Customer Reviews

Spalding 8839S Adjustable Basketball Lift System

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Santa brought a backboard, but no bracket to attach it. We wanted one that was adjustable for our small kids and found this. It can be raised and lowered with some degree of ease using a broomstick handle. The instructions are detailed and not too hard to follow.

Assembly is not easy. I would not recommend this product if you don't know how to assemble nuts and bolts or have a hard time following diagrams and such. Ultimately it takes two adults to finish the assembly as one has to lift the backboard and bracket to the base while the other attaches it to the base. Better yet, just find a handyman and pay him to install it. Note that if you intend to attach it to your roof, you will need to buy about 6 bolts, washers and nuts as they are not included.

I would give the bracket 5 stars (not judging on the assembly though, it is moderately hard), but the bracket tends to wobble a little bit when hit hard on the side. This seems to be because of the bracket design and the fact that it is fully adjustable.

For my small kids, it's fine. They won't be doing any slam dunks for a long time. But I would not want anyone trying to hang on the rim. For grown ups, get a fixed bracket that won't budge and will withstand a slam dunk or two.

I purchased this product along with 'Spalding 79351 Backboard/Rim Combo with 44-Inch PolyCarbonate Backboard' and when I opened the 'converter' box I thought it would take a long time before I got this kit installed. The manual looked complicated and there were tons of parts. It took a little longer to get started on the first step as I had to get used to the parts and illustrations but once I got past the first couple of steps, the rest started to fall into place. I was able to complete this in probably 3 hrs to my surprise. I did the wall mount option which was pretty simple but I needed 2 more people to help lift it (attached to backboard) for mounting on the wall bracket. Overall its a good system for home use and works great with the Spalding Backboards. Product longevity is TBD but seems like a solid product.

We installed this on my garage roof, and overall I think it is a very good product but I have 2 concerns.

1. Installation takes two adults. I am a fairly young man who is not Hulk Hogan but a fairly average strength and my neighbor helped me with this and he is bigger than me and we nearly killed ourselves trying to get this installed on the garage. The last step is very difficult and ideally would have used 4 adult males.

2. After getting the product installed we realized that due to the height of the garage roof and ability to secure it properly, the lowest it could go was 9 feet 6 inches. Now that is fine for me but the point in purchasing this was for practice for my children who play on 8 and 9 foot goals. Very disappointing!

Still, I use the goal regularly and it is a strong, well built product and I have enjoyed it. I will also say that once it is installed it is quite easy to adjust the height, although I have no need to go very much higher with it.

To start at the end, when the lift system is in place it provides a nice, stable support system for the backboard and hoop. In other words, it works well once it is in place.
The installation instructions are not the best. (Mild sarcasm.) Key assembly requirements are not identified in a timely manner; at least three times we learned during a later step that something should have been done differently during an earlier step. If you are the type that reads the instructions all the way through before you start, and you remember what you read in the later steps when you are working on the early ones,then this won't be a problem for you. If, however, you are merely mortal, then you will probably have the opportunity to undo what you've done at least once, in order to do it again the right way.
For us, installation in an admittedly challenging situation took about 5.5 hours. Your mileage may vary.

I found the instructions good for the different install options. I was prepared for pictures only, but it was done in English. There wasn't any directions about how to install the spring. I was prepared to attach the spring to the bolt on one end and the other to a strap attached to the bumper of my car. Since I couldn't get the spring to fully extend, I figured I could back the car slowly away from the backboard-extending the spring, then attach the extended spring to the other bolt to finish the install. Then I happen to fully extend the backboard to the highest level, presto, the spring slipped into the second bolt without having to stretch the spring. I recommend two people install it (each with a ladder) instead of one person, like I did. We enjoy playing basketball and find it is pretty stable.

WE PURCHASED 2 SETS OF BACKBOARDS AND SUPPORTS TO REPLACE EXISTING WORN-OUT BACKBOARDS. THE SUPPORTS EASILY ATTACHED TO THE EXISTING 3.5 INCH DIAMETER POLES SET IN CONCRETE. PREVIOUS REVIEWS COMMENTED ON THE COMPLEXITY OF ASSEMBLING THE MOUNTS. MY 16 YEAR OLD GRANDSON, WHO IS A SHARP KID, ASSEMBLED THE FIRST SET IN 2 HOURS, AND THE SECOND SET IN 1.5 HOURS. THE SECRET IS TO HAVE A LARGE TABLE, AND LAY OUT AND NUMBER THE PARTS. PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS. THE ONLY DRAWBACK IS THAT THERE IS NO ATTACHMENT FOR ADJUSTING THE SYSTEM, IF THE 3.5 INCH POLES ARE NOT PERFECTLY VERTICAL. WE TRIED SHIMMING THE MOUNTING ATTACHMENT TO THE POLES, BUT NO LUCK.

ONE OF THE BOXES ARRIVED IN BAD SHAPE. WE WERE LUCKY NO PARTS WERE MISSING

I'm a pretty smart guy, but some of the pictures in the directions were not very clear as to which hole the bolts went in. I ended up putting bolts through the wrong hole and had the entire thing on the roof only to have to take it all down and fix the bolts.

The problem doesn't lie completely with Huffy. Part of the problem is that this item can be used with nearly any backboard so it is difficult to clearly describe in the instructions since the part you attach it to is not part of this package. But, I bought this item and a backboard from the same company so that it should be possible to mark the holes appropriately so there is no confusion.

In any case, the combination of this item and a backboard allowed me to put together a decent basketball hoop off my garage roof for just over $200 instead of $900+ that most of the "packages" out there want you to spend.

I read the reviews prior to my purchase and they were mixed as far as how difficult this was to put together. One of the problems is that it can be mounted several different ways with several styles of backboard so there are a lot of parts you will not need depending on your installation. The hard part is figuring out what parts you do and dont need. Once you figure that out, it goes pretty quickly.

I am one of those "we dont need no stinking directions" guys and I read and re-read the directions on this thing. We did a roof mount with a Spalding lexan see through backboard. The whole project took about 4 1/2 - 5 hours including clean up. The final product looks good and seem to play pretty well.

Overall, good product. Read the directions and dont be in a hurry.

It shipped quickly even though we used super saver shipping. The box was very open and I was concerned that parts my have been lost. First thing we did was go through the parts list to make sure. Thankfully they were all there. Then we found that the backboard brackets from our portable unit were not compatible with the new adjustable system. So I contacted spalding and they were the best. They responded quickly and just had a few questions about what backboard I had so they could get the right brackets for us. I was expecting to at least pay shipping, but they sent them to us at no charge. My 9 year old son put the entire adjustment system together himself. My wife and I helped him hang it on the garage. It's easy to adjust and is very solid. I would recommend this product for anyone wanting an adjustable hoop on a solid surface. Fun for all five of us.

I researched the heck out of this one and am glad that I settled on this product. Yes it's complicated to install, but you only ever do that once. It's extremely sturdy and the cranking mechanism works very well. The only issue is that the directions don't indicate how far off the ground it should be mounted so that the rim is at 10' when cranked all the way up. We had to back into this one with some old fashioned math. But we managed and it's great.