hose the bottom of buses during win- ter due to the big corrosion issue in New York. Te lifts are moved to a wash bay area located inside the new building but is separate from the service bays. Tey also have been used outside of the building. “We do a rust proof undercoating pro-
gram each year, and typically it is done by a company that comes and rust proofs the buses in the parking lot,” he said. “So we can take the lifts outside and put a bus in the air.” He noted that mobile column lifts used
outside should be placed on level concrete ground that can withhold the weight of any size school bus. Peplin, a former New York State Depart-
ment of Transportation inspector, said cables on the ground are always a poten- tial trip hazard, which is why he wanted his new garage building without any wires on the floor. “To my way of thinking, we’re making the job easier for the mechanics.” Clovis (Calif.) Unified School District
Fleet Manager Lee Peterson purchased two different types of lifts after the dis- trict took back special needs busing. “We
went from 88 to 135 buses and doubled our routes in a year,” he said. Te wireless mobile lifts have helped his 12
mechanics, who work in two crews and can accommodate as many as 16 buses in the shop at a time, service buses for oil changes and 45-day inspections. “We also use them on a steam rack to steam buses, which is an amazing advantage. It beats crawling on a creeper and being rained on,” he said. Mobile column lifts in general have ad-
vanced from the simple analog technology. “Tey were (once) very simple. Lifts went up and down,” said Bill Gibson, general manager at Ari-Hetra. Today, lifts have a load cell that sends weight and height readings to the con- trol panel. It also alerts users if those limits are exceeded, along with other features. Tis fast-growing product segment now
includes models with energy-saving fea- tures. Tere’s Ari-Hetra’s hybrid battery powered mobile lift, which uses batteries to raise the vehicle and charges off of stan- dard 110 volt power, and Stertil-KONI’s new wireless Earthlift hydraulic mobile lift, which reportedly allows for 35 percent
lifting cycles at maximum lifting load. A mobile lift’s inherent safety and op-
erational features aside, customers also consider the cable-connected or wireless fea- ture. It boils down to a customer’s particular needs and, sometimes, brand preference. Some might be concerned with the initial
cost of wireless mobile lifts, but “when you start looking at them and the cost of own- ership, the replacement costs for cords and cables each year start to mount up pretty quickly,” said Todd Michaelski, vice president, sales and marketing for Gray Automotive. However, Allister Collings, president of
Sefac, which offers cable-connected mobile lift systems, said the few minutes required to connect cables “adds immeasurably to the safety of a mobile lifting system.” Doug Spiller, product manager at Ro-
tary Lift, pointed out the cost difference between a mobile column lift and an in-ground lift. “With in-ground lifts and heavy lifts with more than a 50,000-pound capacity, you’re paying over $1 per pound. For mobile lifts, you’re down to nearly 50 cents a pound,” he said. ■
Safe. Reliable. Durable. Lifting Systems • Exhaust Systems • Wheel Service
ARI-HETRA has manufactured heavy-duty transportation maintenance equipment in
the United States for over 20 years. Our customers trust us to deliver systems that are dependable, durable and designed with the utmost safety in mind.
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© 2012 ARI-HETRA 56 School Transportation News Magazine May 2012
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