Hoists - anyone got one or recommend good brands?

[stolly]

Does anyone have a hoist in their shed or can recommend good (or bad) brands. Looking to buy a clear floor 2 post (240V)

Thankyou

[NZM.031]

we use Formula hoists at work....they arent too bad, clear floor, low arms (can get under my 33 with little dramas), back up service is pretty good. most repco places are distributors for them...

i have used a few other hoists over the years, mostly molnar hoists....i dont rate molnar at all. you can see the arms bend with just a car on them, the safety is easy to leave off, and they make an annoying noise when going up with the safety on.

look at paying over $5000 for a really decent hoist.

cheers

Linton

[stolly]

Cheers, yeah I was budgeting on around $5k-ish. Low arms will be important to, as my 33 is fairly low. Anyone else??

[cav]

the only way to go is MOLNAR as we have 2, 1 clear floor 2 post and a 4 post with turnplates for alignment gear.

i have no drames with my 33 on the 2 post, weve had no trouble with it, they are reasonably priced now under $5000 and a growing bussiness and been around for years.

[stolly]

the only way to go is MOLNAR as we have 2, 1 clear floor 2 post and a 4 post with turnplates for alignment gear.

i have no drames with my 33 on the 2 post, weve had no trouble with it, they are reasonably priced now under $5000 and a growing bussiness and been around for years.

How old are your hoists? Price isn't really an issue (well I mean it is,) but I'd rather pay more $$ for a really good quality one than skimp and get crap.

[cav]

4 post is about 2 years and 2post is about 4-5 years old but to tell the truth havent heard a bad report about this brand hoist, get on to repco for more info on em.

[NZM.031]

the molnar hoists i used were cheap and nasty bastards, weak as.

the formulas are nice and solid. the arms are thick and big, but still low enough to get under really low cars. they are wide so you have ample door opening room.

dont buy cheap hoists.....that simple. ive seen them drop, creep down over night, lock up one side when lowering, and lift one side up.

cheerrs

Linton

[ferni]

Thats what my dad does, has his own company, sells/services hoists etc... He likes Molnar, but deals in all of the brands. The hardest thing for you is finding one that will run off 240v... most of them are 3 phase, and the 240v ones dont quite have the same grunt i think.

[NFAA32]

we have a few different ones at work, we have 3x two posters, there all molnar, but one is older, with stupid safety feature that manually locks in,

the other two are newer, with no ground interference, you do see the arms flex a little if you use them to full extension.

they have unbuilt safety, the tafe i go to just got one of these installed about a month ago.

the otehr at work are stupid 'belly' hoists, and we have a 4 poster.

i would go for 2 poster as its so much easier to work on the cars.

4 poster is good if you want to raise and inspect, but a bitch to get wheels off

[stolly]

Thats what my dad does, has his own company, sells/services hoists etc... He likes Molnar, but deals in all of the brands. The hardest thing for you is finding one that will run off 240v... most of them are 3 phase, and the 240v ones dont quite have the same grunt i think.

Hey Ferni, I'd be interested to get some info/brochures etc off your old man on the different types if he's interested in selling one. Obviously a single phase won't have the grunt of a 3 phase, but should lift 3 tonne comfortably? which will be more than enough. Anyway if he's interested PM me for my postal address. It won't be for at least 3 months as it's going to take 10 weeks before the shed is finished. Cheers

[stolly]

we use Formula hoists at work....they arent too bad, clear floor, low arms (can get under my 33 with little dramas), back up service is pretty good. most repco places are distributors for them...

i have used a few other hoists over the years, mostly molnar hoists....i dont rate molnar at all. you can see the arms bend with just a car on them, the safety is easy to leave off, and they make an annoying noise when going up with the safety on.

look at paying over $5000 for a really decent hoist.

cheers

Linton

G'day Linton, rang repco in Wagga today and they said they don't do any hoists, do you know any other places where I could get info on these? Thankyou.

[SteveL]

I have an old Repco-Koni.....cost me $1000 plus I converted it to run 240V myself. I actually down-rated the motor to ensure I didn't overload my electrical system. Hoist uses a hydraulic ram and cable arrangement.....lifts my GTR no problem

Molnar actually took over the rights to the Repco-Koni hoists and you can still buy spare parts from them. On the downside mine doesn't have the safety features of modern hoists (eg auto locking arms), but since I'm not using it for business purposes I don't have to worry about safety inspections which are mandatory for hoists in Vic (for businesses).

Another Australian brand hoist is Tecalemit. These are a screw hoist and seemed to me to be the most inherently safe design. I almost bought one before the Repco, but the screw design means less flexibility in terms of 240V motor choice (greater inherent friction and therefore starting torque under load).

[stolly]

I have an old Repco-Koni.....cost me $1000 plus I converted it to run 240V myself.    I actually down-rated the motor to ensure I didn't overload my electrical system.   Hoist uses a hydraulic ram and cable arrangement.....lifts my GTR no problem

Molnar actually took over the rights to the Repco-Koni hoists and you can still buy spare parts from them.   On the downside mine doesn't have the safety features of modern hoists (eg auto locking arms), but since I'm not using it for business purposes I don't have to worry about safety inspections which are mandatory for hoists in Vic (for businesses).

Another Australian brand hoist is Tecalemit.   These are a screw hoist and seemed to me to be the most inherently safe design.  I almost bought one before the Repco, but the screw design means less flexibility in terms of 240V motor choice (greater inherent friction and therefore starting torque under load).

How do you convert it to 240V? Do you just put a different motor on, or can you convert a 3 phase motor to single phase?

[browny]

You can do both.

There are single phase to three phase converters around, although you would still be limited to the power your single phase outlet can supply. Actually, probably less because the converter will have losses.

[SteveL]

How do you convert it to 240V? Do you just put a different motor on, or can you convert a 3 phase motor to single phase?

Changing the motor is the cheapest way to go. As browny says there are other ways but it ends up costing more (well when I looked into it it was - may not be the same in all cases).

I also had to machine up an adaptor plate, plus modify the coupling to the hydraulic motor. This cost me nothing but my own time as I have access to the equipment and materials, but would be something you might need to allow for (depends on the motor, etc that comes with the hoist).

I also had to change the DOL starter (motor controller) for one that suited the new motor.