My Alignment Rack Is BROKE!
video description
And second, you made me physically cringe by grabbing those cables without gloves on! Man, all it takes is one stray strand to bloody up your day. Learned my lesson on boat lift cables when I was 20 and the memory is still vivid 43 years later.
Date: 2022-09-03
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 14
Wells
Just because. It's an alignment rack lift. Isn't it mandatory that it's also dead nuts level when down on the locks?
I'm kind of meticulous with my alignment shop. Got screwed a few times. The printer don't work, so I didn't get a before and after for you. And crap like that. Or how often the actual mechanical calibration is verified.
I live in N. PA a bit south of Wellsville NY. Need tires swapped on a 2012 Evo and an alignment.
It's a garage kept, never seen snow, hand wrench car. You'd love it.
FYI. I leveled a spot in my garage to a tee. Excessive camber was wearing the inner tread. Found LF at -1. 8 and RF at 2. 1 using a digital gauge on the rotors. Gently ground the strut holes to get in just at factory spec. Now factory spec -0. 8.
What do you think. Something you could do like you do everything else? Like a boss?
reply
Just because. It's an alignment rack lift. Isn't it mandatory that it's also dead nuts level when down on the locks?
I'm kind of meticulous with my alignment shop. Got screwed a few times. The printer don't work, so I didn't get a before and after for you. And crap like that. Or how often the actual mechanical calibration is verified.
I live in N. PA a bit south of Wellsville NY. Need tires swapped on a 2012 Evo and an alignment.
It's a garage kept, never seen snow, hand wrench car. You'd love it.
FYI. I leveled a spot in my garage to a tee. Excessive camber was wearing the inner tread. Found LF at -1. 8 and RF at 2. 1 using a digital gauge on the rotors. Gently ground the strut holes to get in just at factory spec. Now factory spec -0. 8.
What do you think. Something you could do like you do everything else? Like a boss?
reply
Sandbag1300
On the lubricant, my guess is that lubricant attracts dust, dirt, sand, and other contaminants that will accelerate the wear in the nylon bushings, metal rod, and pulley's. Since you now know the service interval without grease you can compare it to the service interval with grease and then make the call on which works best. Edit add: I also guess that as soon as the nylon bushing wears through, the metal rod rapidly deteriorates - within days. Is there enough room on top of the top pulley to silicone seal a rubber cover over rod that goes through that pulley? The cover will help prevent salt and contaminants from entering the top of the pulley rod when you wash it down daily in the winter.
reply
On the lubricant, my guess is that lubricant attracts dust, dirt, sand, and other contaminants that will accelerate the wear in the nylon bushings, metal rod, and pulley's. Since you now know the service interval without grease you can compare it to the service interval with grease and then make the call on which works best. Edit add: I also guess that as soon as the nylon bushing wears through, the metal rod rapidly deteriorates - within days. Is there enough room on top of the top pulley to silicone seal a rubber cover over rod that goes through that pulley? The cover will help prevent salt and contaminants from entering the top of the pulley rod when you wash it down daily in the winter.
reply
RoscoeTwoDogs
Shade tree mechanic here. I just installed my second BendPak 4 post lift. I installed my first BendPak 4 post 4 years ago. Great for working on my cars, and now freeing up shop floor space by storing second car above one on the second lift. My BendPak lifts look exactly like those alignment rack/lifts. You are right. Instructions told me not to grease those. I questioned it but followed the instructions. Now i wish i had added some grease on those sleeve pins. I wish i had seen this 3 weeks ago before I installed the second lift. Of course, I don t use mine as much as you do. Love your videos including this one! Take Care!
reply
Shade tree mechanic here. I just installed my second BendPak 4 post lift. I installed my first BendPak 4 post 4 years ago. Great for working on my cars, and now freeing up shop floor space by storing second car above one on the second lift. My BendPak lifts look exactly like those alignment rack/lifts. You are right. Instructions told me not to grease those. I questioned it but followed the instructions. Now i wish i had added some grease on those sleeve pins. I wish i had seen this 3 weeks ago before I installed the second lift. Of course, I don t use mine as much as you do. Love your videos including this one! Take Care!
