Backyard Buddy failure, how to proceed?

[hawkeye93]

My father, who is in his 80's, has a ~20 year old Backyard Buddy lift in his garage. The "axle" that holds the pully at the left rear broke, leaving the cables hanging and the lift crooked. It can't be lifted or lowered using the hydraulics. It currently has a '57 Thunderbird on top of the lift, and the right front corner is being supported by a floor jack. How can we remove the car safely and possibly repair the lift? For safety reasons, I don't want my father performing any risky maneuvers.

 

[Junkman]

Have a rollback truck back up to the lift and roll it onto the truck. If the lift is higher than the truck, place some boards under the truck's tires to raise the truck's height. The truck's winch should be able to pull the car onto the deck without a problem.

 

[matt_i]

There are a couple of ways. First would be to build a structure (could be wood or metal) spanning the top of the posts so that it could be leveled and the load relieved with come-alongs and or chain falls. It could even be threaded rod, nuts and washers, if you had that material and some fabrication capabilities. It would probably take a 5/8 to 3/4" dia rod.

Then you can machine a new shaft for the cable sheave. I recommend 4140.

Easier button would be a forklift from the side if you had such a beast.

You could use "high lift" "farm jacks" as well, and 4x4 temp posts for blocking so you can work on it safely.

 

[MovingAlong]

Called out a rollback to get a 80's Cadillac (a beast!) off a tractor/trailer flatbed for me once. Worked real well, I'm with @Junkman on this one.

I'd be using @matt_i's methods after having the car pulled off with the rollback.

 

[vavet]

Step 1: get the car off before attempting to lower the lift.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Have a rollback truck back up to the lift and roll it onto the truck. If the lift is higher than the truck, place some boards under the truck's tires to raise the truck's height. The truck's winch should be able to pull the car onto the deck without a problem.

If there's room to fit the rollback truck into the garage this seems like the best option. Dealing with fixing the lift will be a lot easier then. I don't know what kind of warranty Backyard Buddy offers on a lift that old, but a phone call to them seems appropriate.

 

[stingry]

You need to safely lift each corner of the lift just enough to take pressure off of the pulleys and cables, then you can replace the broken axle. Leaving the car on it should not be a problem as long as you properly lift the corners. Definitely don’t use a high lift jack, they are inherilently unsafe. I’d use some sort of cribbing and hydraulic jacks.

 

[denis4x4]

Had a similar thing happen to my 20+ years old BYB. Lift was low enough to move a chassis on to a trailer safely. Advantage Garage had a complete set of pulleys and pulley axles with zirk fittings along with a complete set of cables. Total cost was around $1200. I considered that a bargain in as much as I paid $1800 for a brand new BYB in 1999. Took a day for two of us to R&R the cables and pulleys.

Had I been paying attention, I could have avoided the issue. Seems the cable slipped off the pulley and cut the axle as shown in the OP's photos. You could hear the cable working on the axle.

 

[B229218]

If there's room to fit the rollback truck into the garage this seems like the best option. Dealing with fixing the lift will be a lot easier then. I don't know what kind of warranty Backyard Buddy offers on a lift that old, but a phone call to them seems appropriate.

The company that owns backyard buddy is bankrupt

 

[BillK]

You need to safely lift each corner of the lift just enough to take pressure off of the pulleys and cables, ..................... I’d use some sort of cribbing and hydraulic jacks.

This would be the way I would do it too. Heavy wood cribbing with 4 short bottle jacks. Get it up high enough to fix it and it should be good to go for another 20 years

 

[Skyman]

The company that owns backyard buddy is bankrupt

Advantage is now in bankruptcy? This is the first I've heard of that.

 

[gregs]

I would probably do the above^^^ option with the car on the lift, but I am cheap. If not that then the rollback would be the best option.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Option 1 is the rollback, hands down. Option 2 is using a LOT of stable cribbing and bottle jacks to get the weight off the mechanism and start replacing parts. But if you can get the car off first SAFELY, that's the best option.

 

[wssix99]

Some good ideas above. Cribbing and jacking is cheap and easy. I think you could also rent some chain hoists, rig them at all four corners, open the locks and then lower it down in a faster/easier manner.

