14k 4 post bendpak problems

[eddyyy302]

What was the outcome of this whole dilemma? Is Joe still on here?

Dan

 

[TxPowderCoater]

why not just let them buy it back like they offered and by another brand that you will be happy with, seems like an easy resolution.

 

[Joetomass]

Well sorry for the delay but final got bendpak to take it back with full refund. I think that's the best thing I ever did. As far as the flexing or bending or whatever you want to call it I went out and looked at many different lift brands and any lift that was constructed strong or basically built in the USA done not flex. I ordered a 19k Mohawk 4 post the runways are mad of two 8" I beams to make up the runways I went to a shop around the corner that has a 25k" Mohawk and I brought a truck f700 dump truck I have with a 12ft snowplow and load of rock salt in it. Took it to a scale the weight was 23,655 I put it on his lift and NO flex or bending what so ever . My opinion is that bendpak knew there was a problem. they say there lifts are the backbone of your shop well I won't use there lifts as a spare. As far as I'm concerned basically it's chinese junk. It seems like everyone that has these lifts are the DIY type person they might be good if you use it 1-2 times a month but all day everyday not in my shop plus how can you do an alignment on a bent lift basically you can't and bendpak knows that's, that's why it wasn't very hard to get my money back. If they were confident in there product they would have fixed it and I wouldnt be talking about it right now . But they knew there was a problem they couldnt fix cheap metal. At the beginning they won't even talk to me until I started this post and Gary got involved then I got somewhere, but even then it took 3 weeks to have there techs to install new runways and they were bent. The first tech they tried to sent to fix it called me and said he won't come out because bendpak doesnt pay him enough. So like everything else they are cheap for there metal to there service. So basically they cost me and my company more money then there lift cost, the money I lost in alignments time on the phone, working on there lift, days I couldn't use it and then 3 weeks had to store there sheet metal runways before I could get them installed. Every time I talked to them it was something else they just are a hard company to deal with... At least with me So stay away from cheat lifts unless safety and quality is not an issue for you. I will try and post pictures of a real lift once I get it set up
Thanks for the help

 

[Strouty]

I agree it was strange that bendpak had all kinds of restrictions on wheelbase and weight distribution. When I was looking into lifts, everyone made it perfectly clear that a two post had to be either balanced or over rated so as not to overload the rear or front arms. They also made it perfectly clear that if I had a lot of unbalanced loads, I should go with a four post, because it would not affect it capacity. As for Joe and the F-450 I have a Chevy 3500 HD series, the old style with the 15k GVW, it is equivalent to the F-450 and I have a dump body and a back pack toolbox, I was dumping scrap the other day and my truck weighs in at about 11k empty, so he is right on the money weight wise. Sounds like you did the right thing Joe, I love Mohawk, you pay for it, but you get great quality.

 

[c39er]

A sad ending and story because of things being engineered and built to minimum quality/safety standards because of the cost of the finished product and global ecomomics. Hate it!

 

[Joetomass]

I agree I have a Mohawk 2 post and the only thing that keep me from buying one from the door was Mohawk doesnt offer a lift with a 4 wheel alignment kit and at first there distributor told me cant add a kit but after talking directly with Mohawk they have a company they deal with to purchase an alignment kit build for there lift
Buying a lift is like anything else you get what you pay for I should have know 8k compared to mohawks 17k and hunters at 19k. There name says it all and stay away from china built ****. Why is bendpak the only lift company with restrictions on there 4 post lifts I would love to hear there bull **** answer on why. Even though I know the answer crappy products ****** metal and poorly built. They couldnt even use a 1 piece channel for the rolling jacks they used 3 pieces welded together to make up the length really how cheap Are they I could go on and on about how bad this lift was built

 

[SteveU]

Looking forward to seeing pics of your new lift when you get it installed. Did you ask Mohawk if there any restrictions on load placement that would reduce capacity? One thing I am wondering is if the 19K could be used with normal cars or is the spacing of the ramps such that it is more suited for trucks?

