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Bought a cheap drywall lift from a yard sale and it nearly dropped a sheet on my foot
Found this old lift for $80 at a yard sale in Tacoma last month. Figured it was a steal compared to the new ones. Got it home, set it up for a ceiling job in a garage. Everything seemed fine until I had a sheet about halfway up. One of the ratchet teeth on the main gear was worn smooth, so it slipped. The whole arm dropped about six inches before it caught on the next tooth. Sheet rocked hard and almost came off the T-bar. My helper had to jump in and help me lower it fast. I spent the rest of the day checking every single part and ended up welding a new piece onto that gear. Has anyone else had a close call with used gear? What's the one thing you always check before trusting a second-hand tool?
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juliaa653mo ago
Oh man, I feel that... I bought a used framing nailer once and didn't check the driver blade. It was all chipped up and kept jamming. It shot a nail sideways into a stud and nearly hit me in the leg. What I always do now with any second hand tool is take the whole thing apart before I even use it. I clean everything, look for worn spots on gears and teeth, and test it a few times on the ground before trusting it over my head. That drywall lift issue you had sounds scary. For cheap used gear like that, I'd also check the welds on the frame and the pivot points, not just the ratchet. Better to spend an hour inspecting than to spend a day in the ER.
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anthony_wood365mo ago
Used to skip that check, not anymore.
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stella1115mo ago
You're right, @anthony_wood36, skipping that check can cause real problems later. I learned the hard way when a simple oil change turned into a huge bill because a worn belt I ignored finally snapped. Now I just add ten minutes to the shop visit for them to look everything over. It's cheaper to fix a small crack in a hose now than to replace the whole thing after it fails on the highway. That peace of mind is totally worth the extra time.
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