Installing a Mohawk A-7 in my shop garage

[khnitz]

I'll share my progress as I get this lift installed into my shop/hobby garage.

I picked it up this weekend - here are some pics of the loading process



It's still in my trailer, but I'll get it out this week and wipe it down.

 

[hilld]

You forgot to upload the pics. Those are nice lifts, I used to have a 10k one.

 

[khnitz]

Does this site not like imgur links? I can see them when viewing this post from my laptop with chrome browser. But, the images did not show up when viewing it from my phone (android using chrome browser).

- seems like I need 5 posts to be able to show the pics...I'll add them once I reach that -

 

[khnitz]

Got the lift out of the trailer and the columns stood up in the shop last night.



It has a 3-phase Dayton 3N447A motor on it, so I'll either need a phase converter or will have to swap out the motor for a single-phase unit to use it in my shop garage. I'll likely swap out the motor and then try and sell off this 3-phase one.

The lift itself came out of a GM powetrain facility, where I'm told it saw very little use. It was never re-installed, so I'll be the first to use it again once I have it in place

There is still a lift pad and a couple of pins for the arms that the seller is trying to locate for me. He knows he had them, but the bucket they were in was tipped over and they have to find where they went to in their shop.

 

[khnitz]

Well, it's getting closer to installation-time. I ordered the Ankr-Tite 3/4 x 5.5" bolts and 3/4" masonry drill bit that are needed for the installation - they should arrive in the next week. I do need to figure out a local supplier that can make the hydraulic line for overhead between the columns once it's installed, too.

On the motor, I'm going to stick with the 3-phase motor that came with the unit, and I'll use a digital phase shifter to take my shop 220V single-phase supply and adapt it to 220V 3-phase for the motor. More pics will follow, with a goal to have this lift up and running by the end of the month.

 

[Zaxxn]

Might also not hurt to give Mohawk a call or send them an email - I got a whole set of OEM hydraulic lines for my "vintage" System I from them for a reasonable price! They didn't have them in stock, but made them for me from the drawings they still had. Perfectly done, definitely high quality work.

--Zax

 

[khnitz]

Might also not hurt to give Mohawk a call or send them an email

That's a good point and I'll keep it in mind if I can't find a local shop that's reasonably priced. I did call Mohawk on some other parts that I'll need to order to complete the installation (a couple of the arm pins and clips). I'm missing one of the original lift pads, too, but I'm going to buy a set of the SVI rubber-topped ones, instead.

 

[khnitz]

The updates are a little spaced out here, I know, but progress continues...

Yesterday, I moved the columns into place - well, at least where I would most like them. But I thought I would share here and get feedback on the location on my shop floor.

First, I had to move the columns around. I went "old-world school" and rolled the columns on pipe rollers. The first attempt was with copper pipe as the bearings, but they eventually crushed under the weight of the column when encountering small imperfections on the floor or as I shifted the column a little to rotate it in a different direction.


So I bought some 1/2" steel rod (2 - 3' pcs that I cut to 18" so I had 4 rollers) to use with the next column and that worked much better.


Here are the pictures of my desired placement. Any of the mounting holes are at least 6inches from the edge of the slab (at the wall it is more like 12") and 6" away from the relief cuts.




And here's one more picture, a sketch of the layout of my shop floor (I'm showing the overall outline of the floor of the shop, and then the dimensions of the sections created by the relief cuts). I know it would be better to get the lift away from the wall to have more room to work on that side, but I also don't want the lift obstructing a lot of the floor space in the rest of the shop.


That said, as I slept on it, I am wondering if I have to move the columns away from the "corners" created by the relief cuts in the floor slab. If I have to do that, then the lift will be in the middle of the shop floor somewhere, no matter what.

 

[khnitz]

I've been reading some other threads here and in other forums and think that I should be OK with the placement of my columns. One good tip I read, though, was to "test fit" the largest vehicle I intend to lift with the columns where I want them before I drill and fasten the bolts.

It was suggested to make sure you can actually expect to fit the vehicle fully inside the work area and also have room to walk around the vehicle and have access for repairs. So, I'll be rolling our Dodge Cummins Ram2500 in there in the next few days for verification

 

[khnitz]

I was able to pull our truck into the bay next to where the Mohawk will sit and see how it will fit in the shop. With it lined-up like this, I still have over 3 feet from the rear bumper to the door, so I think I'll move the columns another 12" towards the door, and that will move the closest anchor bolts to 18" from the relief cut in front of them and give me a little more peace of mind
Yeah, the shop is a little full at the moment...
.

 

[khnitz]

First up - my latest question: a couple of the Wej-It bolts to secure the columns hit full torque (80 ft.-lbs. per Mohawk) a little higher on the threads than the others. These are the 5.5" anchors that are recommended. Should I be concerned with these or are they still OK?


Otherwise, it's been a busy few weeks around here getting the final installation completed. I positioned the columns and then drilled the holes for the Wej-its to secure them. I did drill through the slab to allow for replacement of the anchors, if needed. With the different holes, the thickness of my slab varied from 5.5" to 8" thick. The columns were aligned (set level/vertical and square to each other), shimmed, and then anchored tight.