 

[Joetomass]

There is no load restrictions at all it will lift anything form a forklift to small car to heavy truck. I was told I could put a forklift on it in the rear of the lift or front doesn't matter they use a chain style lift not cable and from what I'm being told by many people is why bendpak has load restrictions because of the cable design. I had a 12k forward lift that also didn't have an load restrictions and it was chain not cable and was also built from I beams for the runways and I had a 10k forklift on it and never had a problem with lifting. the bendpak could barley pick itself up and I would love for bendpak to show me a vehicle that wasn't heavier either in the front or rear. Basically they want you to take every vehicle to a scale to make shore it's balanced correctly for there lift... unreal. Anyone out there with a bendpak 2 post lift??? What is there weight restrictions on them problem states do not use with motor vehicles. I would like to hear so real reasoning on why they have such a restriction on a 4 post lift and does anyone know if any other company does

 

[boss_302]

I hate to bring up a 3 month old thread. but i just purchased this same lift a month ago and I am having trouble with it also my upright column one has bent one me and bendpak is giving me the run around wont return my calls. They have said that it was an installation error that something wasnt plumb by the meassurments i have gave them which is bs because how can they tell something was out of plumb after it out of wack anyways. Joe I would just like to know who you contacted to get this done i am sick of my bend pack equipment I spent 25K dollars through them and they couldnt send someone out to even show me how to run the New RX3040 Tire Machine but for another $1500 they could send someone out to show you how to run their allignment machine.

 

[graffix000]

Check out post # 13 & 48. Two bend pak employees that helped out Joe.

Good luck, that is a lot of money to have spent for **** customer service. I am planning on purchasing a 4 post lift for my personal garage and these threads is having me think twice about it.

 

[gmcvay]

Boss 302, I am the customer service manager here at BendPak. Sorry about your frustrations. Please let me help. Email me at [email protected] and I will resolve this for you immediately.

Thank you,
Gary Mcvay
CSM
BendPak Inc.

 

[JSK]

Boss 302,

If I was smart, I probably wouldn’t keep bumping this thread, but I’ve spent thirty years with BendPak and when people talk negative about us it upsets me; my team works too hard to let offensive statements like this go unanswered. If you are in need of BendPak’s assistance, this is the wrong way to go about it.

I do want to say thank you for your business. You are a customer and I will treat you that way. I know it must sicken you to have a new lift experience issues, but it sickens us to be accused of poor service. You have no idea how hard we work to keep our service record untarnished. The one decree that our entire sales and service team lives by is that a satisfied customer will tell three friends, an angry one will tell three-thousand. Although many times it costs us dearly, we don’t want the latter.

We received your email then subsequent photos of the “defective” lift (that you installed yourself rather than opting to pay for a professional lift installer/trainer). I am paraphrasing your email so others can understand why we are asking questions; what you perceive to be the “run around”.

{sic} I am trying to run a business that I just opened two weeks ago, so the lift has had maybe a dozen vehicles on it. I can send you pictures and show you how the lift is bent and where. They also asked me if one of the air locks got caught and didn’t release, that has not happened. At this point I want to return the Lift for a full refund or want it fixed or replaced along with the RX3040 tire and the machine Motorcycle adapter. Since I am looking to expand my business and purchase an alignment lift and alignment machine I would be willing to look at a possible exchange for returning the Lift, RX3040 Tire machine with the Motorcycle adapter in exchange for the alignment lift and machine. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hope we can work something out to make this right.

We feel the photos below speak for themselves. We are not prepared to spend nearly six thousand dollars to meet your demands. If it was due to our negligence surely we would. You can continue speaking with our service team and we will do best to make sure you end up in the satisfied and happy crowd.

P.S. If you’re not sure who operated your lift in a very unsafe manner, you may ask around. The operation manual and/or warning labels clearly state the following.

- Please read the entire contents of this manual prior to installation and operation.
- When lowering, always keep a visual line of site on the lift at all times.
- When lowering, always make sure that all four locks are disengaged.

Jeff Kritzer
BendPak Inc.

