[Brentmc]

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...

[clill]

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.

[KevinW]

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!

[Brentmc]

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....

[bigdaryl]

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.

[dbanas]

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.

[KevinW]

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!

[dadstoy]

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.

[Skeeter55]

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...

[69 merlinpro565]

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!!!!

[Havin' Fun]

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

[jjjtjl]

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

[KevinW]

I recommend backyard buddy highly!

[Brentmc]

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.

[Brentmc]

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

Originally Posted by 69 merlinpro565

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!!!!