Mowerpan
Well-known member
That lift looks much too small for that truck. Our 18k rotary we use for medium duty ambulances and cutaway class c motorhomes looks Huge compared to that one.
Lift Oopsie At Work....
- Thread starter neel2008
- Start date
WNYflyer
Well-known member
Well that certainly is ugly.
Thankfully no one got injured. As someone already mentioned I would think there is a relieve valve of some type in the hydraulics to avoid lifting above the rated capacity + 10% ? I would certainly think that valve would kick in before you ever got close to the capacity of the shaft but I am no hydraulics expert.
Once that shaft/rod/column starts moving/deflecting laterally within the top and bottom support points then it causes bending in the shaft. From there is just snowballs if the shaft is not designed for it. The more lateral movement you have the greater bending......like I said it just snowballs.......more movement = more bending..............more bending=more movement......etc. until it fails in some form or another.
Wonder what made it move laterally initially or perhaps a valve did not operate as intended? Wonder if the strongest link in the hydraulic system could even put out enough PSI to fail the shaft if the shaft was loaded only along its axis as intended.
Thankfully no one got injured. As someone already mentioned I would think there is a relieve valve of some type in the hydraulics to avoid lifting above the rated capacity + 10% ? I would certainly think that valve would kick in before you ever got close to the capacity of the shaft but I am no hydraulics expert.
Once that shaft/rod/column starts moving/deflecting laterally within the top and bottom support points then it causes bending in the shaft. From there is just snowballs if the shaft is not designed for it. The more lateral movement you have the greater bending......like I said it just snowballs.......more movement = more bending..............more bending=more movement......etc. until it fails in some form or another.
Wonder what made it move laterally initially or perhaps a valve did not operate as intended? Wonder if the strongest link in the hydraulic system could even put out enough PSI to fail the shaft if the shaft was loaded only along its axis as intended.
sberry
Banned
I got to go with Mr Worth and a couple others and say not to jump to conclusions. Personally it looks like a missing restraint at the top of the cylinder casing but that is a WAG.
Ign
Well-known member
Burrito? Not sure how this pertains to the discussion at hand?
If Mr Worth truly is "Mr Worth" I'd say you should be more professional and introduce yourself, then help diagnose the problem at hand. IF IF IF this truly was a failure not due to operator error, wouldn't you want to know about it and understand it?
nehog
Well-known member
so you don't put something too heavy on it? maybe? perhaps?
Good thing no one got hurt.
Bottom line is the lift's safety (pressure) valve should have limited the lift to a safe weight.
NHBandit
Well-known member
And I still say that the truck may very well have been a safe weight for that lift but if it was positioned wrong so as to put the majority of the weight towards the front something has to give. I'm no engineer (I've only ridden the train) but if you put most of the weight on one side of the carriage to the point of it binding in the lift post and then try to lift it even more something IS going to give out. This would not be the fault of the lift or the hardening or lack of to the hydraulic cylinder. It would be simply the fault of the guy who positioned the truck on the lift much too far forward. The pictures "appear" to me to have way too much weight towards the front. I was hoping Mr Worth would address this possibility but he seems to have left the building. With all the guys here buying lifts or contemplating lifts in the future I would think it would be the perfect place to comment. Maybe "Mr Worth" is the lawyer for the Worth company ?Bottom line is the lift's safety (pressure) valve should have limited the lift to a safe weight.
I do want to compliment sberry on his return to coherent posting. I guess that bite from the poison spider wasn't fatal. It's nice to have you back. 
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HAP
Well-known member
My BP XPR-10 has the cylinders mounted the other way. Piston/rod pushes the body up with the load.
R,
HAP
R,
HAP
Titanium Frost
Well-known member
Now that cylinder had been seeping a little for a while and the lift does raise a little bit unevenly. I wonder if that side had been doing more work than the other side for a while, since that side leaked and the other side did not....What happened was it raised fine and we set it on the locks with the large jackstands on either end of the truck....went to raise the lift to get it off the locks and the truck started to go down as the pump was running....that's when I saw what was happening to the ram....We have tried to adjust the cables to get it to lift evenly and set the locks evenly but it doesn't work, we can do one, than the other and it does not help it. Im wondering if the columns are a little uneven causing that side to work too hard....