 

[pattenp]

Well since this was posted for all to see, first I don't see anything offensive about Boss 302's post. But my feeling is by the pictures that the lift was operated in an incorrect manner or improperly installed which caused the damage. I don't think you could have that kind of damage other wise. Bottom line I think someone screwed up using the lift.

Edit: I assume that last picture is a Photo Shop picture of what JSK thinks happened.

 

[boss_302]

Jeff Just for your information the only reason I posted it on this forum was not to make you guys at bendpak look bad but after three days on the phone and getting nowhere I was feed up with waiting for a response after three days and no solution or anything for a business trying to operate and after spending the money I spent with you guys on the first purchase I wanted away to get a hold of the higher ups. And as a business owner you know my frustrations I have enough to worry about in the first weeks of business and this happens. Before this happened I will have to TELL EVERYONE YOUR GUYS CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GREAT and maybe that’s way I am so frustrated this isn’t/wasn’t resolved as quickly as possible that you guys spoiled me with the service I did receive on the small things. I do know who has operated my lift and that is me and my mechanic that has 25 plus years experience in the field with lifts. I have read the owner’s manual over and over before I installed and after I installed it. I do have a question why is it that none of the legs have any gusts welded on to them like the hsdo-14lsx? If I grab a hold of my uprights I can twist them with little effort? In the photo that you edited I could see how that would bend a lift easily. One way you guys could prevent something like that from happening would be install electric solenoids with micro switches to prevent the lift from lowering if they weren’t all disengaged, because with this long of a lift it is hard to see the very end of the lift with a vehicle on it. I am not 100% sure where you are getting your numbers from for the $6,000 I was willing to give price difference on the 2 items I didn’t expect you guys to cover 100% of it as a business owner I know you can’t do that.


Boss_302

 

[c39er]

The hsdo-14lsx lift is an open front end and requires stronger gusseted open end posts.
I have the Extra long length HD14X-TL. I watch all four corners and can see them fine. Gotta watch as you lower the lift!

 

[Cryptic1911]

I agree that it looks like one of the safety locks got hooked somehow. I know how easy it is to do, as I've done it with my lift a couple times. I keep an eagle eye on it when I'm letting it down, so I catch it right away to avoid this kind of issue

 

[danieldolin]

I agree that it looks like one of the safety locks got hooked somehow. I know how easy it is to do, as I've done it with my lift a couple times. I keep an eagle eye on it when I'm letting it down, so I catch it right away to avoid this kind of issue

Just so I am aware, as I will be purchasing a lift next month, the proper thing to do if this were to happen is to stop lowering the lift (obviously) and then raise it back up to above the lock position. Will this make it level again, or will the higher corner raise up as well before the other corners have a chance to catch up?

 

[JSK]

Jeff Just for your information the only reason I posted it on this forum was not to make you guys at bendpak look bad but after three days on the phone and getting nowhere I was feed up with waiting for a response after three days and no solution or anything for a business trying to operate and after spending the money I spent with you guys on the first purchase I wanted away to get a hold of the higher ups. And as a business owner you know my frustrations I have enough to worry about in the first weeks of business and this happens. Before this happened I will have to TELL EVERYONE YOUR GUYS CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GREAT and maybe that’s way I am so frustrated this isn’t/wasn’t resolved as quickly as possible that you guys spoiled me with the service I did receive on the small things. I do know who has operated my lift and that is me and my mechanic that has 25 plus years experience in the field with lifts. I have read the owner’s manual over and over before I installed and after I installed it. I do have a question why is it that none of the legs have any gusts welded on to them like the hsdo-14lsx? If I grab a hold of my uprights I can twist them with little effort? In the photo that you edited I could see how that would bend a lift easily. One way you guys could prevent something like that from happening would be install electric solenoids with micro switches to prevent the lift from lowering if they weren’t all disengaged, because with this long of a lift it is hard to see the very end of the lift with a vehicle on it. I am not 100% sure where you are getting your numbers from for the $6,000 I was willing to give price difference on the 2 items I didn’t expect you guys to cover 100% of it as a business owner I know you can’t do that.


