Bluestripe67

Anyone getting ready to purchase a 4 post lift might want to read this tail of wow. Go to InstallUniversity.com, click of the Burgandy Mercedes Benz then read the story below on Superlift problems. Dennis

Plasticman

Here is the text:

SuperLifts.com Bad Purchase and User Experience
Buyer Beware


The Dream
I have been working on my 1999 Z28 Camaro since 1999. I have laid on my back, rolled around in motor oil, and washed my hair many times with gear oil all in it. The dream to have a lift was one that I thought would never happen. I took my time and talked to friends who had lifts in their homes and decided to go with SuperLifts.com.

Grabbing the Dream
In late September I placed an order for a 9,000 lb. four post lift from SuperLifts.com. On November 29, 2006 I received my lift. The installation was relatively painless minus a few missing parts, incomplete instructions on how to properly assemble the lift, and one phone call to Super Lifts asking a small technical question going unreturned.

Initial Frustration and Safety Concerns
I notice after a few test runs that the pulleys on the lift for the cables that lift and lower the car are rubbing on the nuts and bolts that were sent with the lift that hold the ramps. This led me to notice that they had not sent grade 8 bolts to hold the ramps. Grade 8 bolts are not needed for the shear strength, but we are talking about life and death and $2 extra dollars. I decided to pick up Grade 8 bolts that matched the ones sent with the kit.

After a few up and down movements I realized that two of the pulleys were floating up and this was causing the cables to rub against the metal nuts and bolt ends. I could not believe this but what was I to do? I just made a note to check that before every use and to keep the pulley in check.

Rose Colored Glasses Removed
I noticed a leak from the hydraulic cylinder when I had my lift in the up position so I could park my Camaro below it. Fluid was dripping on the passenger side window and running down the side of the car. Less than two and a half months have went by and a leak had sprung.

On February 11, 2007, I emailed SuperLifts.com informing them that my hydraulic cylinder had started leaking and asked them what I should do. I was not mad or upset and included a picture of the small leak. No response from SuperLifts.com. A few weeks later a seal kit came in the mail that I assume was to be used on my cylinder for the repair.

After a phone call to SuperLifts.com and asking a few questions about the disassembly of the hydraulic cylinder, I realized very quickly their “tech department” did not know much at all about hydraulic cylinders. They assured me it was the outer seal leaking only. Everyone that has dealt with cylinders knows the outer seal is just to keep dirt and grime out of the hydraulic cylinder and does not hold back any fluid.

I finally got around to pulling the cylinder off the lift and took it to a well known local hydraulics technician 45 minutes down the road to diagnose and fix my cylinder. At first glance he immediately sees that the seal kit SuperLifts.com sent to me was the wrong size. It was very obvious once he placed the seal kit over the piston. The technician then disassembled the cylinder only to find low quality seals and one seal having a small slice cut out of it.

At this point I was disappointed but upbeat about getting the problem solved. A proper high quality seal kit was ordered, the cylinder is cleaned and reassembled two days later, and bench tested for leaks. Once the cylinder passed the test and the technician was satisfied, I picked up my cylinder and put it back on the lift. Everything was fine and I only lost 1.5 quarts of hydraulic fluid so I replaced the fluid and tested the lift out. No problems.

Receiving “Used” Parts
I had also ordered and received the SJ-1 sliding bridge jack. I ordered an extra set of pads and extensions for the sliding bridge jack the week of May May 14th, 2007 because I thought I had misplaced my original pads. I found the the new pads before the newer set arrived and when they did arrive, I noticed the set of pads and extensions I received were used.

You can see from the photograph below the pads I received from SuperLifts.com were used. It is a night and day comparison. I had spent too much money to have a leaky lift after just under 3 months and then receiving used equipment on top of the other problems. I left a voice mail, sent an email with photographs, and gave SuperLifts.com ample time to recitfy the situation by taking back the new pads. No response.

I will not except used equipment. I am upset and disappointed in the customer service and product quality. The replacement seal kit being the wrong size in both the replacement set and in the cylinder from the factory, the pads and extensions being in “used condition” are both unacceptable. I asked for a refund for the money spent on the latest purchased set of pads and extensions to my credit card. In return, I would ship the pads and extensions back to SuperLifts.com on my dime.

Conclusion
Before you purchase a lift know what kind of service you will receive down the road when problems creep up. It is an inherent part of life to have problems, but getting them resolved with honesty and integrity mean a lot. I would not personally recommend anything from SuperLifts.com. I would visit www.backyardbuddy.com and/or other competing companies to see their information before you make your dream garage purchase.

I have a friend who has a Back Yard Buddy lift and he loves it. He even had a small problem and they remedied the problem fast and fairly without question. Their customer service is great, the product is solid, and I wished I had known about his lift before I purchased mine. Again, life is full of problems but you need problem solvers if something does go wrong. You don’t need “No Responses“ in your life, I can guarantee you that.

Good luck and be safe!

Bluestripe67

Plasticman,
Thanks for putting up the entire story. I'm somewhat computer challenged. I thought something like this is worthwhile considering the safety factor. Dennis

56chevy

Unfortunately, that is what we get when we buy chinese stuff.

Best of luck to you getting everything fixed.

Trophy Blue

I have had zero problems with my backyard buddy.

