4 Dangerous Mistakes Made With Truck Lifts

Considering how you need to work on a vehicle for a majority of the common repairs, truck lifts are an important item for amateur and professional mechanics. Operating a car lift isn’t rocket science, but you still need to be aware of what you are doing and what not to do in order to prevent tragedy. If you make one of these four hazardous errors, you won’t be able to catch the load on the way down. Getting out of the way is often impossible.

1- Failing To Load Truck Lifts Properly

A car lift might seem simple enough to load, but you still need to follow the proper procedure to avoid an accident. An uneven weight, too heavy of a vehicle, or one that is too large will inevitably cause disaster. You may drive the unit onto the equipment 699 times without incident, but the 700th time might sadly make up for the rest. Always be sure you center everything before raising the equipment, and that it meets the standard size and weight restrictions. Once it has reached the desired height, turn off the power and lock it into place.

2- Not Maintaining The Car Lift Regularly

If you haven’t looked at your truck lifts in months, worry and fear should enter your thoughts. A proper maintenance schedule not only ensures the equipment works properly, but it is also the ideal time to look for wear that might cause an incident in the not-so-distant future. Go through the entire system and make sure it is clean and moves freely. You should also take time to inspect the hydraulic system. A small fluid leak can be hard to spot. Unfortunately, you will likely find it when you have a dump truck in the air and have to watch the equipment fail miserably because it ran out of fluid.

3- Avoiding The Use Of The Correct Accessories

If you are using a car lift for vehicles it wasn’t intended to raise, you have a problem. The most common solution in many instances is to buy special adapters that will extend your lifting system, increasing its versatility. Other models may meet only the basic safety requirements or can get a little scary once loaded such as with single post styles. In these instances, you can purchase additional security legs that can bolt on for security. They have multi-positional locks that make these systems easy to use as well as providing you with the added safety.

4- Not Understanding Or Knowing The Location Of The Controls

An emergency can get suddenly worse if the operator doesn’t know how to work the controls or simply can’t find them in an emergency. It is vitally important that the operator and any assisting mechanics know these points before they start a repair. As soon as any movement looks out of the ordinary or something begins to go wrong, someone should be able to stop the equipment immediately.

You now know the four main mistakes made with car lift. Many more mistakes are possible with truck lifts, but if you follow the procedures laid out in the owners manual and move cautiously, you will have many successful repairs ahead.