Posted this on the Garage Journal - Thought it was important enough to have here also. Oldmics ______________________________________________________________________________ So heres an interesting little tidbit that I have not seen addressed anywhere in lift maintainance. The issue of the rub blocks wearing out ! When these inner rub blocks wear it canters the safety lock rails towards the outer ends of the lock dogs, So much that there is a possibility that outer edge of the dog could crack allowing whatever is on the lift to crash to the ground. My story is that my 10 year old lift that has given me excellent service had a vehicle resting on the safety BUT the car was slightly cocked - higher on one side than the other. After much inspection I discovered that I could push against the inner girder (on either side) that holds the lift arms and move it almost an inch. The rub blocks had worn significantly and had to be replaced. Now lemmie tell ya - THIS JOB SUCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! The manufactor tells you to disassemble the entire lift to install the rub blocks. I managed to do the job by only removing the top section of the girder and using a chain fall on the top of a scaffold to remove the inner girder and replace the blocks. Took me 2 days and 2 guys to do it safely. If your lift is over 5 years old I highly suggest checking the positions of the locking dogs and how your safetys are holding, Oldmics
Could you share some details of you lift. Manufacturer, two post or four post, and pictures would help.
That is one of the reasons a new car dealership changes out their lifts about every 5 years. Less time to change the lifts than fix them.
The lift is a two post - Atlas Pro V10 Serious home shop so it was used in a reasonable fashion not as hard as a commercial shop. Not bitching about the length of service , its just maintenance issue that nobody has seemed to mention First picture is the safety dog before replacement of the rub blocks. As you can see as far out on the end of the triangle I doubt it would hold the 10 K the lift is rated at (or half of that) Second pic is the position of the dog after replacment of the blocks, deeper seating of the ladder onto the safety dog , much better Oldmics
I ran a Govt repair shop at the Federal Law enforcement training center in Ga. We had almost 900 vehicles and 13 lifts that were inspected annually. They would come in and do a complete safety check and structural inspection of the lifts. These lifts got used continually at least 5 days a week. Things wear out and for your own safety , you should inspect or have a licensed inspector do a safety check of your lift annually. I had some lifts that had been in constant use for over 20 years and with proper lubrication and inspections were still in use when I retired. Very few repairs were ever needed. An inspection cost around 300 bucks and takes a couple of hours. It gets a certified sticker installed and your insurance company is happy.
As I rechecked my lift today I thought this old post would be something about safety to consider. Oldmics
here is what I ran into today. newer lift, rarely used [maybe 50 times?] they assembled the lift with the cable not in the pulley so it was sliding along the axle instead. if you have one of these lifts check that the cables were installed correctly and that all the hardware is tight. I found a bunch of loose hardware also.
When I worked in automotive all the shops I worked at had annual safeties done on the lifts cables replaced Rub blocks Arm locks etc us mechanics were responsible for lubing and oiling certain points Checking the fluid and cylinders for leaks daily/ weekly. Worked on and under many 20 plus year old hoists the alignment rack at one shop was from 1952 !! only locked in two spots !! But worked great and got maintained well. I had a cable snap once while lowering a car and did not stop the hoist quick enough, car was almost sideways !! Hoist repair guy earned his keep that day !!
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