.

Some of the metal strands in the cable became frayed, but after prying the cable out from where it was wedged, I made it worse. There was no other way to unwedge it, so I knew I would have to replace the damaged cable. Once I managed to get it out I saw why it got wedged in the first place & corrected it. Then I was worried about the first lift I installed & went to inspect it & saw it was fine.

I'm emailing the sketch to the salesman who sold it to me in hopes that they add this info to the manual so nobody else has the same problem. It could have been worse if the cable didn't get wedged on the first test run. I may have put a car on & had used it, but the bolts would wear out the cable from rubbing against it & drop the car one day.