66L72

thanks for the great read......
i try not to be too cynical.... but here is my first thought after reading the post........

it was written by "back yard buddy"

sorry..... just my gut feel....... they are always dissing their competition and while their product may be great, i have no idea, i dont like that kind of marketing. if you ever spoke to one of their reps at a car show you would think its only a matter of time until all the other lifts fall on their owners heads......
on that basis alone i would never buy their product....... bendpak or some other northamerican made product for sure........

highschool67

I have to agree here. At all the car shows I go to it seems that negative advertising is how a lot of lift companies try to sell their product. Just an observation....

1snake

There was a group purchase here about 7 years ago on Superior/Super lifts. I contacted most of the 12 or so people that bought one and asked for feedback. All were very happy. I called and got in on the group price. The only problem I had was one small piece was missing and they sent it UPS overnight with a Saturday delivery. I'm sure the shipping cost more than the part. My lift has performed flawlessly for 7 years and I have 2 friends that have bought them as well.
I don't know if they've changed ownership or their supplier but when I purchased mine, they were made in the USA. I contacted the company that made them. They made lifts for several different re-sellers and it was cheaper to get one through the group purcahse than from them directly.
Back Yard Buddy's ads seem really cheesy with the way they say everyone else's lifts are junk compared to theirs.

kwkenuf

Bend Pak for me. After seeing them in numerous professional shops I ordered mine from a vendor on Ebay. Immediate response from Bend Pak on a hydraulic cylinder issue. I emailed photos and they immediately sent me replacement parts.

G.Call

I've been looking at lifts, so now I will know to stay away from this one. I learn more every time I get on this site. Thanks to all who post.
G.C.

66L72

strong possibility you might be dismissing a good product.

i dont think we really know anything from this string

other than maybe one bad experience (i still smell a rat) and apparantly 12 good experiences........

1Sweet66

Just like anything else on the internet you have to take it with a grain of salt. After reading -
"Initial Frustration and Safety Concerns
I notice after a few test runs that the pulleys on the lift for the cables that lift and lower the car are rubbing on the nuts and bolts that were sent with the lift that hold the ramps."
Would that not fly a red flag that he put something together wrong? Cables rubbing on bolts??

Just my .02.
There are thousands of lifts out there so the likely hood of someone skrewing up an installation is actually pretty good. I never made it all the way to the initial "installuniversity.com" site. Maybe I'm missing something but I'm leaning towards what 66L72 & HS67 said. I'm sure that BB is a high quality lift but their salesmanship rubbs me the wrong way.

Forvettes

56chevy, this is not to put you down, and I'm not trying to offend you but I keep reading statements about not buying Chinese because it is unsafe. Do you know absolutely for sure that all lifts are NOT made in China? There may be some but I've noticed that the ones that claim to be American are "Made by American ANSI Standards". One company even claimed made under "American Standards Licensing". That doesn't mean it is made in the US. I believe the majority of lifts are made outside the US. And I also believe the majority of them are safe when installed and used according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

I just bought a 4 post lift by Complete Hydraulics in Franklin, IN. I happened to have an excellent installation manual with pictures and detailed instructions from Eagle Lifts . The Complete lift is black, the Eagle lift is blue (according to the pictures). Other than that they look exactly the same. The Eagle manual could be used to assemble the Complete lift right down to the the last nut and lock washer. They were probably made by the same manufacturer and it is probably located in China. Absolutely? No, but probably.

I don't think you have to spend $3-5,000 to have a great, safe lift. The Complete 8000 CPS was $1,595. I had a minor problem this morning and I called them. They answered my questions satisfactorily and I think future support will be excellent. After quality the key is support.

Just my 2¢ worth.

John McGraw

I would agree with your assement as well. I think that BB makes a good lift, but is seems that every time I am around one of their people, all I hear is them knocking all the other lift brands. I know at least 5 people who have a Superlift lift, and all of them are happy with their lift. I made a decision not to even consider Backyard Buddy when I was buying, strictly based on the scare tactics that I have heard them use.
I bought a DirectLift 4 poster, and I have been very happy with it for 5 years.

Regards, John McGraw

highschool67

I have been looking at the direct lift as well. Greg Smith Equip from Indianapolis has been very accomodating with info. I am ready to pull the trigger once the snow melts and I can take 1 of the vettes out of the garage to put the lift in!

1-2-b-67L89

with everyone about the marketing of Backyard Buddy. They may have a very nice lift but the marketing ploy just turns me off. I talked to them at Corvette Carlilsle twice and that did it for me. Guess it works though as they apparently keep using that game.

Red64RoadsterMike

I bought mine from Greg Smith Equip. It's been great. Reliable, no issues in four years and I use it alot. Cables rubbing on bolts does sound suspicious to me.

Regards, Mike

1BAD-LS1

For what it's worth, I have owned a Superlift for over a year now with no problems. It's the SR-7H which is made in the USA. I have called Scott and others at the company with questions and have had excellent results. I too read all of these posts about safety, failure, etc. When you boil it down, most 4-post lifts fail due to user error when raising or lowering the lift. If a stop catches, you need to be on-guard and deal with the problem right away. If you don't, failure will occur with any lift. While Superlift was not the cheapest I looked at, I believe that the value was well worth the price paid.

And regarding Backyard Buddy, also looks like a great product, but as soon as you call them, they start out with bashing the other companies. I hate that type of a sale

Here are some pics of the lift in my garage with the Corvettes parked

aupaul

I bought from Greg Smith Equip in Atlanta just after Christmas. The trucking company lost the drip pans and GS had them here fast. It works great.

AZDoug

Cool, Dude, you have a sofa in the garage!

if I had room, I would put one in mine so I could sit and look at my car!

probably waste too many hours that way, though.

Doug