"Any suspension can be made to work if you don't let it," Colin Chapman
From everything I saw, all of the China sites look shady. There is certainly a lot lost in translation. With that, I can tell you that my experience with them was 100% first rate and I never for one second thought that I was getting the scammed or even a run around. Their communication, while half a day delayed, was unreal. I literally have over 100 emails exchanged and when they said it was going to be made, it was made. When they said it was going to ship, it was shipped.
As mentioned above, no. I could have, but didn't see the need for my application.
I was looking at the SP-7X. With that, I greatly [prefer the lift I have over that one as the 7x has a section that extends past the lifting surface. The fact that the price was 40% of the BendPak's made it a no brainer.
My thought going into this is and will continue to be that service is a roll of the dice. If something breaks, then I'll do everything I can to fix it myself. If I can't fix it, then I'll go from there. Based on my experience with the sale from Ever Eternal, I think that it would not be an issue to get replacement parts. Getting them here would be a pain if they had to go freight.
The tile is from Daltile and is from the Porcealto. It is 100% thru-color and has no glazing. l'll post a close up picture of it next week when I get back from vacation.
I used StarQuartz polyurethane grout and it doesn't need sealing. This grout is really nice and is JET black. 90% as good as epoxy and 90% easier to install which was important as I did the install myself.
The are very, very easy to clean. The porcelain tiles don't absorb anything so it is just a matter of wiping them off. The tire marks you see are from my Mom's car which had been on the lift earlier. It just tracked through a bunch of filth I blew off and swept up from the underside of my race car.
It goes up and follows the track. Yes, the door can't go up when a vehicle is on the lift and up high enough to block it. Likewise, a vehicle can go up and hit the door. I am considering putting a couple more optical sensors in place to keep either of these from happening. But, as this is really a race car garage it isn't that big of an issue.
My friend Gene Young bought the same lift and had his shipped with mine to reduce the cost of shipping. He has been very happy with his so far. Here is a link to his thread on his install: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37192
From my experience so far, I would say that this lift is remarkably stable. Even when the lift is maxed out (74" high), the bases of the scissor sections are a good two feet from each other. I have hung from the front and rear bumper bars when the car was at max height and I have no issues with stability whatsoever. Keep in mind that this is with a 2300 lb. race car. I have not had the Expedition up that high because I am limited by my 10.5' ceiling.
I never asked. See post 53 above.
So far the only thing I would change would be that I moved the lift sections our to 33.5" and I would have left them at 31". 31" is more than wide enough to get to everything and I have found that some vehicles (like my Expedition and my Mom's Lexus LS430) have frame rails that are just over 30" wide. Keep in mind that I also can and do lift from the rocker panel but on my Expedition the frame hangs considerably lower than the rockers so I have to block up to pick it up there. If the lift was a little close together I could simply push the up button and lift from the frame.
I did it myself several years ago in anticipation of a lift. My walls are concrete block with brick and are very sturdy. The roof trusses were simple and made from 100% 2x8s so I simply made a new horizontal 30" above the original cross member and then added some diagonal supports. The garage is 21.5' x 20.5'. The pump and control unit is sitting 6 feet from the lift holes on the side wall of the garage
The anchor bolts are 5/8" and 4 inches long. With that, you can easily use whatever anchor length you want. Diameter too if you want to enlarge the mounting holes (which would take 2 minutes).
I stopped by one of the largest BMW dealerships in Vancouver and therefloods are all tile brick. It was very nice.My lift section forms were 62 x 23.25 x 11.25. The tile and thinset added another 1/2".
So far nothing has scratched or chipped them. Of course any longevity report after a month of use is VERY premature.
I am considering the 3800 but I am concerned that it might not work with my door as the door is low lift and gets pushed down by the current opener. More research to take place on this front.
for them, excellent units.For the 3800 to work for me I will have to rig up some form of load (via spring likely) that will put just enough weight on the door to allow the wire to support the door. Right now, that is not the case as I can disconnect the counterspring wires and the existing opener and the door will just sit there. It has to be rolled closed a good foot before gravity takes over and allows it to fall on its own.
Don't forget about the leveling stops in each corner of the lift. THIS is what the lift sits on when down. You simply raise the stops (bolts) until they contact the underside of the lift at the height you want. While I have noticed no bleed down through the pump, this is not the way to support the lift.
Michael, I think you are correct in that we did talk back in February about the lift and shippers. I certainly thank you for your sage advice and hope you get yours in and going soon. You will wonder how you existed before you had the lift.