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Slightly larger than your average lift question

StreetGliderX

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Joined
Sep 28, 2014
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8
I am building a 30x50 shop at my home and I am looking at two post lifts. I want a 15,000 lb lift. I find lots of reviews on here about lifts but not many of that size. If prices were close I'd rather have an American made lift but once you climb to the 15k mark the prices are vastly different. I have narrowed it to Bendpak or Atlas. The Atlas is half price of the Bendpak and my heart tells me there is a reason. But I see great reviews on the smaller Atlas lifts. Does anyone have any experience with lifts this size?

Thanks a ton
 
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zkdiesel

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Oct 6, 2013
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chicagoland cornfields
Have two rotary 18k. They are awesome? Y a 15?
Most 12k rotary or bendbacks will lift up to 4500 series trucks with wrecker and dump bodies
Unless you plan on lifting heavy f-450 to single axle semis I would just buy a pimped out 12k
No homeowner vehicle needs a 15k to be safe
My rotary spo12 has f450 dumps, wreckers, and sweepers on it weekly and is fine
Most motorhomes can't easily be racked on two posts

When stepping up to 15 or 18k rotary racking small cars can be a problem. You can't lift some Swb vehicles at all, and others you have to pull way foreword, swing front arms in, then back car up, as the arms compressed length are to long
When I remove regular cab pickup truck cabs with the big rotary I have to swap out the rear arms for a custom one I made that's short, where as my rotary 12k with three stage arms can reach those points withOut being to long
 
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StreetGliderX

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Sep 28, 2014
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Y a 15?

Unless you plan on lifting heavy f-450 to single axle semis I would just buy a pimped out 12k

Two trucks I work on often are 12,320lb and the other is 13,134lb.

They are single cab welding rigs. Those are the largest I'll use on it.

That's the reason I want to go 15k. And at the prices of 15k lifts I'm lost as to why it's so different.

Rotary ~$12,600
Bendpak ~$7,000
Atlas ~$3,500.
 
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zkdiesel

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Oct 6, 2013
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chicagoland cornfields
The rotary is a monster in comparison. Makes the other two look like tinker toys
The rotary also has heights to 18'
The rotary 15 lift is the same as my 18's but with different sized pumps and rams for the lower rating
 

c39er

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Mar 23, 2008
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1,663
Location
Seattle, Washington
I have a Rotary 12,000 4 post open end lift and a BP 14,000 EL tall 4 post.
The Rotary is a much heavier quality lift.
The BP 14,000 works very well too but not real beefy. I didn't want to spend another $7,000 at that time.
 

Jvvmusme

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Sep 25, 2011
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Location
Bogota, Colombia
Two trucks I work on often are 12,320lb and the other is 13,134lb.

They are single cab welding rigs. Those are the largest I'll use on it.

That's the reason I want to go 15k. And at the prices of 15k lifts I'm lost as to why it's so different.

Rotary ~$12,600
Bendpak ~$7,000
Atlas ~$3,500.

Buy the one with the price in the middle .......
 
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StreetGliderX

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Sep 28, 2014
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yeah thats kinda where i am at now,... the nearest gregsmith is about 4.5 hr trip so i might make the trip to see if i think it will save me 3500 dollars..
 

workhurts

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Mar 5, 2006
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Location
VA
Is this a business or personal use? In either case is go either middle of the road or top and skip the Atlas (especially for commercial use). I'd want customer service. As much as I griped about my Bendpak, they stepped up in the customer service department. I'd have no such expectations of support from the bottom.
 

brass89

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Sep 15, 2014
Messages
240
I'd opt for a rotary as well. The one in the shop I was at was a 2 post symmetrical, I wanna say 12 or 15k - don't think it was an 18k. We lifted rv's, 3-5 ton dump trucks on it all the time without issue. Rotary's are built pretty well, can't say much for other brands as I've never used them.
 

Amos

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Mar 15, 2011
Messages
3
Location
Mechanicsburg, PA
You may want to look at the Forward DS15S. Forward lifts are made by the Dover Corporation, who also represent the Rotary brand. After a lot of research I went this way recently and have not been disappointed.
 
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