[Intro]
So there are a couple different kinds of lifts. I chose a lift that's a little bit shorter
that can fit inside of the garage space that I have. In my particular scenario I'm not
going to be using my lift every single day all the time, it's mostly just like a hobby
project for me. So I just got something that's going to be able to handle the particular
project I have in mind.
So things to think about when you're getting a lift is, 1) how tall the ceiling is, 2)
what kind of power. I had 220 wired into this post right here so we can just tie the tower
into that. And then as it gets shipped, this thing weighs a lot. There was no residential
shipping option with this so I had to have it shipped to a port or somewhere and then
they load it onto a trailer, and then I managed to get it into my garage. And now that it's
here we can separate the two towers, move the base plate and get it into position.
So when we're taking off the shipping brackets on the top and bottom we're making sure not
to have any limbs or fingers or anything between the two as they're falling down. Cuz once
again, these things weigh a lot.
Alright, so we are currently...we've read the instruction booklet – surprise, I know
– and we are putting marks on the concrete where the lift is going to go. And so we're
putting down some tape first and then marking on the tape with a marker so we can get the
layout before we actually start drilling holes in the cement. Now, one thing that's interesting
is that this lift on the website said that it was fine with four inch thick concrete
which is what I have here. But, in the instruction booklet it's asking for seven, so it's hard
to know exactly which one is correct - I would assume the instructional booklet. But I'm
never going to be anywhere near the 10,000 pound capacity of this lift so we should be
alright.
So before we get too far with moving the lifts over here, we're going to measure out on the
floor exactly where the towers are going to stand. Now one of the important things we
got to figure out is where the center of gravity is on the vehicles that we're going to be
lifting up and that's usually somewhere around the rear view mirror and the driver's seat.
And so we have laid out on the ground...we've kind of like parked our virtual truck right
here and the tower is going to stand about 6 inches away from the crack...either of the
two cracks, which gives it more support on the concrete. So putting that mark on the
base plate allows us to line it up with the mark we made on the concrete earlier, which
just saves our back. There's less moving when we have everything measured out beforehand.
[Brian] So we figured out why these are so heavy. Cuz I was really surprised. I was like
man, for being an inexpensive lift this is amazing. But you've got all of these components
like the lift arms and everything inside of here for shipping. And that's why it was so
scary heavy. I'm like man, I was not prepared for this. That's why. So we're going to pull
these out so it's lighter and easier on our backs.
-Then we can use the dolly to transport it the rest of the way around and put it close
to position.
-So the lift footplate is 17 ¼ so they know that this is the back like what we measured
for. So line that up. Seventeen and a quarter here, and make a mark there. So that way what
I do is because this is side down, I can drop that on here. And then when I stand it up
I'll be closer to this mark. Make a long arrow tail so that when this is covered up I can
know that it's going to be within so far...big ones, little ones, on there.
-So we already premarked the rear and the front. You can see that little pencil mark
there. And as we bring this close, we know that this is lined up over the mark. We can
lift it up and kick out the dolly, and set it down right close to our mark.
Alright so these lifts are 9 ½ feet tall and I have 10 feet tall ceilings so we are
really close to the top there but it's working. If you check out right here you can see our
mark measured twice, set down once. And we're really close to the center of this metal pad
right here and our center marks. We can just shimmy it and put it in the exact place we
need, but at least it's close. Now let's get the other one positioned here.
-Let's make it lighter first.
-We can pull out the arms.
Well now the other tower is up. Well now both towers are in place. There's been a couple
earthquakes in Utah in the last couple days so we're just hoping one doesn't hit right
now.
-One hundred and one yesterday, and more than 20 of those were four or higher...well not
four but close to four...like 3.5.
-They were pretty big.
-So I brought this hammer because it doesn't scratch paint and these are heavy and it's
easier to just go like this. We need 104.33 after converting from the metric. 104.25 is
where we're at. So just a little love tap over there.
-And that same measurement is going to go from each of the toes on both sides of the
lift. And that makes sure that we're square. We've been converting from metric to imperial
units.
-Everything is perfect. I'm so happy. Let's trace it and get this out of here and then
we'll start running cables and all of the fun goodies that we have to do.
-That plate is not supposed to go on just yet. We just placed it down to make sure that
it would fit and we haven't messed up any alignment. Measure twice...don't cut anything.
How deep were we when it went through?
-You had about a half inch to spare, we're just shy of 4 inches thick.
-That wasn't close.
-No.
-Dang.
-That one's like 2 and ¾ inch thick I guess.
-Yeah. Alright, so after drilling a bunch of pilot holes we figured out that the concrete
thickness is not universally...you know, we were going to risk it with the 4 inches because
that's what it said on the website, but my concrete is not 4 inches so we are going to
double the price of this project and replace the slab. But it's better to be safe than
sorry. Right, Brian?
-It's better to be safe than dead.
