BB68Vett

I am in the market for a 4 post lift and I have read dozens of threads on this subject. The common theme is to buy an American made lift. I know that the same lift can be marketed under different names but I want to focus on American made and then compare features/price. Can anyone shed any light on the country of manufacture for Bend Pak, Mohawk, Rotary, Stinger and Back Yard Buddy? Generally, it seems these are all well regarded lifts but I still don't want Chinese made. Thanks for any help.

any4xx

Mine's not on your short-list, but I bought a Superior lift last year. It "was" made in Kansas, but they were in the process of moving their operation to Missouri at the time.

bahamasair

Not sure if you saw this thread?
Well I forgot to attatch the link and now cant find it lol. One of the supporting members here is offering a deal on 4 post lifts for members here. You will have to search for the thread.

Paul Borowski

The "BackYard Buddy" Lift is designed, built, painted & assembled in Warren, Ohio. I picked mine up from the factory on my car trailer and walked through the various operations of them welding, cutting, grinding, trimming, painting, etc. on different pieces of the lift. Best $3095 I have ever spent in my life. Have had it for 4 years now and wonder how I ever worked on cars without it.

It truely is one piece of equipment you'll never "regret" having.

American Boy

I have a Bend-Pak scissor lift and it was assembled in California.

Stephan

Steve COSD

I spent many hours of research on this subject. Here's what to buy and why. The Backyard Buddy. SAFETY is your main concern. Look at the locking mechanism on this unit. It has cutouts where locking fingers lock into. Other units have metal bars that have been welded to the posts to lock onto. The BB has to be raised slightly to unlock and to lower. Look at the size of the hydraulick ram and the diameter of the ram piston. Look at the size of the cables. Look at the treads the tires rest on. When they are rolled inward at the bottom and gusseted this adds strength. The only issue to be highly aware of is shipping. This unit is large and heavy. My unit was shipped by way of a national shipper to their local warehouse. Then it had to be loaded on another truck to be delivered to my house. The greatest challenge will be how to remove it from the truck at your house. If you have 6 to 10 friends to help you put it together it can actually be enjoyable. One person can carry each of the parts with the exception of what I call the treads. Which are the parts that you drive onto. You will need a forklift or 6 to 8 young men.
This lift is the best investment I have made to repair or maintain my Corvettes. The unit will come with drip pans and ramps. I would suggest getting the jacking unit that rides on rails in the center of the lift.
Hope this helps
Steve

Solid LT1

Rotary has been building lifts in America since the 1920's. You will not find many Back Yard Buddy lifts in Dealership service areas you WILL find Rotary lifts. I keep my Rotary, is it 100% American built, no it isn't (some parts come from Italy and Germany) but, as far as design and reliability, Rotary is #1.

BB68Vett

I had internet connectivity issues and couldn't get to the Forum for awhile. Thanks to all for your responses. They will help me make a decision in the near future.

lostpatrolman

My dealership uses Rotary's...

BlueL36

Here's a comparative matrix:

http://www.nwtbirds.com/lifts%20compared.htm

BB68Vett

I've seen the matrix before and it is helpful. I wonder if it is still up to date?

sray454

One area where it is NOT up-to-date - Autolifters WAS AN American made product, and seems to have gone out-of-business saying it couldn't compete with China.

pws69

No, no - he said AMERICAN made......

MIKER

This was the first I'd heard about them going out of business. I purchased my 4-post (M-80) lift from AutoLifters last year. I've been very satisfied with it. I hate to hear that they went out of business. So much for my warranty eh!

Autolifters suspends operations
http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/s...16/story3.html

MIKER

This is what you hope to avoid:





I can't remember the name of the forum member who's lift collapsed. You would think that the distributor and or manufacturer would have jumped through hoops to take care of him but from what I can recall, he suffered a LOT of grief and wasted a LOT of time before the issue was settled.

M396 #00-011

This is quite out of date.....

I've been looking at a lot of lifts, most are on this list, but I've found many discrepancies.

lostpatrolman

OMG, that is crazy. I wonder what caused the lift to fail like that? I dont see how they fail like that other then when lowering and one corner locks. That is ashame.

Empatho

Paul L

That lift incident was about three years ago. I can't recall the outcome but there was some serious foot-dragging by the manufacturer. No one was hurt by the actual accident.