This past weekend I formed, flared and routed the hydraulic lines from the columns through the attic. Once I have the spacers/clamps in place and secure the lines across the trusses in the attic, I'll fill those holes with fire-block Great Stuff and then finish it off with some spackling compound.








Now I'm just working to finish the electrical wiring from the garage's panel - that's a lot of crawling around in the trussed attic...oof. Thankfully, the temperatures have been dropping here - in full early-afternoon sun it was a little hot up there over the weekend.

Here is how the digital phase shifter looks in the re-wired control panel. The DPS is to use the 2-pole, single-phase 220V from my shop with the 220V 3-phase motor that came with my lift.

 

[khnitz]

I finished connecting power and tested out the pump motor and solenoid. The pump is running fine, but the first test of the release solenoid wound up frying the solenoid controller that was part of the original wiring. It's a nice "to have", but wasn't necessary for operation. With it removed, the release solenoid worked well, too.

But, I am only getting the main column carriage to lift. The remote column has not moved, yet.

This is a system with the 2 hydraulic lines between the columns. I didn't get as much time to look at it this weekend as I'd hoped, but I will have more time in the evening this week.

I'm pretty sure most of the fluid drained out of the system when I transported it. Before trying it out now, I added almost 2 gallons of ATF when I topped up the reservoir, but I need to check if that level dropped as I cycled the system. I also need to verify the hydraulic line connections are correct.

If I understand correctly from other posts I've read, when the pump is lifting, fluid is pushed into the bottom of the main column cylinder, and then the fluid pushed out the top of it is what pushes at the bottom of the remote column cylinder. So, it seems like I will need to move a lot of fluid to finally get all the air out of the system. The Mohawk instructions are to raise the lift to full height and let the pump run for 2 minutes to purge the air...but the remote column carriage isn't lifting for me, yet.

 

[Spencer Was Here]

In your 3rd picture down on your post #4 you'll see a black knob pointing downward out of the red box next to your hydraulic unit. While running the hydraulics, pull that black knob down and it will divert fluid to the hydraulic cylinder on the other post.

This is normally done to even out the lifting arms, as sometimes the far arm will be lower than the arm on the main post. Diverting the fluid by pulling down on that knob should hopefully result in at least some movement of that far arm.

You may have of course already tried this, but since I didn't see you mention it, I thought I'd suggest it.

Edit: I now see the very first photo you posted gives a better view of this knob. It is the black knob coming out of the bottom of the red box directly below the 7,000 pound warning sticker.

 

[khnitz]

Update (pics/video to follow): I wound up needing to add another 1.5gallons of ATF in order for things to start moving in both columns. From an empty system, that means I've added 3.5 gallons of Valvoline DEX/MERC ATF so far.

I also re-verified the hydraulic connections between the columns and they are correct. I still have to cycle the lift completely a few more times and bleed it fully so that both columns are moving smoothly and in synch. I'll post the final pictures and a lifting video in a bit once that's done!

Whew! It feels good to see it all moving!

 

[khnitz]

The last update for today: Success!!



I decided to start with lifting the lightest vehicle I have - a Fiat 850 Sport Spider. The lift worked great!

It was 3.5 gallons of ATF to get the lift completely filled, bled and working properly for me. I'll re-torque the Wej-it anchors again before I try a next vehicle.

One Mohawk-specific question: I need to remove some shims from under the remote column yoke. When I tried to lift the carriage (by hand) to get slack in the chain to remove the yoke and the shims, the cylinder kept applying pressure to follow the carriage up - how do I prevent that? This doesn't happen on the side of the master column.

 

[Ipassgas]

Yay! I love a happy ending!

 

[khnitz]

After re-torquing the bolts, I tried a next-heaviest car in our fleet today.

Having the top down allowed it to clear the CFL bulb and scoo-tch a little higher

 

[crazylunker]

After re-torquing the bolts, I tried a next-heaviest car in our fleet today.

Having the top down allowed it to clear the CFL bulb and scoo-tch a little higher

now get a sharpie and mark a couple reference lines in the column and carriage and label them for the vehicle, then next time you won't have to keep checking height for that car. I have a friend with low ceiling and does that with his 3 regulars.

 

[khnitz]

now get a sharpie and mark a couple reference lines in the column and carriage and label them for the vehicle, then next time you won't have to keep checking height for that car. I have a friend with low ceiling and does that with his 3 regulars.

Awesome idea, thanks!

 

[RStewart]

Your 4 legged supervisor approved.
Enjoy your awesome lift.

 

[khnitz]

Your 4 legged supervisor approved.

She did! Although she did bark a bit and look at it funny the first few times I ran it up and down. The way the carriages moved freaked her out a little. Now, she's like - whatever!

 

[khnitz]

So, I've been using the lift to work on my daughter's Mini and it has been great. But, this morning I noticed some ATF pooled at the base of the master column. Looking further, it looks like the master lift cylinder is leaking. It's not too surprising, given that the lift is from 1993, and it was likely removed post-GM-bankruptcy ~2008/9 and has been sitting uninstalled for the decade since.

So, I'll need to order up the 007-007-097 and 007-007-098 seal kits for the lift cylinders. I'll do both at the same time so that I know I'm starting fresh.