Bendpak RJ45 - Issues

[DerStig]

Talk about my luck, its just not getting any better.

Got my RJ45 yesterday, so happy. Installation went fine with literally no hiccups.

After the install, I looked at the unit from the side and the main piece that goes up and down (the scissor part) is severely off level. What I mean by severely is probably one side is higher by 1" or more than the other. When I put my level on it, the bubble is maxed out on one end. I checked everything and rechecked. The base is fully level in each direction. It looks like a horribly done weld job.

On top of this, there was rust everywhere, even inside the vent plug. Every bolt, cable, nut were rusted. The threads of the fill plug is also all rust. Chances are it rusted inside as well.

I emailed customer service but wanted to find out if this is common or not. I'm really upset. I dont know if a part replacement can fix this because pretty much the whole thing is kaput. I dont even know how something this size can be sent back. I have no energy left in me to pack this

 

[jomobco]

I backed my pickup to my lift, lowered the tailgate over the rear of the lift and slid carefully off the truck and onto the lift. That jack is heavy. I can't imagine sending it back. Mine certainly weren't rusty. It sounds like it may have been dropped prior to going aboard the ship. The drop may have bent it and broke the packaging and the rust came from the exposure to sea air for a few weeks. Bummer. Hope they take care of it for you.

 

[DerStig]

I backed my pickup to my lift, lowered the tailgate over the rear of the lift and slid carefully off the truck and onto the lift. That jack is heavy. I can't imagine sending it back. Mine certainly weren't rusty. It sounds like it may have been dropped prior to going aboard the ship. The drop may have bent it and broke the packaging and the rust came from the exposure to sea air for a few weeks. Bummer. Hope they take care of it for you.

The box was fairly impact, but there was a lot of rust on the outer plastic wrap.

I dont think this is a matter of dropping to be honest, this is probably 9-10 gauge steel, doesnt bend that easily. Also looking at it closely it looks like a bad weld job. The arms that connect the top end to the bottom base where the large metal pins slide in (the axle) are both welded at an angle.

It is so off balance that i m surprised QC didnt catch this. I tried lifting my car and stopped shortly after because the jack felt like it was unbalanced and tilting.

 

[LX-Markham]

Does it go up and down okay? i.e. does it bind at all?

Is the scissor part of the jack not straight? Or is the entire frame of the ******** level?
What I'm getting at is: the 4 rollers are spring loaded and compress when you load up the jack. It's possible that one or more of the rollers is jambed, causing the jack to be off-kilter.

The rollers on my jack were so covered in paint that they would not roll.

 

[DerStig]

Does it go up and down okay? i.e. does it bind at all?

Is the scissor part of the jack not straight? Or is the entire frame of the ******** level?
What I'm getting at is: the 4 rollers are spring loaded and compress when you load up the jack. It's possible that one or more of the rollers is jambed, causing the jack to be off-kilter.

The rollers on my jack were so covered in paint that they would not roll.

It goes up and down okay, no binding. The rollers as well as the frame and everything at the base is parallel in every direction. I checked with multiple levels.

The scissor piece is welded at an angle, and as a result the entire piece that moves up and down follows that angle.

My rollers move very well. I m actually quite pleased with how smooth this thing is.

But even on my smaller car the arms dont reach the pinch welds, so I need to come up with an alternative solution. The other problem is, in my car the cats and the exhaust are a hair lower than the pinch welds or any other body parts so what happens is the center of the jack catches them if I dont use some sort of wood blocks.

I think once I sort out this issue next thing is to have a custom longer steel piece welded that will act as an extender.

But all of that is secondary now, I m so sad. And I spent so much time building my own air lines and did a fantastic job (I will post pictures later). So bummed right now

 

[DerStig]

I need some help from the members of the board.

Bendpak is claiming this leaning is normal and it happens. I think its ridiculous. Can everyone check theirs please, possibly with a level. I would really appreciate it.

 

[MarlynOC]

Did you send them photos of the unit extended and down?

