Featured Hot Rods 4 Post Failure

The center jack that I have for my four-post is sold under many manufacturer names with the same part number, same design, etc. Seems like one company makes them, and everyone marks them up and sells them.

 

Well, to put it all in perspective.............even airplanes,submarines, and space shuttles have an occasional failure. We have 2 astronauts stuck up there right now because of a failure. I think the vast majority of failures with lifts is going to be "operator error" (during assembly or operation) rather than just a faulty design.

 

You are correct, Alot of items made by the same manufactures are simply branded by who is selling them. But just because they are made by the same manufacture does not mean they are always the same quality. Some vendors who have items made hold the manufacture to a higher quality standard and insist that they use better componets for their brand. The finished product may look the same but the quality of the product made with the better componets will last longer and is superior to the lessor product. Example most everyone will agree that Milwaukee cordless tools are awesome! But what everyone doesn't know is the company who makes these great tools for Milwaukee is the same company that makes the lessor Hart brand walmart sells and other lessor brand cordless tools. About 10-15 years ago when the cheap lifts were only $1400 shipped to your door. My buddy ordered one. and when we were putting it up the welds on the lock plates inside the columns looked like Stevie wonder welded them. When we put the left side upper column on one of the bolt sleaves snaped off where it was welded from just us tightening it up. The cables were not even 3/8. And when we rewelded the sleeve back to the column from where it broke the steel just did not weld like normal. Meaning it was almost like welding cold cast. Bottomline is we all are grown and can make our own decisions And for me I will stick with my "Rotary 12000LB 4 post" and my "Challenger 9000LB 4 post lifts" I bought them both used and rebuilt them. Both are American companies with long standing reputations in the autolift world and both my lifts are ALI certified. And buying them used and putting in some work I have less money in them than the New offshore lifts would have cost me anyhow.

 

How many failures have you ACTUALLY SEEN with your own eyes, or have you been reading the Internet version of the National Enquirer?

 

Just one! but for me that was enough, My parents did not raise a slow learner. Best of luck to you

 

I have a four post lift, I did not have it bolted to the floor and raised my car almost all the way up. scared the heck out of me as it started to lean. my floor is very level. I now have it bolted down and have no issues with it.

 

See post #48. My lift looks to be the same as yours, at least from picture. No issues.

 

Why would it lean if the floor was level? The cables were not adjusted correctly is the only reason I can come up with. Bolting it to the floor only masked the issue.

 

First, I want you to know that I don't mean to insult you by what I'm going to say. I've been in your garage. It's very well built, and your floor is just about perfect, but I'll bet that there is somewhere on that floor there is a low spot that water will pool, or it will run off. Either way, it won't be perfectly level.

Seriously? Have you ever seen a concrete pour that was completely level? The answer is no. A sixteenth low here, an eighth high there and the floor is three sixteenths of an inch out of level. If you truly want a structure level, you start at the bottom and level the bases of all the columns. Then, and only then, do you worry about adjustments to whatever method of raising or lowering the lift that the manufacturer provides. Go back to my post #52 and study it. That is how steel structure is leveled and plumbed, and it's the same principle whether you're putting up a multi-story office building or a two post or four post lift.

 

i should have said the lift was wobble until it was bolted down.
all I know is that it works great now that it is bolted down,
my other lift was the same way until it was bolted down.

 

So, does anyone have information on how the failure occurred?

 

the pads will walk....... like in trying to pry a stuck bolt loose... also using screw jacks to lift the weight of the car.. mine doesnt have bolts.. and I have the caser set.... but... guess what i'm gonna do next... i can see where the pads have moved....that means the locks are also getting pulled away from the posts...

 

I'm with you... i noticed mine woble while under the car...

 

At the show the 55 was at the top of the lift by what is in the last photo.

