Last year we took several old cast iron bath tubs to the scrap yard, you never know I may have just gotten them back in another form!
The pump on the Bendpak lifts is the only thing that is marked made in the USA. It will be interesting because once they finally do get around to getting these ALI/ETL approved they have to list the country of origin on the dataplate.
I'm sure the steel from most lifts that are made in the US as well as just about any other product made here comes from Asia, or possibly Canada. It's not marked the way this was though, and wouldn't have a made in China sticker on top of the paint.
It makes sense that their lifts are manufactured in China. I think that's the reason they ship these lifts out to people with ladders that have studs that aren't long enough or the alignment issues some people have had with some of their HD09s. They most likely pack these things up in China, send them over here and ship them to customers without ever inspecting them in Santa Paula. If that's the case they don't know what lifts have the wrong parts until the consumer contacts them after
receiving it.
It will be interesting to see what JSK has to say about all of this. I hope he will respond when he returns from vacation. Hopefully Bendpak can start being more honest with it's customers as to where their products are made. I know lots of things are made in China, some much better quality than others but the majority of the companies do not try to hide or at the very least be very vague about the country their product was manufactured in.
John