Lift king lifts?

[2EFNFAST]

Any experiences with the Lift King Pro King 8 model?

http://liftking.ca/index.php?page=auto-lift


I've been researching lifts and a lot of Canadian ones seem to be real POS's, based on the structure and welds.

[S13_Ryan]

i dunno much about lifts and have never really looked into it but post thread for sure when u end up buying one. ill have my own house next year around this time and will be looking for a lift

[78si]

You get what you pay for. A good 4 post hoist is $12G. It might be suitable for storage, but I wouldnt park my imaginary z06 under it!

[S13_Ryan]

lol parking anything under or ontop of the hoist when it fell wouldnt be smart. either way the car would be messed up. what about buying sumthing like that and then welding in extra support where needed?

i wouldnt even be using it for storage. id be using it for modifications etc. my cars a pain in the ass to try and get under.

[Toms-SC]

Make in China - Princessauto Brand most likely.

You get what you pay for.

[soloracer]

I have one and have had no problems with it. I like it so much that I bought a second one with the air jack system. These guys griping about it probably haven't even seen one let alone used one. I have no problem putting any of my Porsche's or RX7's on it. I know other guys that have them and they haven't had any problems. On top of it, the guys a Lift King were awesome to deal with. They even lent me their trailer to deliver to my house.

[Sailz]

I have a 2 Lift King 8's and One Lift King XXL. They have worked awesome since day 1. Piece of cake to install as well. Turn my 3 car garage into a 6! I use the XXL to lift my boat and park my Duramax under.

[m10-power]

Originally posted by soloracer
I have one and have had no problems with it. I like it so much that I bought a second one with the air jack system. These guys griping about it probably haven't even seen one let alone used one. I have no problem putting any of my Porsche's or RX7's on it. I know other guys that have them and they haven't had any problems. On top of it, the guys a Lift King were awesome to deal with. They even lent me their trailer to deliver to my house.

Dude you need to sell some of those car you horde

[Sailz]

Originally posted by 78si
You get what you pay for. A good 4 post hoist is $12G. It might be suitable for storage, but I wouldnt park my imaginary z06 under it!

These lifts are not made to do work on cars there just for storage. I park actual Porsches under mine and have no problems with it. I agree most people commenting on them probably haven't even seen one no matter used one.

[soloracer]

Originally posted by m10-power


Dude you need to sell some of those car you horde

This coming from a guy with more cars on his front lawn than I have in my garage.

[m10-power]

Originally posted by soloracer


This coming from a guy with more cars on his front lawn than I have in my garage.

[soloracer]

Originally posted by Sailz


These lifts are not made to do work on cars there just for storage. I park actual Porsches under mine and have no problems with it. I agree most people commenting on them probably haven't even seen one no matter used one.

I'll bite.....what work can't you do on one? What makes a lift only good for storage?

[S13_Ryan]

no shit, Its a lift lol, whats saying you cant stand under it and work on your car as apposed to parking underneath it

[Sailz]

Originally posted by S13_Ryan
no shit, Its a lift lol, whats saying you cant stand under it and work on your car as apposed to parking underneath it

You can do simple things such as changing oil etc. But nothing major ie: suspension work etc. The lifts do not have the same safety measures as a traditional shop lift. When lifted the pressure is released from the hydraulic cylinder and simply has a type of teeth and block system the platform sits on, on all four corners.

[soloracer]

Originally posted by Sailz


You can do simple things such as changing oil etc. But nothing major ie: suspension work etc. The lifts do not have the same safety measures as a traditional shop lift. When lifted the pressure is released from the hydraulic cylinder and simply has a type of teeth and block system the platform sits on, on all four corners.

I call B.S. on them not being as safe based upon the block system. The blocks are locked into a channel on all four corners. The blocks are held there with spring pressure - not hydraulic pressure. You have to add pressure to the hydraulic system to lift the platform far enough for the blocks to be raised and the you use a mechanical arm to retract them before lowering. Taking weight off the platform does nothing. You could cut all the cables and as long as the four posts are stable the platform isn't going anywhere. So please explain how you believe losing hydraulic pressure will do anything. Even if you lose pressure while lifting the furthest it can fall is a foot before the blocks lock into the channel.

