I'm also embarassed to say I haven't installed my Tommy Lift yet. I moved it 40 miles to a storage area to where I will be moving to this spring. I was going to use it to move, but didn't have enough time so I ended up moving the Tommy lift instead of installing it.

I'm eager to start on it, but have no time. I'm able to lift the Tommy lift with my engine lift and with fabric straps. I'll use that to install the tommy lift onto the back of the truck.

Perhaps a year from now it still won't be installed. I would have already moved and will no longer have a real use for the tommy lift. I bought it for this move. Oh well.

I also noticed that the lift is covered with hydraulic fluid. It must be leaking out.

I bought the bracket kit for it: $200, cables, electric breakers, etc. Cost me about a grand. Should of bought a new one instead.. oh well.

Gary

 

They go on EASILY. I still haven't bothered to hardwire mine but have been putting it to good use. When you have it available it opens lots of opportunities.

You only need one power cable since ground return is through the frame.

If you pull the cover you can cycle the pump using jumper cables to leak check it.

No need to overcomplicate brackets. Just copy the factory units "minus the curves" and build with overkill. Liftgates are a refined product, so concentrate on putting them to work.

 

well, last week we finally got it installed... now all I have to do is wire it up and test it out... had a little leaking occur but, I figure that i can at least lower it and then un screw the flap and inspect the innards, eh?

 

You can test it with one jumper cable, which is handy in that you can instantly yank it off if needed.

 

Four years later:

Never bothered wiring it the rest of the way though I use it quite a bit. No excuse other than sloth and I didn't feel like crawling under the truck.

Found the limit of the liftgate (they set the relief valve around 1500 lbs) picking up the base of a J-head Bridgeport milling machine. Found how to get around that limit since liftgate leverage changes as the pantograph lifts the gate and if you give it some help it will keep going.

This is NOT per manufacturer instructions but if you get stuck with a partially lifted load you can't shift may save your bacon. Stand out of the way of, well, everything when playing with heavy objects and if you aren't sure, don't do it!

With a quality jackstand under the Reese hitch so the truck wouldn't squat or shift (liftgates must be LEVEL to lift heavy loads safely) we ran the mill table out to the rear then put a 4x4 atop a floor jack and took some of the weight off while I alternated short lifts with applying tension with my winch to the top of the mill base to keep it vertical and as a safety to ensure it couldn't slip rearwards. As the gate lifted it took over without jack support and got to full height. My Hi-Lift (I love those jacks with a morbid passion also reserved for Wyeth-Scott comealongs) lifted the outboard edge of the gate just enough to get my prybar clearance to scoot the base onto the bed whence I lowered my choker on the base and winched it forward.

We had the head off the Bridgeport or the jack trick would not likely work without additional prep and more than one floor jack or Hi-Lift, but it's one way to get that size vertical mill home.

2000 F150 with a 4.2 handled the load fine but I had added Hellwig overloads, Timbrens, and coilover shocks so it barely squatted. I like that Timbrens don't load the leaf springs or leak like air bags. Didn't go over 65 on the way home out of respect for having 2100 lbs in the bed.

I'll take pics tomorrow of the loaded truck and my winch setup when I unload the mill. An in-bed winch is outstanding for loading the truck, trailers, and in the case of one liquidation where insurance rules forbade me driving into the building, winching out thousands of lbs of heavy steel racks I bought to repurpose. (Deadman ****** blocks off columns and you can go in many directions besides straight to the winch.)

The liftgate required zero maintenance so far, saved my back numerous times and is the best addition I've ever done to a personal truck.

 

Some 8 years later....got it mounted for easy removal when i didn't need it. I bought & installed the quick disconnects like battery packs on fork lifts(etal) use.
Moved my batteries from engine bay to a self made rack under bed on frame rail on passenger side....

Recently sold my Red truck and installed the lift gate on my "new to me" e99 CC LB f350 4wd. a couple weeks back had time to inspect the leaking on the gate.
Did some research, for a local shop to get parts to rebuild the cylinder myself.... because i went to Tommy's website and re-downloaded the manual.... then scanned and saved the parts diagrams and list for part numbers too....
while it was at the shop they went ahead and replaced then and .... the total cost? about the same as ordering the parts from Tommy gate with shipping.... HAH! and i didn't have to disassemble, clean & reassemble the cylinder. (BONUS)

well, put it back together....


i was raised to keep my equipment clean so as when it starts to die..... you'll see the beginnings of it - "in time"....

well, i routinely pressure wash the whole thing and at least once a year i'd lube the pulleys and cable.


BTW I learned from a call to a lift gate guru out in So-Cal that its worth every penny to buy the correct replacement cable for these gates from Tommy! And to bind/tape the new cable to the end of the old one when your replacing the cable one at a time.... makes it SO MUCH EASIER to use the old cable to pull the new one into place.

thankfully mine still has not started to show any wire barbs'.... using a paper towel to test is easier on the had.... no wire-needles into the fingertip!

When I get the time over this summer I'll post a few pic's of the cradle I build to store the tailgate & bumper on when the tailgate is on and vice-versa.... it fits under the BP hitch AND over the jack nicely too.

Oddly noted, I never installed a breaker inline from the batteries... just a massive kill switch.