Look what I got for Christmas - My lift! Help needed

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

It arrived in Raleigh on Christmas day (thanks Santa!) and cleared customs here on the 26th. I cut my family vacation a little short to go pick it up today at the shipping depot to avoid storage charges after the 48 hour grace period (which I found out about on the 26th...) More info soon, including the pains I went through on shipping and the hidden and surprise charges and how it was 3 weeks late. It looks great except for a few superficial shipping bruises from somewhat shoddy packaging. But hey, it went half way around the world.

Now I have to figure out how to get the lift pads off of the trailer. Originally I had intended to hoist them up from the rafters with a come-along (probably a bad idea), but now I'm thinking that 4 people could to lift them. They weigh around 600-700 lb each. Any volunteers? I'd like to put them in position tomorrow evening.

For lifting (lift the lift) purposes I'm looking for some 3/4" high-strength steel tubes that can be slid through the open channels for grab handles -- anyone have any ideas about a couple of sturdy steel rods I could borrow?

Let me know by email or phone if you're in the area and wouldn't mind helping for 1/2 hour or so tomorrow around 6-8 pm.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Dec 30, 2005 6:14 pm

Uh, why does it have such prominent "debugging" controls? :shock:

DanDurusky · **Joined:** Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:31 pm **Posts:** 686

if you havent get it setup already me and maybe PJ can swing by after work during the week after monday. we live in cary so itd be easy to swing by. id like to see how it works :twisted:

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

When you say "high strength" steel bar, what did you have in mind? I have often used 3/4" "black pipe" that is used for gas line, available from Lowe's, etc. for lifting and moving equipment. I think I have several 3' long pieces that I use to move my milling machine (used like rollers on the floor). Let me know if you would like to use them. I now work in Cary at Harison and I-40 so we could meet at lunch.
Charlie Guthrie

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Thanks for the replies -- we got it in place. Thanks to Rob, Emmet, Bernie, and my neighbor Craig for the help. Unfortunately we all learned a new respect for moving 700# pieces of steel, and my neighbor almost lost a toe in the process. He's doing fine with a black and blue toe but no broken bones!

Lifting those things by hand really wasn't an option. The second one went much better than the first. Once they were on the garage floor, they are easy to move around with jacks and position with a hand truck or dolly.

More pics to come. Everything is in position and I just need to get some hydraulic lines made up (want to put the control unit further away than the included hoses allow), wire up a 240V outlet, and hook up air.

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Check with Raleigh Rubber for the hoses. They have been a good source for me for other items, and I'm pretty sure they handle hydraulic hoses.
Charlie G

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:23 am

This doesn't make the motorcycle jack I got for Christmas sound very exciting!!

Ron Spencer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:41 pm

For the hydraulic lines call a couple Car Queststores. The one off Capitol near me can do custom lines. Or Agri Supply might have just what you need on their shelves.

Ron

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

This thing is one bad-ass piece of equipment. I'm really impressed so far with the design and the build quality. Just did my first test-run with it and it appears to work great.

Before:

After:

Still need to install the hose cover plates and test with a car on it -- hopefully tomorrow. I have been taking pics all along during the install, and I plan to do a web writeup eventually. More to come!

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Just out of curiosity, are there mechanical interlocks or anything to prevent this thing from collapsing if a hose ruptures?
Charlie G

MarekRozanski · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:09 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

Still need to install the hose cover plates and test with a car on it...

You can test with my car. :wink:

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:07 pm

Charlie Guthrie wrote:

Just out of curiosity, are there mechanical interlocks or anything to prevent this thing from collapsing if a hose ruptures?
Charlie G

Look at the black pc between the two rams with the air cylinder attached

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Charlie Guthrie wrote:

Just out of curiosity, are there mechanical interlocks or anything to prevent this thing from collapsing if a hose ruptures?
Charlie G

Definitely. There is a steel channel with teeth and a spring-loaded latch which slides across the channel as it's raising. The air cylinders fire when lowering to disengage the safety. So the safety circuit (air) is totally separate from the lifting mechanism (hydraulic).

Also -- and I'm still struggling to understand the whole hydraulic system -- if you notice in the picture, the left hydraulic cylinder is larger than the right on each lift pad. The smaller one on the right is actually just a safety/auxiliary cylinder. I believe the main one is just for raising and lowering, and the secondary acts as load balancing and failsafe for the main. Like I said though, still trying to figure out how that whole system works!

So I believe there would need to be three concurrent failures for there to be a problem.

Also, someone wondered what the "debug" buttons are for -- these are interlocked (with a second button which needs to be pressed) controls to raise or lower each side individually. Used for initial leveling, hydraulic system bleeding, and for manual control in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

I just put a car up, need to go take a picture! It is soooo nice to be able to roll around under the car on a stool instead of a creeper!

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

OK, now not only am I impressed, I'm jealous. So much of the stuff I have gotten from Chinese manufacturers in the past has made me think that the Chinese feel that population control is the responsibility of manufacturers.
The safety aspect sounds pretty good.
Sure could have used that while I was swapping rod bearings last weekend.

Sooooo, track tech at Whitney's house?????

Charlie

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Look what I got for Christmas - My lift! Help needed

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