Frankenvette

I too have thought of purchasing a lift in the future. Would placing a 4x4 post under each post offer any extra protection? I'm thinking this would offer some support in the event of a lock failure. Maybe at the minimum enough time to get the h*ll out from under there.

Regards,

Jim

Frank75

I don't think that the problem resulted because of a failure in "static" mode - if I remember correctly (way back on page 1) the cable came off a pulley when the unit was moving. I would think that once the locks were in place that you'd be OK to work underneath. A post would provide redundancy, but could potentially make things worse (I would imagine) if ever you forgot to remove one before lowering the unit.

It certainly makes sense to inspect all four corners to ensure that they are properly locked prior to working underneath however. Also, noone should ever be in the vicinity while lowering or raising the lift with a vehicle on it.

I received my Superior lift today - believe me, I'll be paying special attention to the locking mechanisms once I get it assembled!

foundvettelifeisgood

I read Part 1 and saw the pictures. Then I read Part 2. I'm left wondering about Part 1A! You know, the part about how you got the car down? Any pictures of the process?

Glad you're ok and things are working out. :cheers:

69L71

Monkeywrench:
I never felt like that. Its cool. I agree about the failure of safety features. That's the quandry in all this.

There are a couple pics of the failed pully axel in the link on my sig line. It doesn't show too much but you can see the basic damage.

Jim73:
Its probably overkill to have 4 4x4s available to put under the lift whenever you lock it. The locks are plenty strong - when they engage. I can honestly say that I wish I had a 4x4 around to stick up there to stablize that post while I worked the cable issue. Frank75 is right, the catastrophic failure occured when I was moving the lift up and down to get the last post to lock. It was in transition (off the locks) when the pully failure occurred. 4 4x4s wouldn't have helped in this case except as I mentioned above.

foundvettelifeisgood
There is a short narrative on how I got the car down in the prvious thread. I guess in the 3 pages you missed it... :lol:

Here's the crux:

2 tow trucks came to my house. The first step was stablizing the car on the lift. We did that by chaining the car to the upper (left) ramp. This was done to be sure the car didn't slide off sideways. Next we winched (from the side, thru the window) the column off the 96 and moved the 96 out. Then we used the boom from the 2nd truck to raise the rear crossbar to unlock the posts and allow the crossbar to drop. Unfortunately, everything was pretty skewed and out-of-alignment and it didn't want to slide nicely down, so it took some creative maneuvering to actually get it down. In the case of the rear/left post, we actually lifted the whole system (it didn't have much weight on it at this point and the car was chained down) and removed the whole column so the crossbar was hanging free (its sitting outside my garage right now so I see it whenever I come home). We couldn't do that on the right one. Lastly we had to drop the left front column. That was accomplished partially by releasing the hydraulics and siliding the whole lift fore and aft to gain alignment. That got it halfway. Then we had to just pull the lift outward (towards outside) and let the column fall with the cross bar 90 twisted deg. in its track.

It wasn't pretty and it pretty much trashed what was left of the lift, but it's down. There are a couple pics in the album I have in my sig. line.

sb69coupe

Frank,

I just installed a Superior lift 2 weekends ago. As most here have stated, nearly every 4-post lift has a very similar configuration. The locks, sliders, pump, cables, etc are nearly identical. Chris' "Unfortunate Incident" has caused me to look long and hard at my lift in an attempt to identify potential problem areas or procedures. I've found a few things that I plan to do differently in order to provide an increased margin of safety when raising or lowering my lift.

1 - Have another person at the opposite side of the lift when raising or lowering, if possible. When lowering the lift, there is no way to positively guarantee that the locks are clear of the lock stops at the end opposite the pump/lock release without a separate set of eyes there to verify. Same goes for making sure that the locks are coming onto the stops after it's raised and you're lowering it onto the stops.

2 - After raising the lift, and then lowering it onto the stops, do not let too much slack into the cables. This could potentially cause the cable to hop off the pulley the next time tension is placed on it to raise the lift. I'll try to release the pressure just enough to get the weight fully on the locks, then stop without letting the cables get too slack.