This is a classic example of buckling. Without looking at a hydraulic schematic, it's a guess as to how the relief valves are designed, but it looks as though they are set at a pressure that assumes both cylinders are lifting equally. If one cylinder takes near the maximum rated load of the hoist, and the cylinder is extended, you'll get a failure. You can set the reliefs to prevent bucking of a single cylinder, but it will lower the maximum lifting capacity of the hoist.
When you first raised the hoist with the truck on the ground, the cylinder that buckled probably started to move first, followed by the other cylinder, but there was some travel of both cylinders before the truck started to raise. With the cylinders retracted, it's buckling capacity is increased substantially, so there was no failure, even though one cylinder took most of the load first. The problem arose when you tried to lift the truck off the locks with the cylinders extended. Again, one cylinder likely moved first and buckled right away, because it was taking significantly more than half the load and was allowed to take that load, because the other cylinder was seeing no load.
Synchronization of two structures with cables is notoriously difficult because of the many factors that impact the load, movement and synchronization: cable stretch, bearing resistance, post guide resistance, etc... They require constant adjustment and maintenance.
That rod is scrap, but the cylinder should be fine other than that. You don't show a picture of the end connections, but my guess is they are pinned, so they should be fine. Depending on the age of the hoist, it may be prudent to service the other cylinder at the same time (re-seal, check the bore and rod, re-chrome if nec, hone if nec..etc..) especially if the one that failed was weeping fluid.
I used to work on car ferry ramps that used massive counterweights and cables, along with a single long slender cylinder to move the ramp. The ramp would sit on pins whenever cars were on the ramp. If the pins failed to withdraw and the operator tried to move the ramp...instant buckled rod...no sound, no nothing, and these were 20 foot long rods. We designed a lot of fail safe systems to prevent it, but the older systems were still vulnerable.
exactly!!!!
Titanium Frost
Well-known member
The hoist can be almost level and one cylinder could be taking all the load (as appears to have happened here). Also hardness does not factor in buckling loads. Rod diameter, overall length, the modulous of elasticity of the rod material and the end connection design are used to calculate buckling.
Cylinder rods are not normally case hardened. The hard chrome is used as the wear and corrosion resistance barrier. At least that's what I used when I designed cylinders.
When the truck was on the ground, the cylinders were retracted, so no buckling occurred. And as the truck was being raised, both cylinders were taking load, so no buckling occurred. It's when the cylinders were extended and one cylinder took all the load that the buckling occurred. I don't think it was an issue of the carriage binding, I think the weight of the truck forced the carriage down, while the cylinder control was in the "raise" position and it buckled the rod instead of raising the carriage.
Below ground lifts use hollow, multi-stage cylinders, which have incredible buckling capacity. Look at dump trucks...they use the same principle.
The cylinder is still under compression and succeptable to buckling. Cylinder orientation is usually more of a packaging issue...likely the power unit is ontop of the hoist or something like that.
Wow this thread took a turn while I was gone. Ill do my best to go through everything....
We did not weigh the truck. We are nowhere near a truck scale. We are a small rural shop "in the middle of nowhere" but have gained a name for working on large trucks. The boss/owner has been working on heavy duty trucks since the 70's. We based our assumptions on past experience with similar trucks and also owning a 4700 international. There was no GVWR sticker on the truck anymore, it was long gone. Which others pointed out, it would not have mattered because that is the total max loaded weight....not useful at all for calculating truck curb weight empty. Yes the weight of a 4700 can be all over the place. This was a non air brake, non cdl version of a "lighter" duty. After talking with the owner of the truck about the issue, and other owners of similar sized landscaping trucks, they all thought about the same that we did....11-12k max.....Was this a heavy and long truck for this lift? Yea I would say so. Was it a good idea in hindsight? No. Do I feel we violated the max weight of the lift? No. Will we put a truck of this size on the lift again? No.
I was the one operating the lift when it happened. I did not see the ram bend at the time. The lift was on the locks, I ran it up a hair to get it off the locks and the lift started to go down as the pump was running it up and making those god awful metal fatiguing noises that instantly makes your ******** pucker up......I obviously stopped the pump and backed away very quickly.....Once I was fairly sure the lift was not coming down, I walked around the sides to investigate and that is when I saw the ram. There was no problem with the carriage binding or anything causing a problem like that.
As it was also bought up, I to find it interesting that the pump ran with no signs of strain lifting the truck, when normally that seems to be the weak link on a lift. As it should be, The structure of the lift should be able to support more than the hydraulics are capable of dishing out....
