Send your truck to a Southpac Trucks workshop, and MAHA workshop equipment will likely be used to get it back on the road in top condition. Southpac and MAHA have been associated for 10 years, and we spoke to three branches that use the equipment daily.

MAHA RGA Wireless column lifts have become a staple in many workshops nationwide, and it’s easy to understand why when talking with the crew from Southpac Trucks.

“It’s great equipment; we’d be lost without it. They’re the first things that go on a vehicle when we need to get underneath it,” says Andrew Potter, service manager at Southpac Wiri.

“Two of the sets are 10 years old; the other two are just a year old. We bought the two new sets based on the run we had with the first lot,” says Potter.

To manage the volume of trucks the workshop services, Southpac Wiri operates four sets of four, or 16 posts. Flexibility is a big plus, as MAHA columns can be used and adjusted as required, in groups or as a single. Or, with four columns, it’s possible to select two sets of two columns or four sets of one column and use them accordingly on their own channel.

Hannes Van Wyk, service manager at Southpac Trucks Rotorua, agrees that the flexibility in being able to independently control the posts makes work quicker and more efficient.

“It makes life so much easier for the technicians. Say we need to access the transmission, it makes it a breeze to drop a second steer and remove the transmission if they can’t access it from the top. We can lift the truck, drop the axle and roll it back.”

All columns – single or grouped – allow for millimetre control for finite lifting or lowering. The new MAHA columns have a generous 380mm tine length and lift height of 1750mm.

Over at Southpac Trucks Hamilton, the workshop has operated four posts since inception in 2017.

“They’re still going strong,” says service manager Rob Wilson, adding that wireless control is the most significant advantage to the RGA column lifts.

“I’m an old fella and I can remember when hoists were witchcraft – remotes with cords on them and cables that got torn off … So I’m a big fan of the wireless technology,” he says.

The battery-operated wireless RGA columns have been designed to give approximately 20 full-lift cycles at a 7.5- tonne lift per column, or approximately 35 full-lift cycles at a 3.5-tonne lift per column.

Wilson says the batteries easily last a week. “They get recharged every Friday night, regardless of how much use they’ve had. If they’re charged regularly, they run week to week.”

Each column has a built-in battery charger that uses standard 230V single-phase power.

Further enhancing flexibility, all new MAHA RGA ‘wireless’ columns are available with new ‘adjustable carriages’, that offer a tyre-diameter adjustment range of 550mm to 1500mm.

“We are extremely grateful and quite proud to work directly with such an amazing business that is Southpac Trucks,” says Mick Lauster, managing director, MAHA Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.

“Our success in Australia and New Zealand rests on the employees’ shoulders. The team we have put together over the past five years is extremely professional and experienced and truly makes our business great.”