This post was created to compare the BendPak HD9 series of Four Post Lift vs the Direct Lift Pro Park 8 four post lift. Some lift manufacturers may try to imitate BendPak’s quality and engineering, but they cannot duplicate it. That is why BendPak came out with a comparison between their HD9 lift, vs the Direct Lift four post lift.
BendPak came out with their HD9 lifts many years ago back when everybody started copying their very popular previous four post home / hobbyist lift, the PF7000ST. At that time, the design was very popular , and many companies began copying that popular design, so BendPak decided to differentiate themselves from the pack by coming out with a far superior design at a reasonable price. Basically, they just scaled down their 14000 lb. commercial quality lifts, and made them for the home / hobbyist. It was a stroke of genius. It was also a huge success. Nobody on the market had a commercial quality home hobby lift. It is ALI Certified, something never before done by a lift manufacturer. It has dual safeties, and a superior ladder safety system, and many other features of a commercial ALI Certified lift.
Direct Lift came out with their ProPark 8 four post lift that integrated some of the features of the BendPak HD9 auto lifts, but not every feature. They might appear similar at first glance, but when you delve a little deeper, you’ll find some very significant differences. Case in point, one of the first things you’ll notice is that the posts are significantly larger, which helps explain the heavier duty capacity of 9,000 lbs. vs 8,000 lbs.
Some more differences that will be more evident just by looking is some of the exposed exterior hardware that is on the Direct Lift. BendPak Lifts have a single push button pneumatic lock system. Direct Lifts have clumsy, multi-rod, multi-adjustment, manually operated locks using a handle you need to hold down during the full decent.
The Direct Lift cables are not neatly routed within the structure of the lift. BendPak’s cables are, leading to a neater, cleaner appearance.
BendPak runways feature a separate welded on rail assembly (for the jacks and trays) that also acts as a stiffener helping to prevent the runways from sagging when loaded.
Futher differences require a closer look, but are no less important.
The Direct Lift ProPark 8 Plus utilizes a “pulley” system (2 to 1 lifting) as opposed to a direct‐pull set‐up like BendPak’s HD‐9 Lifts (1 to 1 lifting). BendPak’s direct design allows the four independent cables to be attached directly to the cylinder pull block. The four lifting cables on the Direct Lift pulley design are attached to a single lifting cable that is tethered from the end of the cylinder pulley. This single cable carries the entire load during raising or lowering operation.
BendPak cable sheaves have a significantly larger diameter. This means the lifting cables will have a much longer life expectancy and are much less likely to fail.
BendPak approach ramps have rollers on the bottom so your floors don’t get marred when you raise and lower the lift.
BendPak cable sheaves are wider and have over 3 times the bearing (bronze bushing) surface area for longer life.
The BendPak HD9 Car Lift has real no skid grit on the runways instead of diamond plate. Although diamond plate has a certain desired cosmetic appearance, it does little for skid resistance when the runways are wet or oily.
The ProPark 8 Plus pulley system requires a larger diameter cylinder and much higher working pressure because it requires twice the hydraulic pressure as a direct pull setup.
The BendPak cable block features anti rotation outriggers that prevent rotation caused by cylinder movement and keeps perfect alignment of the lifting cables.
Finally, BendPak’s warranty includes one year of labor in addition to five years structure and one year parts warranty. Direct Lift does not include labor on their standard warranty.
As you can see, this puts to rest any doubt that BendPak HD9 4 Post Lifts are superior to the Direct Lift Pro Park 8 Lift.