Help me pick between these lifts

[WaterBoyz]

BendPak is sending a new runway. Had it been a less severe bend I would have just tried to bend it back and use it. They completely understood, no hassle.

This is a big, expensive and heavy piece for them to replace. Kudos to their customer service team.

Glad they are keeping you satisfied.

Somewhere along the line, you would think that it would be cheaper for Bendpak to design/build a better shipping bundle than to keep paying the cost for replacement of damaged parts and having to smooth over their quality reputation ???

 

[Nazarah]

Totally. I can't imagine that shipping something like this is cheap.

On the bright side of things, I made some good progress this weekend even without the power side runway.

Having one other person to help was indeed great when lifting the runway up. The other parts can easily be done solo. I have hit no snags yet. The parts all seem to be very sturdy and fit together well. I'm happy so far!

Now if my garage door guys would get their butts out here.........

 

[WaterBoyz]

Here is the link to my install notes.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406991

 

[Nazarah]

Finally found some more time to work on this thing this weekend. Made some really good progress. A couple of questions maybe someone can answer for me. I've done a ton of searching, but I appear to be in a unique situation.

Since I purchased the 7W lift that is shorter than normal, my hydraulic cylinder is shorter than most. Because of that, I have a pull box underneath to accommodate for the shorter cylinder.

First question, should the nut on the end of the cylinder be tightened all the way down inside the pull box? I assume yes but the directions are unclear.

Second question, the instructions mention a cable anchor plate assembly. From the cable routing diagram, it makes it look like these would be in the middle of the power runway, toward the big window end. The only thing I have hanging out down there are some brackets welded to the outside of the bottom of the runway. Is this where my cables anchor? These plates seem pretty small for that to be the case. But I am not an engineer either. Just want to be 100% certain I have this part correct.

 

[Nazarah]

Went ahead with it last night. I did tighten the nut all the way on the cylinder shaft. And, I did run the cables and anchor them to these brackets. It's really the only thing even in close proximity to the lug end of the cables when they are fully ran so this has to be it. I have a tech ticket in with BendPak just to verify both things before I actually use the lift.

Just before I called it a night last night, it actually moved under it's own power. A good way to end the night. Today I plan to go back, double check everything and get it good and level. Then test it with a vehicle.

 

[Nazarah]

All seems well! I need to adjust the cables themselves a bit more so the safety locks all engage closer to the same times. But minor details. The real test will be Thursday after the door is done, to see if my DD fits under it. Suppose it's time for a new one if it doesn't!

My muffler did scrape just a tad bit on the back of the cross tubes when coming up due to the incline of my driveway leading up to the garage and the slope of the ramps combined. It may have permanently modified it (the muffler) so that it will not happen again. OR - next time I back it on there. Either way, it's neat to see it on there.

 

[WaterBoyz]

All seems well! I need to adjust the cables themselves a bit more so the safety locks all engage closer to the same times. But minor details. The real test will be Thursday after the door is done, to see if my DD fits under it. Suppose it's time for a new one if it doesn't!

My muffler did scrape just a tad bit on the back of the cross tubes when coming up due to the incline of my driveway leading up to the garage and the slope of the ramps combined. It may have permanently modified it (the muffler) so that it will not happen again. OR - next time I back it on there. Either way, it's neat to see it on there.

From my angle looks like you will have to bump out the door as well as raise the tracks

I've seen where people will adjust so there is just one "clack". My floor slopes to the door so the rear clacks first because I leveled the runways. I adjusted my cables so I can hear all four clacks.

 

[Nazarah]

I can pull the car farther forward if need be. But the door shuts with it just the way it is there. So hopefully I'll be in good shape. Man am I glad I went with the shorter runway model though. The documentation says as long as the clacks are within one second of each other you should be good. I also leveled the runways so we'll see how it comes out.

All in all, I'm happy!

 

[WaterBoyz]

I can pull the car farther forward if need be. But the door shuts with it just the way it is there. So hopefully I'll be in good shape. Man am I glad I went with the shorter runway model though. The documentation says as long as the clacks are within one second of each other you should be good. I also leveled the runways so we'll see how it comes out.

All in all, I'm happy!

 

[kbuhagiar]

All in all, I'm happy!

Amen to that.

One of the happiest days of my life was the day I put my car up on my new lift for the first time.
Thirty years of wishin' & hopin' finally came true.

 

[WaterBoyz]

Amen to that.

One of the happiest days of my life was the day I put my car up on my new lift for the first time.
Thirty years of wishin' & hopin' finally came true.

My first "stand-up" oil change was soooooo good. I keep checking the odometer for the next one.

 

[Nazarah]

Like a glove!

It was a good feeling to see just the Chevelle up on the lift. To know the other one fits under it now is even better!

 

[protegeV]

sweeet!!

 

[cad70]

Nazarah,
Im surprised that Ive never seen your Chevelle around Omaha, but Ive been spending most of my time drag racing over the last 15 years. I have an Advantage lift ready for install over here in NW Omaha.
Who raised your garage door rails and what parts or kit did you use? I ended up ordering from DDM, and come to find out that another friend, literally, used their existing torsion spring/drums to raise his up for $150 via Metro Door.

Clark

 

[WaterBoyz]

Nazarah,
............Who raised your garage door rails and what parts or kit did you use? I ended up ordering from DDM, and come to find out that another friend, literally, used their existing torsion spring/drums to raise his up for $150 via Metro Door.

Clark

My door was raised and roof-pitched. DDM does NOT offer premade tracks for roof-pitch. I was supposed to cut my existing 90* turn and make it work. I was planning to do that.

I decided to have a local company do my 16ft door and I was gonna do my 9ft door. The 16ft is the more important of the two. They ordered a roof-pitch track so I just ordered one from them. Overall, I'm not spending $450.

But then again, I haven't done my 9ft yet so we'll see how that goes.

=========

A lot depends on how far the vertical lift is as to if/how the existing hardware can be used.

 

[Nazarah]

Nazarah,
Im surprised that Ive never seen your Chevelle around Omaha, but Ive been spending most of my time drag racing over the last 15 years. I have an Advantage lift ready for install over here in NW Omaha.
Who raised your garage door rails and what parts or kit did you use? I ended up ordering from DDM, and come to find out that another friend, literally, used their existing torsion spring/drums to raise his up for $150 via Metro Door.

Clark

Sorry, been a while since I've been back around here. I've had this car in Omaha for a few years now, but honestly I've put less than 1k miles on it. So it sits in the garage more than I drive it.

I used Omaha door and window for the raising of the door. They brought all of the parts and did all of the work, so not really sure what they used. Although it's been long enough now that I bet you have had the work done already. Man I WISH I could have had it done for $150!

 

[Nazarah]

Also, wanted to add that I did end up anchoring the lift down to the floor. I know I'm never going to move it (don't really have a place to move it to). If I really had to wrench on something with the car clear up in the air, it would wobble and scare the hell out of me. Now that it's anchored, it's ROCK solid. Love it.