BendPak PCL-18B-8 — Eight Columns, or Two Independent Fours

The argument for eight columns is not really the biggest vehicle you can lift. It is that eight columns is also two separate four-column sets, and a four-column set handles a heavy-duty truck on its own at up to 72,000 lbs. Buy eight and you can raise one four-axle vehicle in the morning and two trucks in adjacent bays in the afternoon, from the same inventory of columns, without either job waiting for the other.

That flexibility is a designed feature rather than a happy accident: the PCL-18B control system supports SINGLE, PAIR or TEAM operation, so the columns are commanded individually, in pairs, or as one synchronised group, and the group can be defined to suit the job in front of you. This package is the high-voltage build, wired for 460/360V three-phase supply.

How the Columns Stay Level

The thing that makes a multi-column lift safe is synchronisation, and the way it is measured matters. Each PCL-18B column carries a sealed, enclosed linear potentiometer — a position sensor reading continuously rather than a switch reporting a step — and the columns exchange that reading throughout every raise and lower. Sealing the sensor is the point: this is a wheeled machine that lives on a shop floor covered in dirt, brake dust and coolant, and an exposed sensor in that environment is a future fault.

Around it sits an ordinary, serviceable control philosophy. The PLC and the main system components are standard off-the-shelf brands rather than proprietary printed circuit boards, which is the difference between a two-day repair with a part you can source and a three-week wait for a board only the manufacturer sells. The electronics are multi-fuse protected, the safety circuitry runs at 24-volts, self-diagnostics and self-calibration are built in, and any column can be used to program and control the set.

Confirm the total system capacity before you order

Published figures for the total system capacity of this package differ, and it is worth having the answer from us before you order rather than from a spec sheet after delivery.

The individual column rating of 18,000 lbs is the same in both sources. What differs is the figure for the system as one synchronised group, and that is exactly the number an engineer, an insurer or a safety officer will ask you for. If rated system capacity decides your purchase, ask us in writing before you order and we will confirm the eight-column figure directly with BendPak.

Will It Fit? Power, Floor and Doors

Power. This is the 460/360V three-phase package. The PCL-18B family feature list quotes a 208-240V three-phase main power system as standard with optional voltages available on request, and this set is that option — so if your building runs low-voltage three-phase, you want the low-voltage version of this package instead, not this one with an adapter. Have an electrician confirm the supply at the point of use before you order; that is the customer’s responsibility and it is not reversible after delivery.

Floor. Mobile columns work off the slab, not off anchors, so the floor carries everything: each column weighs 1,450 lbs before a vehicle is on it. The columns roll on tandem 8" polyurethane-covered steel wheels with sealed roller bearings, which is what lets them cross a rough shop floor, and the pallet-jack style steering wheels let a column sit down firmly on the floor under load rather than staying on sprung casters. A flat, sound, level slab is a requirement; have it assessed if you are unsure.

Space and access. Each column is 45" wide, 48.75" deep and 32.25" in chassis length, with a 40" turning circle, and lifts to a maximum height of 71.5" at the fork. Add your vehicle’s own height to that fork height when you check your ceiling and your door openings. Note that the published table labels its two overall-height figures — 101" and 146.5" — as raised and lowered in an order that appears transposed; if the standing height of a stowed column decides whether it clears your door, confirm it with us in writing first.

Cables, Movement and Storage

For a standard four-column set only three 30’ cables are used, which leaves the front or the back of the lift clear rather than fencing the vehicle in with cable — and when you are working around a raised truck, where the cables are not is as useful as where they are. Between jobs the columns move on their own wheels and store against a wall; forklift pockets are built in for moving them between buildings. Low-mounted power units and cylinders keep the centre of gravity down, which makes a column easier to push and less inclined to topple than a screw-drive design carrying a motor at the top.

Safety Systems

• Automatic mechanical locks at close intervals up the column, independent of hydraulic pressure.
• Inverted cylinders with an integrated safety valve, so a loss of oil pressure does not become an uncontrolled descent.
• Manual override valves on every column, so a vehicle can be lowered during a power cut without hand cranks.
• Emergency shut-off on each column, plus a warning light and an audible alarm per column.
• A separate key lock enclosure per column, and programmable height limits for low ceilings.

Perfect For

• Truck and trailer shops working four-axle vehicles that no four-post lift will take.
• Municipal and transit fleets — buses, refuse trucks, plant — where one set has to cover very different vehicles.
• High-throughput heavy shops that will routinely split the set into two teams of four.
• Shops that cannot dig. Mobile columns need no pit and no anchoring, so a leased building stays as you found it.

Why Columns Instead of a Four-Post

BendPak’s own four-post lifts stop at 40,000 lbs. Above that, and for anything with more axles than a four-post runway suits, mobile columns are the practical answer — and they bring a second advantage a fixed lift cannot: the columns can put a vehicle on tall jack stands and then walk away to lift something else in the next bay.

Specifications (Per Column)

Certification

BendPak states that the PCL-18B meets or exceeds the standards prescribed by ANSI/ALI ALCTV-2011, the North American standard for automotive lift construction, testing and validation. That matters in a commercial setting because insurers and safety inspectors ask for it by name, and because a great many imported column lifts cannot make the claim. If your insurer or jurisdiction wants documentation of it for a specific serial number, ask us and we will get it from BendPak in writing.

Shipping and Delivery

This is a freight shipment inside the lower 48 states, and it is a large one: each column weighs 1,450 lbs and crates at roughly 106" by 55" by 41", and there are eight of them. Freight is quoted live at checkout for your address; residential delivery carries a residential fee, and terminal pickup avoids it. Warehouse pickup can also be arranged on BendPak equipment — ask us which location suits you.

Unloading is the receiver’s responsibility, and at this weight per crate that means a forklift or a dock, arranged before the truck is scheduled. Inspect every crate with the driver, count the columns against the paperwork, and write any damage or shortage on the delivery receipt before you sign. A clean signature on a short or damaged delivery is very difficult to unwind.

Warranty

The BendPak warranty document that applies to this equipment is available on this page — we would rather point you at the actual terms than paraphrase a duration. Two practical notes that apply regardless: register the equipment when it is commissioned, and do not disassemble a power unit, a control box or a cylinder before a claim is opened. The manufacturer is entitled to inspect a failed component as it failed, and a stripped assembly is the usual reason a sound claim is refused. Call us and we will open it with you.