Boss_302

Boss 302,

I have instructed my team to do whatever it takes to get your lift up and running - nothing out of your pocket. New columns should be shipping today. If you're in need of an alignment lift/aligner, speak with your BendPak rep and have them contact me. We'll see what we can do. If you do opt for our aligner, I'll send Joel out to your place for a couple days training on the aligner and RX3040.

Jeff

 

[dirttracker18]

Just so I am aware, as I will be purchasing a lift next month, the proper thing to do if this were to happen is to stop lowering the lift (obviously) and then raise it back up to above the lock position. Will this make it level again, or will the higher corner raise up as well before the other corners have a chance to catch up?

It will level out as the upper cable (where the lock stuck) has slack in it now.

It should never go unlevel while lowering, watch and stop quickly if it does. This is not a Bendpak issue as I have seen and had this happen with a number of different lifts.

If not caught fast bad things happen. Vehicles can shift and then all hell breaks loose.

Gotta agree here, looks like it went down uneven. Best have a long talk with your guy. Better for him to come clean then hide when mistakes get made.

It could have been something else but it looks bad.

 

[Cryptic1911]

Just so I am aware, as I will be purchasing a lift next month, the proper thing to do if this were to happen is to stop lowering the lift (obviously) and then raise it back up to above the lock position. Will this make it level again, or will the higher corner raise up as well before the other corners have a chance to catch up?

It will level back out. The only thing that makes it crooked is because the safety latch got hung up. The cables will stretch, so you need to readjust them once in a while, and you have to make sure the safety lock ladders are even so that they all clang at the same time while going up. When one is slightly different in height, it will go clang-clang-clang when going up, as the seperate locks click into the holes at different times. When you want to go down, you have to raise the lift to take the weight off of the locks, otherwise they don't release. If the ladders are at different heights, you can raise it, and 3 will release, and the 4th one will drag, and hang up when you let the lift down.. then you have to go back up slightly higher, and release the locks again so all 4 clear. If you just keep letting it go down, that corner will stay at its locked height, while the other 3 go down, and eventually it will cause the carriage blocks to bend the posts like in the OP's pics

That's why it's important to have it all adjusted properly.

 

[dirttracker18]

Boss 302,

I have instructed my team to do whatever it takes to get your lift up and running - nothing out of your pocket. New columns should be shipping today. If you're in need of an alignment lift/aligner, speak with your BendPak rep and have them contact me. We'll see what we can do. If you do opt for our aligner, I'll send Joel out to your place for a couple days training on the aligner and RX3040.

Jeff

Jeff,

As we have all seen on here, once again you go above and beyond. I am about a third of the way to the cash I need to pull the trigger, although I still have not answered the question of if I can go two post or if 4 is the only option.

Hopefully sooner than later but I continue to lean toward Bendpak for the customer service and your personal touch that we get here on GJ.

 

[yucholian]

How is this Bend Pak's fault???
Claims like this will raise the price for everyone.

 

[64coupedeluxe]

Pat, I'd like to buy some punctuation, please.

That's gold right there!

 

[digdug18]

I've been looking at buying a bendpak in the next 2 months, though based on the 2 experiences of this thread, and bendpak's piss poor attitude when posting on this thread, I'm going to save some more and buy something better built.

 

[mbatarga]

I see Bendpak going above and beyond their responsibilities from what I have read here.

 

[Cryptic1911]

Piss poor attitude? What thread were you reading?

 

[mechamunch]

I've been looking at buying a bendpak in the next 2 months, though based on the 2 experiences of this thread, and bendpak's piss poor attitude when posting on this thread, I'm going to save some more and buy something better built.

Wait, what?

Where's the bad attitude?

 

[James E]

Well, if we're doing a survey, let me chime in and say that my BP experience has been stellar and I have absolutely no complaints with them, their product or their customer service. Jeff Kritzer has always been there to answer my questions--even to the point of e-mailing me from the SEMA show floor once when I had a question during installation.

Even Dave Shedlock at Workshop Depot (where I purchased my lift) has been great.

