I am taking delivery of a 4-post lift this week. It weighs around 1,700lbs total. I want to be prepared and have enough people on hand to assist. I have some questions for those that might have already done this...


The lift will be delivered to the bottom of my driveway (100 ft from my garage). I need to remove it from the delivery truck and transport it to my garage in the bed of my small truck

How many people did you need to unpack and unload it from the truck? (I will of course unload it in pieces)
How long did it take to assemble the lift?
How many people did you need to help with the assembly?
Thanks everyone in advance. I can post pics of the whole thing once it is completed in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same thing. I'm just worried that I won't have enough people to unload the thing and do the heavy lifting during assembly...

They are usually banded together. You will need to cut the bands and carry each piece into the garage. Two people can carry the pieces. I did one myself in several hours but I have a forklift. I would guess three guys could do it in a few hours. Minimum two guys if you don't have a forklift.

It took 3 guys and 1 Kubota to do mine. one day was all that is needed. The one ramp with the hydraulics in it is REALLY heavy (500lbs?). Don't forget a couple gallons of hydro oil!

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Are the the other components fairly managable by two guys?

Where'd you pick up your hydro oil? Tractor Supply or somewhere similiar?

Maybe I could use an engine hoist for the big ramp....

The more people the better - the delivery guy will not likely be very patient with this method. He will expect it to be forked off so he can continue with his day. The runways will be all 2 men can handle - use 4 if you can get them. I hired a rollback to pick it up from the shipping dock. An old fashioned tow truck got it in the garage- $120 and worth every penny.

As far as assembly, I did it myself with the exception of placing the crosstubes up and in the posts. No forktruck at my place, just a cherry picker. It takes MUCH longer without a truck, especially disassembly of the package as you will receive it. BE CAREFUL. I don't recommend doing this yourself, but it can be done.

I got a BendPak last fall.

I have a Bend Pak. They delivered and put it together. It took two guys with a swing arm lift 4 hours start to finish. These guys knew what they were doing. I believe the heaviest piece was 400 - 500 pounds.

Bend Pak suggested Autotransmission fluid - 12 quarts. Any auto parts store.

I bought my oil at a local John Deere retailer. Yes, the other parts could be lifted with the two guys, but the more the better! One of my friends and I took his trailer to the Yellow freight terminal to pick it up. They forklifted the shipping unit onto the trailer and we took it apart from the trailer to the garage. You cannot pick up the shipping unit without some heavy lifting!

I had 6 friends and family help put mine up. I lived close enough to go pick my lift up with my car trailer. We were there when they opened and drove 100 miles home with it. By the end of the day we had my truck up in the air on it.

I did mine with a friend and it blew my back out, but thats because we took it apart, then changed locations from one to another and put it back together. We had a Van and a Truck...

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/skeeter55/11pics034.jpg

I can tell you for sure, YOU have to have the lift taken off the truck, and they expect you to have a fork lift or such there when they arrive.

Most will not let you take it apart on the truck and take it in piece by piece, time is money.
Maybe your the last delivery for the day?, you might be able to buy him a coffee or something and he will wait.

The driver will usualy just leave if you cant get it right off.

I have dealt a lot with truck companys and they are usualy nice and will give you a hand, but with something that weighs 1600-1800lbs, & is about 16ft long, you need a lot of hands!

I dont have an easy way to get the lifts off the trucks, so I always pick them up at the terminal, which for me is about 45min away.

They load it on my friends car trailer and off we go.

If you do plan to remove it from the truck and you have no equipment to do so, you will need at least 8-10 people to do so and it will still be crazy & poss a bad thing to do.

An engine hoist would be very helpful too!

Good luck and be careful, very heavy!!!!

Looking into this myself. How did it go? What brand did you end up with?

Hi

Hire a flatbed towing , he can back up to the truck pull the lift on his flatbed, this will take 5 minutes , you can then have the towing back up to your garage and unload , if you have a welder you can built a dolly with strong wheels and roll your lift , I have done this many times when I worked for a lift company. Good luck:beers:

I recommend backyard buddy highly!