-It's going to add a couple weeks. But it will be just a couple seconds for you guys.
So after doing all our cutting we can see some pretty extreme variations we have in
the thickness of the concrete. Like look over here in this corner...like that's barely 2
inches thick right there. So I'm pretty glad we made the decision to stop installing, remove
the concrete and actually get something that's going to be thick and heavy. Cuz with the
vehicle, with a 2 post lift like this...I don't want to take any risks. So here we are.
And after seeing the concrete and how you know, not 4 inches it is, I think we made
the right choice.
So it's been about, I don't know, two months since we poured the concrete slab. Now we
have 8 inches of concrete instead of the 4...3 or 4 inches that we had before. So I feel
much better about it. Brian, how do you feel about it?
-I'm so happy you went with that decision. It wasn't my decision to make, but I'm impressed.
Good judgment.
-Staying alive is kind of important.
-Yep.
-Anyway, so what we've gotten up till now is we've moved the pillars into place on the
concrete pad. They're kind of centered. We've measured the distance, we're squared it up
with the doorway for the garage. You can see that the posts line up pretty well with the
garage behind me. And now we are going to drill the holes and put them in.
-Yep.
-That's the next step. We could have installed this lift sooner but time kind of got away
from us. I think the concrete would have been ready to install in maybe two or three weeks.
But, you know, as time passes the concrete gets harder and harder so it's even better
that we waited a couple months to install it.
So what we've done so far is we've drilled holes in the concrete for the anchor bolts.
These anchors kind of just act like drywall anchors. They get pounded into the hole, and
then this piece down here at the bottom expands as we tighten the nut at the top. And that's
what holds the whole thing in place. Also with our concrete, even though it's a brand
new pad, it's a little bit wavy so we have to shim the lift itself to make sure that
it's plumb, you know, straight up and down and not tilted one way or the other. And we
do that before we tighten the bolts down all the way. Plus the concrete has silica dust
in it and that's why we're wearing the masks cuz the silica dust can damage your lungs.
And you know, ear protection and all that good stuff.
For this lift the bolts they shipped out were ¾ inches and we're using a ¾ inch bit to
drill the holes. You might be curious like this is a really big lift and these are really
small anchors, but the concrete that we're drilling into is 4,000 psi which means that
you can put 4,000 pounds on each square inch of it because it's per square inch. And so
the concrete is going to get harder over the next 100 years obviously. But if you think
about that, a vehicle like a truck is anywhere from 5,000 to you know, 7,000 pounds, and
that's spread out over the whole pad and not necessarily on each bolt, but each square
inch is 4,000 pounds per square inch. So they are a lot stronger than they look.
So when we pound those in we're not going until it's super tight just yet because we're
going to shim the base of it. So these right here are the shims that come with the lift.
So if the lift is not plumb or stable you can just slide these under the bolts and prop
it up until it is straight up and down left and right.
So with the torque specs our instructions did not come with any. So we looked around
and kind of got the torque specs for other lists that have been installed and they ranged
anywhere from like 40 all the way up to 150, which is a pretty large range. And so we just
split the difference and we're going right around 100 or so. But I would say just follow
the instructions that come with your lift. For me, I just want to make sure that there's
enough...cuz like when the bolt is going down, that anchor is spreading out inside of the
concrete. And so if we don't go tight enough than that spreader...that anchor isn't going
to be tight inside of the shaft. We have to make sure that it is biting. Once it's turning
really easily...it's hard to explain...it's turning really easy and I think that expander
is spreading out. And once it kind of stops, which we feel is right around 100 or so, that's
when we know it's finished tightening down. But once again, follow the instructions and
the torque specs if it's written in them.
So this right here is the pulley and it goes on the top of the post just like we have over
here. And that is what the car is going to hang from. And we set it in place. Then we
can take this long metal cable and wrap it through the posts right. Right now we're taking
these massive silver cables and routing them through each of the towers. And this is what
keeps the arms of the lift synchronized. These metal cables are a fail-safe just in case
one side, like the hydraulics on one side breaks, the cables will keep both arms on
the same level. It's a safety thing.
So we're taking one of the cables, dropping it through the carriage, down along the ground,
and then it's going to pop up through that pulley right there, up into the top and sink
right down here into this hole. And then we'll put some nuts on it from the inside. Then...
-The hydraulic lines run between the cables and under the cables. As you can see there's
a gap there for your hoses. It's important that you route it in such a way that the cables
don't fray on it. You can grip the middle one by using an open end wrench, and then
compress the fitting by tightening it snugly. You can kind of feel where it yields. When
you look at the end of these, we're not using Teflon tape for one, the instructions didn't
say to, but they're also kind of fluted, ferruled, whatever you want to call them. You ought
to make sure when you do this one to go underneath the cables so that everything is consistent
in terms of not being in the path of the cables. So this one's going to go underneath it here,
and then it goes to the power head unit here. Always make sure that you be careful when
you've thread them together so that you don't have any conflicts with the threads. These
are done pretty nice so you don't have to worry. Now you will notice that when I was
tightening this, this one also tightened. So I'm going to back this off and make sure
this is tight as well.