 

BendPak states this for their HD-9 Four Post Lift:
"
Caster kit
Ask us about the 4-piece caster kit that fits all our 9K four-post lifts. They turn your stationary lift into a mobile parking and service station. You can even leave a car on top while you move it! "

 

A friend of mine had a four post lift in his shop before he downsized and sold it.
He always had a car on it and even used it to pull engines.
One day when I went over to his shop, the lift was empty, in the full up position and he was standing on it to stack items on the selves along the side and back walls along the side of the lift. I climbed the ladder next to the lift and when I got on it, the whole lift swayed around like being in a little boat on a lake. Had to walk around like being on ice.

 

Haven’t read every post, but seems the true cause is still unknown to those here. Typically, as far as “failures” are concerned, there are usually multiple factors involved and not just a single mode of “failure”.

 

The lift company has explained what happened and took full responsibility. The style of lift was meant to be bolted down. It wasn't. The floor gave way and it fell over.

 

The higher up a vehicle is on a lift the less support there is from corner to corner. So any shift of one of the bases will be amplified and as mentioned above they can "walk". Once a leg begins to shift or walk the whole lift becomes unstable and can crash like this one did. All this is further enhanced by the flooring system that's slick and allows the bases to move easier than concrete would.

 

what I noticed on mine was the locks don't go in that far and it wouldn't take much of a movement to come loose... spooked now and gonna have them come back and bolt it down..

 

Unless you work in selling or repairing these lifts (or investigating their failure), or know some real unlucky folks, I wouldn't expect the average person would actually see more than 1 or 2 lift failures in their life with their own eyes, if that.

 

That is a screenshot of my conversation with Champion customer service this morning. I posted it at Garage Journal.

This was also posted on reddit:

 

The failure rate on the space shuttle was atrocious. Far worse than 4 post lift failures, no doubt. Out of 135 missions (that we know of) 2 missions resulted in total loss of crew and vehicle. A nearly 1.5% failure rate. (1.48%)

Imagine loading up your entire family into your car and every 200 trips you took there was the chance of everyone being killed 3 times out of those 200 trips. I don't think I would take that kind of risk.

 

Sorry but I have to laugh at that comparison. I'd hardly relate sending astronauts into outer space with picking a car off the ground.

 

You would be correct with your expectations. And I am only speaking from my personal experience with the Cheaply made offshore lifts like Champion. I have been around auto lifts for well over 30 years. I have owned Rotory, Benwil, Ben pak and Challenger. I almost bought one of these offshore lifts myself but luckily my friend did first. And I helped him install it and after seeing the quailty of that garbage that was enough for me to buy and rebuild a used one. What a lot of guys fail to understand is there is a reason why (ALI) the Automotive Lift Insitute will not certify any of these cheaply made lifts. And that is because they do not feel they are safe. If you own one and are happy with it and trust your life with it then good for you and I hope that all works out for you. But for me, I am not going to trust my life under one of them. One thing I know is even a good piece of equipment can fail sometimes, So knowing that, I for sure am not going to risk it with unsafe junk. Here is the thing, I realize there are lots of guys who bought and own these cheaply made lifts and lucky for them nothing bad has happened yet. But none of that changes the Quality or safety of it.

 

If you want to see a guy pushing his luck on a 4 post lift, fast forward to the 30 minute mark and watch this thing rock back and forth !

 

WOW !! That looks just like the chinese thing that I have.

 

WOW
At one point in the video (27:51) I believe I am getting a glimpse of one leg base and although there does appear to be holes for fasteners in the base, there does not appear to be any fasteners in them. I do not think this unit is bolted down yet it appears it comes with holes that would allow it to be bolted down. I'd have crapped me pantaloons if I was under that thing with it swaying like that .... YIKES

 

Well @K13 took ya long enough to to get here

 

Call me old-fashioned but while that cutesy plasma cutter would be great on clean metal, it would be so much easier using a flame wrench cutting a wider kerf and getting all the slag out of the way. As for the lift rocking, maybe the addition of a larger baseplate on each corner with gussets from plates to post.