Another Lift Question

[Dave C.]

I am about to purchase a 4 post lift and have a question about shipping. If you have the lift shipped to your home, how do you get it off the truck if you don't have a forklift at your house? The lift has to weigh 2000 or 3000 lbs. Will the shipper let you offload piece by piece? Thanks in advance.

[Mike M.]

Re: Another Lift Question

Dave, Check with them. They should but they may have a hourly charge while they wait. Mike

[Mike B.]

Re: Another Lift Question

Dave,

My advice is that you check with the seller and get the name of the shipping company. Most trucking companies will not "offically" let you offload piece by piece, but sometimes the driver can be coerced to be more patient with an offer of $20 or so. But it is a bad time to find out when they are at your door and you can't get the lift off.

If it is a typical 7 or 8 thousand pound capacity lift, the package will weigh about 1500 pounds. Less than your estimate but more than you want to drop on your foot!

I am taking delivery of a lift this Monday. Fortunately the lift company also uses an alternative service of a local trucker that has a roll-off bed so the lift package can be "dropped" on my driveway. I originally was going to rent a heavy-duty trailer and pick it up myself so that I could take it off piece by piece, but this roll off option will save me some running around.

I don't know where you live but if it helps you might want to check out Greg Smith Equipment http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/AboutUs.asp They have facilities in Indianapolis and Newark, Delaware. If it is close to you this might be a good option. I bought from the Newark location; the sales rep Gavin is A+ in service and support.

And don't forget that if you home is typical, you also might have to raise your garage door to sweep closer to the ceiling so that it clears the upper car. That is my project for this weekend.

Good luck!
Mike

[Dave C.]

Re: Another Lift Question

Mike,

Thanks for all the info. Greg Smith is where I'm going to order from. Thanks for the contact name. I live in NJ so a pickup might be the way to go. I'll give Gavin a call. Also, let me know how you make out with your garage door.

[John M.]

Re: Another Lift Question

Most freight companies allow you to pick up at their dock. This has two advantages, it is less expensive than door-to-dood shipping, and they will load it on your trailer with a forklift. Then you can unload it piece by piece at your leisure.

Regards, John McGraw

[Brian Monticello]

Re: Another Lift Question

Picture below is how it comes (I also purchased from Greg Smith). It took my father in law and me an hour or so to get it off the truck. Would have been haster had we had some good mass moving tools like a cherry picker or even some dollies. With 4 men you could probably get it off a lot faster. You will need large metric sockets to disassemble it from its packed form. We had it delivered to a factory at which my wife was working and slipped the forklift operator a $20 to load it onto a rented box truck. Total to get it home was about $100.

[Donald B.]

Re: Another Lift Question

If I remember right - the heaviest single piece of my Bend-Pak was around 300 lbs. A lot for even 2 people to handle with mechanical assistance.

[Art A.]

Re: Another Lift Question

I used my car dollies to move the heavy pieces around into place. It took two people about five hours to assemble it. Don't forget to buy some hydraulic fluid as it usually doesn't come with the lift.

Art

[Donald B.]

Re: Another Lift Question

Mine needed 12 Quarts of Transmission Fluid. It also took the 2 person assembly crew from Bend Pak nearly 4 hours to assemble. Can't imagine how long it would have taken me and a helper to read the instruction and assemble it. Well worth the $175 assembly fee.