Now "Titanium Frost" I believe has pretty much hit the nail on the head....Both rams are "T"d together before they go into the pump where any kind of pressure relief would be....I did notice then when it tried to come up off the locks that, that side did want to come up first, casing more than 50% of the load to be applied to the left cylinder. One thing I did also notice while looking back on things is the left cylinder had been seeping a little oil once in a while and the right side never did. I wonder how long this had been doing on for....I believe that having a truck larger than we normally would attempt to put on the lift was the straw that broke the camels back. The cylinder is off being "rebuilt" (new ram, seals, etc) by a qualified hydraulic repair/machine shop.
I will definitely 100% be getting a hold of "Mr. Worth" about the issues he has brought up and to insure that the equalization cables are correctly set and that the lift is operating as it should. I'm very glad he chimed in. I will be getting a hold of him through pm's/phonecalls because of the personal information that will need to be exchanged. Any non original parts on this lift are nothing to my knowledge and with his help will be gone through and addressed.
We did not weigh the truck. We are nowhere near a truck scale. We are a small rural shop "in the middle of nowhere" but have gained a name for working on large trucks. The boss/owner has been working on heavy duty trucks since the 70's. We based our assumptions on past experience with similar trucks and also owning a 4700 international. There was no GVWR sticker on the truck anymore, it was long gone. Which others pointed out, it would not have mattered because that is the total max loaded weight....not useful at all for calculating truck curb weight empty. Yes the weight of a 4700 can be all over the place. This was a non air brake, non cdl version of a "lighter" duty. After talking with the owner of the truck about the issue, and other owners of similar sized landscaping trucks, they all thought about the same that we did....11-12k max.....Was this a heavy and long truck for this lift? Yea I would say so. Was it a good idea in hindsight? No. Do I feel we violated the max weight of the lift? No. Will we put a truck of this size on the lift again? No.
I was the one operating the lift when it happened. I did not see the ram bend at the time. The lift was on the locks, I ran it up a hair to get it off the locks and the lift started to go down as the pump was running it up and making those god awful metal fatiguing noises that instantly makes your ******** pucker up......I obviously stopped the pump and backed away very quickly.....Once I was fairly sure the lift was not coming down, I walked around the sides to investigate and that is when I saw the ram. There was no problem with the carriage binding or anything causing a problem like that.
As it was also bought up, I to find it interesting that the pump ran with no signs of strain lifting the truck, when normally that seems to be the weak link on a lift. As it should be, The structure of the lift should be able to support more than the hydraulics are capable of dishing out....
Now "Titanium Frost" I believe has pretty much hit the nail on the head....Both rams are "T"d together before they go into the pump where any kind of pressure relief would be....I did notice then when it tried to come up off the locks that, that side did want to come up first, casing more than 50% of the load to be applied to the left cylinder. One thing I did also notice while looking back on things is the left cylinder had been seeping a little oil once in a while and the right side never did. I wonder how long this had been doing on for....I believe that having a truck larger than we normally would attempt to put on the lift was the straw that broke the camels back. The cylinder is off being "rebuilt" (new ram, seals, etc) by a qualified hydraulic repair/machine shop.
I will definitely 100% be getting a hold of "Mr. Worth" about the issues he has brought up and to insure that the equalization cables are correctly set and that the lift is operating as it should. I'm very glad he chimed in. I will be getting a hold of him through pm's/phonecalls because of the personal information that will need to be exchanged. Any non original parts on this lift are nothing to my knowledge and with his help will be gone through and addressed.
Diesel Dan
Well-known member
Maybe so but I doubt the chrome plating is .030"+ thick which is what I've run across on the cylinders we use.
Here is a link to a supplier that offers induction hardened rod stock:
http://baileynet.com/hydraulics/bailey_hydraulics_rod_and_tubes/
T-Frost,
Thanks for the well written post!
Actually it does, its just not an exact weight of only the truck. GVWR includes the weight of the truck plus extras. It gets you in the ball park instead of guessing where the ball park might be. As mentioned earlier, these things are all over the place depending on accessories. And from what I have noticed, trucks are not rated to carry that much weight so its usually closer than an educated guess. If nothing else, it gives you a margin of safety because you know its not higher than that.
The truck plus extras? Extras like the load its designed to carry?
GVWR is the rated weight of truck and load. A new F350 DRW, for examply, has a rated GVWR of over 14000lbs. The truck weighs less than 8000lbs. Not even close. The truck in question, as another, has a GVWR of, most likely, 25000 and some change....yet the truck weighs around 12000. Again, not even close.
