The Toyota Hiace Welcab Wheelchair lift 2005 to 2016 has a nylon roller system that slides the wheelchair lift platform into the vehicle cabin after the lift arms have lifted the platform to its full height.
The Nylon rollers are prone to cracking and breaking apart. They are aslo can be exposed to excessive wear due to the aluminum oxide in the roller channel of the lift platform. Everytime the roller completes a cycle up and down the channel microscopic pieces of aluminum are worn loose and can lodge them in between the roller bearing and the nylon cap and they will start to wear exessively requiring replacement.
This is the Narrow body Toyota Hiace Welcab Wheelchair lift
For the rollers to be replaced the lift platform has to be taken of the Lift Cradle
This photo a side view of the nylon roller in the platform channel there are four of these large rollers on the lift cradle supporting the wieght of the lift platform . One of the worst things regarding maintenance is to grease the rollers as the worn aluminium oxide in the channel mix with grease and make an highly abrasive grinding paste that destroy the rollers really quickly.
This Photo shows the original Main Toyota Nylon Roller completely cracked on the Passengers Side Front of the lift; this is the most common faulty with the earlier model Hiace Welcab lifters. The nylon on the rollers is prone to becoming brittle over time and any heavy weight on the lift will make them split quite easily.
The front Flared Rollers are also prone to splitting and cracking so it is recommended to be replaced at the same time as the all the other rollers.
This Original Nylon roller has cracked and if it completely fails the lift platform will drop off the guides and can damage the Hall Effect Sensors below the rollers which will cause the lift to stop operating all together and can be expensive to repair.
If one Nylon Roller is starting to show signs of small hairline cracking the other rollers will also very close to failing as well. As you can see on this photo the Aluminium Oxide and grease penetrate completely into the bearing and cause excessive wear.
If the rollers completely fails and the lift platform comes off its guides another common failure is the flexible wiring harness underneath the platform can be damaged and jammed under the lift quite often causing the lift computer to short out requiring it and the harness to be replaced.
When replacing the Nylon Rollers it is highly recommended to replace the 12 volt deck motor as well. The motor brushes, clutch and nylon gear can be highly worn or damaged if it has been operating the worn or cracked rollers as it requires high torque loads to move the lift platform under these conditions.
The lift cradle to prone to flexing and twisting under heavy loads so it is highly recommended to use Straightening Frame of Heavy Duty Clamps to correct the deflection in the Cradle Frame to help prevent jamming the platform on the frame under heavy loads.
The lift cradle to prone to flexing and twisting under heavy loads so it is highly recommended to use Straightening Frame of Heavy Duty Clamps to correct the deflection in the Cradle Frame to help prevent jamming the platform on the frame under heavy loads.
A side on view of the Cradle frame being straightened to remove a bow in the frame. Notice this lift now has a new deck motor and a full set of rollers.
This photo shows straightening the Cradle Frame out on site with some heavy duty G Clamps and some heavy duty C-Channel Steel.
An easy way to tell if the Craddle frame is bowed or twisted is long scrape and wear mark in the middle of the cradle frame.
These wear marks are starting to cause rust on the frame.
As this photo shows the platform only has a small clearance between the platform and the frame
Always check the underside of the lift platform to see if there is any damage by the flexing cradle.
The best way to inspect the underside off the platform is to completely tip it over that way you can check the flexible harness as well.
As you can see this is quite a common issue.
All Done