“Naw, we can take it, we’ve got plenty of space,” said no workshop manager – ever.
Private operator or franchised workshop, space is always going to be at a premium and workshop equipment tends to take up quite a lot of it, particularly when it comes to tyre equipment.
And more and more shops are getting into tyre and undercar work, especially given the rising popularity of electric vehicles whose maintenance and servicing requirements focus more in this area than anywhere else.
This being the case – and it is – identifying and installing the equipment best suited for your shop becomes a matter of precision and by extension, a matter for Precision Equipment.
“Any workshop,” says Precision Equipment’s National Business Manager Chris Ratcliffe “is going to benefit by having a hoist if it doesn’t have one installed already.
Precision Equipment has solutions tailored specifically for workshops where space is at a premium. “We call it Bay Saver technology,” says Chris, “which can be supplied for either a Greenfields workshop situation or on a retrofit basis.
“If a shop wants to extend its service offering to include wheel or suspension work, investing in the right equipment to do it may not be as challenging as many might think. Traditional wheel alignment equipment for example, is very space hungry.”
The crucifix tower must be a certain distance from the hoist, it’s quite tall and your techs still need to move around it which, in a smaller workshop situation, makes wheel alignment work a ‘sure, we’d love to, but’ situation.
If only there was some way of keeping the computerised tech out of the way. Well, that’s where Precision Equipment’s Bay saver technology, and morae specifically – the R1080 and R1090 3D wheel aligners from Rotary – come into their own.
“These units take up no more space than a medium sized toolchest,” says Chris “and being PC-based, can be put anywhere there is a power supply. They don’t even have to be in the same room as the hoist, though it’s probably more convenient if they are.”
Both aligners are extremely intuitive when it comes to their operation and Rotary’s designers have in-built step-by-step tutorial instructions, detailing every aspect of the wheel alignment process to such a degree, an apprentice can become a wheel alignment tech – well, almost.
“The mobile stations are only part of the R 1080/90 magic,” says Chris. “With Bluetooth technology, the camera receivers mount directly to the hoist and the system uses tri-clamp pick-ups on the vehicle wheels.”
Unlike traditional four-point clamps, the tri-clamps always find the right level, so there’s no need to roll the vehicle back and forward on the hoist to compensate for pick up accuracy.
“The Rotary aligners relay the correct information and the adjustable points on the vehicle are displayed for the technician to work on and deliver a quality wheel alignment.”
Both the 1080 and 1090 deliver another critical consideration – speed. “With either of the systems,” says Chris, “a good tech could do maybe three alignments in the time it takes to do one on a traditional system.”
“At Precision Equipment,” says Chris, “finding quality solutions to ensure your workshop’s profitability is what we do, and the Rotary RB1080 and 1090 portable 3D wheel aligners are excellent examples of this promise in practice.”
To find out more about these and more solutions, phone Precision Equipment 0800 246 478 or see www.precisionequipment.co.nz
