Storage 4 post lift safety

[IH2LOSE]

Well I have a 4 post lift I had purchased for stacking cars in my garage.This august will be 2 years I have had it.I could not count how many times I have cycled it up and down.Last night I was completeing some work on my 66 and was lowering the car.(I was thinking about a call that brought bad new from my brother about my mother) and I must not have been releasing the locks all the way and one courner of the lift got jammed up and the lock.I was lucky because I came back to reality real quick.The design of these lifts are that the weight must remain even across all of the post.when one hangs up it shifts the weight distribution un-evenly and its easey to have a colapse.All I had to do was to stop what I was doing and raise the lift back up then properly release the locks. So I was lucky.

I am sharing this information for anyone else with this type of a lift USE CAUTION! they can kill you and destroy your car.I use it so often that I forget how dangerous they are.I will post a picture of the hung up lock tonight.the lift only was about a 1/2" off level but had I continued the car would have went off level and possibly caused a leg to kick in and colapse.
or had a cable gone slack and come off the pulley I maynot of been able to raise it back up or even the sliders snapping off or binding.

I hate to be an alarmest,but I wanted to share with every one how dangerous they can be.YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION when lowering a car

 

[Bob_K]

Glad to hear that it was a cheap learning experience and that neither you nor the car were hurt.

 

[JonM]

Go buy a lottery ticket

 

[tred95]

Yep, happened to me in a different senario. Scary how things happen when you take your mind off what's going on.
I only had my lift a couple of days and when I lowered it after working on the car. I saw something was wrong at about 3 ft off the floor, the posts started shifting.
What I had done was lean a piece of blocking against one of the posts and the collar caught on it and acted like a lock.
So now I do a walk around to check my locks after raising it, and again when it's time to lower to check for obstructions.
Glad you caught yours in time too.

 

[JohnZ]

I've had my lift for four years, and it's probably been up and down well over 100 times; once a year I go all over it and lubricate every shaft, rod, lever, lock pivot, pulley, etc. to keep everything moving freely. Whenever I lift the car, I set it down on the locks VERY gently to make sure that all four have cleared their lock blocks on the way up before allowing it to seat. Safety First!

 

[IH2LOSE]

This picture is of the left side .this is the one that got hung up.Look in the circled portion to see the pinch point. This little section is what got caught because I did not hold the realise handel down far enought to keep the lock free of the support blocks

 

[IH2LOSE]

This photo is of the right side.I was off on my estimate of only being 1/2" off level from the photos you can tell I am in excess of 1"

 

[IH2LOSE]

I have said it before I am sure when they set out to design this lift they were looking for an affourdable lift.But when and if I ever purchase another storage lift I would sertainly look into one with a better saftey lock design then this one

 

[TAC]

I have said it before I am sure when they set out to design this lift they were looking for an affourdable lift.But when and if I ever purchase another storage lift I would sertainly look into one with a better saftey lock design then this one

Would you mind sharing with us the name of this lift...I may be in the market later this year and am interested. TIA.

 

[IH2LOSE]

I am not here to slam the maker/seller of my lift.It was entirely my fault for not disingaging the lock fully.( its like being mad at a gun maker because I shot my self with my own gun because I was careless)

Mine was purchased thru eagle equiptment at corvettes of carlilse.But it's the same design that almost all of the lift on the market are using except backyard buddy.

I was going to purchase a back yard buddy lift but there was a longer waiting time for me to receive it.and at the time there was a bout a 5oo.oo price difference after shipping.I chose the eagle because I could get it within a week.(bad reason to make a decistion).

Any ways this post was not put up to slam a lift ,its more to point out a problem I personaly have had and to share it so hopefully no one else will