Removing my wheelchair lift! Help!

[Vices]

So I'm to the point where it's time to remove the lift, but in all honesty I don't really know what I'm doing. Alot of the videos I'm watching on YouTube just cut some wires and remove some bults, and boom you're done. But I'm also reading things about finding the positive and negative wires, and how you can mess up your bus. I have a 2001 mini blue bird, and unfortunately not much information is online for this bus. If anyone has any information or tips I'd really appreciate it.

 

[ewo1]

Go this site and plug in your vin number to see if a wiring diagram is available.

https://www.centralstatesbus.com/wiring/

Btw, you are doing the right thing, asking for help before cutting any wires!

 

[Danjo-SKO]

You have to examine how it’s installed. On mine it was a big positive cable to the battery, big negative to the frame and that was it. All the rest of the wiring was internal to it.

So on mine what I did was

Operate the lift to the down position

Disconnect positive battery terminals at the battery (I had two)

Disconnect the positive cable from the lift

Disconnect the negative cable from the lift

Unbolt the lift from the bus floor

Push the lift away from the bus. I think mine folded onto itself on the ground.

Remove the positive cable entirely. Mine went to a breaker under the hood.

Remove the negative cable from the chassis.

Reconnect the positive battery terminals at the batteries.

Start bus

Done!

I also had an interlock switch at the door. I removed the switch connected the wires to themselves and insulated the wires and stuffed them in the hole where the switch was

 

[desrtdog]

If you have a separate breaker on the positive to the lift, disconnect that and you should be fairly safe as far as the battery goes. There are probably some other interlocks related to the door - mine had a couple of door switches that kept the bus from moving with the door open and lift down (overridden by a "Brake Override" switch on the driver's panel), and turned on the lights at the lift door when open.

For mine, I disconnected the (+) at the breaker (located in a separate compartment just behind the battery compartment), then disconnected the wires (+ and -) at the lift. There were 8 bolts holding it to the floor, 4 of which were under the plates on the lift.

You did not say what brand l you have - I had a Braun and was also able to get a manual online for it, which helped when I sold it.

(Probably best to first disconnect your (-) battery terminal, unless you're feeling lucky/adventurous!)

 

[rossvtaylor]

There's some good info here. On lots of buses, there's a circuit breaker/switch inside the battery compartment that protects the large cable to the lift. If you push the red button on that, a little arm swings out...and that disconnects power to the lift. I've removed (and installed) a dozen or so lifts and find that in many of them.

That cable from the battery box to the lift can be useful for other things, so don't throw it out!

 

[HamSkoolie]

I used to work on transit buses for a rural district and every one of them had multiple interlocks including on the lift. I'm a retired ASE certified in electrical and brakes mechanic.



I would disconnect THE NEGATIVE cable(s) from the batteries. If you want to also disconnect the positive cable that's even better but not required. Disconnecting the negative cable should ALWAYS be done before disconnecting the positive.


ITS A SAFETY THING


If your wrench makes contact with anything other than the positive terminal while removing the negative cable nothing happens. If you remove the positive first, contact between your wrench and anything you will create a direct short with a heavy conductor around which your hand is wrapped. It may even weld itself in place.
Disconnecting the negative should always be the first step in disconnecting any battery cables.

 

[Stinky-ClassB]

Just rip the mother out. It's not that complicated. There's a breaker so if you don't disconnect power it will do that for you. After it's out disable the switching in the frame that tells the starter if the door is open.

 

[Diverdude0075]

Timely post! I have a lift to remove and get rid of. Where do you guys advertise these to sell?

 

[Danjo-SKO]

I just gave mine away on Craigslist. It was very popular

 

[Rucker]

Timely post! I have a lift to remove and get rid of. Where do you guys advertise these to sell?

I announce the arrival of the lift to the chickens at the local transfer station.

Give it away, there's simply no market for these.

 

[Danjo-SKO]

I just gave mine away on Craigslist. It was very popular

Mine went to a physics instructor who was going to use it to teach hydraulics

 

[Vices]

Just rip the mother out. It's not that complicated. There's a breaker so if you don't disconnect power it will do that for you. After it's out disable the switching in the frame that tells the starter if the door is open.

Pretty much what I did, I cut all the useless wires and disconnected the positive and negative and ripped it out. It was more simple than I thought.

 

[Vices]

If you have a separate breaker on the positive to the lift, disconnect that and you should be fairly safe as far as the battery goes. There are probably some other interlocks related to the door - mine had a couple of door switches that kept the bus from moving with the door open and lift down (overridden by a "Brake Override" switch on the driver's panel), and turned on the lights at the lift door when open.

For mine, I disconnected the (+) at the breaker (located in a separate compartment just behind the battery compartment), then disconnected the wires (+ and -) at the lift. There were 8 bolts holding it to the floor, 4 of which were under the plates on the lift.

You did not say what brand l you have - I had a Braun and was also able to get a manual online for it, which helped when I sold it.

(Probably best to first disconnect your (-) battery terminal, unless you're feeling lucky/adventurous!)

Thank you for the information!

 

[hcarter951@gmail.com]

Safely remove wheelchair lift

So, after much research, discussion with myself, debate with myself, I finally came up with a way to remove the lift safely.
Research - how much do they weigh? How many people required to safely, gently set it on the ground. We didn't want it in the bus but could see the day (we're 70+ after all) that we might want it back in the bus.
Neighbor has a small tractor with a front bucket. Easy peasy, slide it out the door and into the bucket. Except it is 4 inches wider than the door. SO, it has to be turned.
Hmmmm how could that work.....
I parked our van on the driver's side, perpendicular to the bus, opposite the lift door. Ran a couple Harbor Freight tow straps across the roof. Surely 2 6000# straps will hold the unknowable lift weight. Fastened the straps to a kinetic rope rated at 21,000#. Again, surely....
Put 2) 1/2-13 eyebolts thru the expanded metal of the platform. Large flat washers to prevent pulling thru. Surely...
Connected all parts and pieces with soft shackles rated at...you get the point.

Tied a rope to the pump corner of the lift and hooked that to the ZTR mower to pull and spin the lift. And hold it away from the bus body.

The attached video is the result. Spoiler alert - it worked!

https://youtu.be/aWa-H7ymg04

 

[desrtdog]

Pretty ingenious...and here I thought zero-turn mowers were only good for mowing your lawn...

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

"If you don't have a dog, you hunt with the cat..."


Perhaps it was discussed above, but it seems to me it might have been easier to deploy the platform and lower it to the ground, detach it from the pivots and cylinders and then remove the parts still in the bus...


Just sayin' ....

 

[fo4imtippin]

Pretty ingenious...and here I thought zero-turn mowers were only good for mowing your lawn...

I had a stand on hydraulic mower that finally kicked the bucket last fall. Most of the hours I put on it was moving boats and trailers around my house. My yard isn't big enough to justify another one, but I sure do miss it when I'm done washing the boat and the driveway is full.

 

[heimlich]

The battery cable for the lift was already removed when I received my bus from the ISD. I removed the ground wire. Then I removed some bolts after which I pushed the lift out of the door. I would recommend not pushing it out the door as it seemed like it could get stuck on something and cause more issues. I disassembled the lift later on and they are pretty easy to disassemble. There are a bunch of pins holding them together. As I recall is a few bolts, circlips, and pins.