Well, I'm 80% complete with the lift adventure. I'll do a separate write-up once completed so those contemplating buying and assembling a lift themselves can read my experience with this.

Basically, I put the word out to my car club that I need to get the lift to my house--6 people responded on Day 1--all offering to pick it up and bring it to my house. Me and one of the guys then went over to the 24-hour terminal with his car trailer, the trucking company put the lift on the trailer and we drove home.

My 16-yr old, his friend and I unloaded the lift into the garage in about 20 minutes. We grabbed one more person to unload the ramp with the hydraulic piston (it's about 300 lbs) and had the lift free standing in about 40 minutes.

I spent another 45 minutes on it tonight, threading the cables and installed some odds and ends. So far so good. Anyone can install this--it is very simple so far.

I'll tinker some more tomorrow and Tuesday and should easily have it complete by Tuesday night. I'd say it is a 3-4 hour job depending on how many times you stop for breaks or re-do your work.

I selected my lift based upon what I have seen in other's houses and how easily it was to contact the company and ask questions and voice concerns. I also considered who was willing to have their lift at big car shows and Carlisle for people to see and critique and which tech lines knew the product the best. I of course, looked at quality of the welds, cables and general engineering. Once I went through all that, I considered price.

I'll post all the boring details once I am complete with this.

Thus far, it looks awesome to have the 4-post taking up space in my garage. I am looking forward to using it. It is the ultimate man tool and I'm glad to have it.

Big Dave,

I took your advice and picked up the lift at the terminal with my friend's car trailer (it was 6 miles away and they are open 24 hrs).

It went flawless--I was able to pick the lift up at night and unload it when I was ready and had enough people.

Thanks for the advice.

Brent

I can tell you for sure, YOU have to have the lift taken off the truck, and they expect you to have a fork lift or such there when they arrive.

Most will not let you take it apart on the truck and take it in piece by piece, time is money.
Maybe your the last delivery for the day?, you might be able to buy him a coffee or something and he will wait.

The driver will usualy just leave if you cant get it right off.

I have dealt a lot with truck companys and they are usualy nice and will give you a hand, but with something that weighs 1600-1800lbs, & is about 16ft long, you need a lot of hands!

I dont have an easy way to get the lifts off the trucks, so I always pick them up at the terminal, which for me is about 45min away.

They load it on my friends car trailer and off we go.

If you do plan to remove it from the truck and you have no equipment to do so, you will need at least 8-10 people to do so and it will still be crazy & poss a bad thing to do.

An engine hoist would be very helpful too!

Good luck and be careful, very heavy!!!!

Now lets see some pics... Glad to hear it went awesome.

The only BAD advice I read in any of the responses was that two men could carry any of the pieces.. All I can say is: I'd HATE to be one of the two guys carrying the piece with the hydraulics in it. :) (they would have to be BIG guys.. like NFL defensive tackle sized.. *L*)

I should finish this up tonight.

My greatest fear was the one ramp with the hydraulics--it easily weighs 300lbs.

Two guys could have carried it a very short distance down a perfectly straight and clear path and then set it on a perfectly aligned set of crossposts. Unfortunately, that is not what I had and it took 4 huffing and puffing guys to wrangle it into place.

Thank heavens that we put car jacks under the ramp so that we had a place to rest the ramp when we needed to make an adjustment.

My next task in this adventure is to convert my garage door to a high-lift door.

Bottom line (which I will cover in my overall write-up) is that I will use a jackshaft opener (Liftmaster 3800) to get the door within 12" of my 13" ceiling. That will give me plenty of headroom for the car on top.

Estimates to do this have ranged from $750 to $1,700 for what appears to be the same work.

Anyone having experience with this or comments on the cost or anything, please chime in. I'll take pics and post them when I am done...

