FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Anybody who has ever tried to service a vehicle – whether it be a trained technician or a do-it-yourselfer grease monkey – has probably uttered this phrase at least once: “How am I supposed to get at that?”
When it comes to even the largest Class A motorhomes, Tuxedo Distributing of Alvarado, Texas, has a potential solution it exhibited during the Meyer Distributing Show last week.
IDeal Heavy-Duty Mobile Column Vehicle Lifts – with different models for different applications – are capable of lifting up to 108,000 pounds to enable technicians to more easily access the underbelly and inner workings of a motorhome.
Used in combinations of two, four and six lifts, they can handle loads from small cars, to pickups, to some of the largest motorhomes.
“We developed it because the real estate in shops is very valuable,” said Nina Parks, sales and business development rep for Tuxedo. “So, in order to have something that you can push around, we made it so basically it’s a single post lift on a pallet jack. It frees up a lot of space in the shop. Not to mention, these specific ones are (Automotive Lift Institute) certified.”
The certification is required of all lifts in some states, counties and municipalities across the country.
IDeal MSC-18K-X is the heaviest of the heavy-duty lifts. It is designed to lift fire trucks, school buses, RVs and other large vehicles by the wheels.
The mobile design and quick setup allow technicians to transform a flat bay into a lift bay for improved use of shop space.
IDeal has been growing in recent years and recently added an 80,000-square-foot facility in Alvarado, Texas, to help meet the additional demand for products, as well as any replacement parts needed.
“We’ve grown in the staff from 10 to 30,” said Bobby Pelton, technical support specialist. “In the past 15 years, we’ve grown to 10 satellite warehouses. What is unique for Tuxedo and IDeal is that if we do a sale through Meyer and they have any type of technical problem, they call us and we handle the service for them.”
The columns feature an interconnecting communication cable with retractable reels. This makes for convenient operation of any configuration from a single column.
The lifts have adjustable lifting forks to accommodate a wide range of wheel diameters and there is an emergency switch on each column to provide safety assurance.
“We house everything that you would need for equipment whether that is from a small car to a large RV to even paint booths, wheel balancers, tire changers,” Parks said. “So that’s really how we go to market. We’re an economical, mom-and-pop equipment with the same value that any of our competitors could offer.”
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