Titanium Frost
Well-known member
I stand corrected....the cylinders I designed were huge and induction hardened rods just weren't available in those large sizes.
well our 4700 wrecker weighs in the 11k range somewhere. (dont remember what it was the last time we were at the scrap yard) and the GVWR is 25,200 lbs so....
Don't really see how that makes sense....To put things into prospective, think about a Duece and a half (M35A2) truck.....They are 6x6 so think about the weight of three rockwell axles, transfer case, 10 sets of wheels and tires vs 6, rated for carrying 2.5 ton off road and 5 ton on road, built to military specs and back when things were actually built "heavy".....and they only weigh 13,530 lbs....The International 9200 that we take care of as well has a curb weight (minus fuel) of 14,177lbs and has a GVWR of around 86,000lbs....
Sorry guys I dont work on real trucks, just the domesticated 1/2 ton 3/4 ton ****, and most of the time they are filled beyond GVWR. Their weight and GVWR are much closer. thinking 4700-5200 curb weight with a GVW around 6000 for a half ton. To be honest though I kinda skimmed over what ever he was working on anyway. I still havent gone back and looked it over. Just saw a smashed lift and mention of heavy truck. Regardless, still sounds like operator error to me. Either the truck was too heavy or you were knowingly operating a lift that was leaking and acting funny.
100% correct
Diesel Dan
Well-known member
It's all good, we learn more every day.
We would also repair cylinders using case hardened Thompson rod.
PITA to cut off the case if you needed external threads. Much easier to drill and tap the end and insert some threaded rod if possible.
wedge40
Well-known member
I've read through most of the replies on this thread. I'm not a hydraulic expert, but I'm going from experience on the Front End Loader of my tractor. If I put something to heavy in the bucket there is a by pass valve that kicks in and it wont lift the FEL. Are there not by pass valves on the lifts to protect things?
Wedge
Wedge
I've never seen a multistage below ground lift. Must be a new thing if they indeed exist
Aahz
Well-known member
The newest heavy duty style of lifts (ie. Rotary MOD30 Series) utilize multi-stage cylinders. The "pit" is only 6' deep now, vs. 9-11' on the traditional styles. Those lifts are 30,000 lbs per cylinder though...(2 minimum) and not typically in the budget of smaller facilities..($80K plus). Great lift, however...they really gave a lot thought into the development of it.
JakeKohl
Well-known member
How? You either have a device that equally distributes hydraulic fluid to the two cylinders or an equalization cable that takes up the minor differences in the motion/load between the two cylinders (which is the case here). The equalization cable only takes up a very minor load component to keep the two cylinders in sync and couldn't possibly carry the entire load of the truck to one cylinder without collapsing the entire lift or breaking sheaves. The physics diagram of the truck on the lift simply can't put all of it's weight on one side unless it is an a VERY extreme angle of tilt. I is engineer too.
Aahz
Well-known member
Another thought comes to mind while reading through this thread...there is a bit of discussion about GVWR vs. real curb weight, etc. There also seems to be a disconnect in so far as how what the weight of a vehicle (no matter which weight you use) is related to a 2-post vehicle lift. I offer here my edumacated thoughts:
A two post lift has four arms, each capable of carrying 1/4 of the rated load bearing capacity of the lift. If this lift is a 15,000 lbs. lift, each arm is rated to carry 3,750 lbs. Each cylinder should be rated for 1/2 the capacity (7,500 lbs.) On an ALI / ETL 3rd party approved lift, they would test the overall structure at a 3:1 rating, insuring the lift could hold 45,000 lbs without MAJOR failure. The power unit does (should) have a relief valve that limits the ability of the lift to pick up more than it's rated load.
All that being said, the vehicle weight comes into play on a per wheel basis (front axle weight / rear axle weight divided by 2. You can easily overload a 15,000 lbs lift by picking up a vehicle that weighs in at 9,000 lbs on the rear axle and 3500 lbs on the front axle. We just had a situation at an un-named Ford dealer...he lost a brand new truck off of a brand new 18K capacity 2 post lift because his mechanic never thought about how the bucket crane that was just installed on the truck affected the load distribution of the vehicle when loading it onto his lift. (It turns out that it affected it pretty severely! The Rotary SPO18 was fine, the truck, well, not so much!) In both situations, the relief valve is not going to save you because the overall weight (pressure) is not going to reach the max limit. Theoretically, the 3:1 safety factor should prevent failures like the one experienced in this thread, but if the lift isn't ALI / ETL Certified, there is no way of knowing if the engineering was correctly done.
