A buddy in my hometown ran a garage. Had 2 1-post in ground hoists. Never dropped a car off of them in 20 some years. Then the state said those in ground hoists had to go, the hydraulics leak, and they are inherently unsafe due to only one column. So the contractor cuts up the floor, removes the 2 hoists, and digs all of the dead sand used during construction out as another requirement was to remove the "contaminated" soil. No contamination was evident, the hoists' reservoir had never needed any oil added in all those years... Fast forward 6 months or so. 2 new big ass above ground 2 post hoists, 6 ton rated. BTW he never worked on vehicles bigger than half ton pickups. Anyway, lifting a car on one of the hoists, something goes berserk and one side takes off uncontrollably, and you can guess the results. The car ended up on its side, wedged between the two posts. He was lucky that at least the installation was done correctly, as the 4 concrete anchors on each post held. He was between the post and the office wall, a space roughly 3 feet wide. Only cost him a car, some down time to get the hoist replaced, and some clean underwear...
The Jalopy Journal
