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Speed Level from Upright – where to get parts?

oceanobob ยท 2017-03-12 16:14

The Upright Speed Level (SL26SL or SL30SL which is the one in my attached pic) became a fave for working on the tilt wall, siding, etc of buildings in lieu of the personnel basket on a telescopic boomlift. We also tried renting the Rough Terrain Scissor lifts (RT) but many did not have the leveling feature and thus were pretty much not helpful. Then we learned about the Speed Level with the ability to adjust to the terrain (said version has a suffix SL) and bought a ex rental fleet used one. It has a gas or LP Kubota three cyl engine. It now has around 1390 hours. The engine can drive a 2kw 120vac generator, but for whatever reason we didn't use the gen set that much (perhaps other owner's renters did?) but the engine compartment Winco two bearing gen set developed some bearing noise a couple years ago so we disconnected it by removing the belt and idler tensioner .... and these days we now have a pull rope ez start 2kw inverter style gen that can be in the basket and it is way quiet compared to using that Kubota prime mover at 3600 rpm to run the belt driven gen set. From my experience, once one learns about this Speed Level the days of using RT scissor lifts and typical booms will be reduced. Yes - the boom offers near ground access where the scissor and speed level requires one to climb up onto it, but the basket is big and has a good capacity. Like the RT scissor, vertical ascent and decent is straightforward unlike the telescopic boom. On metal building siding the boom is fine but on other work it is nice to be able to walk back n forth in the big platform. And most boom lift's prefer level ground where the speed level can accomplish the task. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As to the parts, once upon a time we called over to (in or around) Fresno, CA and were able to purchase parts from Upright. Since we didnt use the machine that much (Thanks Economy LOL) we didn't need many parts in the recent past ten or so years. * I did some research and determined in 2006 Tanfield (also owns Smith Electric Vehicles) bought Upright and then in 2007 they also bought Snorkel. In 2010 the name Upright was dropped in favor of one name: Snorkel (despite Upright name being big in Europe) and then in 2013 they sold it to Ahern. I also see that in 1969 a Belgian company called TVH was formed and in the 1970's MEC was formed in Wisconsin. A new company called Equipment Parts Wholesale was formed in 2001 by TVH and they bought MEC and moved MEC to Fresno in 2002. A company called CMEC was formed in 2004: not sure how that relates. But we can also see in 2009 MEC launched their own Speed Level: perhaps because some key staff members once worked for Upright and the article also said the SpeedLevel patents had expired. * While it may seem "why mention MEC?" it is because when I recently called Snorkel to get some Upright parts, I was referred to Equipment Parts Wholesale (EPW), which per above I read to be the owner or sister company of MEC. I did notice that EPW has a pulldown menu for many of the Upright manuals. I wonder if Tanfield sold the Uprigth parts to EPW when they 'dropped the Upright name' although I can not find evidence of that transaction? ~~~~~~~~~~~ Am I on the right track for these Upright parts? I am a little cautious because while the EPW web page shows just over 1000 different Upright parts; they are not categorized to any machine, just their part number. Any other suggestions before I continue down this pathway....will certainly be appreciated. The thumbnail pic ofmy machine shows it in the stowed position but there are available some decent images of the machine crossing slopes etc while allowing access to the building's exterior walls. And this is not my only Upright equipment as I also have a battery powered indoor scissor lift.

Replies1
  1. #1Rick392017-03-16 23:53

    EPW sells aftermarket parts for lots of brands, but if they don't have what you are looking for Ahearn is it. And they are not particularly friendly to deal with. I would recommend that anyone looking for a used lift stick with JLG, Genie, or Skyjack for that reason.