reply
Doug
Eric. If the pins were taken out and a small hole drilled through then 4 holes appropriately spaced to match the centre of the pulleys they could have a regular shot of grease to stop that severe wear. Just drill and tap the lower end of the shaft to fit a grease nipple. Madness to run them dry. Recon manufacturer wants you to spend loads of money on repairs. There wont be any dust debris if lubed properly. Think those bushes are called DU bushes here in the uk. At the speed they rotate on that rig lubricating will be fine as you've already proved on the others.
reply
Eric. If the pins were taken out and a small hole drilled through then 4 holes appropriately spaced to match the centre of the pulleys they could have a regular shot of grease to stop that severe wear. Just drill and tap the lower end of the shaft to fit a grease nipple. Madness to run them dry. Recon manufacturer wants you to spend loads of money on repairs. There wont be any dust debris if lubed properly. Think those bushes are called DU bushes here in the uk. At the speed they rotate on that rig lubricating will be fine as you've already proved on the others.
reply
E4TS
On an aircraft carrier, they grease the shit out of everything on the arresting gear (the assembly that stops planes from taking a nose dive as they land on the deck of the ship. Even with grease and that inside bushing, it's going to wear down, albeit more slowly. If those pulleys are all the same, you could do yearly maintenance, where you shuffle the pulleys so they all wear down evenly.
(also, it'll give you more room to check that pin and see how much it's wearing down so you can replace it before gets as bad is it was there)
reply
On an aircraft carrier, they grease the shit out of everything on the arresting gear (the assembly that stops planes from taking a nose dive as they land on the deck of the ship. Even with grease and that inside bushing, it's going to wear down, albeit more slowly. If those pulleys are all the same, you could do yearly maintenance, where you shuffle the pulleys so they all wear down evenly.
(also, it'll give you more room to check that pin and see how much it's wearing down so you can replace it before gets as bad is it was there)
reply
Andy
sheath - sheaf - sheave
In the auto mfg industry, maintenance fellas seemed to use sheave (singular) and sheaves (plural) to describe pulley(s. Sheath and sheaf, according to the dictionary, refer to bundles of grain or arrows bound together into a bunch. There was (only) one dictionary entry that gave a 'mechanical' definition that used sheave and sheaves to describe sing/plural.
Not an English Lit. major here, just a fella trying to follow along from the comfort of his Lay-Z-Boy at home.
reply
sheath - sheaf - sheave
In the auto mfg industry, maintenance fellas seemed to use sheave (singular) and sheaves (plural) to describe pulley(s. Sheath and sheaf, according to the dictionary, refer to bundles of grain or arrows bound together into a bunch. There was (only) one dictionary entry that gave a 'mechanical' definition that used sheave and sheaves to describe sing/plural.
Not an English Lit. major here, just a fella trying to follow along from the comfort of his Lay-Z-Boy at home.
reply
buffy
About 19 min mark I m not certified to do this, you should have said but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. anyway my sediment exactly, if you can fix a car you can fix the lift. Here in Ontario, Canada, labour laws prohibit that tho. If you have an employee using it you need to have a certified tech do the repair, liability issues. I have argued and tossed out a labour guy on this issue, all guys in shop are self employed owners and have more qualifications then the certified guy.
reply
About 19 min mark I m not certified to do this, you should have said but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. anyway my sediment exactly, if you can fix a car you can fix the lift. Here in Ontario, Canada, labour laws prohibit that tho. If you have an employee using it you need to have a certified tech do the repair, liability issues. I have argued and tossed out a labour guy on this issue, all guys in shop are self employed owners and have more qualifications then the certified guy.
reply
mannys9130
It would be amazing if that pin was modified with a lube gallery like a crankshaft. Drill an 1/8 hole in the center axially from the bottom end up to the center of the top pulley's bearing, and then cross drill from OD to the center hole at the point of each bearing. Chamfer the mouth of each cross drilled hole, and then thread the bottom end hole for a grease zerk. From then on, you can just hit the pin with the grease gun every now and then and put some fresh grease into it.
reply
It would be amazing if that pin was modified with a lube gallery like a crankshaft. Drill an 1/8 hole in the center axially from the bottom end up to the center of the top pulley's bearing, and then cross drill from OD to the center hole at the point of each bearing. Chamfer the mouth of each cross drilled hole, and then thread the bottom end hole for a grease zerk. From then on, you can just hit the pin with the grease gun every now and then and put some fresh grease into it.
reply
Will
When I used to work on construction equipment, they would say a dry bushing must never ever never be lubed. It was something taught to us many many times. Thankfully, I was only required to do light repairs, because the company had contracts with the dealerships.
