Problem with Advantage Lift

[danieldd]

1st time this has happened in the 3 years I've owned it. Put the Pontiac up on the lift about chest high so I could check the back brakes. So, I initially raised the car up to over my head and then brought it down and engaged the locks. While working on the car, I noticed one of the cables under the runway had alot of slack in it. Funny.. I never noticed that before!

So, I raised the lift and it took awhile before all the slack was out of the cable before it started to move. That has never happened. While this was going on I noticed the cable for the driver's rear post was slack as well, before it started to move. I went ahead and lowered to car without incident and checked the two rear post pulleys to make sure the cable was seated, and it was. I have no clue as to what has happened and whether it will do it again. This is a 4 post lift. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Poolshark314]

Do the locks all click at the same time? Could be cable stretch and just needs to be adjusted out

 

[zkdiesel]

Need to check cable adjustment per spec first. Make sure nothing backed off


Unevenly distributed loads can cause this
Like something way heavier on one side or much further on ramps off to one side

 

[danieldd]

All locks click at the same time. This is a light car. Less than 4K and it was centered on the lift. I'm going to pull the car off and raise it up without anything on it to see if I can determine anything.

 

[crazylunker]

did you hold the lower lever after the locks were engaged? if so it's possible the cylinder continued to retract causing the cables to go slack.

 

[danieldd]

did you hold the lower lever after the locks were engaged? if so it's possible the cylinder continued to retract causing the cables to go slack.

I don't remember exactly the sequence of events. Even if I did, I wouldn't expect one cable to act like this. I pulled the car off the lift and ran it up and down without incident. All I can do at this point is to keep an eye on it. I may call Advantage today and talk with them about it.

 

[racecougar]

Yep, holding the release lever open after the runways settle on the locks will create slack in the cables, but it will be relatively even slack across all four cables if the cables and lock ladders are properly adjusted. There will be some variation in the visible sag, as the cables are different lengths.

IIRC, Advantage lifts don't have adjustable lock ladders. If that's the case, the cables may have been set to level the runway during travel rather than to match the floor/columns.

 

[racecougar]

I don't remember exactly the sequence of events. Even if I did, I wouldn't expect one cable to act like this. I pulled the car off the lift and ran it up and down without incident. All I can do at this point is to keep an eye on it. I may call Advantage today and talk with them about it.

Did you set the runway on the locks and see what the cable slack looked like while the car was off the lift?

 

[Yankeefarmer]

This same subject was discussed earlier this year:

Updated: Had my Advantage Lift installed, I think there is too much cable slack when lowered on the locks..

I just had my DX9000 installed by professional installers and I think there is too much slack when lowered on the locks. I asked installers about that and they said that was normal, but I question if others with an Advantage lift has the same issue? Also when on the locks the two rear column...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[danieldd]

Did you set the runway on the locks and see what the cable slack looked like while the car was off the lift?

Yes.

 

[danieldd]

Yep, holding the release lever open after the runways settle on the locks will create slack in the cables, but it will be relatively even slack across all four cables if the cables and lock ladders are properly adjusted. There will be some variation in the visible sag, as the cables are different lengths.

IIRC, Advantage lifts don't have adjustable lock ladders. If that's the case, the cables may have been set to level the runway during travel rather than to match the floor/columns.

I gave them a call this morning and you're right. This is by design and I probably had the release lever open after I had set the locks. I haven't been able to recreate the issue. I'll keep an eye on it but Advantage Lifts says this is normal.

 

[kbuhagiar]

I gave them a call this morning and you're right. This is by design and I probably had the release lever open after I had set the locks. I haven't been able to recreate the issue. I'll keep an eye on it but Advantage Lifts says this is normal.

Same thing has happens to me with my DirectLift. Harmless.

I also notice similar cable sag if I haven't run the lift for a few weeks.