hrlychrly1
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2012
- Messages
- 31
bought a 4 post lift, and the directions say to level the runways at all 4 posts, while the runways are resting on the safety ladders. since the floor is sloped toward the door, one end is 1 3/4" lower than the other end.
1) i could raise the safety ladder 1 3/4", and then take the slack out of the cables, but the directions also say for the ladder to be at least 1/2" off the baseplate, but no more than 1", or damage to the lift will result. i can't see what damage would result, as the safety latches are 6" up from the bottom of the crosstubes. called the manufacturer's tech dept., and asked them about it. they said i should shim the low end up, and i see in another section of the directions that i can get up 2" of shim plates from them through a distributor. if i do that, that's going to add another 1 3/4" to the height of the entrance end of the lift, and both my cars sit low, so i don't like that option. in my thinking, if i raise the safety ladder that 1 3/4", and take out the cable slack, at worst, when it's in the lowered position, the cable sheaves will be extra slack on the low end.
2) i could raise the low end some, but not the whole 1 3/4". it would still be slightly out of level from 1 end to the other. i've already had a car on the lift, when it was still unbolted to the floor and it seemed fine. of course the manu. said it had to be level, as per the directions, to cover their **** from any kind of liability. is it really really that important to get it level over a 15' span.
does that make sense to anyone, or is there another way to level this, w/o having to add shim plates to the low end. really don't want to add those shim plates and add the extra height to the entrance end. plus i would have to remove the 8 bolts that i installed in those 2 posts.
1) i could raise the safety ladder 1 3/4", and then take the slack out of the cables, but the directions also say for the ladder to be at least 1/2" off the baseplate, but no more than 1", or damage to the lift will result. i can't see what damage would result, as the safety latches are 6" up from the bottom of the crosstubes. called the manufacturer's tech dept., and asked them about it. they said i should shim the low end up, and i see in another section of the directions that i can get up 2" of shim plates from them through a distributor. if i do that, that's going to add another 1 3/4" to the height of the entrance end of the lift, and both my cars sit low, so i don't like that option. in my thinking, if i raise the safety ladder that 1 3/4", and take out the cable slack, at worst, when it's in the lowered position, the cable sheaves will be extra slack on the low end.
2) i could raise the low end some, but not the whole 1 3/4". it would still be slightly out of level from 1 end to the other. i've already had a car on the lift, when it was still unbolted to the floor and it seemed fine. of course the manu. said it had to be level, as per the directions, to cover their **** from any kind of liability. is it really really that important to get it level over a 15' span.
does that make sense to anyone, or is there another way to level this, w/o having to add shim plates to the low end. really don't want to add those shim plates and add the extra height to the entrance end. plus i would have to remove the 8 bolts that i installed in those 2 posts.