3 - Before operating the lift, make a visual inspection of each corner to check that the cables are in the pulleys as they should be.

4 - Check the "level" of the lift and adjust the cables to make sure that each corner comes on and off the lock stops at the same time. If any one (or more) corner is higher or lower in the slider than the others, a similar problem could occur where the off-level corner gets out of position.

I think there is alot to learn from this horrible accident that happened to Chris. I still feel very comfortable with my car locked up on the lift, but I know I'll be much more careful to check these safety related areas to prevent an accident in the future.

There's a guy over on the C1-C2 area that has posted a series of pics from his Superior lift install. There are a few pics of his lift with a gorgeous '65 on it. But the column caps aren't locked down properly and you can see the tilt and deformation from the cable tension. He acknowledged that he fixed the problem, but it made my stomach churn just looking at it.

Feel free to email me if you want any more pointers of what I learned during my lift installation. There are a few confusing areas in the instructions that can bite you, especially if you're positioning the pump at the passenger rear instead of the drivers side front post. My email address is in my profile.

Shannon

ddecart

Great to see them approaching the situation with a positive attitude.

I'd ask for another lift AFTER they figure out and fix whatever it was that went wrong on the first one.

Dave

Frank75

Thanks Shannon - great observations. I may contact you once I start building the thing. Would it be possible for a small mirror to be mounted so as to observe lock position at the other end of the lift?

69L71

Shannon:

Those are great safety procedures. This is exactly what I mean by taking ownership of the situation to minimize the probability of failures like mine.

That raises one point that I've been thinking about this week: One of the reasons I chose the PP7000 was the internal locking mechanism. It's advertised as a means to avoid fingers getting caught. This seemed like a great idea (and I suppose it is), but it also means that its much more difficult to see the locking mechanisms to assure a positive lock.

Monkeywrench: I spent a couple minutes last night looking at the columns for clues. I didn't see much to lead me to a real conclusion, but I did notice one thing: Looking inside the columns at the lock blocks, I noticed that the three columns that behaved as designed (locked) all had paint scrapes and wear. This is to be expected because as the lift elevates the spring loaded locks rub against the blocks. The 'bad' column had very little wear. The paint was largely intact on all the lower blocks. This MIGHT suggest that that column had a tolerance build up that kept the locking mechanism less positively engaged. Again, this is kind of a shot in the dark and follows no meaningful engineering analysis but I did find it interesting. I plan to discuss it with Lifts Unlimited.

Monkeywrench

Interesting. It might be worth it (when you get time of course :D ) to take them all off an mic them to see if the one is out of "spec". Ive been trying to get to your yahoo acoount to see the pics but it stop loading after the first few pics. Do you have this problem on your end. BTW I'm on a T1 so bandwitch shoudn't be a problem.

sb69coupe

Frank, I suppose a mirror could be used, if your eyes are better than mine :) Chris, on the captive lock issue, I think the Superior has a middle-ground approach in their design. The columns are not fully enclosed like on your lift, but there is a separate piece of steel running along the outer edge of the lock stops. That way, the spring loaded lock does "ride" inside a channel, but you can still see whether or not it is engaged. Tough to describe, but this pic shows what I mean



Shannon

Alwyn678

Glad to see it is working out......Who is doing the Smear campaign...have u found out yet?? They should be ashamed to do something that low....Pathetic

69L71

Yes I do, but I won't say in public to protect myself. Suffice it to say its one of the cheaper low-end lifts. Interestingly, its one of the lifts that I've heard has had similar failures.

I'll wait to see if/when they start an advertising campaign using my pics.