So to summarize what goes where: you have a short hose to a three-way union, another
short hose, and then the longest hose with the 90's goes up to the power head unit or
pump here. I like my hose to be tight to the unit so I'm going to support it on the side
here. It just makes the overall profile smaller and easier to not snag stuff on. You definitely
want to use a funnel to get the stuff in. Trying to pour past this electrical box is
problematic at best without one. Should take about 3 gallons. You see we're at the max?
The min is only here, so this is the operating range that you need it to be in. After we
bleed it we'll go ahead and get them a level more fine tuned where it needs to be. It can
go up or down from there. Typically the higher the lift goes, the lower this goes as the
rams fill with hydraulic fluid. Given that we're starting about a third of the way up
the column, we'll just have to wait and see where it's going to be. There's going to be
a lot of air to purge.
-Alright, so we did have to wire up our own cable right there into the side of the motor.
We're just going to kind of take it up this post and kind of hang it on the beam and bring
it down this other side. So this did not come with the lift – we had to buy this separately.
So this right here is part of the release cable for the locks. This little guy. It keeps
the lift from, you know, falling if something ever goes wrong. And right now we have taken
the wire, stuck it through this pin, wrapped it around the pulley, dropped it all the way
down through to the bottom. And then it's the thin wire you can see here, going all
the way across, out the bottom.
-There's a pulley in the bottom here and it's surprisingly difficult to get it to go through
because it wants to go out the hole for this hose that goes up to the pump. So you got
to find a way to get it to stab up and then creep up to here and then run it up to the
lock release there.
-So this right here just kind of like resets itself because of the spring. And we have
the wire pinched right here on this side. And every time this is compressed it also
releases the other side, so you don't have to walk across it and do both sides.
Before we put this plate back on I just want to show that there are two nuts holding the
end of this large cable together. Remember that one cable that keeps the whole thing
synchronized? And then this plate is what protects. Did you screw these in?
-Not yet.
-I was going to say, that's loose!
-Problematic!
-And then we'll put this plate over top of the cables.
So now we have the plate dropped down in place and we have the two holes drilled in the cement
and we are going to use those same type of cement anchors, drop them through to hold
that plate in place.
Alright so the lift is installed. There's only one thing left to do. I think we have
to actually do a couple things. We have to raise it up and drop it down to make sure
the hydraulic fluid dropped off?
-Yeah, we're not going to go to the full height so we don't have to do that either.
-And then we're going to put my truck on it and hope for the best.
So when the lift is all the way down, these legs move, but when it's up that's when the
legs lock into place. So my backing up job isn't the greatest but we're just going to
pup this up really quick, see...[motor sounds]...get it close to the bottom of the truck. [Motor
sounds]
So we just realized that we're coming full circle now. When I first got this truck I
actually went over to Brian's channel to use his lift on my truck. And now he's here on
my channel using my lift on my truck. Anyway.
-A lot of lifting going on.
-Here we go. Final time. I'm going to let him press it and watch from out here.
-Three, two, one. [Motor sounds]
-Going up. Oop.
-We're going to reinspect that. Sometimes there will be settling when it takes a load
– especially with the arms being new. It's all good.
-Alright.
-It's just fun jitters.
-Round two!
-It's teasing us. [Motor sounds]
-Oh yeah.
-You can hear the safety latches going at the same time. And then I double switch it.
That is a touchy switch.
-Alright. So my ceiling is a little bit low, but normally, you know, my truck's also pretty
tall.
-We're going to make a marker mark when we get there. We're going to look at that.
-Alright.
So we are finished. The truck is up on the lift. Thanks a ton to Brian for your help.
Brian, where can they find your channel?
-BriansMobile1.
-Thanks for this shirt by the way.
-You're welcome. These shirts are extremely comfortable and have my full endorsement.
It did take us about 2 days to install this. So the thing that bugged me about this whole
situation was on their website it said that this lift could be installed on 4 inches of
concrete, but that is the only place on the entire internet that would ever say such a
thing. And then even in the instructions it said that it needed to be over 4 inches – I
think like 6 inches is what it recommended. We went 8 here to be super safe. But yeah,
just kind of weird instruction things.
-There's some weird disconnect, but all in all it worked pretty well. The one thing I
was really impressed with is that everything did go together well. We didn't have to do
much weld and grinding or anything. There is some minor stuff with the cable return.
We had to put a notch for the spring in here. And then there was a thing that was bent in
shipping, but that's it. In a project this size, that's very few things so that's pretty
good.
-I'm glad it all worked out.
-I'm really happy to see you got a lift!
-Perfect, now we can start on some bigger projects. Anyway, thanks a ton for watching.
We'll see you around.