One last point, someone early on in the thread asked if the lift could be "re-certified" after it was repaired...The answer to that is "NO!" Certification is done by a 3rd party and involves much more than just looking at a lift and insuring it is safe. There are ANSI Standards (written by ALI) about how a lift must be manufactured. There are new standards in the works that will require certification for "Certified Inspections", but inspectors are not allowed to certify lifts, they will only be allowed to perform certified inspections.
Sorry if I got off on a rant here...if anyone needs further info on Certified Lifts, there is a great Q & A at http://www.autolift.org/
A two post lift has four arms, each capable of carrying 1/4 of the rated load bearing capacity of the lift. If this lift is a 15,000 lbs. lift, each arm is rated to carry 3,750 lbs. Each cylinder should be rated for 1/2 the capacity (7,500 lbs.) On an ALI / ETL 3rd party approved lift, they would test the overall structure at a 3:1 rating, insuring the lift could hold 45,000 lbs without MAJOR failure. The power unit does (should) have a relief valve that limits the ability of the lift to pick up more than it's rated load.
All that being said, the vehicle weight comes into play on a per wheel basis (front axle weight / rear axle weight divided by 2. You can easily overload a 15,000 lbs lift by picking up a vehicle that weighs in at 9,000 lbs on the rear axle and 3500 lbs on the front axle. We just had a situation at an un-named Ford dealer...he lost a brand new truck off of a brand new 18K capacity 2 post lift because his mechanic never thought about how the bucket crane that was just installed on the truck affected the load distribution of the vehicle when loading it onto his lift. (It turns out that it affected it pretty severely! The Rotary SPO18 was fine, the truck, well, not so much!) In both situations, the relief valve is not going to save you because the overall weight (pressure) is not going to reach the max limit. Theoretically, the 3:1 safety factor should prevent failures like the one experienced in this thread, but if the lift isn't ALI / ETL Certified, there is no way of knowing if the engineering was correctly done.
One last point, someone early on in the thread asked if the lift could be "re-certified" after it was repaired...The answer to that is "NO!" Certification is done by a 3rd party and involves much more than just looking at a lift and insuring it is safe. There are ANSI Standards (written by ALI) about how a lift must be manufactured. There are new standards in the works that will require certification for "Certified Inspections", but inspectors are not allowed to certify lifts, they will only be allowed to perform certified inspections.
Sorry if I got off on a rant here...if anyone needs further info on Certified Lifts, there is a great Q & A at http://www.autolift.org/
Shadowdog500
Well-known member
Did you weigh the truck afterwards? If I had a lift fail while lifting a vehicle that may have been overweight, I would be extremely interested in finding out if it was my fault or a defective lift.
I think it is pretty neat that the lift failed that way. The columns and arms held up fine and the bent ram allowed the carrage to settle back onto the Safties. I hate to imagine what would of happened if this occurred after the safeties were pulled.
Mr Worth, why don't all lifts have a built in scale? My lift does, and for the price to include a custom labeled pressure gauge it seems like a no brainier for any lift. When I lift a friends truck I tell them if the needle on the scale hits 9,000 lb. I won't lift it.
Chris
I think it is pretty neat that the lift failed that way. The columns and arms held up fine and the bent ram allowed the carrage to settle back onto the Safties. I hate to imagine what would of happened if this occurred after the safeties were pulled.
Mr Worth, why don't all lifts have a built in scale? My lift does, and for the price to include a custom labeled pressure gauge it seems like a no brainier for any lift. When I lift a friends truck I tell them if the needle on the scale hits 9,000 lb. I won't lift it.
Chris
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nehog
Well-known member
Titanium Frost
Well-known member
IMO, the equalization cables are out of adjustment, allowing one cylinder to move first. The second cylinder is under pressure, but the locking dog for that side took some or most of the load...enough that the cylinder didn't buckle. In this case one cylinder moved first, but buckled right away. If both cylinders had seen the same load, they would have both buckled. In a 2 cylinder system with common ports, one cylinder will always move first, even if it is just to break the static friction. Seal and bearing friction, along with the volume of fluid behind the cylinder determine which moves first.
