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Friday, March 7, 2014

Assembling a Lifetime Portable Basketball Hoop

This experience below is published by one of our employees

I recently purchased and assembled a Lifetime portable basketball hoop. This system has a 35-gallon base, a 3.0-inch round pole, the Speed Shift height adjuster, a steel-framed backboard, and a spring loaded rim. While I did not take pictures of the assembly process, this was my first Lifetime portable basketball hoop assembly and I wanted to offer a few pointers for those assembling their new basketball hoop.

Avoid the tendency to assume you know how to perform a step

Some of the steps were more complicated and required every second of my attention to make sure I did it right. Others, however, seemed very simple and I would proceed into the assembly of the parts in the step, only to realize part way through, or all the way done, that the step at a specific cautions to ensure proper assembly. These cautions are sometimes posted at the bottom of a particular step and need to watched for. For instance, the pole assembly, a 3-piece pole in this case, seemed very straight forward. I jumped right into the step only to find an important note that I should not force the poles together until the pole was entirely assembled. Luckily, I was able to back track, but I had to force the poles apart with a bit of effort. Save yourself some time and read through the step entirely before proceeding with the step.

You will need more than 1 person

I had thought to call my father to come over to help with the assembly, but as I got started, I found it really easy to do on my own. I was cruising through much of the assembly - the pole, the pole to the base, the rim to the backboard - with relative ease. However, when it came time to attach the backboard to the pole, I found it entirely impossible to proceed with though steps without the help of another person. So, I called my dad and we were able to complete the assembly in about an hour of work.

You will need more tools than wrenches and screwdrivers

While most of the assembly steps were easily completed with wrenches and screwdrivers, you will need more than that to complete the assembly. Tools that I needed to assemble this system are as follows: monkey wrenches, screwdrivers, socket wrenches, hammer, rubber mallet, power drill, and something to prop the assembly up off the ground. Having these ready to go will also save you time during assembly.

Follow these steps and your assembly will go much easier than it otherwise would. The assembly was not difficult for me overall, but could have been easier had I known these things.

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