 

[Jazzman442]

No thats not how its suppose to be. That is the reason I do not nor ever will have a bend Pak. I have a direct lift and my jack came 1/5 inch off. They sent me the parts to fix. That did not work so they sent a new jack because they did not want a car to fall.

I would demand a new jack..

 

[rburke65]

Maybe not, but it seems to me, with all the threads on lifts, Bendpak lifts are often the source of "issues".......just my opinion, of course, but.......

 

[DerStig]

I sent them pictures, measurements, when its collapsed and extended. Its so bad that my 6 year old asked me about "daddy why it looks bent".

The problem is, they also need to send me cables because the cables I got are too long. They need to send me a motor because the motor I got is leaking oil. They need to send me a pulley because one of the pulley's has nicks all around and was damaged during shipping. This is on top of all the stuff they sent to me. I am basically out $4000 and literally spend every week debugging this stuff.

Considering the sheer number of things they are sending me, they are probably realizing this is rather an expensive ordeal and they dont want to send anything else.

I have now tried their quickjack, hd9, and rj45. None of this stuff worked the way it should. None of the stuff had the quality anywhere near what I expect from a product at that price point considering they are 30-50% more expensive than cheaper alternatives. They have a chinese made product but they demand US pricing. Its ridiculous. I didnt even post here about quickjack. That thing had such horrible welding job that one side would not collapse all the way and would never smoothly extend.

Did I tell you I had paint so much of the lift that 2 full cans of spray paint wasnt enough? There was rust and scratches everywhere. Its like someone literally scraped the hell out of every piece of it.

Unfortunately this is not Amazon, you cannot just return this stuff. Had I known these issues, I would have purchased Rotary and pay a bit more. My personal time spent on this is probably unmeasurable.

What I dont understand is why I am the only one having these issues and why this forum isnt filled with similar threads. Its not one or two things, I have tried 3 of their completely different products and they all had ridiculous issues.

I have kept it very cool since the beginning (about 3 months ago now when it all started), but I am really tired of it.

 

[DerStig]

Bendpak asked for pictures while there is load on the jack, and I want to share them with you as well. While taking the pictures, I have noticed a more serious problem, which is that the jack is also not level side to side. Basically one side is about 3/8" or more higher than the other side. While raising the car, one side of the car always goes up more than the other. While the rolling jack is fully collapsed, you can extend one arm freely and there is a big space between itself and the runway whereas the other arm scrapes the runway.

Pictures speak a thousand words, I dont think this is normal. I would appreciate if RJ45 owners report back here and tell me whether theirs do this or not because Bendpak claims this is normal.

 

[ripnesscobra]

Since you have so many issues, have you requested that they send a certified service technician to your house to assess the problems and how to fix them? They supposedly have a 12 month on site labor warranty for issues like this.


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[DerStig]

Since you have so many issues, have you requested that they send a certified service technician to your house to assess the problems and how to fix them? They supposedly have a 12 month on site labor warranty for issues like this.


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None of my issues will get fixed by on site technicians (I wish they were - believe me!). All of these problems are due to parts:

- Too long cables
- Oil Leaking motor
- Pulley that was damaged during shipping
- Lots of paint damage and rust (went through 2 full cans of blue and 1.5 cans of yellow).
- Other missing small parts (like the little metal stoppers that hold the small pulleys)
- Rolling jack that is completely off level in 4 different directions.

 

[Al G]

None of my issues will get fixed by on site technicians (I wish they were - believe me!). All of these problems are due to parts:

- Too long cables
- Oil Leaking motor
- Pulley that was damaged during shipping
- Lots of paint damage and rust (went through 2 full cans of blue and 1.5 cans of yellow).
- Other missing small parts (like the little metal stoppers that hold the small pulleys)
- Rolling jack that is completely off level in 4 different directions.

If the technician validates the problems Bendpak might be more responsive.

I have two Bendpak lifts and have never had a problem with either of them. I also opted for dedicated shipping from factory to installer to avoid terminal transfers. No extra charge just extra time. I don't know if that is a standard option or something my dealer offered. I suspect your paint damage occurred in transit. You can't blame Bendpak for that.

