My *New* Two Post Lift

I bumped this thread to add on to it, if you have seen this March '11 thread, scroll down to post #18 for my new Jan '12 post

I've been looking for a year or more. Lots of used ones on the market, mostly from closed dealerships. I suspect most have been flogged pretty hard, up and down quite a few times a day, and not getting much respect from the techs.

Saw a CL ad three weeks ago for 3ea 9,000 and 1 ea 7,000 Challenger lifts. Emailed the guy, and he emailed back. After a couple of emails I called him and went and looked at them. It is a independent Mercedes-Benz shop in a fairly well off area. They had a total of 8 lifts and one four post front alignment lift. Their business being down, they decided to go looking for more business and realized that NO ONE works on Sprinters, and that their specialized Benz electronic test equipment would handle the Sprinters, so they decided to replace four of the lifts with new 12,000 lb tall lifts for the Sprinters and broaden their customer base while still sticking with MB products.

These lifts had been treated gently by top notch mechanics who cared, and the one I bought showed little wear, and appears (from the hydraulic pump/motor date code) to have been made in 1997.

I contacted Challenger and asked for them to recommend someone to move the lift for me, called them, set up a date for the next Tuesday and ended up re-scheduling to Wednesday, and they took it down, transported it to my place, 80 miles away, and set it up (two weeks ago). I had emailed Challenger a day after I bought the lift and they emailed a manual for the lift, so I had it ready when we moved it.

Charles

NICE looking outfits

Is that the grill of a 66 Fairlane peaking out from behind the lift? Oh yeah Nice lift, lol

mrholeshot said:

Is that the grill of a 66 Fairlane peaking out from behind the lift? Oh yeah Nice lift, lol

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'67 Falcon Futura 4 dr TuTone, 200 six cylinder, three speed, factory air, NO radio, special ordered by my Dad. Has 309,000 miles on it now.

Charles

Charles (in GA) said:

'67 Falcon Futura 4 dr two tone, 200 six cylinder, three speed, factory air, NO radio, special ordered by my Dad. Has 309,000 miles on it now.

Charles

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Damn, thought I had that one. Only saw about two feet of the grill. That would make a killer sleeper

Charles, I think you are really going to like that lift. I plan on buying one later this year due to it being American made and, the way their CL10 series is made, it can lift as a symmetrical or asymmetrical style lift. There are a LOT of them in shops around this area and they just work, day in and day out without problems.

You got a deal....

all i have to say is once you work under a nice lift, its hard to go back to basics. that look like a good sturdy one that should last forever.

Congrats Charles - you're gonna LOVE it!

OK OK ---I will be the one --HOW MUCH MONEY ???

Graz on the Lift!
It sounds like Challenger is a pretty nice company to
deal with, too.
Craig

It looks great in there. Congrats.

Catalyze said:

Graz on the Lift!
It sounds like Challenger is a pretty nice company to
deal with, too.
Craig

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They seem good to deal with. i sent a message via a web page "contact us" form, as they do not give out email addresses on the web site. I got two emails, one from the guy who reads the incoming messages, which was a CC to me, of the email he sent to the regional sales rep, the second was from the regional rep with the PDF file of the manual for the lift model I bought (model no longer manufactured, but is quite similar to current production).

I later sent an email to the regional rep asking for him to suggest someone to move it, since the guy installing the new lifts for the seller would not respond to my calls, and regional rep called me and suggested Garage Automotive - Mike Hickam, who I then contacted. I did not have the wherewithall to do the job, and no one to help.

These guys (at Challenger Lift) helped me out knowing I had bought a used lift and would not be buying one from them.

LIVELY said:

OK OK ---I will be the one --HOW MUCH MONEY ???

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The lift was $2100 which probably was on the high side. The installer thought so, but agreed with me that the lift was in excellent condition and thus would command a better than average price. Probably $1800 to $1900 would have been closer to the norm for a average used/worn lift.

I paid $650 to have it taken down, transported 80+ miles and set back up. This included the anchor bolts, twelve of them, which I suspect are probably fairly expensive themselves. Two guys, all day. Yes, I could have got a new lift for that (but not installed), but not one of this quality. I'm satisfied, and thats what counts.

