Replacing Lift cables

[WARP TEN]

An update on my lift cables. Finally had them replaced yesterday. The manufacturer Rotary (which owns Direct Lift) has been slowed by the virus. But it is done now and seems to work fine. I took a couple pictures of the cable after removal in which one of the large strands had loosened at the swage. A somewhat unusual failure but still one the repair guy had seen before. It was only on one of the four cables and none of the cables showed any signs of fraying. The repair man and I also talked about a couple of things besides my cables so I thought I would pass along his comments for whatever they are worth. First, on my very slight hydraulic cylinder leak, he said it is quite common to have such a leak over time and was not worth worrying about. He claimed that there is a tiny air pressure relief hole that can sometimes seep a little bit of fluid. (Don't know about this as I have never looked at mine that closely). My leak seemed to be from the seal, although I have not noticed any leaking lately. (I use one of the plastic drip trays under the end of the cylinder--it snaps in perfectly under the ramp). He checked the fluid level and said it was fine (after eight years). I could probably top it up by about a half to one inch but haven't done so yet. Second, he brought up lifts with chains rather than cables regarding failures. I have no opinion on one over the other, but the repairman (who services a lot of car dealerships) said the the difference between a chain and a wire cable is that the cable will show wear via either fraying or a strand loosening and therefore provide an advance warning of a need for replacement before there is a problem. A chain he said fails without any warning. You can look at it but can't see an impending failure; it just lets go. Now despite his comment I am not aware of any home lifts with chains that have failed and as he noted, the home lifts don't get near as much use as commercial lifts. And I presume all of our home lifts have robust safety stops (my Direct Lift has primary and backup secondary stops). Lastly he offered one interesting suggestion that might be of interest to owners of Direct Lift and other lifts. I don't know about other lifts' hydraulic fluid tanks, but my lift has a black plastic tank with the fill level mark being an embossed line on the outside of the container. It is hard to look into the tank and and see if the level is up to the line. He said some folks drill a small hole at the line and put a screw in it. If you ever need to top it up, remove the screw and as you slowly add fluid, do so until the first drop seeps out then put the screw back in. Seemed like a sensible approach although I suppose needed only if fluid is seeping out somewhere else. --Bob