Cooter Tech

Chris, you should find out who is using your pictures for their ad campaign. I wonder if it is legal to use your pictures without your permission and no fee. I still think that most of the four posts lifts are basically the same and are built by one or two manufacturers in Texas. My lift looks just like yours without the covering around the posts, it is called a GM7000 and was installed by a local company. I will be paying close attention ot my locks and the cables. Good luck with the insurance companies. Roger L. Gibbons

elliottm

What a relief that you weren't hurt by the collapse. I have two Perfect Park lifts myself, and I have mostly been very impressed by them. I live near Seattle and was very concerned about them after our earthquake, for I was out of town at the time and expected to come home to cars shaken off the lifts. Fortunately that was not the case, but this lift failure got me thinking about this. Have any of you heard of cars coming off a lift due to a quake? If so, what can be done, if anything, to reduce the risks?

Elliott

Frank75

Shannon,

I was hoping that you'd tell me that a 6" convex mirror worked... (I was going to run out and get a 12" mirror as my eyesight is lousy!) ;)

liftman

Just a comment on your unfortunate "accident".The failure on your lift is not that uncommon.The Perfectpark lift is made by Gemini auto lifts of Fort Worth,Texas.They also make Superior Lift and the Garagemaster 7000.I have personally seen two failures of this type and had direct contact with another person who had the same failure in So. Cal..The pulley bolts back off and disconnect or just plain break.I have sold both of these lifts at car shows and have made attempts to contact the customers I have sold to and have them check the bolts,retorque as necessary and request replacement bolts of better quality.I had a sample bolt looked at by a hardware professional outlet and was assured that it is only grade 2 offshore manufactured hardware.I have been in the automotive business since 1969,ASE certified and factory Ford trained.Since 1987 I have been in the automotive equipment sales and service and I am Still involved in that business,I am a factory Rep for various lines of equipment,Lifts included,but I will not mention any names to avoid any questionable sales technique.Be aware of this.Lifts unlimited and Superior Lifts are identical in manufacturing except for the columns.The pulley bolts and lock mechanismn are identical.That being said I have seen the same failures on both lifts.Lifts unlimited and Superior both have prior knowledge of this problem and still have not advised there customers of such.That is why I put accident in quotations.Accidents are not accidents if they are priorly preventable.My advise to owners of these lifts are to not use them until the pulley bolts have been inspected and replaced and the lock linkages have been replaced with heavier rods to insure complete lock release at all four corners.I would also contact your state industrial safety board and request inspection and certification of these lifts.I am informing my customers who bought these lifts to do the same.If you buy a lift,buy it from a professional who knows lifts,can answer all your questions and refrains from using negative sales technique.When they tell you to buy from them because it is cheaper or They tell you you don't have to pay the sales tax,that is negative sales technique.You need to hear why their lift is good not why others are bad.You can pay for quality or pay for crap.Quality lifts always have the same price all the time.No so called"show specials".Be a smart consumer.Investigate and compare the product and the company selling it.Ask how their ontime delivery record is and check with the BBB for any outstanding or unresolved complaints.The only thing worse than you being hurt in a lift accident is your loved ones being hurt.Lifts are a commercial product used by professionals on a daily basis.When you bring one of these into the residential enviroment,look for problems not associated with a commercial shop.A lift is not a toy and should be installed by a professional and maintained by such.They require training and your complete attention at all times,and should not be operated when children are present.In ending I emplore you to shop,compare and be aware.
Yours Truly,Liftman

C5GARY

Having had a Superior Lift for a year and a half, this has been an EYE OPENING thread to say the least! My buddy also has a Superior and the one problem we had with them is having that lock hit that outside rail. Superior uses washers under the plastic slider blocks to align the crossbars inside the columns. As shipped, both of our lifts required us to re-do this alignment to prevent the lock from failing to fit inside the "lock channel" and hang up on that outside rail.
Gary

liftman

Gary,If you over tighten the antispread bolts on the column caps it can cause the same condition.
Liftman

C5GARY

Yes, I could see that happening. Our problem was all the way down though. My lift was the second bought, we knew to look at that problem before we assembled it, before the anti-spread bolts or top caps were ever installed!
You were posting at the same time I was posting, do you recommend that I go buy some new grade 8 bolts?
Gary

Corellian Corvette

elliot -- good to see another east-sider! Where in Redmond are you? What kind of C3 do you have?