I was able to find a local garage door repairman who would sell me the parts required to lift the door. What I bought was two extra rails, and extra door section and the spring assembly. Took a little engineering to get the door as close as possible to the ceiling. I was able to get the door to clear the camaro with enough room to put a electric door opener in between too! and my ceiling is around 11' 8"!

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I just had the same thing done. I was warned to get safety wire in the other doors springs cause they do let go and you wouldnt want to have that spring hit the car. Its my weekend project.

I just had the same thing done. I was warned to get safety wire in the other doors springs cause they do let go and you wouldnt want to have that spring hit the car. Its my weekend project.
The piece of pipe going straight through the coiled springs should contain the "snap" if it did pop.....I would think.

The wire is through the coil springs on the other doors, just not the torsion spring. :)

Thanks Brent...glad it was that easy for you!

You must post pics !

Good luck with your lift!

I also did a highlift door kit...try to get up some pics for you.

I bought my 4 post lift last Spring. I picked it up from the warehouse on a utility trailer. I unloaded it and put it together by myself using small furniture dollys' short pieces of pipe and my engine hoist.

I recommend backyard buddy highly!

What keeps it from having metal to metal contact while "sliding" up and down the posts? After reading some info on their site about their lifts, it appears they knock other lift companys for using "glide blocks". Just wondering how theirs work.

The backyard buddy models have a complete metal collar surrounding the posts. There are thick 3/8" teflon blocks at each corner of the collar that ride on the posts. you do need to spray silicon lube on the posts periodically. They work great BTW :)

I have assembled the lift and raised it...problem is, it won't lower...I'm assuming that I need to do some adustment to the cables or something....

It must be binding somewhere...

I have assembled the lift and raised it...problem is, it won't lower...I'm assuming that I need to do some adustment to the cables or something....

It must be binding somewhere...

Brent...do you have a bendpak lift?

With a bendpak they use air to release the locks.

I recommend backyard buddy highly!

I agree, I have owned my Backyard Buddy for 5 years or so and never had any problems.

I have assembled the lift and raised it...problem is, it won't lower...I'm assuming that I need to do some adustment to the cables or something....

It must be binding somewhere...

Do you have any weight on it? Mine will come down, but without a car on it it is VERY slow.

ss

I figured it out--3 of the 4 top cables were not in their pullies...it works great now...pics will follow when them temp is not 8 degrees outside..

Garage guy will be here on Monday to install a jackshaft opener and 48" highlift doors--he's charging me $750 to do the work--$300 of that is for the opener (Chamberlin 3800)...

Glad to hear that lift worked out well. I havent been on this site in awhile but I installed a Direct Lift back in 8/08. Went through all the same things with it being so F'n HEAVY...A motor hoist, floor jacks, stands helped along with some strong friends.
Its the best tool I ever bought, you'll love it.

If you look at the pic real close you can see red bungy cords around the posts, these are holding pressure treated 4 x4's in place while the lift is in the up/locked position. Though their not needed I just like that little bit of xtra so called "protection" when I'm under the lift, dont know if they'll actually help in the event of a catastropy but its just eases my mind alittle
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How high does the ceiling need to be? Mine is 10.5' and have been thinking about getting one.
Ron

How high does the ceiling need to be? Mine is 10.5' and have been thinking about getting one.
Ron

You should be able to lift most any car, some small trucks and suv's....

You can go to "DIRECT LIFT" and they have a chart thats very helpful to determine what you need for clearance.

I just bought a BENDPAK HD9 and my ceiling is just under 11ft.

I have a 94' full size blazer, and should be able to get it up a fair amount...may have to hunch here and there, but its doable.

I do plan to vault a section of my ceiling to 12ft, then mst anything will fit...I think you will be able to do quite a bit with 10.5ft ceilings!

