4 post BendPak Lift on Sloped Floor

[garagelogician]

I'm planning to purchase a BendPak HD-7W four post lift. My garage floor is sloped front to back approximately 1/8" every 10"...so between the outside edge of the pads it is going to drop about 2.7 inches total. I've read through the install manual, and it looks like they recommend shims for sloped floors.

My question is, do you shim the individual posts so that they are plumb and so that the runways are level front to back? Or do you just shim the posts enough to get the runways level and let the posts themselves be out of plumb?

 

[Z2V]

Are you planning to bolt it down permanently? 2.7" is a pretty good slope. Check out Dakota00's thread down around post 219 and look how he handled it. Very well done on his part.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212509&page=11

You will want the post to be plumb and square to each. 2.7 inches is a little much to make up just leveling the ramps with the lock ladders and cables. I would do something to overcome that 2.7". JMHO, others may differ.

 

[garagelogician]

Are you planning to bolt it down permanently? 2.7" is a pretty good slope. Check out Dakota00's thread down around post 219 and look how he handled it. Very well done on his part.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212509&page=11

You will want the post to be plumb and square to each. 2.7 inches is a little much to make up just leveling the ramps with the lock ladders and cables. I would do something to overcome that 2.7". JMHO, others may differ.

Hoping to not have to bolt it down. It will live in the third bay most of the time, but I want to pull it over to the middle for bigger projects. According to this post by Jeff at BendPak you can adjust the lift for up to 2.5" of slope. The slope is consistent across the garage, so if I do 1" shims on the low side that should be sufficient. But in order to get the posts plumb, the low side of the baseplates will need slightly over 1/8" of additional shim.

Since the slope is consistent, it would be ideal to have the shims attached (bolted? welded?) directly to the baseplates so that they move with the lift.

Anyone have an idea about the best way to accomplish this?

 

[Z2V]

Weld them

 

[mikeyr]

If I was going to bolt it down, I would put wedges in. My lift has been on my sloped floor for over a decade with no issues, its not bolted down, its on top of Racedeck tiles and I want to be able to move it sometimes.

 

[garagelogician]

If I was going to bolt it down, I would put wedges in. My lift has been on my sloped floor for over a decade with no issues, its not bolted down, its on top of Racedeck tiles and I want to be able to move it sometimes.

I plan to install Racedeck or Swisstrax someday. How much is your floor sloped? What lift do you have and do you have it shimmed?

 

[ovilla]

I wouldn't worry about a slopped floor. 2-3" over an 18' span is really not that much. I'd install the lift as is and just make sure to always leave the car in gear or in Park (which you'll typically do) and use wheel chocks too.

The ramps on the BendPak lifts have serious traction built in already (its like sand and/or metal shavings that are placed on the ramps before they are powder coated). It will take a lot to get something moving on them. Anyway, as a standard practice I always use wheel chocks on my BendPak.

 

[LX-Markham]

^^^the lift would only be sloped when in the lowered position. When lifted, the stops would be adjusted level.

 

[garagelogician]

^^^the lift would only be sloped when in the lowered position. When lifted, the stops would be adjusted level.

So in other words, the columns don't have to be plumb because the runways and locks are adjusted so they are level? I still might put a 1" shim under the low side columns to make sure there is enough adjustment. Maybe I will just get some plates cut, drilled and tapped (or studs welded on) so that they can be attached to the base plates in a non-permanent way in case I ever move.