HDS-27: four cables, each rated to break at 14,000 lbs

When a 27,000 lbs refuse truck is in the air, the entire question is the cable. The HDS-27 answers it with a number most listings never print: each of its four 1/2" diameter, 6 x 25 galvanized lifting cables has a breaking strength of 14,000 lbs. Four cables share the load, and each one on its own is rated well beyond a quarter of what the lift is allowed to carry. That is the arithmetic worth doing before you buy a heavy four-post lift, and it is the arithmetic almost nobody puts in front of you.

This is the lift for Class 7 territory — semi tractors, flatbeds, concrete mixers, refuse vehicles, buses and construction plant. If your work is commercial and municipal rather than retail, this is where the four-post range stops being a car lift and starts being shop equipment.

Before you order: the compressor, and the wheelbase

Two requirements catch buyers out on lifts this size, and both are cheaper to discover now.

Compressed air. The commercial-grade hydraulic pumps on the rolling bridge jacks need 125 PSI and up to 20 CFM. That is a real shop compressor, not a portable one, and if you are buying the jacks with the lift you should confirm your air supply can hold that flow before delivery day rather than after.

Wheelbase. A four-post lift's rating assumes the load is spread along the runways. Something heavy and short concentrates weight between fewer support points and the lift derates accordingly:

In other words the 27,000 lbs figure is a rating at 185" of wheelbase. Take the heaviest, shortest vehicle you own and find its line in that table before you decide this lift is big enough. Axle loading is capped too, at 13,500 lbs (6,123 kg) front and the same at the rear.

Will It Fit?

• Floor length. 312.75" (7,944 mm) overall; 257" (6,528 mm) outside length without ramps; runways 255.5" (6,490 mm) long.
• Floor width. 153.5" (3,899 mm) overall, 133.5" (3,391 mm) between columns — about 11 ft.
• Drive-through clearance. 109" (2,769 mm), roughly 9 ft.
• Height. Columns stand 91.25" (2,318 mm). Maximum rise 60" (1,524 mm), maximum lifting height 69.5" (1,765 mm), minimum runway height 9.5" (241 mm). A cycle takes 75 seconds.
• Runway layout. 22" (559 mm) wide, spaced 40" (1,016 mm) or 45.25" (1,149 mm), centred 67.25" (1,708 mm) or 72.5" (1,842 mm), outside edges 89.25" (2,267 mm) or 94.5" (2,400 mm).
• Power. 220 VAC / 60 Hz / 1 Ph, at 45 dB.

Checking the building, the floor and the electrical supply is the buyer's responsibility, and a lift that will not fit the bay is not a warranty issue. Our record does not state a required concrete thickness or strength; on a lift carrying this weight that is emphatically not a figure to assume. It is in the installation manual linked on this page, and we will confirm it in writing before you order if you ask.

Sheaves, axles and the reason they are oversized

A lifting cable does not usually fail along its length. It fails where it bends. The sheaves in the runways and cross tubes are 12" in diameter, running on 4" diameter axles, and the reason is bend radius — a cable wrapped round a larger wheel flexes less severely at every cycle and lasts correspondingly longer. Grease nipples are fitted to every sheave and axle, so the maintenance that does exist is a two-minute job rather than a strip-down. The cables run internally, out of the weather, the wash-down and the chemical spills that a commercial bay produces, inside a flexible non-conductive conduit along with the airlines.

The columns sit on 12" x 12" base plates. On a lift that can hold a loaded mixer truck, the plate area is what turns the column load into something a slab can accept.

Locks, and what catches the load if something lets go

Spring-loaded safety locks engage automatically all the way up, and adjustable safety ladders let the runways be levelled even on a floor with a slope in it. Release is a single push-button pneumatic action through aircraft-quality steel and aluminium cylinders. A secondary lock system stands on constant guard as a slack-cable device, and the hydraulic cylinder has an integrated flow restrictor so that a burst hose gives a slow, controlled descent instead of a fast one. Locking positions are numerous and adjustable, which on a truck lift is less about comfort and more about getting a working height that suits the job in front of you.

Perfect For

• Municipal depots maintaining refuse vehicles, gritters and utility trucks.
• Commercial truck and trailer shops working on flatbeds, tractors and mixers.
• Bus and coach operators running their own maintenance.
• Construction and plant workshops where the heaviest item on site is also the one that has to be serviced.

What's in the Box

Per this model's own feature list: galvanized lifting cables, 12" diameter cable sheaves, grease nipples, the single hydraulic under-runway cylinder with integrated flow restrictor, spring-loaded safety locks with the second lock system on constant guard, fully enclosed lifting cables, multiple adjustable height locking positions, the maintenance-free electric-hydraulic power system, conveniently positioned operator controls and 12" x 12" base plates. The rolling jack is optional and not included, and neither is the truck and SUV adapter set, which is close to a necessity for wheel and brake work on vehicles this size. Decide on both before ordering, along with the compressed-air question above.

Specifications

Certification, read carefully

Two separate claims sit in this product's data and they are not the same claim. The lift is stated to be CE approved and certified, meeting or exceeding European Standard EN 1493. Separately, the copy states that BendPak parts meet or exceed ALI standards for load bearing and safety.

The distinction matters when somebody official asks. A European conformity marking is largely a manufacturer's declaration against European directives. And a part meeting a published standard is a statement about the part, not a certificate issued to this model by an independent body after examination. Insurers, fleet operators and local code officials generally want the latter: a listing, tied to a model, that they can put in a file. If your cover, your inspection regime or your workplace rules turn on that, ask us in writing before you order and we will obtain a written answer from the manufacturer rather than let a well-meaning phrase in a product description stand in for a document.

Shipping and delivery

This item ships free within the lower 48 states, so there is nothing to add at checkout. The crate is 266" x 27" x 36" and the shipment weighs 6,109 lbs — check the approach to your premises as well as the space inside.

Delivery is kerbside. Arrange unloading in advance: a forklift or telehandler on site, or collection from the freight terminal, which for a crate of this length is usually simplest. Residential addresses carry a residential fee, and warehouse pickup can be arranged for this brand — call us to set it up. Inspect before signing and record any damage on the bill of lading at the time; a clean signature is very hard to walk back.

Warranty

The warranty document linked on this page governs — read the term and the exclusions there rather than a summary. And whatever the terms, do not disassemble a component you intend to claim on. Photograph it, leave it as it is and contact us first; a stripped part is the commonest reason a valid claim is refused.