Anybody else ever experience an attitude when dealing with them? I'd genuinely be interested in hearing about it because I always read these lift threads and so far, I've not witnessed such a thing--at least not in the interactions on the thread. Maybe they're different over the phone or in person, but I doubt it.

 

[darkk]

First off let me say, There are people in this world that could break a crowbar in a sandbox. That said, I can say from personal experience ( no breakage, just special requests) that the Bend Pak guys provide unexcelled customer service. With the amount of products they sell, unfortunately there are going to be a few that fall thru the cracks albiet temporarily. Reading the posts here on the forum provides a place for the few that have slipped thru the cracks to air their laundry so to speak. Even with all the bad mouthing and it's your fault to no it's your fault, it is obvious that Bend Pak has stepped up and repaired, replaced or exchanged equipment that has been damaged (mostly from user error) on their dime. If that isn't customer service, I don't know what is. There will come a day when one of these posts goes south for one reason or the other, but even in that event, I don't see it being for lack of Bend Paks effort to rectify the problem.

 

[jfdegnan]

All of my Bendpak experiences were top notch. For example, I was looking to purchase a used Bendpak 4 post lift. Jeff exchanged emails on the items to closely inspect for wear to the best way to break down for the 400 mile trip home. Talk about support after the sale.....never a hint of any attitude! I think many other companies could learn from them.

Jim

 

[Steves32]

Jeff is a rare exception in a world full of lift manufacturers who only want your money.
I was torn between the Direct lift & the Bendpak. Jeff came out to my house to look at my garage & come up w/ ramps that would fit in my space. No one from Direct lift offered to do a thing. He even modified my rolling jack on their dime to fit my roadster. Try that with ANY other company. I bought mine w/o hessitation after talking w/ Jeff. Even had them install it.
Have never regretted the purchase.

 

[Cryptic1911]

Yep, we also got ours modified for the same reason ^ Jeff set it up, and they modified some arms for us, and sent them out on their dime. They also had some pics of a newer version of the bridge jack that had the sliding rail with attachments, and we inquired about it, and they sent us one + the attachments to retrofit the jack we already had. That's service

 

[ViperTech]

I work in a GM dealer, with 10 Bend Pack 10K 2 post lifts, and any problem. Normal Maintenance, a hose here, a cable there, but is normal for lifts with 5 plus years of service, all week long,8 technicians , lifting from a small car up to a Tahoe, and Suburban 2.500. also we have a 4 post 12.000 benwill, and a 4 post 18.000 benwill. No problems at all.
Bend Pack was recomended to GM Dealers in GM Delaer equipment Web site in the past.

 

[sc105b]

I have the same HD-14 and have been very Pleased with both the lift and Bend-Pak. I,ve had it for a few months and have had my CC Cummins Dually on it several times without a whimper.

I do have a couple very minor issues with it and some dat I'll get around to emailing about them but I am absolutely certain they'll be handled without issue as most on this board have seen.

I will reiterate that you have to be very Very careful when lowering a vehicle from a lift such as this and it may take getting used to insure proper operational technique.

Always keep your eyes moving to all 4 four corners when raising/lowering a vehicle with a lift.

Disaster can happen in seconds.


Jeff, If you happen to read this know we all appreciatre your help here on the forum and that your personel responses were a big reason that Bendpak got my business.

Also I need to figure out how to use my lift for lifting landscape machinery

such as Zero Turn riding mowers etc. and similar items. Anyone got ideas??

 

[Junkman]

...........

Also I need to figure out how to use my lift for lifting landscape machinery

such as Zero Turn riding mowers etc. and similar items. Anyone got ideas??

Buy bigger mowers and tractors to fit the lift....

 

[JSK]

Jeff, If you happen to read this know we all appreciatre your help here on the forum and that your personel responses were a big reason that Bendpak got my business.

Thank you.

Also I need to figure out how to use my lift for lifting landscape machinery

such as Zero Turn riding mowers etc. and similar items. Anyone got ideas??

