Category : Featured Products
PLT-6S Installation Photos and Operation Videos
February 15th, 2012
Thinking about ordering a PLT-6S Parking Lift from BendPak, but wondering exactly what goes into the installation? We took a ride out with our installation crew down the 101 Freeway a few miles to capture exactly what to expect from a home garage PLT-6S Installation. Check out the official BendPak Flickr page to see for yourself.
The PLT-6S is a tilt-type parking lift with a surprisingly small footprint. This allows parking lot owners and garage gurus alike to take maximum advantage of their available space. This isn’t a work-lift though–if you’re interested in doing a lot of maintenance on your own vehicle, you may want to consider one of our HD-Series four-post car lifts.
However if you just want to convert your two-car into a three-car, you’re really not going to find a better solution.
The adjustable tilt-up design of the top platform gives the user a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the angle of the raised vehicle. For instance, if your garage ceiling comes down lower or has a beam in the way, it’s no trouble to keep the top vehicle nose down in order to avoid interference. Additionally, this allows taller vehicles to still be parked below without increasing the overall size of the parking lift.
The best part is that the PLT-6S keeps your vehicles completely secure with a parking well that uses the car’s own weight to secure the front wheels. And of course, the industrial-strength locking mechanism ensures that everything stays right where you left it.
Check out the PLT-6S product page for more information. You should also watch the videos below to see this parking lift in action.
One Truly Awesome Garage Made Better With a BendPak Car Lift
August 2nd, 2011
It’s been a fairly quiet summer at BendPak as we gear up for some big announcements in fall. However, if you have been snooping around the site recently, you may have noticed we added a special section for all of our fellow garage fanatics out there. You know who you are.
AwesomeGarages.com is alive and kicking with new pictures being added approximately once a month for your viewing / drooling pleasure. But just recently we were able to drive out to a new customer’s home where he installed a BendPak in-ground SP-7X car lift in his newly completed garagemahal.
With the SP-7X, this garage is truly one of the best thought-out man caves we’ve ever had the honor to witness. We couldn’t resist taking a quick video and putting it together for all to see. We think you’ll agree it’s a plain fantastic garage design.
And if you are a fan of Garage Journal (and if you like garages and tools, you really should be) you can see the owner’s incredible photo documentary of all the hard work and design that went into his garage. It’s got freakin’ LASERS and a glow-in-the-dark floor for Pete’s sake! Check out the Garage Journal thread for yourself.
That’s it for now. If you have an awesome garage and want to show it off on BendPak’s AwesomeGarages.com, go ahead and send your pictures to contact@bendpak.com. If you’re not too far away, we may just want to feature your garage in a video of its own.
Photos: Making of the R26FLT Heavy-Duty Truck Tire Changer Demo
September 17th, 2010
We just wrapped filming a new demo video to show off the functions of our newest heavy-duty truck tire changer, the R26FLT from Ranger.
This beefy tire changer turns the tire changing process into a beautifully simple task. Designed specifically for heavy duty truck tires that can weigh upwards of 200 lbs. each, our new tire changer is able to overpower all obstacles and control every aspect of the process with grace and ease.
The R26FLT tire changer is equipped with a portable control tower that includes a separate module for each function on the machine. There are two joysticks, one that controls the bead breaking tool on a horizontal axis plus the tire arm height on a vertical axis and another that opens and closes the jaw clamps. On the bottom, there is a foot pedal that rotates the tire arm either left or right, while the top button (the big red one) turns the machine on and off.
As you can imagine, we ended up mounting and demounting these tires about twenty times, so the lube that comes standard with each changer came in handy. The R26FLT also comes with a huge pry bar, but we never had cause to use it.
The whole thing took us about two days to film. Currently the video is being edited in post-production, but we’ll post it as soon as it’s ready. Until then, check out these production photos on the official BendPak Flickr page.
RML-600 Motorcycle Lift in WIRED Magazine
June 25th, 2010
WIRED Magazine gave the RML-600 Motorcycle Lift by Ranger a very nice writeup in their July 2010 issue.
As you might remember, we told you a few weeks back that the DIY Network was airing a special episode of their hit show Garage Mahal in which WIRED Magazine was going to assist in the ultra-technological makeover of some lucky guy’s garage. The episode aired on June 18th at 6:30 PM PST.
The garage in question belongs to RC model airplane builder Gambina, whose garage was in serious need of an overhaul. WIRED and Garage Mahal hooked him up with a number of helpful tech innovations to keep his workspace organized and user-friendly.
For our part, we supplied the RML-600 Motorcycle Lift, which the crew “hacked” (that’s modified to you and me), to enhance its usability as a mobile workbench. Here’s what WIRED said:
Finding a workspace for larger items can be a challenge. Gambina didn’t want a huge, permanently installed bench taking up the room he sometimes needs for, you know, his car. Our solution? We hacked a BendPak motorcycle lift ($1,200) into a movable surface that can be raised and lowered to the perfect height for aircraft maintenance.
