Car lift ramps can quickly become unusable when a hydraulic cylinder goes bad. The hydraulic cylinders are needed to power the ramps up and down. If you can't lift the ramp up, then you can't get under a car to work on things like the muffler, steering system, and transmission systems. You need to call a technician to come and fix the hydraulic cylinder so you can get back to work. Here is how a technician can replace the broken cylinder with a new one to get your car lift ramp working again.
Taking Out the Cylinder
The technician will have to disconnect the hose running to the cylinder before they can remove it from the car lift post. The hose is attached to a small pipe that that runs from the bottom of the hydraulic cylinder through an opening in the post. The other end of the hose is connected to the hydraulic pump. The technician will unscrew the hose from a pipe going into the cylinder first. Then they will remove the pipe from the bottom of the cylinder.
The technician will also have to remove a heavy chain the goes over the top of the cylinder. The chain connects to gears on the ramps and pulls the ramps up and down as the head of the cylinder goes up and down when raising and lowering cars. The technician will press down on the piston on the cylinder to loosen the chain. They will then slip the chain over the roller wheel at the top of the cylinder. Once the chain is removed, the technician will be able to remove the cylinder from the post on the car ramp.
Installing New Cylinder
The technician will put the new cylinder into the post opening where the old one was and will slowly let it drop down the bottom of the post. There is a spot at the bottom of the post where the cylinder fits into a rounded slot. The base of the cylinder has a small protrusion that fits into the slot. This connection keeps the cylinder from moving around while in use.
The technician will push down on the piston on the new cylinder to create room to put the chain over the top of the roller wheel. Then the technician will slide the pipe through the back of the post and reconnect it to the cylinder. The hydraulic hose line is then attached to the pipe.
There is a bleed valve on the hose line. The technician will fill the fluid reservoir up with hydraulic oil and then open the bleed valve. The ramp is raised and lowered a few times until the air is removed from the hose and hydraulic fluid starts to flow out of the bleed valve. The bleed valve is then closed. You will now be ready to start raising and lowering cars again. Contact a business, such as Florida TRUCK & Trailer CO, for more information.
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