Hi All,
What you all think of this...
I know a bloke aged about 75 years old. He is the meanest person you EVER met. He decided that he wanted a four poster ramp [Like a garage has] in his shed at home and found a second-hand one in a local firm that sells and installs new ones. They wanted £1000 for it but he talked them down to £600
Now, he decided that he would install it himself, but I persuaded him not to, as, in the event of the thing not working, they would say he had installed it wrongly.
I installed a proper electrical supply to power the thing BEFORE it was delivered, and that was the end of my involvement with it. [thank god!!!]
A few days later it was installed, but the mean owner decided that the ramps on the end were too steep for him to get his car on there, and has been waiting for the firm to come back and fit longer ramps. They said they would, but I cannot see it, as it was, in fairness, TO THAT EXTENT, "sold as seen" complete with short ramps.
Now, yesterday, I went to have a look, and, while there, I put my 4 x 4 on there to test it.
Turns out that while it works and lifts the car no problem, it has not been installed correctly and the safety "latching" mechanism that locks the ramp BEFORE you go under the car only works very intermittently.
The idea is, that you raise the car with the hydraulics, and then drop it down until the locks engage. To lower the car, you must raise it an inch or so, turn a knob to retract the locks, and then lower the car.
The reason for the locks not working, is that for some strange reason, the muppet that installed, it apparently sawed off the bottom brackets that hold the locking "racks" that the locking bolts are intended to lock into, thus they [the racks] move out of line and, therefore bolts cannot enter the holes.
If you were to continue to lower the car, or if you left it and the hydraulics crept down, the lift would collapse, as one of more of the four corners would lower, whilst the other corners would be still locked in the air, thus tipping the car off!!
Also, the lock nuts that are used to adjust the locking racks had not been tightened, and nor had the locking nuts that secure the lifting ropes..... Worse still, there are cracks in the structure of the thing, in the worst possible place too, at the end of one crossbeam near where the lifting rope attaches and indeed, the crossbeam can be seen to be bent at this point....
Now, ok, he bought it second hand, and inspected it first, but then he is not a lifting equipment inspector...
As it is lifting equipment, even if it was second-hand, I would have thought that it cannot be deemed to be "sold as seen", as, he bought it from a firm that specialise in these things, the firm themselves installed it for him, and, being lifting equipment, even though this old chap has it for his own use, and it is NOT in commercial premises, AND it was second-hand too, I would have thought that the thing would have had to be tested and a certificate issued after installation...
It is obvious that they took it out of a garage where it had been inspected and condemned and was basically scrap..
What you all think????
john..
What you all think of this...
I know a bloke aged about 75 years old. He is the meanest person you EVER met. He decided that he wanted a four poster ramp [Like a garage has] in his shed at home and found a second-hand one in a local firm that sells and installs new ones. They wanted £1000 for it but he talked them down to £600
Now, he decided that he would install it himself, but I persuaded him not to, as, in the event of the thing not working, they would say he had installed it wrongly.
I installed a proper electrical supply to power the thing BEFORE it was delivered, and that was the end of my involvement with it. [thank god!!!]
A few days later it was installed, but the mean owner decided that the ramps on the end were too steep for him to get his car on there, and has been waiting for the firm to come back and fit longer ramps. They said they would, but I cannot see it, as it was, in fairness, TO THAT EXTENT, "sold as seen" complete with short ramps.
Now, yesterday, I went to have a look, and, while there, I put my 4 x 4 on there to test it.
Turns out that while it works and lifts the car no problem, it has not been installed correctly and the safety "latching" mechanism that locks the ramp BEFORE you go under the car only works very intermittently.
The idea is, that you raise the car with the hydraulics, and then drop it down until the locks engage. To lower the car, you must raise it an inch or so, turn a knob to retract the locks, and then lower the car.
The reason for the locks not working, is that for some strange reason, the muppet that installed, it apparently sawed off the bottom brackets that hold the locking "racks" that the locking bolts are intended to lock into, thus they [the racks] move out of line and, therefore bolts cannot enter the holes.
If you were to continue to lower the car, or if you left it and the hydraulics crept down, the lift would collapse, as one of more of the four corners would lower, whilst the other corners would be still locked in the air, thus tipping the car off!!
Also, the lock nuts that are used to adjust the locking racks had not been tightened, and nor had the locking nuts that secure the lifting ropes..... Worse still, there are cracks in the structure of the thing, in the worst possible place too, at the end of one crossbeam near where the lifting rope attaches and indeed, the crossbeam can be seen to be bent at this point....
Now, ok, he bought it second hand, and inspected it first, but then he is not a lifting equipment inspector...
As it is lifting equipment, even if it was second-hand, I would have thought that it cannot be deemed to be "sold as seen", as, he bought it from a firm that specialise in these things, the firm themselves installed it for him, and, being lifting equipment, even though this old chap has it for his own use, and it is NOT in commercial premises, AND it was second-hand too, I would have thought that the thing would have had to be tested and a certificate issued after installation...
It is obvious that they took it out of a garage where it had been inspected and condemned and was basically scrap..
What you all think????
john..