When you were using the slide hammer, I was thinking about a rolling head pry bar (some call em heel bar. If you wanted to go full king kong, then rig up a porta power and that pin would be out.
reply
When I used to work on construction equipment, they would say a dry bushing must never ever never be lubed. It was something taught to us many many times. Thankfully, I was only required to do light repairs, because the company had contracts with the dealerships.
When you were using the slide hammer, I was thinking about a rolling head pry bar (some call em heel bar. If you wanted to go full king kong, then rig up a porta power and that pin would be out.
reply
Rob
I can understand why you would want to lube the bushings. It is a device that rotates on a stationary shaft. I must admit the damage to the original pin was very concerning. That amount of wear is vey premature in my opinion/ Also for the money you spent on the lift, I would have thought a minimum of 5 year warranty would apply. Less than that is pretty poor. Good to see the repair was not complex or vey time consuming. The arts seemed reasonably priced.
reply
I can understand why you would want to lube the bushings. It is a device that rotates on a stationary shaft. I must admit the damage to the original pin was very concerning. That amount of wear is vey premature in my opinion/ Also for the money you spent on the lift, I would have thought a minimum of 5 year warranty would apply. Less than that is pretty poor. Good to see the repair was not complex or vey time consuming. The arts seemed reasonably priced.
reply
dan
we had in the pass a hoist like that and had lot of problem with the pully they change the pulley often and once the cable snap and injured the mecanic like fast wiped cut his leg open and are hoist are service by hoist tech. i would pass a rag on the cable not your finger to see if there wire breaking for inspection. we had more problem with the front one the single one. but we have only truck 4500k more heavy than you
reply
we had in the pass a hoist like that and had lot of problem with the pully they change the pulley often and once the cable snap and injured the mecanic like fast wiped cut his leg open and are hoist are service by hoist tech. i would pass a rag on the cable not your finger to see if there wire breaking for inspection. we had more problem with the front one the single one. but we have only truck 4500k more heavy than you
reply
Ryan
I would ve sprayed a penetrant to help remove the pin but the dropping powder would ve had me thinking some dissimilar-metal galvanic corrosion had happened. I would ve greased it as well but I would ve wiped it off so only a thin layer remained in the hope it wouldn t act as a sticky substrate for fine metal powder particles, avoiding a valve grinding compound action. Appears buying two sheaves was a wise move.
reply
I would ve sprayed a penetrant to help remove the pin but the dropping powder would ve had me thinking some dissimilar-metal galvanic corrosion had happened. I would ve greased it as well but I would ve wiped it off so only a thin layer remained in the hope it wouldn t act as a sticky substrate for fine metal powder particles, avoiding a valve grinding compound action. Appears buying two sheaves was a wise move.
reply
reidar
I have repairing lifts since 2006. I have never seen a wire wheel without roller bearings.
Witch brand is the lifter? I would have drilled a new holes in pin for grease nippel.
You Yanks have heavier cars than us, so you should have real bearing because of the load.
Mobile grease is good stuff. I Think you did a good job. Are there any requirements for yearly maintenance of lifters in the us?
reply
I have repairing lifts since 2006. I have never seen a wire wheel without roller bearings.
Witch brand is the lifter? I would have drilled a new holes in pin for grease nippel.
You Yanks have heavier cars than us, so you should have real bearing because of the load.
Mobile grease is good stuff. I Think you did a good job. Are there any requirements for yearly maintenance of lifters in the us?
reply
Hunter
(Edit, yes it has dual screws so it cant spin. But in mine it sheared the antipivot screw and ruined that block the pin sits in. Its still an easy fix but man its a pain to realign and weld a new block in) From personal experience. Don't lube the holes where the pin seats. If it binds it will spin the pin and start rocking and cause cavitation in those holes. But for sure lube the pulleys.
reply
(Edit, yes it has dual screws so it cant spin. But in mine it sheared the antipivot screw and ruined that block the pin sits in. Its still an easy fix but man its a pain to realign and weld a new block in) From personal experience. Don't lube the holes where the pin seats. If it binds it will spin the pin and start rocking and cause cavitation in those holes. But for sure lube the pulleys.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
