BendPak 4 post owners needed.

[workhurts]

Anyone that has a 4 post BendPak on a floor with a 2-3" incline please let me know who you are. Need to see if my lift is behaving normally or not ....

I have a 2.5" slope from highest post to lowest post (on the diagonal). A shade over 2" front to back.

We've got it sitting flat and true and level while on the locks. Front locks click in 2-3" before rears because of the slope. I could tight the rear cables to bring the lift up but that means it wouldn't sit on the floor when in the down position.

I can't release any more tension off the front cables because there's no more room at adjust as I run out of bolt.

With all that being said, lift goes up, comes down, I can tell when it's on or off a lock so in terms of use I can work it without killing myself. The bit that confuses me is that when it's resting on locks I get about 5" of extra slack in the cable under the runway and it looks like it's dangling. The short rear cables are 3" below the runway and the long front cables are 8" below ...so a 5" difference.

How does everyone else look? Is there a reason a 2.5" slope develops into 5" of slack? Seems like it should be half ... not double. Really wish BendPak had a forum. I'll post pictures later.

 

[Clik]

I've got a Bendpak 14,000lb and I had a five post 40,000lb Bendpak. I think what you are doing is dangerous, if I'm getting your description right.

You need to get some steel plate and shim the lower posts up to level with those at the upper end of the slope.

If you didn't, you'd have to square the posts with the floor which would leave your ramps slanted; also dangerous.

 

[wildstyle]

The installers at that do our hoists at the dealership have big shims made of plastic they stack under the posts to level the hoists when the slope on the floor is out that much.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

 

[Dakota00]

Workhurts,

Here's a pic from your other thread, I saw this pic and the first thing I noticed was the cables were hanging too low.

Some BendPak owners have shimmed their lifts level, like show in these pics.
View media item 39602View media item 39603
Another leveled lift
View media item 39604View media item 39605
Personally... If the slope is not too steep, I would not level the lift. I would have the ramps run parallel with the floor. If I remember correctly, in the BendPak manual it states that the lift can be installed on floors where the grade does not exceed more than 3%. Which clearly your floor doesn't have no where near that amount of slope. Plus the lift must be bolted down with a slope of 1/8" per 12".

 

[workhurts]

Thanks for the info. Slope is about 0.8 I don't remember reading the 1/8" per 12" rule anywhere.

I wasn't planning on bolting the lift down. It kinda annoys me that BendPak markets a lift for home use. Every new home being built has a slope to the garage flloor that exceeds 1/8th in per foot and there isn't much mention of shimming or there being slope issues anywhere on the website.

What's dangerous about the rear being 2" behind the front in going up other than the slack that's developed in the cables once rested on locks? I mean if you know when your locks are on and when they are releasing?

This was actually installed by one of their more seasoned installers but I wanted to experiment with it and see if I could get the slack off.

What does adjusting the cables actually do? The manual says get the locks all level and adjust the cables to get the clicking in sync. If you crank down enough on the cables does the lift come off the floor?

One more for you. Anything wrong with having a bit of a slope 0.5 degrees to the runways? I mean that's even less than the floor and I haven't had anything roll through the garage doors. Provided that blocks are used to keep the cars from rolling. I guess I'm asking which is less of an issue. Slope to runway. Lagging rear. Slack of cable under runway. I can adjust a bit of something out of each issue or just leaving one glaring issue.

 

[Junkman]

Your concrete floor is the problem, not the lift. I would bet that there are high and low spots all over the floor, along with the slope. You need to get everything level, and bolted down. If you are expecting the manufacturer to produce a product that could accommodate any conditions that might be encountered in a garage, then each lift would have to be custom built for each application. Just like your stove or refrigerator, which also MUST be leveled before use, so does your lift. It is rare that any concrete floor is perfectly level in all directions, but some are better than others depending on the quality of work that the contractor produces. I waited 3 months to have the concrete contractor do my garage floor, because he has a reputation of doing excellent work.