 

[dclassical]

I wish you luck and will follow this. I was very interested in the QuickJack, but honestly I am going to wait.

 

[blair683]

Is there a "Made In China" sticker?

 

[DerStig]

If the technician validates the problems Bendpak might be more responsive.

I have two Bendpak lifts and have never had a problem with either of them. I also opted for dedicated shipping from factory to installer to avoid terminal transfers. No extra charge just extra time. I don't know if that is a standard option or something my dealer offered. I suspect your paint damage occurred in transit. You can't blame Bendpak for that.

Let me be very clear here. All of my issues regarding the HD9 was due to one of the cables being too long (by an extra 1 1/4") and one being too short (by 1/2"). I have demonstrated this to Bendpak and they didnt even contest it and will send me the right cables.

I have had other issues with their products. I havent mentioned any of this here and only mentioned things which at the time I thought was something I could address. Turns out those things were not related to anything I have done.

I also need to replace the motor which means I need to redo every connection again this is on top of the cables I need to replace and on top of the paint work I did (2 weekends worth).

And I fully blame bendpak for the paint job. My shipment was not damaged at all (I have pictures). The outer plastic wrap and all the cardboard was pretty good. The issue clearly happend when they were packing this. Furthermore, both HD9 and RJ45 exhibited severe rust (as in someone literally took a galon of rust in liquid form and poured over this stuff). The rust was everywhere.

Lastly, there is no install perse with the rolling jack. Its one piece, it works out of the box. The pictures I have posted should be more than sufficient to explain the problem here. The outcome wouldnt have been different whether it was you or me or John Doe installing this or a professional installer. I can visually see welds not being done perpendicular. I dont know how else to explain this.

I am not surprised about the poor weld job because similar problem was present with my quick jack.

3 different products, 3 different times, same company.

 

[DerStig]

I wish you luck and will follow this. I was very interested in the QuickJack, but honestly I am going to wait.

Quickjack deserves its own thread which frankly I am not going to make because in that regard bendpak did take care of me (they took qj back and paid shipping and let me pay the difference for hd9).

 

[ard]

You pay with a credit card?

I put all my biz travel and expenses on AMEX, and as a result they are VERY responsive when it comes to issues, chargebacks, etc. Point is that you should not assume you don't have leverage....

 

[ripnesscobra]

My point is these issues shouldn't be your problem to fix. Demand that they come out to assess the problems and fix them with the necessary parts.


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[DerStig]

You pay with a credit card?

I put all my biz travel and expenses on AMEX, and as a result they are VERY responsive when it comes to issues, chargebacks, etc. Point is that you should not assume you don't have leverage....

I did, but not AMEX and not by choice. These guys dont accept AMEX So it had to be visa.

 

[lakeroadster]

You fellas having issues with Bendpak.. have you posted in the Product and Vendor Reviews forum?

 

[DerStig]

You fellas having issues with Bendpak.. have you posted in the Product and Vendor Reviews forum?

Once everything is finalized with my issues, I will do that in great detail. Was always planning.

 

[DerStig]

Just an update - I had another issue with the rolling jack, after which Bendpak agreed to send me a new RJ45. It should be here in a week.

I think I just got a bad unit is all, there were just way too many problems with this jack. I don't want to go into the details as I believe they are genuine about trying to make things right and me giving too much detail here isn't going to help anyone.

Anyways, hopefully the replacement unit will be better.

 

[moneypit_k5]

Im interested to know how the new one works. will be following.

 

[kabinenroller]

I am sorry to hear about the issues you are having. Hopefully Bend Pak will step up and take care of everything. I purchased a Bend Pak lift and RJ45 a couple of years ago, there were some issues with the lift and the installer took care of them with factory supplied replacement parts. I am still very leery of how the lift operates and have to check the level of the ramps whenever the lift is resting on the locks.
I will never purchase another Bend Pak product because of my issues and the constant issues I read about on this forum. I should have purchased another brand. I researched the category before buying and saw that Bend Pak was used on quite a few television shows and even in Jay's garage so I went with them. Big mistake.

