So, just had a Bendpak HD-7W 4 post lift installed....and it won't lift a car

Had it professionally installed yesterday. Lift goes up/down no problem unladen.  Put a car on it and the front part of the lift goes up maybe 1/2" and that's it.  No more lifting, motor sounds like it's stalling.  Well under the weight capacity of the lift/motor.

WTF?  I've already emailed the installation company and the company I bought the lift from, but I'd love to hear from you guys.  If it's an easy fix I can do myself tomorrow, great!  If not, then I guess I'll wait till Monday and call the installation company and get them back out here...

Thoughts?

Both electrical inputs on the same leg?  Sounds like 110 instead of 220.

If you were smart enough to have someone else install it, i would call on them to fix it. The more you get involved in a fix the less likely they are to want to fix work that may or may not be their own. That's my 2¢..

In my experience Bendpak has always been good to deal with if there's a problem. 

I’m not exactly sure how those operate but don’t they use air to release the locks? Is the system fully pressurized? Maybe the locks are holding it back on the way up?

i think Bravenrace has a similar lift. Maybe drop him a note and see if he can share some insight. 

Have the cables all been set to the same length so it lifts evenly without binding?

We've installed about 6 of these ourselves at work and they're not rocket science.

Give the installer a call to get it sorted.

I had my professional electrician change the 110V line over to 220V for the lift, so hopefully the electrical is hooked up right.

All the work was done by licensed pros, although that doesn't mean something didn't get missed or set up incorrectly.

I'll leave it alone and call the installer Monday am and get them back over to my house.  Just really disappointed right now...

Is the hydraulic fluid reservoir full when it's all the way down?  It's not leaking anywhere, right?

I wonder why  part of the process of installation isn't lifting a car. You know, before the, "okay, we're done here" step.

I would guess air in the hydraulic system or maybe a loose connection from your electricians work to the installers work.

And you did not test it with the installers there? Get them back. Probably something simple. 

I wouldn't touch it until the installers are called back to investigate.

stuart in mn said:

I wouldn't touch it until the installers are called back to investigate.

Exactly, keep us posted?

Electrician installed the 220v plug on both my line and the lift motor.  Really hard to screw up that connection.  Hydraulic fluid level looks fine, no leaks. 

Very possible there's air in the lines.  Unfortunately I didn't really have a good way to test the lift with a car.  My M3 track car is in the shop and my daily GX has an electrical fault, so was disabled.  What I should've done was put my wife's SUV on it to see what happened before they left.

However, it was late, I'd seen the lift go up/down unladen and just didn't think of it.  I'll be calling the installer shortly once they open and get them back over to my house.

I'm also really unhappy with how high the bridge jack sits above the level of the lift decks.  It's about 3.75" above the lift deck and I'm really worried my M3 front splitter won't clear that.  Totally my fault, I brain farted when I ordered it, I forgot to ask the stack height of the bridge jack...

Talked to the lift installation guys, they want me to have the electrician make sure the line he put in is really cranking out 220v.  Like Streetwiseguy commented, they've seen this happen when the line is really only putting out 110v. 

I've got a call into my electrician, hopefully he can drop by the house and check it for me ASAP.  If that's all it is, great!  If not, then the lift installation company needs to come out and fix this...

I think they need to meet your electrician on site.  As mentioned above, you'd think they'd load test it as part of the installation to make sure all of the cables are balanced and the locks are working.

A lift is on my short wishlist, so I'm curious to hear how it turns out.  Do you mind sharing how much installation cost?  I could do it myself, but it looks like a helluva chore.

Lifts will self purge all the air out the first time you run one so unless the installers never put it in the air to level out the locks then that is not it.

If it goes up and down with no car then the pump valves are bad. No way around it. It is just purging back into the tank with pressure pushing it back past the valve.

Bendpak will take care of you.

docwyte said:

I'm also really unhappy with how high the bridge jack sits above the level of the lift decks.  It's about 3.75" above the lift deck and I'm really worried my M3 front splitter won't clear that.  Totally my fault, I brain farted when I ordered it, I forgot to ask the stack height of the bridge jack...

Yes, the RJ-45 rolling bridge jacks are taller than ideal.  I have a couple pieces of wood on the ramps on my HD9ST so that the Miata will clear them.  Cars at normal ride heights it's not a problem.

In reply to wearymicrobe :

I called the installer company again, they told me that its fairly common to have the 220v plug off the motor wired incorrectly.  Said if the electrician checks it and says its fine, then it's the motor.  At that point I'm sure Bendpak will send me another one.

In reply to codrus :

So you have 2x12's on the deck so when you drive the car onto the lift, you just drive onto the 2x12's? 

If I back the car onto the lift I should have enough clearance and should have clearance to move the bridge jack back and forth.  It's just that backing onto the lift is a bit of a PITA.

In reply to Tyler H :

I setup my first 4 post lift with 3 friends and it took us an afternoon.  However the lift was mostly put together.  When the lifts get shipped they're completely in pieces. Need to run the cables, run the air lines (If its a Bendpak), unbolt it from the shipping frame, etc, etc.

It took the installers a long day to take apart my old lift and set my new lift up.  Cost to set up the lift was $550 but I had it delivered to them, so there was a delivery charge as well.  If I suppose I could've taken my trailer to the loading dock and picked it up, but then I had no place to store it at my house or a way to get it off the trailer...

In reply to Tyler H :

They ran it up/down several times.  Locks work fine, you'd think the cables would be balanced otherwise it wouldn't go up/down at all, right?  I just didn't think of putting my wife's SUV on it at the time, I should've before they left.

If it runs and lifts with no weight on it but won't lift  with weight its possible the system overpressure  relief valve is set at too low a pressure and its allowing the recycling of the fluid through that valve instead of pressurizing the lift cylinder.

In reply to docwyte :

I just ordered a Bendpak HD-9XW.  I think you’ve convinced me to have the pros install it.

If the electrician tells you the power is good, is Bendpack going to pick up his tab? That would be over $100 in my hood just to pull into the driveway and another $100 to break out the meter.