Belgique Basterd
Well-known member
I'm in need of a 4 post lift that can lift about 120 inches, I know they can be bought commercially but they are very expensive. Good quality 4 post lift can be bought second hand at a very reasonable price where I live.
Been playing around with the idea of buying a regular 4 post lift and extending it myself. Extending the legs and the safety latch locking bars is not a problem, that is just a matter of copying the design, having is bent up and welding it onto the posts. The lifting system is offcourse a different matter.
The type I would buy is the cable lifting type, I've been searching around the web looking at installation manuals/drawings and have noticed that the diference in the cable lifting system is that with the regular 80" 4 post lifts the cable to the ram is single shear and with the higher 120" 4 post lifts the cable to the ram is double shear, that way they get more lifting heigth out of the same length of hydraulic ram.
Drawing of an 80" lift, as you can see the cable is single shear attached to the ram:
Drawing of an 120" lift, as you can see the cable is double shear attached tot the ram:
Offcourse new properly sized/rated cables and pulleys would need to be bought, but in the end it would still be a lot cheaper than buying a new extended lift.
My question now is, what am I missing, is there anything I am overlooking that could cause trouble or disaster?
Thank you for your input.
Been playing around with the idea of buying a regular 4 post lift and extending it myself. Extending the legs and the safety latch locking bars is not a problem, that is just a matter of copying the design, having is bent up and welding it onto the posts. The lifting system is offcourse a different matter.
The type I would buy is the cable lifting type, I've been searching around the web looking at installation manuals/drawings and have noticed that the diference in the cable lifting system is that with the regular 80" 4 post lifts the cable to the ram is single shear and with the higher 120" 4 post lifts the cable to the ram is double shear, that way they get more lifting heigth out of the same length of hydraulic ram.
Drawing of an 80" lift, as you can see the cable is single shear attached to the ram:
Drawing of an 120" lift, as you can see the cable is double shear attached tot the ram:
Offcourse new properly sized/rated cables and pulleys would need to be bought, but in the end it would still be a lot cheaper than buying a new extended lift.
My question now is, what am I missing, is there anything I am overlooking that could cause trouble or disaster?
Thank you for your input.