 

[DerStig]

I am sorry to hear about the issues you are having. Hopefully Bend Pak will step up and take care of everything. I purchased a Bend Pak lift and RJ45 a couple of years ago, there were some issues with the lift and the installer took care of them with factory supplied replacement parts. I am still very leery of how the lift operates and have to check the level of the ramps whenever the lift is resting on the locks.
I will never purchase another Bend Pak product because of my issues and the constant issues I read about on this forum. I should have purchased another brand. I researched the category before buying and saw that Bend Pak was used on quite a few television shows and even in Jay's garage so I went with them. Big mistake.

I think part of the problem is they used to be all made in USA for many years and recently (last decade) they outsourced things to China. That years of good quality products made a very good name for them and we are simply too slow to catch up.

In all honesty though, now that I am thinking about it, even if I had $10,000 to spend on a 4 post lift, Bendpak HD9 was the only one I could use because of my ceiling height restriction. I have 90" ceilings, there was simply no way I could use the Rotary 4 post lift. Even if I cut a square piece in my ceiling, I wouldn't be able to lift the columns upright as they would need more than 90" throughout the entire ceiling to be raised. So I guess this is as good as it's going to get for me.

One positive thing about Bendpak though is at least the customer service is in US and you are talking to a live person unlike many other Chinese made brands where there is usually an email address and nothing else and it takes days to get a response. Bendpak has been very quick to respond to me and send replacement parts - no questions asked.

 

[911mike]

It sad to hear some if the negative comments about Bendpak. I have purchased 3 different lifts over the last 5 years and have had zero issues. Once the cables have stretched and settled I've gone 3 years without and need to adjust. I'd buy 3 more in a heat beat.

 

[DerStig]

It sad to hear some if the negative comments about Bendpak. I have purchased 3 different lifts over the last 5 years and have had zero issues. Once the cables have stretched and settled I've gone 3 years without and need to adjust. I'd buy 3 more in a heat beat.

I think that's part of the problem when it comes to offshore production. Production quality is not consistent. It's pretty much with anything you buy from amazon now that is built in China. You ll have 3 people complaining and 7 people who love the product and reading the reviews back to back its hard to believe the same company produced them.

 

[C2 Turbo]

So sorry to hear about all the troubles you are having and hopefully the new unit will make up for it so that you can enjoy it the way you should have to begin with.

Considering all these issues especially the China built units, I recently placed an order for Challenger Cl10v3 made here in Louisville, KY

 

[DerStig]

Update - I got the replacement jack today. Wow. What a difference. Put them side by side and they look like they were made by different companies. No rust, perfectly level (literally) in each direction, and more importantly it works and doesnt fall! The only issue is the small brackets are not perpendicular and as a result rub the runways, but thats an easy fix as they are sending me replacements. I was able to lift my car for the first time today after almost 2 months and $1200 and several hours of debugging I have to say their customer service is great though!

 

[garagelogician]

I have to say their customer service is great though!

And that right there is why I have settled on BendPak too...and the fact that they have the unit that has just the right dimensions for my situation.

Unless you spend big bucks and have the space for a Rotary, BendPak is going to be your best bet as far as service after the sale.

Glad they are getting your issues sorted out.

 

[Viper98912]

And that right there is why I have settled on BendPak too...and the fact that they have the unit that has just the right dimensions for my situation.

Unless you spend big bucks and have the space for a Rotary, BendPak is going to be your best bet as far as service after the sale.

Glad they are getting your issues sorted out.

Or you get your QC under control and don't have this problem in the first place? ....

 

[DerStig]

Rotary is not that expensiveto be honest all things considered. Their 14,000 lbs lift is more expensive than hd9 yes but not very far off than the 14,000 lbs bendpak sells. The problem with bendpak is they used to be like rotary - all made in USA and their prices reflected that. When they went overseas, they continued charging the same.

The difference is they have low end versions of their lifts like 7,000 lbs or 9,000 lbs which Rotary doesnt and that gives the buyers the impression that bendpak is more affordable but its really not. They probably have a massive profit margin.