It’s great to see our equipment adapted to unique projects. That’s what it’s there for.
You can read the full WIRED makeover article over on their website.
Review: BendPak Car Lift & Direct Lift Head-To-Head Comparison Test
May 27th, 2010
BENDPAK VS. DIRECT LIFT COMPARISON – CLICK HERE
As we reported a couple months ago, we’re not afraid of a little friendly competition. So from time to time we pit our most popular car lifts against the other guys for a battle royale of automotive lifting metal. This one’s been in the works for a while and we’re very pleased to bring you a new, comprehensive chapter on the Study in Lift Design website.
In this head-to-head challenge, we take a closer look at a lift we’ve heard quite a bit about, the Direct-Lift Pro-Park 8 Plus. We wanted to see how our lifting solution would stand up, but unfortunately BendPak doesn’t manufacture an 8,000-lb. four-post lifting solution at this time. So we improvised a 9,000-lb. HD-9XW car lift. To keep things fair, capacity is NOT included anywhere in our overall determination. We’re only looking things like build-quality and engineering–traits that would be consistent throughout an entire series of lift products at every weight capacity.
When deciding which lift to purchase, price is probably one of the bigger concerns on your mind. But if you take a good look at the new study, you might just discover that it’s a better idea to pay a little extra for a better lift, even if it gives you a bit more lifting power than you need.
Introducing the RL-8500XLT Brake Lathe by Ranger
May 25th, 2010
If you’ve browsed the wheel service section of the site within the last 24 hours, you may have already stumbled upon today’s big news. BendPak is very proud to present our newest Ranger product–the brand new, redesigned RL-8500XLT Heavy-Duty Combination Brake Lathe.
What can this baby do? On the surface it looks and acts very similar to the RL-8500 Combination Brake Lathe: the same great, time-tested design; super-duty construction; unsurpassed safety features and conveniences to help you get the job done faster than your competition; infinitely variable speeds and the accuracy to form perfect cuts on the first pass.
But the real big news on this brake lathing machine is the extended capacity spindle. The RL-8500XLT brake lathe is capable of handling brake drums that are up to a massive 10 inches deep! Now there isn’t a brake drum in the world that can’t be trued and refinished to perfection by the incredible Ranger RL-8500XLT Heavy-Duty Brake Lathe from Ranger.
Make sure to check out the in-depth look at this finely-tuned precision instrument on the RL-8500XLT Heavy-Duty Combination Brake Lathe page. And as always, stay tuned to the BendPak blog for all your product updates.
Another Option: New Polypropylene Drip Trays for 4-Post Car Lifts
May 14th, 2010
At BendPak, we develop our products with every kind of automotive enthusiast in mind. That’s one of the reasons we offer a complete line of car lifts, garage equipment and accessories at nearly every level and capacity. Continuing with that line of thought, BendPak is happy to announce the upcoming release of our car lift accessory: hard polypropylene drip trays for our four-post car lifts.
Drip trays are an essential car lift accessory, especially if you have a leak or find yourself in the middle of a project, but still really need to park an automobile beneath your lift. To solve the common problem of potentially harmful drips, BendPak has previously offered only galvanized steel drip trays and steel decks, specifically for the HD-9 series car lifts.
Don’t get us wrong—BendPak high-quality, galvanized drip trays are great. Not only are they strong and protect your property, they also look sharp while doing it. But what about when you’re dealing with really filthy fluids in the long term? Or what if you’re moving the tray and / or car lift around a lot because you’re busy with several projects at once? It’s no fun to keep cleaning and moving the same heavy-duty drip tray over and over, but before now there weren’t many other options.
So we developed a new line of affordable, impact-resistant polypropylene drip trays that are both rugged and light. Sold in packs of three, each tray comes with 56 articulated catches and gutters to restrain the fluid from sloshing out. So all that oil, coolant and other muck stays neatly contained within individual compartments, even when carried or bumped. We also chose a smart, black color for these new trays in order to better hide the appearance of stains and blemishes.
The new polypropylene drip trays from BendPak are a perfect, cost-effective solution to a messy problem. Check out the pictures below for an up-close look and stay tuned to the BendPak Blog for the official release and specs.
R980X-AT Tire Changer by Ranger: First Look
May 13th, 2010
When we first conceived of the Ranger RX3040 Tire Changer, it wasn’t long before we realized that we would have to change the way most people are used to changing tires. Nothing could be sacred; engineering idioms that the industry had long taken for granted had to be inspected with a microscope again. Throughout the designing process we never stopped asking ourselves, “Is this really the best way?” The results surprised and satisfied us. We truly believe that the Ranger RX3040 tire changer is as good as it gets, but our job is not done yet.
Now we get to take all that we learned in developing the RX3040 Tire Changer and apply that technology to our entire line of Ranger tire machines. The first unit to benefit from the new technological advancements is the upcoming R980X-AT Tire Changer.
