BendPak 4-Post Leveling Question

[Bluewolfcry]

Hi guys,

We moved to our new home a month ago and I finally got around to re-assembling the lift. Everything is put together and seems to be working properly. Only difference is, this time I plumbed/shimmed the posts, leveled the ladders and synced the cables. I figured this would reduce the anxiety and nightmares I have of my car falling through the garage walls.

At our old house, I did not compensate for the slope. No shims - just raised the ladders 1 cm off the post and synchronized the cables.

The problem: there’s not enough slack in the cables to fully compensate for the slope. The aluminum ramps barely touch the garage floor when the lift is down. See pics.

There about a 0.5-1 inch gap at the ramp. Is this ok? Essentially, the cables would be under load the entire time down. I often parked my car on the lift without raising. If this is a problem, how should I address this?

Thanks in advance!
Tony

 

[pbon]

I would probably skip the shims under the post floor plates. I would use a laser level to try to get all the ladders at the same height.

Always activate the air first when raising or lowering, especially lowering.

 

[Bluewolfcry]

I would probably skip the shims under the post floor plates. I would use a laser level to try to get all the ladders at the same height.

Always activate the air first when raising or lowering, especially lowering.

Pbon, the challenge here is I would still have this cable slack issue, even with the shims out. If I adjust the ladders to NOT be level, but parallel to the floor slope (which is what I had before), there would be ample slack for the runways to touch the floor. However, I don’t think that’s the correct way to operate?

 

[pbon]

If the ladders are not level will the locks engage at the right time? As long as they do, would there be any issue with the operation of the lift? I don’t like the cables holding one end off the floor. That is probably not ideal for the ramps, either, since they would be supported only at the ends.

I think my floor has some slope but I forget how much. I was able to level the runners and ladders pretty well so my slope must not be as bad as yours. Before I did that leveling, I had a couple of bad experiences lowering a car. One post started tilting in. The cable was loose under the runner. I found that always engaging the air release before depressing the lowering handle helped.

 

[wssix99]

I'm in the same situation. I created a pattern of the base plates, had a local shop cut them out of 1" steel with a plasma cutter, and then I painted them with a can of BendPak touch up paint. While they were at it and set up, they cut me some thin shims out of other thicknesses and I was able to level the feet all perfectly and precisely.

Everything installed easy.

 

[Bluewolfcry]

Interesting....Did you weld the pieces to the post and are the ramps still able to touch the floor?