Some older lifts have locking subframes - basically long poles that go across the lift under the car. These poles lock into the posts and when you lower the platform the car rests on the poles. On the Lift King models you use the jacking trays or the air jack system. The air jack system rides between the two platform beams - just like the jacking trays do. You just slide the jack system under the car and activate the jacks to lift it up. No big deal. And there is no way the car could fall off the jacks because there are two of them and they work in unison. The car would have to magically lift itself 6" up and at the same time move 2 feet over to get one side off the jack. Not going to happen.

[Sailz]

Originally posted by soloracer


I call B.S. on them not being as safe based upon the block system. The blocks are locked into a channel on all four corners. The blocks are held there with spring pressure - not hydraulic pressure. You have to add pressure to the hydraulic system to lift the platform far enough for the blocks to be raised and the you use a mechanical arm to retract them before lowering. Taking weight off the platform does nothing. You could cut all the cables and as long as the four posts are stable the platform isn't going anywhere. So please explain how you believe losing hydraulic pressure will do anything. Even if you lose pressure while lifting the furthest it can fall is a foot before the blocks lock into the channel.

Some older lifts have locking subframes - basically long poles that go across the lift under the car. These poles lock into the posts and when you lower the platform the car rests on the poles. On the Lift King models you use the jacking trays or the air jack system. The air jack system rides between the two platform beams - just like the jacking trays do. You just slide the jack system under the car and activate the jacks to lift it up. No big deal. And there is no way the car could fall off the jacks because there are two of them and they work in unison. The car would have to magically lift itself 6" up and at the same time move 2 feet over to get one side off the jack. Not going to happen.

Well you seem to be the expert here, so why are you asking me....

[soloracer]

I just happen to own one and think that a lot of the "not as safe" stuff is just misinformation based upon the cost of the unit. Call it "price snobbery" if you will. If the units were priced at $15K suddenly your attitude would change. But because they are $3K you've got the "they can't be safe, must not be as good, look how cheap they are" attitude. You are the one saying they aren't as safe so the least you should be prepared to do is back up your opinion with fact. Do you have any examples of one failing for example? The only ones I've known to fail were a different brand/design and they were in the in the states . They didn't have the locking channel and the reason they failed was the bases were not bolted to the floor so that the posts moved and the locking blocks fell off the welded tabs that support them thus dropping a corner of the platform. Fortunately on the Lift King model the locking blocks ride in a channel making it much harder for the blocks to come off. This is only an issue if the lift is not bolted down.

[Sailz]

Originally posted by soloracer
I just happen to own one and think that a lot of the "not as safe" stuff is just misinformation based upon the cost of the unit. Call it "price snobbery" if you will. If the units were priced at $15K suddenly your attitude would change. But because they are $3K you've got the "they can't be safe, must not be as good, look how cheap they are" attitude. You are the one saying they aren't as safe so the least you should be prepared to do is back up your opinion with fact. Do you have any examples of one failing for example? The only ones I've known to fail were a different brand/design and they were in the in the states . They didn't have the locking channel and the reason they failed was the bases were not bolted to the floor so that the posts moved and the locking blocks fell off the welded tabs that support them thus dropping a corner of the platform. Fortunately on the Lift King model the locking blocks ride in a channel making it much harder for the blocks to come off. This is only an issue if the lift is not bolted down.

Yeah and if you would actually read the thread you would know I own 3 of them!

[soloracer]

I know you own them - I can read. But that doesn't explain why you seem to think you can't work on a car on one. So again, why can't you change suspension or drop a motor on one? What makes it "unsafe" to do so? If you had spent $12k on them would you still say you can't perform suspension work on them? If so, give us a good reason for why you feel they should not be used for major work. A very knowledgeable friend of mine is doing a complete restoration of an early 911 using his Lift King lift - and I mean a stripped down to bare metal, everything removed type of restoration. So saying that you can't or shouldn't do suspension work with one is pure garbage unless you can come up with a logical reason and so far you haven't given us one.

P.S. I can show you a Lotus Elise that fell off a two post "professional" lift so you had better have something that is a design fault and not just old fashioned operator error.

[spikerS]

I think that if someone like this is willing to park these classic corvettes on it and under it, i would not have any issues doing any work on them.