I was able to find a local garage door repairman who would sell me the parts required to lift the door. What I bought was two extra rails, and extra door section and the spring assembly. Took a little engineering to get the door as close as possible to the ceiling. I was able to get the door to clear the camaro with enough room to put a electric door opener in between too! and my ceiling is around 11' 8"!

http://www.fototime.com/CE4DFA0155FFBC0/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/64029E36FC0DA9C/standard.jpg

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That is exactly what my lift door is like. I believe it cost me $400 to have it changed from regular door to one like in the pic.

Congrats on the lift B...t. You will love it!!

Did you see this video?
http://www.backyardbuddy.com/videos/bbuddywide.wmv

Saw it. Backyard Buddy really likes the lifts they sell.

I like mine alot and it is so far as steady as a rock and well made. Friends who have the same lift have had it with no issues for many years. I paid $1,799 delivered with aluminum ramps, jack track, wheels, and 3 drip trays. It took about 5 hours for me to very carefully assemble it.

:wacko:I think I got a quote of about $5200 or something like that for the Backyard Buddy. They are nice but expensive.

:wacko:I think I got a quote of about $5200 or something like that for the Backyard Buddy. They are nice but expensive.

I was wondering why i could not find pricing on their web site....says to call for price...@ $5000 +....I can see why!

I have never used one, and most people i talked to that has one says they like their lift...i just cant see where they come up 5 large for it.

Also, BRENT...did not see pics of your lift yet...did i miss them?...if i did, sorry for buggin' ya...if not, post um' up!

I believe that figure was all the accessories and shipping also. They are real heavy duty and nice. I had to call the guy and get a quote faxed to me.

The price is lower if you order it at a show. I think mine was $3600 shipped

I just had my door raised a few months ago and added a Liftmaster 3800 jackshaft opener. Total cost was $1,200 installed....

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s177/Zedder_photos/IMG_1445.jpg

Saw it. Backyard Buddy really likes the lifts they sell.

I like mine alot and it is so far as steady as a rock and well made. Friends who have the same lift have had it with no issues for many years. I paid $1,799 delivered with aluminum ramps, jack track, wheels, and 3 drip trays. It took about 5 hours for me to very carefully assemble it. Got a link to the company that sells them ? That's a great price

So, the saga is complete. The lift is in, the Camaro is tucked in and the mini-van has retaken its place in the garage.

The lift is from Eagle Equipment--it is the GLO-7000 and was easy to install. The main ramp was very heavy and took 4 people to get in place, but the rest of it was manageable by me and my friend. I'd say I could install one in 3 hours or less now that I have done one.

I love the high-lift door and the Chamberlin 3800 opener--awesome set-up. It even has a control pad that shows the temp in my garage (small I know but I really think its neat), it is very quiet and came with two 200watt remote lights with motion sensors. With 13" ceilings it seems that have about 3 feet more space than I really need.

I watched the Backyard Buddy video and they seem to be really nice lifts. Now that I understand how the non-Backyard Buddy lifts operate, the pics they show of a failed lift appear to be because of operator error vice lift failure. If the locking tabs are not adjusted and unlocked correctly, the lift will not descend evenly and the result will be exactly what the picture shows.

I understand all of the "my life depends on the safety of the lift and money doesn't matter" statements and folks spending $3,300 more than I did for the bare BYB but I am confident in the lift I purchased. It is stable and has safety features that give me confidence in it's construction and operation. The company is very responsive to any questions I have and I am happy with them and their product. Friends have the same lift I have and theirs has been trouble free and safe for years.

Here are some pics--there not too great but I wanted to get something up to at least show what it is.

Thank you to all who responded to my questions--it really gave me an idea of what to expect and encouraged me to do it myself. Folks wanted $600 to install the lift--I did it myself with no problem. Thanks!


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Looks great and you saved some cash !!

So much easier then u would think. I think it took us few hours to put it together.

Doh! I'm jealous. stupid hurricane south florida houses. The ceiling in my garage is only 8'9". No way to fit one car over the other. :sad: