Bendpak 4 post Transportation, Install and Use

[danieldolin]

Did you special request yellow accents or is that they way the come now?

[Cryptic1911]

I think thats how they come now.. I've seen more than a couple of them with the yellow ramps and such lately

[Dolfan]

Originally Posted by jdub63

Dolfan, Just to clarify, in your picture the runways are configured to their widest setting and you moved the right runway inward for the narrow setting. So in the narrow setting the runways are both equal distances from the columns? And, in your configuration (with the control and pump) the left runway is not adjustable?

You got it! This picture was taken before I moved it back to the narrow settings.

[lotus_guy01]

Very nice write up. I could have really used it a couple of months ago when I installed mine! I purchased a used HD-9ST from a private owner. Went with a friend to take it down from the seller's garage and then installed it by myself in my garage. I love it; although, I would also go with the wider HD-9 as well if I was buying it new now. My 928 is a tight fit, and my Esprit may be too tight.




-Gary

[danieldolin]

Originally Posted by lotus_guy01

Very nice write up. I could have really used it a couple of months ago when I installed mine! I purchased a used HD-9ST from a private owner. Went with a friend to take it down from the seller's garage and then installed it by myself in my garage. I love it; although, I would also go with the wider HD-9 as well if I was buying it new now. My 928 is a tight fit, and my Esprit may be too tight.




-Gary

Gary - I am looking to get an HD9-ST next spring. In the picture is yours on the top lock or the 2nd from the top? There is a lot more room under than I would have thought, even given the height (or shortness) of your Maserati... BTW - nice looking 928. I will be using mine to store my 987 Boxster S.

[Dolfan]

Bridge Jack

In addition to the 4 post lift itself I also have the RJ-45 rolling bridge jack. The idea of not being able to do suspension and brake work on the lift limits the use for me since I do a fair amount of work like that. This should really make the task of getting the car up of the lift easy, but then use the lift to raise the work level. Needless to say I won't be working on a vette in the up position while the other one sits underneath!!!! Dropped wrenches would be a bit costly!

Good to have the engine hoist to help with the placement into the lift. With the runways in the narrow position the jack drops right in without extending its reach.






In place and added the drip trays, how dare I insinuate that the vette could have a leak!


I was concerned about the height of this jack but all looks good, you can see that even with my C4 corvette the rolling jack will move under the car.



The C5 vette is lowered and that might be a bit close, at least the plastic air dam piece may get moved as I pul the jack through.

I don't have any shots of the jack in use yet as it has not made it's maiden voyage. For now I think I'll just run a airline to the jack as needed, but I can see the idea of the air line kit that Bendpak offers as an upgrade would be a nice clean installation. I may have to consider that as an upgrade in the future.

More To Come....

[lotus_guy01]

Originally Posted by danieldolin

Gary - I am looking to get an HD9-ST next spring. In the picture is yours on the top lock or the 2nd from the top? There is a lot more room under than I would have thought, even given the height (or shortness) of your Maserati... BTW - nice looking 928. I will be using mine to store my 987 Boxster S.

I'm pretty sure it was 2nd from the top. Hard to check now as the lift is tied up with a half disassembled car.

-Gary

[Steves32]

Originally Posted by danieldolin

Did you special request yellow accents or is that they way the come now?

Mine came w/ yellow ramps & stops.
I've bought drop-n anchors for mine (don't want to use the included wedge anchors) but haven't got around to installing them yet.




I have the rolling jack as well- modified by BendPak to sit lower. I just put it on a furniture dolley, raised lift up & rolled it underneath. Dropped lift, rotated the jack 90 degrees, raised lift back up & voila- done.

[Nick DL]

Nice lift and nice write up. Thanks.

[AndysMBgarage]

Good write up and "how to" thread.

I wish I'd seen it about 4 months ago before I set up my HD9ST.

[Dolfan]

Upgrade to aluminum ramps

Well after lugging the standard ramps on and off a few times I figured it made sense to go with the lighter aluminum ramps. For me I want to take the ramps off once putting a car up for storage and the ramps are right at the height that as I move around working in the garage I could do some real damage running into them. Also, as the hang down about 6" from level once the lift is raised without the lock in place pieces, I need that extra room to drive the cars under.

