Two Post Hoist Advice

[Ken's 57]

Hello all. I am thinking of purchasing a two post hoist but not sure which company to go with. Any advice on brands, installation, after sales service and reliability would be appreciated.
Cheers, Ken 

[Trevor_B]

Hi Ken,
I recently installed one - what are your constraints? as that will more likely determine the type you use.

If you have around 4m head clearance then you can use a 4t clear floor unit, that is the tops of the posts are tied together with a small beam and the hydraulic lines go across inside this beam. At this height you can fit a 4WD on it. This is what I have and it is great  Some have the option to lower this by around 250mm if you have less head clearance. 

If you are struggling for height the the 2 post with a drive over hump is the next option. The posts are usually around 2.8m high and will give around 1800mm lift. The frustration of this type is you always have to drive over the hump.

There is another one similar to the hump type where the hydraulic power pack is portable and you run the lines across when you want to use the hoist. A fellow Club member just installed one of these as he has a low clearance problem and didn't like the hump option.

If you want more info please message me or email me (details on member profile).

Cheers,
Trevor_B

[my8thholden]

Ken ..Check if 240V or 415V is what is required ..cheers Vern ..

[Ken's 57]

Thanks Vern. Hadn’t considered the volts. I already have 3 phase power to my shed for the compressor. Is that 415V? I rang two companies yesterday and left messages saying I was interested in purchasing a hoist and to please call me back. Neither did!! 
Trevor…thanks for the info. Much appreciated. I’ve decided on the 4T clear floor version for the reasons you cited. I’ll have the height but the concrete slab is not the recommended thickness of 150mm @ 32 MPa rating. One company offers reinforcing plates to compensate for a thinner slab and they look the goods although I’d need to be absolutely sure they’re a sound engineering solution. The thought of the FE or my FJ crashing to the ground is the stuff that keeps me awake at night. As you’ll glean from my comments at the beginning, a major issue for me is to buy from a reputable company with good customer service and support. Particularly as I live in rural NSW where help isn’t always readily at hand. There are around four or five companies selling hoists. All Chinese made but they will meet my needs. I’m guessing they’re all of a similar quality anyway so customer support, servicing, warranty and spare parts are what I’m mostly concerned about. The search continues 
Cheers, Ken

[my8thholden]

Ken ..Quick look at your power connection to the compressor will tell you 415V or not ..There are often vehicle hoist for sale on auction Grays , Pickles, Burns n Co ,and the like , some are dismantle and remove your self ,you need the wearwithall to do that ..I bought a drill press from a closing down foundry auction at Mascot here in Sydney , very cheap , an oldie but a goodie , I took couple of mates and a truck ,we had to partially dismantle it and they had crane on hand , advertised before hand,and the Auctioneers rep on site came over and said ,got any room on your truck ," yep " see all that stuff over there , no bids or unpaid , we have to get out of here ,take what you want ..ill give you a ticket to get out the gate ...steel benches , steel trollys , hand tools , compressor parts , huge amount of grinding equip being a foundry ,,lovely set of micrometers ..kept some and gave most to friends and museum workshop ...cheers Vern ..

[Trevor_B]

Hi Ken,
I bought a Bullet Pro Elite JL35A 4T clear floor hoist back in 2016:
https://interequip.com.au/product/bulletpro-elite-jl35a-m-2-post-clear-floor-hoist-4-ton/

Cost me $2700 picked up from Tullamarine VIC - they used to keep stock in NSW as well when I bought it. Looks like they still sell on Ebay but at a much higher price now: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122561672250?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28

I installed it myself with the help of a mate. Has probably done 100+ lifts since then without any issues. Mine is 240V and plugs into a normal power point.

Agree that you will need to check the slab for thickness and strength. Mine went into a new shed so I thickened the slab to 200mm locally for the posts. Maybe you could do local cutouts and put in a 1m2 section each side to 200mm thick?

Trevor_B

[Ken's 57]

Thanks Trevor. I wasn't aware that you could do a cut-out with concrete. That is definitely worth investigating. Several companies appear to have "extension kits" that support the posts but I do like the idea of locally thickening. I'll talk to my concrete man about that possibility. My slab is around 110mm.

Well done scoring all that gear Vern. I got fed up trying to buy a decent drill press so I went to Manheim's Auctions at Moorebank and picked up an ex Defence Dept drill. It's a "Parken" brand, made in Australia, fitted with a beautiful Jacobs Chuck and runs superbly. I'm guessing it's around 30-40 years old and it is so solid that I needed the engine hoist to get it up onto the bench!! Drills 9/16" through mild steel and doesn't even raise a sweat!!

Thanks, Ken 

[my8thholden]

Ken ..Your on to it , way to go ..A local machinist near me went to auction and bought a Italian made lathe for $15,000 at ex Govmnt auction , with spare 4 jaw chuck and tools etc ..it was ex RAAF , so precision needed there , never worked hard in its life , original cost $58,000 ...Vern

[valour]

I wasn't aware that you could do a cut-out with concrete.
Thanks, Ken 

I was talking to a member of the R-S valiant club that had this exact thing done in his shed. 4sqm? (2x2) of 300mm from memory.

[Ken's 57]

Thank you