Anyone installed a Bendpak 2-Post lately?

[rust buster]

After months of research, I purchased a 12k 2-post Bendpak lift, XPR-12CL.
The shop I had at my old house had lower ceilings and I had a 10k lbs floor plate, Worth lift, which I was disappointed with, especially since it is American made.

My new shop has high ceilings so I did not have any limitations. I narrowed it down to Bendpak, Challenger, and Rotary. The Bendpak price and recent promotion sealed the deal.

The lift showed up undamaged and install was relatively straight forward....
BUT...the single point release is either a really bad design/engineering, or I got one that was manufactured poorly. The instructions show a completely different lock release design... On my lift, the release lever goes up at a steep angle, and you pull it down, vs most that I have seen, where the lever handle goes down and you push it towards the lift column to release. None of the holes in the mechanism are tight, and the cable is just looped on the opposite side, not held in place at all. It's just super hokey.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Did they change the design and it just hasn't made it into the documentation yet?
Pics to come.

 

[aggie113]

Mine is also angled up and requires pulling down to release the locks. Can't speak to the cable as I was not preset during install. I do know if I don't pull down hard enough it only releases the lock on the lever's side, so watch out for that when lowering. Mine is a new install, but I purchased it back in Feb.

 

[finn]

There was a post here a couple of months ago that implied that the installation instructions for the lock release were incorrect on some Bendpak lifts, making release difficult.

Correcting the way the cable attaches to the slave end fixes the issue. The correct routing at the slave end wasn’t intuitive.

 

[rust buster]

The hinge rod hole is close to 3/16" too big for the rod and when you pull it down, it torques to the left or right. The slave side cable rubs against the top of the hole in the column. The slave side lock also rubs/rides against the hydraulic cylinder. Anyone see any install errors in these pics? Maybe I have it wrong (I hope).

 

[infinkc]

The hinge rod hole is close to 3/16" too big for the rod and when you pull it down, it torques to the left or right. The slave side cable rubs against the top of the hole in the column. The slave side lock also rubs/rides against the hydraulic cylinder. Anyone see any install errors in these pics? Maybe I have it wrong (I hope).

you have it wrong, i posted this on another post before, i had the same issue and found that bendpak fixed their instructions. this is how its routed
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8624512&postcount=5

 

[finn]

Yup, it’s wrong.

My lift is 2500 miles away., but the cable should run over the front of the lower crossbar and the loop then slips over (around) the upper cross bar, if I remember correctly.

Essentially, you are supposed to be pulling on the upper bar, using the lower bar as a fulcrum.

 

[perfect]

I have a Bendpak 10k symmetrical lift that I had installed this summer. While my lock mechanism is slightly different (I push the release handle in towards the post, not pulling down like yours), I will give one piece of advice.

Lube the opposite post locking mechanism really well. I had to realllly push my lever in to get it to pull open the opposite post lock. It was so difficult to get it to release that I had to have my wife hold open the lock with a screwdriver to get my truck down the 1st time I used it. I noticed that the slave lock release was just really tight when it pivoted and greasing (white lithium grease) solved the problem easily. Now I can get the locks released easily with minimal effort.

Also note - your cables will probably stretch a bit over time and usage, but it is easy to tighten it back up.

 

[finn]

I have a Bendpak 10k symmetrical lift that I had installed this summer. While my lock mechanism is slightly different (I push the release handle in towards the post, not pulling down like yours), I will give one piece of advice.

Lube the opposite post locking mechanism really well. I had to realllly push my lever in to get it to pull open the opposite post lock. It was so difficult to get it to release that I had to have my wife hold open the lock with a screwdriver to get my truck down the 1st time I used it. I noticed that the slave lock release was just really tight when it pivoted and greasing (white lithium grease) solved the problem easily. Now I can get the locks released easily with minimal effort.

Also note - your cables will probably stretch a bit over time and usage, but it is easy to tighten it back up.

Sounds like the same routing issue, rather than a lube issue.

Your release cable is installed wrong.

Been there, done that.

 

[rust buster]

Thanks for all the help! I guess it's too much to ask Bendpak to put a 1-page flyer in the package about an error/update to the install instructions? The premium for the Rotary is not looking to be such a bad move now...
For those that have one of these, when you pull down (or push) the release lever, does it torque badly to one side or the other, instead of going straight down? Any ideas why they changed the design to be up instead of down? I'm debating changing it back to the down design.

 

[brownbagg]

you do raise the lift clyinders a little before pulling, unlocking

 

[rust buster]

you do raise the lift clyinders a little before pulling, unlocking

Absolutely. There is so much slop in the hinge pin, and with the load only in one side, it torques maybe half an inch to the side with the load.