Hummmm....I wonder....http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-and-c2-corvettes/1659580-body-off-61-rod-project.html

 

[Joetomass]

Hi to all that might still be following this. Better late then never. I as you all know started this post, I just want to clear up a few things. 1st is I'm not posting this agian to rip ben pak. There customer service if you just CALL in for something is bad and no much help, but on the other hand Jeff an Gary are a big help and they are on top of this. But it is a shame that it takes a few pissed off customers on a forum to get the service I needed. I did purchase a 19k mohawk and yes it was over 17k and Bendpak is 8k so the normal person can see the difference. ( I should have) But I have a few questions that I posted here before and some other guys have also asked but never got answered. 1 is way is bendpak lifts have the weight restrictions when others don't, why does the load need to be equal???
2 is someone said reasons like this raise the prices, well I disagree alittle on that, already they moved there build oversea to keep cost down but also lowered there quality on there product, so they will find ways to keep cost down but you see that in the way the lifts are built. They will cheat somewhere in craftmanship. If you buy a air tool from harbor freight, and one from snap on which one would you bet your life on if you had to??? Harbor freight is good enough type of tools but not and everyday tool. Same thing here bendpak is ok for the DIY type for a race car or hobby but doesn't seem to be for the pro. Next why would a company of there size take a lift back with 100% refund??? Well maybe I'm wrong but I would say they know something they are not saying, maybe there is a question about this lift design? It is not very common for any company to do this. If they know there product is good they will make it right and fix it. Or if it operator error they will state it because they are confident in there product. But this pretty much states they knew this was a problem that couldn't be fixed. I never bought anything from them before so it's not that I'm a long time customer, if I was then that would make more sense. I would like to hear back from Ben pak about this. How could a alignment be performed on this lift if it is not straight?? Is a house level if the foundation is not. That's my biggest question. To them sorry for the late and long post

 

[jomobco]

i will post pics soon, the part of the runway that is bent is almost dead center of the runway,

How can you see it in a picture and you didn't notice it on install if in fact it was bent in shipping?

I'd like to buy a period please for $500 Pat.

Edit: I got to the rolling jack issue. Better understood now.

 

[73blazer]

Well, here's my $0.02 for whatever it's worth.

I just bought this lift last Friday, along with 2 rolling 7k bendpak jacks. I do not have it yet. I was quite sure after shopping many lifts, many of which were far cheaper and uncertified, that I had made the right choice. I'm not quite sure if I'd rather have seen this thread beforehand or not. I only hope my opinion doesn't change after installing and using the lift and seeing it first hand. I really wish there was a way to see these lifts in person, the models you want, that just isn't feasible, so it's a sight-unseen kinda of purchase.

But, after analyzing alot of other lifts, their spec sheets, manuals, etc, I believe I can surmise what's going on, JMO of course.

It appears to me, that BP made a decision a while back to go for the smaller home mechanic market. As such, price is usually the driver of such things, right or wrong. They've made a calculated decision, which the OP touched on in a few of his posts. For costs reasons, made in China, yes, for safety and security, engineered carefully in the US and certified, yes. Some limitations, yes. There's tradeoffs in everything. Made in China isn't necessarily bad by default. It does seem to be the case more often than not, but I've been around the automotive manufacturing business all my career, and things can be made right in china, with the proper oversight.
Marketing is just marketing, I never believe a word of any that BS, because it's all carefully chosen words and BS. How do you think every major cell phone provider claims they have the fastest network. It just all BS.

Specifications, are what matter. Of course, most people, right or wrong, don't look past the marketing or simple specs and get into the nitty gritty of things they buy, be it a lift, a car, a bottle of shampoo or the beer you drink.