Charles

*very jealous*

Very nice!

How common are Sprinters over there? We have LOADS of them over here.

Moose-LandTran said:

Very nice!

How common are Sprinters over there? We have LOADS of them over here.

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With the MB star on the grille, not so common, however I do see them. With the Freightliner name on the grille (same vehicle otherwise and also named Sprinter) much more common, and the same body with the Dodge name (don't know if the drivetrain is the same or not) is also quite common.

Charles

Charles (in GA) said:

With the MB star on the grille, not so common, however I do see them. With the Freightliner name on the grille (same vehicle otherwise and also named Sprinter) much more common, and the same body with the Dodge name (don't know if the drivetrain is the same or not) is also quite common.

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Over here there are thousands and thousands of them. I used to work on them all the time, a friend of mine owned about 5 and maintained lots of them. Replacing seized injectors on the CDIs is an absolute nightmare! We also got VW LTs/ Crafters which are the same under the skin with some interior/exterior differences and (i think) some VW engines. Aren't lots of yours petrol-engined? I've never seen a petrol one over here, but apparently they do exist with Mercedes-Benz Kompressor 4-cylinder engines.

They're great vans, true workhorses and the only thing that seems to kill them is rust on the 1st gen ones.

Moose-LandTran said:

Over here there are thousands and thousands of them. I used to work on them all the time, a friend of mine owned about 5 and maintained lots of them. Replacing seized injectors on the CDIs is an absolute nightmare! We also got VW LTs/ Crafters which are the same under the skin with some interior/exterior differences and (i think) some VW engines. Aren't lots of yours petrol-engined? I've never seen a petrol one over here, but apparently they do exist with Mercedes-Benz Kompressor 4-cylinder engines.

They're great vans, true workhorses and the only thing that seems to kill them is rust on the 1st gen ones.

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Somehow missed this before. As far as I know, they are all MB diesel, unless the Dodge ones have gas engines. Not sure of what happened to the Dodge and Freightliner models with MB having divested themselves of Chrysler.

Charles

Well, today the Challenger 9000 lb lift got the "ultimate" test.

Co worker has been having pinion seal troubles with his '07 Dodge 3500 Quad cab with the Cummins and 6 spd., so he came down to the house to tear into it again. He has replaced the seal twice, (with it sitting on the wheels in his carport) being very careful each time. He said the second one appeared to be leaking but we put it up on the lift and there wasn't even a drop on it, just some residue from where it leaked after the install. Apparently after running the seal in, it quit leaking. We decided to clean the area thoroughly and keep running it.

I think he didn't give the first one time to run in. He was quite careful about getting the nut back in 'zackly the same place as it was (so as to not disturb the crush sleeve or bearing preload). He has an aftermarket aluminum rear cover (cannot remember the brand) and we raised the oil level to what the dipstick showed to be correct (which is above the factory level). He has a slide in camper and a decent sized boat, and we discovered the cooling fins on the rear cover have been rubbing the spare tire! The axle chunk clears the fuel tank by just a frogs hair also. Dodge didn't leave any room to spare on this one.

We did get a good look at the underside and discovered the boots on the upper ball joints are both torn, so thats on the to-do list. I suspect someone makes Polyurethane ones for it. Looks like an easy job.

Anyhow, from what we were able to find out on Alldata, the truck weighs just over 7,000 lbs (I assume without fuel) and it was quite low on fuel when we had it on the lift.

Talk about jittery, as heavy and long as this is, and not really knowing the center of gravity on it, we picked it up slightly and shook it and it seemed fairly well centered weight wise. I have never rechecked the lift attach anchor bolts and discovered the RH column nuts to be not very tight, one was actually finger loose! I tightened them, but didn't get crazy with them, as I'm always afraid of cracking out the concrete with the expanding anchors.

Anyhow, here is the most heavy vehicle that will probably ever be hoisted with this lift.

Charles

Congratulations!

You got got a great deal on a great lift, installed without worrying about a cheaper lift with damaged /missing parts, albeit less shiny paint.

I was helping a coworker change an engine on a 04 chevy truck..trying to maneuver around the "Bermuda triangle"of jackstands,cherry picker,and floor jack.

Nice, very nice.