We’re still in the final testing stages of development, so we can’t reveal the full details until the official product announcement. However, we can tell you about the turbo-blast bead sealing & seating system that’s new to the R980X-AT Tire Machine from Ranger.
To successfully seal and seat a tire bead, two factors matter more than any other: air volume and speed. In earlier models, we placed the bead seating outlets right on the turntable near the tire clamps. The theory was that it’s much more convenient to just step on the inflation pedal and have everything just pop into place. In practice, however, we discovered the placement of these air nozzles could sometimes miss the mark. Additionally, due to size restraints, proper sealing and seating would occasionally require multiple attempts.
We specifically designed the turbo-blast air system to address this problem and we’re proud to say it will absolutely blow you away, regardless of whether it’s on the RX3040 or the R980X-AT tire changers.
Head over to the official BendPak Flickr page for a few sneak peek photos of the upcoming R980X-AT Tire Changer for a better idea of what we’re talking about. And as always, stay tuned to the BendPak blog for more product updates as they become available.
Congrats Stan, Winner of the Facebook Floor Jack Giveaway!
May 6th, 2010
Stan Darpino, the grand-prize winner of the Ranger floor jack giveaway on Facebook, posted a picture and some really nice words for us on HubGarage that we wanted to share with everyone today on the blog.
We would like to extend a hugh thank you to Bend Pak for our new Ranger floor jack. This jack was the grand prize in Bend Paks latest Facebook contest that we found out about in a blog on the Hub! The jack is beautiful and I must say that the picture does it no justice. We were very impressed when we opened the box. Speaking of pictures, I am about 20 pounds lighter and 10 years younger than the picture. The jack is so nice that I may have a hard time using it. Winning this contest could not have happened at a better time. Waiting for parts to finish projects and fighting with the economy is paying a toll. Being the grand prize winner and receiving this jack yesterday makes everything worth the sacrfice!
Thank you again
. . . Stan
You’re more than welcome, Stan. And don’t be afraid to use the RFJ-3000AL Aluminum Racing Floor Jack, it’s designed to take normal shop abuse. Big thanks to Stan and everyone who participated. We’re coming up with our next contest right now, so make sure you already “Like” BendPak on Facebook.
Adam Carolla CarCast Video Tutorial: Step-by-Step Guide on How to Change a Tire
April 28th, 2010
As you might remember, three weeks ago we brought you an exclusive all-access look behind the scenes of the Adam Carolla CarCast tutorial segment “Tire Job.” Well today we’ve got the video.
Host Sandy Ganz gives you a demonstration of how easy it is to change a tire when you have the best tools for the job. In this case, the best tools include the Ranger R26EX tire changer, a BendPak low-rise car lift and a Ranger wheel balancer for extra credit. The tires in question come from an old ’65 Mustang convertible his buddy Donny is intermittently restoring, but he leaves Sandy to do the tire job himself.
That’s fine, because Sandy goes through step-by-step how to change a tire in what turns out to be a pretty entertaining tire-changing tutorial video. First he demounts and deflates the tire before breaking the bead with the aid of the bead-breaking blade on the side of the tire changer. Then at around 2:49, Sandy takes a short intermission from the tire changing how-to segment and shows us the WRONG way to re-seat a tire bead with the WRONG tools…starter fluid and a box of matches. Following some exciting pyrotechnics (3:40), Sandy vows to never mount a tire with Quick Start again and gets back to work.
After breaking the bead all over again, Sandy clamps the outside of the 14” rim on the tire changer turntable and lubricates the rubber around the wheel. Then he sets the mount / de-mount head tool between the rim and the tire, wedges the included pry bar into the open space and rotates the turntable. The tire comes off “easy as pie.” He does the same to the bottom of the tire and then replaces the valve stem with a shiny new one for Donny.
Next in the tire changing how-to video from the Adam Carolla CarCast, Sandy needs to put the replacement tire onto the wheel. He re-clamps the rim securely into the tire changer’s turntable, inspects the sealing bead for obstructions and lubricates the brand new tire. Sandy does a decent job of shoving the tire on the wheel by hand before bringing in the mount / de-mount head tool and the turntable’s rotation to push the tire into the sealing bead, all without the aid of a pry bar. Once he reseats the bead with the included air hose, Sandy is all set to balance the Mustang’s new tire on the Ranger DST-Series wheel balancer.
Sandy begins wheel balancing procedures by locking in the tire with the included wheel balancer adapters and inputting the parameters into the control panel. Then, he lowers the safety shield and lets the machine spin the wheel to detect the current balance. Following the information on the readout, Sandy selects the appropriate weights and sticks them where the wheel balancer suggests. Again, he lowers the shield and tests the weight. Sandy determines that the slight remaining imbalance is fine for Donny’s old Mustang and finishes up by remounting the wheel with a torque wrench.
Now all he has to do is the exact same thing three more times. Click the video below to watch the Adam Carolla CarCast “Tire Job” segment for yourself.
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