I'm not defending BP, I may be defending what I just layed out alot of $$$ for subconsciously, but not defending BP. I just think their clear about what their lifts are capable of. Would I buy a 14k BP with their listed specifications on wheelbase vs capacity, and put it in a shop I owned, absolutely not. But it was clear, to me at least, that was a limitation. That is a far to limiting item to have in a shop where you don't know who's going to be operating a lift or what type of vehicle is going on it. It says 14k, this forklift weighs 12, put her on, you just know that will happen at some point. Any lift requires some due diligence while using it, I think these 7,9,14k BP's requires a bit more. And to be fair, lots of people use the $2k no name china lifts in their garage's without any issues at all. Others have issues with their $28k 35k lb's Rotary's.
For shop, I'd want to be clear I can put anything less than a semi tractor on it and it'd be fine.
For my garage use, the largest thing I have is a 2012 Ram 2500 , CC, SRW long bed, curb weight 7300lbs, ~4000 of which is on the front (empty), while a 9k lift should have been plenty, I went with a 14k just for the safety of it. Another vehicle I have is a 73 K5 blazer I built. Factory lists it as 4800lb vehicle. I put a fiberglass body on it, but then added a full roll cage, winches, heavy steel front/rear bumpers...I weighed it in at 5300lbs. Call it 6 if I have a full tank (extra capacity 40gal tank), extra off road gear, and some safety margin. The K5 actually is the more determining vehicle for a lift, or this lift, than the RAM 2500 which is 2k heavier. The K5's short 106.5" wheelbase, puts the BP 9k lift , with the listed WB/weight specs, near it's edge, there's a little to spare there, but not much. I also have a Kubota L35 tractor,with the backhoe on it, it's 6k, with a 60" wheelbase, the lift won't handle it, according to specification. The hoe is 1800lbs, even without the hoe, that's 4200. According the spec, 3500lb's is the max with that wheelbase, so, it can't go on the lift. I knew that going in. Alot of people, just say, it's a 14k lift, tractor only weighs 6, put it on. Well, according to spec, nope. Heck, according to spec, it doesn't go on the 18k lift either.



Also, BP lists these specifications, clearly in their quick specs. The OP is right, nobody else seems to list such specifications, but that's not to say they don't have them. You might get the Mohawk and in it's instruction manual it might list the full specifications/limitations or the like. I don't know. All I know is I couldn't find anything beyond the marketing and basic specs for any other brand. BP puts it all out there. Very few others had their install manuals, detailed spec sheets, parts list with drawings with dimensions, for you to see.

There's runway deflection, and the OP is absolutely right, if he bought the alignment version, I'd want 0 or near 0 deflection, and indeed, if you look at the specs for alot of "alignment" racks out there, just their overall shipping weight is 30-70% more than the same capacity in the general service version. I think the BP was a poor choice here, at least in the 14k version. But for a general service lift, some deflection is expected.

Rotary has an extended 14k lift as well, it has 7" thick runways (BP 14k has 7.5" thick runways extended or not extended), I don't know what Rotarys are made of, but would I put a 7K load in the middle of it, no I would not. They show pictures of limo's on it and actually market it as a limousine service lift.

That 19k Mohawk lift he replaced it is surely a better product. But I'm not so sure BP's 18k lift would better or worse. Looking at the specs, the 18k BP lift has twice the steel (talking lb's here) of their 14k lift. Rotary, is exactly the same.

Do I think BP over markets it, "the backbone of your shop"....sure they do. But everyone does that.

Now, the OP did say, the motor/hydro unit couldn't lift a 12k load. THat does concern me, no matter where the load was, that's of no concern to the motor/hydro unit, it should have lifted the load, without issue. There's only a few possible explanations for this: 1) it was truly overloaded 2) the motor/hydro is defective 3) The motor/hydro unit isn't up to the task. 3 seems highly unlikely, especially for a certified lift. What seems most likely, to me, is that these units can do the 14k, barely, (and going to Jeff's response about ALI/ANSI specs eluding to the fact they say the motor/hydro unit shouldn't be able to lift more than the specified amount, as a measure or safety), so... if BP isn't on the quality control, there's likely a large amount that get through that can't do the specified rating. So it's a mix of 3 and 2 and goes to the quality control processes that BP has in place. Again, this concerns me and could call the rest of the lift's quality into play.

 

[48windsor]

good for you x2twister. Not only did you do the right thing in helping a customer out . There would have been some serious backlash had you not .
Im willing to bet that there are quite a few potential customers reading this thread . Customer service is a paramount in making a big dollar purchase .
I hope things work out for the customer !