...I'm surprised no one has suggested the "obvious" move to rig some C4 in the corners, detonate it, and then drop the platform into a pile of air mattresses...

 

[dante2]

...I'm surprised no one has suggested the "obvious" move to rig some C4 in the corners, detonate it, and then drop the platform into a pile of air mattresses...

That's like using the easy button. Way to simple a solution for us GJ folks.

 

[rsanter]

Get the car off the lift if you can.
the rollback idea is the best, but if you cannot do that I would get some pallet racking and build a platform to roll the star onto to relive the stress on it.

then get that axle out of there and look at having another one made, but check for other damage as well

 

[kbuhagiar]

My father, who is in his 80's, has a ~20 year old Backyard Buddy lift in his garage. The "axle" that holds the pully at the left rear broke, leaving the cables hanging and the lift crooked. It can't be lifted or lowered using the hydraulics. It currently has a '57 Thunderbird on top of the lift, and the right front corner is being supported by a floor jack. How can we remove the car safely and possibly repair the lift? For safety reasons, I don't want my father performing any risky maneuvers.

Many great suggestions so far. My thoughts:

-Remove the car if at all possible. Rollback truck sounds ideal.
-Depending on how bad the damage is to the cable and pulley, you may be able to do an interim repair by VERY TEMPORARILY replacing that broken axle with a piece of steel bar, or even a long bolt. Even if ill-fitting, it may allow you to briefly - BRIEFLY - operate the lift to raise or lower it to a good work height. Admittedly, if there is extensive collateral damage to the other components this may be a moot point.
-Expect to replace ALL of the pulleys, axles & cables, as it is likely that all of them have suffered similar wear.

Ultimately you may decide that the cost and effort involved for a 20-year-old lift may not be worth it. Those replacement parts, if you can find them, will be spendy, like four-figures spendy.

Good luck and BE CAREFUL.

 

[HoosierMark]

It doesn’t look like it is that high off the floor, back a car trailer in with stand up ramps. Lay the ramps down to connect with the BYB. Then roll it off or just get a double a couple of 2x10x12s , support appropriately and roll it off to the floor.

 

[bwringer]

Huh, TIL what a "Backyard Buddy" is.

 

[hawkeye93]

UPDATE: The car has been safely removed from the lift.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. A friendly neighbor was able to get the car onto a trailer and out of the garage. I wasn't present, so I don't know all the particulars. My mother sent me this photo.

 

[kbuhagiar]

UPDATE: The car has been safely removed from the lift.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. A friendly neighbor was able to get the car onto a trailer and out of the garage. I wasn't present, so I don't know all the particulars. My mother sent me this photo.

GREAT NEWS!
Will you be repairing the lift? It would be interesting to hear the details.

 

[Shiftless]

I’m not the only one here who is glad to see success on that front.
BTW, what is now going to happen with that gorgeous ‘57 T-bird ??

 

[Quickstep192]

Wow!

I have a 20+ year old BackYard buddy. Mine doesn’t see a whole lot of use.

Should I plan on replacing those axles pro-actively?

By the way, it looks like BYB is transitioning to a company called realgaragelife.com

 

[hawkeye93]

GREAT NEWS!
Will you be repairing the lift? It would be interesting to hear the details.

I don't know what the plans are regarding repairs. I suspect it might be time for a new lift. I don't think I'd be super confident in a repaired 20 year old lift.

I’m not the only one here who is glad to see success on that front.
BTW, what is now going to happen with that gorgeous ‘57 T-bird ??

It'll go back into storage. That T-Bird is just one of 3 57's that Dad has, along with a dozen or more other collector cars. In the photo with the trailer, you can just make out a red 57 T-bird and a red 65 Corvette by the basketball hoop. I have a few collector cars myself; my 55 Fairlane is kept in that same garage.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Wow!

I have a 20+ year old BackYard buddy. Mine doesn’t see a whole lot of use.

Should I plan on replacing those axles pro-actively?

By the way, it looks like BYB is transitioning to a company called realgaragelife.com

Realgaragelife.com (and thus BYB) went belly up a while back, they are currently in bankruptcy. It is detailed in another thread on GJ.

 

[larry4406]

Glad the T-bird was extracted safely and unharmed (same for your dad).

Beautiful collection of cars.