Thinking of a Heavy Duty Four Post Lift? Here’s What You Need to Know
If you’re in the market for a new commercial vehicle lift, the options can seem overwhelming.
With so many different types of lifts — and so many types of vehicles to consider — it’s not always simple to find the right fit for your workshop.
So to make things easier, we’re taking a deep dive into one of our most widely used vehicle lifts: the Heavy Duty Four Post.
Here’s what you need to know:
It’s Versatile
When you’re investing in a commercial vehicle lift, you need to know you’re getting the most bang for your buck. And if you’re running a smaller workshop that’s only buying a single lift, you need to make sure you’re getting a piece of kit that can handle as many vehicles as possible.
For most workshops, our Heavy Duty Four Post Lift is the answer.
Along with our Mobile Column Lifts, our Four Post Lift is one of the most versatile commercial vehicle lifts out there, with a wide range of suitable vehicles that it can lift.
Depending on the particular model you buy, you can get a lifting capacity from 8,000kg up to 35,000kg — with a range of platform lengths from 7m up to 18m.
That makes our Four Post Lift suitable for almost every type of commercial vehicle — from shorter and lighter vans up to some of the longest and heaviest coaches and lorries.
So if you’re only investing in one commercial lift (or you’re looking to get the most out of every lift you have), a Heavy Duty Four Post Lift is one of the most versatile and widely suitable lifts around.
It’s Simple to Use
Two Post Lifts and Mobile Column Lifts come with their own unique advantages. But where the Four Post Lift really shines is in the simplicity of positioning your vehicles.
With a Four Post Lift, you’ve got a rigid platform on a fixed installation. You don’t need to find the manufacturer’s recommended lifting points on the vehicle, and you don’t need to spend time setting up the lift.
It’s ready to go, and simple to use — just line up the vehicle with the rails on the platform, and drive the vehicle into position.
Better yet: our Totalkare Heavy Duty Four Post lift comes with options for recessed mounting, as well as surface mounting. With a recessed installation, you can get a flush fit to the floor, making it even easier to drive your vehicles into position.
So why is this simplicity so important for your workshop?
It’s about efficiency, and the increase in throughput you get from faster loading.
Your technicians can spend less time finding the right position and attaching lifting arms, and more time with the vehicle raised — getting the vehicle serviced quickly and safely, and swiftly moving on to the next vehicle and the next job.
It Gives You Full Access to the Chassis
The underside of your vehicles is one of the most important areas for maintenance and repair. And the faster and easier your teams can get access to it, the higher your efficiency and throughput will be.
Some types of lift work by raising the vehicle from the chassis itself. That’s great for servicing the wheels, but it can mean that parts of the underside are obstructed by the lifting machinery.
But with a Four Post Lift, you’re lifting from the wheels on the platform itself — giving you full standing access to the components and systems located on the chassis.
Of course, this comes with a trade-off:
With a Four Post Lift, you won’t be able to work on the wheels while the vehicle’s raised. So if your workshop needs access to the wheels on a regular basis, you might be better off with a different lifting solution — like a set of Mobile Column Lifts with an Axle Stand that you can swap out for each wheel.
It’s Wash Bay-Ready
Just like many of our other commercial vehicle lifts, a Four Post lift comes with options for full galvanisation — which means you can use it in the wet conditions of a vehicle wash bay.
Without this galvanisation, it’s more difficult to clean the underside of your vehicles. You won’t be able to get the proper access to the chassis that you need for a deep clean, and you would need a lifting station that’s in a completely separate area to your wash bay — which means more time wasted moving your vehicles from place to place.
Our galvanised Four Post Lifts come with an IP Rating (Ingress Protection) of 67 for the columns, and 66 for the control box. Both the columns and the control box are fully protected against the ingress of dust and powerful jets of water — while the columns are also protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water.
So How Do You Know If It’s Right for You?
Our Heavy Duty Four Post Lifts are one of the most versatile and widely used lifts around.
And for most workshops, that means it’s a solid choice if you’re looking for:
- A lift that can handle most commercial vehicles
- A fixed installation where mobility isn’t an issue
- A simple loading procedure for higher throughput
- A lift that gives you full access to the chassis
- And a lift you can use in a wash bay setting
But if you’re still not sure, we’re here to help.
We’ve been supplying vehicle lifts to commercial workshops of all shapes and sizes for years — and that means we’ve got the technical knowledge and deep experience to help you find the right installation for the exact level of service and vehicles you need.
So if you’re thinking of investing or upgrading your workshop equipment, check out our full range of vehicle lifts in our online shop — or talk to one of our lifting experts to get the full details.
This article was originally published by Totalkare.