 

[workhurts]

Junkman. There are plenty of threads that speak to the adjustability of lifts when used on uneven floors. I was just saying most residential garages have a slope as dictated by code and that there wasn't enough of a discussion about it. BendPak wouldn't have to make a custom lift for everything but just make it adjustable.

Guess what. My stove and fridge would have tiny little feet that I could adjust to make it level

There's another thread of someone who had 1.5" slope and said he got everything level and in sync with just adjustments. That's what I'm after. If I have to, I'll shim and throw some non shrink grout under there if need be. I just want to exhaust all other options first.

Back to the lift discussion. I also have a corner that if I leave 1" above the nut will not actually sit on the floor (BendPak says 2-3 threads exposed will be fine although the instruction have huge warnings about anything less than an inch). Is that also a floor issue or an adjustment issue.

Like I said, installer installed the lift. I'm just messing with it to see how it behaves with minor adjustments so I fully understand how it works.

 

[workhurts]

Back to the questions which I'm going to ask BendPak also once they open.

1 - If posts have to be raised/shimmed when floor is not level then what is the point of an adjustable ladder?

2 - If you raise/shim the rear post and adjust cables so the clicking is in sync and you have a 2" difference front to back, do you end up with a crossbar at the back that is 2" higher than the floor. What do you do with the ramps then?

3 - Rather than raising and shimming the post can't you put a 2" piece of metal under the cross-bar itself. Same problem with ramps as question 2 but seems like a quicker/easier solution and you'd not have to bolt the posts down.

Don't worry. I usually end up doing things by the book but I like to explore options.

 

[workhurts]

Ok, so here's the progress so far.

Added some plywood to raise the corners temporarily (no car on top). Locks even. Same issue with one of the cables. Super short. Clicking almost synchronized. The 3 corners that I can adjust are synced the other is off by a little but.

Now the cylinder leaks a little. Don't think that's quite right but not sure what is normal.

The non-slip grit just keeps falling off one of the runways. Someone was having a bad day when they packaged this thing up.

 

[911mike]

I recommend a load on the lift when adjusting the cables and ladders. I did mine empty and there off by 1/2 - 3/4" with a car loaded. The cables stretch and with a load they stretch even more. I have a rotating laser which makes adjusting really easy.

 

[Higgins]

Your concrete floor is the problem, not the lift. I would bet that there are high and low spots all over the floor, along with the slope. You need to get everything level, and bolted down. If you are expecting the manufacturer to produce a product that could accommodate any conditions that might be encountered in a garage, then each lift would have to be custom built for each application. Just like your stove or refrigerator, which also MUST be leveled before use, so does your lift. It is rare that any concrete floor is perfectly level in all directions, but some are better than others depending on the quality of work that the contractor produces. I waited 3 months to have the concrete contractor do my garage floor, because he has a reputation of doing excellent work.

Junkman

Residential garages are required to have a minimum of an !/8" slope from the rear of the garage twords the open door! Contractors around here use a RED chalk like to mark the slope, and the inspector checks the slope before and after the pour!!
And the inspectors will not budge on it one bit! Been there, ran into that!

AL

 

[James E]

I don't understand what you mean when you say that you have it flat and true when it's sitting on the safety locks but the front locks click in 2-3" before the rear ones. That seems contradictory to me.

It is important that when the lift is up, it is resting on the ladder bars at all four corners and is level. If it is adjusted this way, the front of the lift will touch ground before the back, but that's ok. When it is all the way down, you will have all four corners resting on the baseplates and a little more slack in the cables at the front than at the back.

It is NOT ok to have the lift raised and resting on only two ladder bars--if I am reading your initial post correctly.

When I raise my HD-9 into position, all of the safety locks ping at the same time. When it's where I want it, I lower the lift so that it sits on all four safety locks. I do not continue to lower it until there is excessive slack in the cables. They would get in the way and would be prone to coming off their pulleys. I suspect you have too much slack in your cables because you've got the ladder bars misadjusted (not all four at the same level).