So the upgrade was simple. but it does require the installation of ramp brackets that use longer bolts at the end of the runways. Pretty simple but the biggest issue in this for me is getting those holes to line up.



What I recommend is to do this one bolt at a time to help keep things aligned. Also the trick I used of the pipe clamp helped out again to keep the runway right in place while I installed the bracket.



Once it is all installed the ramps just slide down onto the brackets, they too will drop at an angle if left on the lift when lifted, but they are so light it is easy to pull them off and store out of the way.










One thing to consider is these ramps attach right at the end of the lift and will make the overall length a bit longer, maybe about 4" or so. You need to factor that into your lift placement. I just got lucky!!!! Look how close to the garage door it is!


The one idea I would have for BendPak is to add welded on brackets on the back side of 2 posts that would allow you to store the ramps in a vertical hanging position, then they would be out of the way but have a spot right where you need them.

More to come...

[danieldolin]

Originally Posted by Dolfan

Upgrade to aluminum ramps

Well after lugging the standard ramps on and off a few times I figured it made sense to go with the lighter aluminum ramps. For me I want to take the ramps off once putting a car up for storage and the ramps are right at the height that as I move around working in the garage I could do some real damage running into them. Also, as the hang down about 6" from level once the lift is raised without the lock in place pieces, I need that extra room to drive the cars under.

So the upgrade was simple. but it does require the installation of ramp brackets that use longer bolts at the end of the runways. Pretty simple but the biggest issue in this for me is getting those holes to line up.




One thing to consider is these ramps attach right at the end of the lift and will make the overall length a bit longer, maybe about 4" or so. You need to factor that into your lift placement. I just got lucky!!!! Look how close to the garage door it is!

The one idea I would have for BendPak is to add welded on brackets on the back side of 2 posts that would allow you to store the ramps in a vertical hanging position, then they would be out of the way but have a spot right where you need them.

More to come...

I plan to get the aluminum ramps when I order for the very same reasons. Can you store them between the two runways when it the narrow position? Also, how many of the wheel stop triangles came with your lift as shown in the above picture?

[mechamunch]

Nice, the crane matches the lift.

Really nice write up and photos. Thank you!

[Dolfan]

Originally Posted by danieldolin

I plan to get the aluminum ramps when I order for the very same reasons. Can you store them between the two runways when it the narrow position? Also, how many of the wheel stop triangles came with your lift as shown in the above picture?

Not sure if the ramps could be stored between the runways, that might be interesting. I'll give that a try in the next couple days and let you know.

I had two wheel stops included in the package.

[Dolfan]

Originally Posted by Dolfan

Not sure if the ramps could be stored between the runways, that might be interesting. I'll give that a try in the next couple days and let you know.

I had two wheel stops included in the package.

OK, it's worse than you think

Look in this shot it includes my electric impact gun!!!! Blue and Yellow and actually the same goodyear brand as the crane.




To be fair the crane was borrowed from a buddy, but I noticed the color coordination as well.

[c39er]

The ramps being in the way are a big issue for me, so I made my own flip ups for about $300.00. No problem now.

[Dolfan]

c39er, Well done! Those look great.

[ket-tek]

Originally Posted by c39er

The ramps being in the way are a big issue for me, so I made my own flip ups for about $300.00. No problem now.

Originally Posted by Dolfan

c39er, Well done! Those look great.

Uhh, yeah! Those are sick, they deserve thier own thread! (or did I miss that thread?)

[richtersrodz]

Originally Posted by ket-tek

Uhh, yeah! Those are sick, they deserve thier own thread! (or did I miss that thread?)

x2

[Dolfan]

OK, well I worked with the Bendpak team on the bridge jack, got a different set of runners that will drop the unit down lower, to make it better for the corvettes and other low cars.

The change was real easy, I just dropped the lift with jackstands under the bridge jack and replace the two end pieces Bendpak sent me. Maybe a 15 minute job tops!

Now the bridge jack sits nice and low, not going to hit it even with these low cars.



And then I hooked up the airline to give the unit a test.


More to Come.......