Many customers new to offering alignment service have many questions about it. What are the features of various Alignment Lifts? What type of lift should I get? Should I get an open front alignment Rack? Should I get a four post, or scissor lift?
Many manufacturers will include turnplates in the purchase of an alignment lift. Some do not. Some will include rolling jacks as part of a package. Most will not.
BendPak offers several types of alignment hoists. They offer the traditional four post rack in several lengths and capacities. All the way from 14,000 lb to 35,000 lb lifts. They offer standard length and extra long models. They also offer an open front model in a 14,000 lb. capacity.
An open front alignment lift is desired by many shop owners who want to be able to walk easily between the runways without having to duck down under the front cross member to get in between the runways. It’s a convenient feature to have, but it will cost significantly more than a standard four post rack, because there is significant engineering involved to accomplish the task of removing that cross member.
They also offer a scissor alignment lift. These are very special lifts that are desired by shop owners that want the open front feature, but don’t want to take up too much of their shop floor space. The scissor lift takes up significantly less floor space along with the open front feature. Again, because of the added features, a scissor lift will cost significantly more than a four post lift.
BendPak alignment lifts include the turnplates in front and the slip plates in the rear. What they do not include are the air bridge jacks. Those are sold separately. To perform alignments you need to raise the wheels off the runways, so two jacks would be desired.
The other thing required to perform alignments would be an alignment machine. We’ll get into more detail about them in future posts.
Shop owners looking to get into the alignment business find that is an expensive initial investment, but that it pays for itself rather quickly.