Also, it is not normal for the cylinder to leak. Some posters have had this happen before and usually, Bend-Pak sends them a new cylinder.

HTH, James.

 

[Gernby]

I just joined this forum, since I'm about to install a Bendpak HD-7W in my residential garage, which is about 2" lower at the garage door than it is at the opposite wall (0.7 degrees). I'm considering everything discussed in this thread (which was very helpfull), and believe that the best suggestion was in post 12, from James E.

Since I'm more of a visual guy, I drew some quick sketches to make sure you guys agree with my approach. Note that the slope in these sketches are intentionally exaggerated at about 6 degrees.

Sketch 1: Ideal scenario where floor is level, lift is bolted to the ground, posts are perfectly vertical (plumb), safetly latches click in sync, and runways are always level.

Sketch 2: Worst case scenario where floor is sloped, posts are un-bolted and leaning, safetly latches may click in sync, but runways are never level.

Sketch 3: Improvement over sketch 2, which has un-bolted posts that are not level or plumb. The runways can be level, but depending on how the cables are adjusted, they may not click in sync. There may also be slack in some cables. In extreme cases, it seems that this would increase wear on the moving parts due to binding. It sounds like this is how the OP has his setup.

Sketch 4: Possibly the right way to deal with slope, since everything can be level and plumb. However, this seems like it would make some lowered cars more difficult to load, since the front of the runways won't drop all the way down to the ground.

Sketch 5: Possibly the best way to deal with slope might be to NOT try making the bases level, but instead just make them plumb. If the cables and ladders can be adjusted so that the runways are level and click in sync, and the slope is less than 3 degrees, that sounds like the approach that the installation manual suggests.

If the cables can be adjusted to allow it, then it seems that the runways would only be unlevel when the lift is lowered all the way down, which might cause some cables to have some slack.

Does anyone know of any reason why this bottom approach won't work? Since I need to be able to load / unload cars with very low ride heights, I really can't raise the lower end with 2" of shims.

 

[sublimate]

I've always wondered if you could dig the high end posts into the floor, like below. You'd probably need to cut out a 1'x1' section under the 2 high posts and then use rebar to pin the lowered part to the surrounding floor, so maybe too much work, but it'd be cleaner than having the shim at the front and should allow the lift to lay flat.

 

[Junkman]

I don't believe that what you suggest doing in the last picture will work, because once the cross beam hits the floor, the other end of the lift is still going to be in the air, and there is no way that it can drop enough to reach the floor, without the lift putting a twisting effect on the cross beam. If the overall slope is 2 inches, then I would split the difference, and shim one end about 1", and call it a day.
As far as the cables having slack in them when the lift is sitting on the ladders, that is the effect of the weight of the cables moving into a relaxed position. I don't see this as an issue. All the weight is being held by the ladders and the upright columns.

 

[ovilla]

I'd first adjust each top ladder bar cut-out until they are all four at the same one height - while also ensuring that they are all parallel to the floors main slope. It doesn't matter if your floor has a slope to it, as long as your runways end up following the same slope.

I'd then adjust the length of the cables at each column corner to ensure that the locks all engage at the same time. If you run out of adjustment on any one cable, then I'd just shim that column, readjust the ladder bar cutout height and then the cable should have any needed adjustment threading that it needs.

Then put the weight of a car on it and adjust the cables again, as needed.

 

[Gernby]

Thanks for the replies. I can see your points, and agree that it might be totally wrong to go with the last approach. However, it really seems that the installation manual would need to be reworded to make it clear that the posts should ONLY be made plumb IF the posts are also made level. By saying that the floor can have as much as 3 degrees slope, and that the posts just need to be shimmed to the point of being plumb, it really implies that the posts do NOT need to be level.

 

[Relax]

See Bendpak's (JSK = Jeff Kritzer) recommendation in post 15:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242267