You're right , I wasn't clear about the load distribution. I should have read it over before posting. What i meant to say was that the one cylinder was taking an unequal amount of the load. It was definitely more than half, or the cylinder would not have buckled. One or both of the cylinders would have buckled as the truck was on the way up if half the load was enough to buckle the cylinders.
I is not a professional engineer, but designed hydraulic cylinders and systems for 12 years as a design technologist.
Titanium Frost
Well-known member
Even if it's a single stage cylinder,it's still a single acting cylinder where the rod is normally hollow, full of fluid and under pressure. Without boring you with the details, this type of cylinder design has a very large buckling capacity, but requires a large and deep pit to accommodate the large cylinder.
I've installed 100s of them way back when, the only failures I ever saw were rusted out casings, tanks or piping
I don't think it really matters what the truck weighed. If the lift is rated to lift a certain weight then the relief valve in that hydraulic system should be set so that the system pressure never goes above that value. The weakest component in the system determines where you set the relief valve. Or better stated, you use components that are rated at or above the working load of the system and the maximum working load should include a generous safety margin. It looks like a design defect to me.
DamTurbine
New member
The system relief set at the correct pressure should have prevented this. Something else going on here. I have tried to lift many medium duty trucks with a 18K lift, some would lift others would not. The system relief was working correctly on our lift. Lift manufactures would not be in business long if they designed lifts that would raise a vehicle beyond the lifts capability. They definitely would not rely on every mechanic to make an educated guess on a vehicles weight before loading it onto a lift. Lift engineers design these lifts to be relatively idiot proof, if there is such a thing. Just my 2cts.
Diesel Dan
Well-known member
Not necessarily.
Agreed, like what has been discussed.
The leaking packing gland seal did not have anything directly to do with this failure but WHY was it leaking may have. Was the rod previously bent and went undetected? Were there small fractures in the surface of the rod that cut the seal?
As you stated it is more likely something else is going on and not a relief valve issue.
Neel2008 is handling this very professionally, good job.
Diesel Dan
Well-known member
Here is one way to get away from equalizer cables.
Hydraulic flow equalizers:
http://www.casappa.com/eng/02products/divisori/divisori.htm
As long as the air is bled out of the system both cylinders will move the same regardless of load distribution. Pretty costly would be my guess however.
Hydraulic flow equalizers:
http://www.casappa.com/eng/02products/divisori/divisori.htm
As long as the air is bled out of the system both cylinders will move the same regardless of load distribution. Pretty costly would be my guess however.
We work on loaded F450 trucks that weigh in excess of 22,000lbs, loaded. We have numerous IHC 4700's and not one weighs under 25,000lbs. When sizing hoists, it was decided that actually weighing what we worked on was a great idea. GVWR means absolutely nothing. Actual weight is the only thing that matters. Trucks are routinely loaded way beyond GVWR. I am glad nobody was hurt, and I am in no way criticizing what you did. **** happens, and it's great when it doesn't shower or even end you. I guess the only thing to take from this is that the eyeball scales are sometimes not accurate.
Diesel Dan
Well-known member
Good question as even the mohawks don't come standard with the gauge.
When I get my hoist up and running again I might look into installing my own gauge, should be easy enough.
Your Worth lift looks very similar to my Western lift so I went out to the shop to see how the cylinders are secured to the frame. On mine there is a shallow round socket that the round base of the cylinder sits in. It is simply held there by gravity. Near the top of the cylinder where the rod comes out, the cylinder is held to the frame by a stainless steel hose clamp. Apparently this is enough to prevent column buckling of the rod when it is at full load and full extension.
Check your lift to see if there is or was some sort of strap in place at the top of the cylinder that might have prevented this. In fact, anyone who has a similar lift should check theirs. Make sure they are tight and in good condition. As you can see in the OP's picture, that little strap is very important.
Check your lift to see if there is or was some sort of strap in place at the top of the cylinder that might have prevented this. In fact, anyone who has a similar lift should check theirs. Make sure they are tight and in good condition. As you can see in the OP's picture, that little strap is very important.
JakeKohl
Well-known member
I don't think anybody is blaming anything directly here...it's actually a pretty tame conversation for an internet forum and there is a lot of information that the lift might not be at fault. What would be interesting to know, from a manufacturer, is what is involved with hydraulic pressure relief valves to limit the load...do lifts typically have them? That Mohawk lift/weight gauge looks neat - I did a lot of automotive work when I was younger and I've never seen that. Seems like a pretty neat and simple option. Why don't we see those more?