You may have seen my thread asking about Backyard Buddy lifts, but if not, here's the deets on my "new" lift.
After deciding a 4 post lift was what I wanted I started doing the research. I quickly decided that the BendPak HD-9 was what I wanted and started selling old computer parts and stuff on eBay to fund it (a great way to "defend" a purchase like this from the spouse
).
Then over beer at a local bar (if you live near Bellevue, WA The Pump House is GREAT!) I was talking about my scheme with a friend. His friend who was there as well overheard me and said he had a friend who knew a friend who was selling a lift. Would I be interested?
I was confused by which friend was which, but by the next day I had an email in my inbox from the guy actually selling a 4 post lift. An ex-professional basketball player who was switching hobbies from muscle cars to pinball machines and needed room. He didn't want to Craigslist it for privacy reasons and was willing to sell it "aggressively" to someone less sketchy. I guess I was less sketchy because after a few emails back and forth with pictures and details we settled on a price. $1000.
This is for a Backyard Buddy 7000 lbs extended height lift, in barely used condition, with a rolling jack platform, rolling casters, and a set of drip trays. New this setup would go for north of $5K.
The challenge then became how I would move it to my house from his. He lives on an island in the Puget Sound.
The original plan was for me to rent a truck and head over there with a buddy and tools. We'd disassemble the lift, load it on the truck, and then re-assemble it at my house. I figured $100 to rent the truck and 6+ hours of disassemble/re-assembly.
I called Backyard Buddy and asked for their advice on disassembly. I wanted to know if they had any tricks or techniques to make it as easy as possible. The guy I spoke to asked me "Does the lift have the rolling casters? If it does, it will roll right onto a large flatbed tow truck."
Given the lift had the casters I was in luck and this idea made a lot of sense. I called around the tow truck companies in my area and found one with a tow truck large enough (the BYB lift is actually just over 9' wide at the base of the posts and the bed of the tow truck would have to be flat; some have rails on the sides).
The fee for the tow truck would be expensive: $100/hr. I decided that even if it took 5 hours it was worth the trouble/labor of assembly disassembly so I pulled the trigger (in the end I paid for 3.5 hours plus ferry fees).
Two days after first communicating with the seller I was on the ferry to the island:
At the seller's house I got a quick tour of the pinball machines and video games, checked out his Mustangs, and rolled the lift out of his garage onto the driveway:
The tow truck arrived shortly after I did and it took us only a few minutes to get it on the truck and tied down. I followed him to the ferry terminal:
I had asked a buddy to meet me at my house to help unload the lift. Unloading went well...until the truck driver moved the truck forward AFTER we had loosened the straps and the right front side of the lift rolled off the truck!
I wish I would have taken a picture but I was to freaked out. Fortunately it only came partially off the truck and it was really simple for the 3 of us to push it back on. No damage was done. But it was scary.
We got the lift off and slid it into the garage...
After deciding a 4 post lift was what I wanted I started doing the research. I quickly decided that the BendPak HD-9 was what I wanted and started selling old computer parts and stuff on eBay to fund it (a great way to "defend" a purchase like this from the spouse
). Then over beer at a local bar (if you live near Bellevue, WA The Pump House is GREAT!) I was talking about my scheme with a friend. His friend who was there as well overheard me and said he had a friend who knew a friend who was selling a lift. Would I be interested?
I was confused by which friend was which, but by the next day I had an email in my inbox from the guy actually selling a 4 post lift. An ex-professional basketball player who was switching hobbies from muscle cars to pinball machines and needed room. He didn't want to Craigslist it for privacy reasons and was willing to sell it "aggressively" to someone less sketchy. I guess I was less sketchy because after a few emails back and forth with pictures and details we settled on a price. $1000.
This is for a Backyard Buddy 7000 lbs extended height lift, in barely used condition, with a rolling jack platform, rolling casters, and a set of drip trays. New this setup would go for north of $5K.
The challenge then became how I would move it to my house from his. He lives on an island in the Puget Sound.
The original plan was for me to rent a truck and head over there with a buddy and tools. We'd disassemble the lift, load it on the truck, and then re-assemble it at my house. I figured $100 to rent the truck and 6+ hours of disassemble/re-assembly.
I called Backyard Buddy and asked for their advice on disassembly. I wanted to know if they had any tricks or techniques to make it as easy as possible. The guy I spoke to asked me "Does the lift have the rolling casters? If it does, it will roll right onto a large flatbed tow truck."
Given the lift had the casters I was in luck and this idea made a lot of sense. I called around the tow truck companies in my area and found one with a tow truck large enough (the BYB lift is actually just over 9' wide at the base of the posts and the bed of the tow truck would have to be flat; some have rails on the sides).
The fee for the tow truck would be expensive: $100/hr. I decided that even if it took 5 hours it was worth the trouble/labor of assembly disassembly so I pulled the trigger (in the end I paid for 3.5 hours plus ferry fees).
Two days after first communicating with the seller I was on the ferry to the island:
At the seller's house I got a quick tour of the pinball machines and video games, checked out his Mustangs, and rolled the lift out of his garage onto the driveway:
The tow truck arrived shortly after I did and it took us only a few minutes to get it on the truck and tied down. I followed him to the ferry terminal:
I had asked a buddy to meet me at my house to help unload the lift. Unloading went well...until the truck driver moved the truck forward AFTER we had loosened the straps and the right front side of the lift rolled off the truck!
I wish I would have taken a picture but I was to freaked out. Fortunately it only came partially off the truck and it was really simple for the 3 of us to push it back on. No damage was done. But it was scary.
We got the lift off and slid it into the garage...
I love how you did the garage, and truly love your vehicle selections. That Porsche is in outstanding condition, and I love the color. Do you Daily drive the Toyota?
).
