An Ankeny Two-Post Install for an Overland Rig: Concrete, Diff Service, and What We Learned

Automotive two post lifts in Ankeny are becoming a fixture in the newer pole barns going up east of Interstate 35, and this case study covers one install we finished last fall for an overlanding builder with a 4Runner and a Land Cruiser 80-Series project. The primary driver for buying was regular differential fluid service — front and rear on both trucks, three or four times a year given the mileage he puts on the 4Runner across the plains and mountains. The bonus use case was seasonal storage for the Land Cruiser during Iowa winters. This is a story about concrete, arms, and getting the geometry right the first time.

The Owner’s Starting Situation

The builder called in September. His new 40×60 shop had a slab poured that August by a well-reviewed local concrete contractor, six inches thick, 4,000 PSI mix, number-four rebar on eighteen-inch centers, and a proper vapor barrier underneath. That kind of slab is a dream for automotive two post lifts, and it meant the entire pre-purchase conversation could skip the concrete-remediation chapter. His question was actually about arm geometry — specifically, whether he needed low-profile telescoping arms to fit under a lifted 4Runner without arm-to-body contact, and whether he wanted symmetric or asymmetric columns.

We recommended a 10,000-pound symmetric with three-stage front arms and two-stage rears. Symmetric because the vehicles are trucks with roughly balanced weight distribution and door clearance is not a critical constraint in the new shop, and three-stage front arms because a lifted 4Runner and a Land Cruiser both have wheelbase and running-board geometry that a two-stage arm struggles to reach cleanly. He agreed and the order went in.

Site Survey: Concrete Was Perfect, Ceiling Was Tight

Our site survey confirmed the slab spec on paper. What it also revealed was a ceiling that measured twelve feet at the trusses but only eleven feet three inches at the intended install location because a lighting cross-tie ran directly overhead. Standard automotive two post lifts want twelve feet clear to reach full column height on the taller models, so we had two choices: relocate the install spot four feet north where the ceiling opened back up, or drop to a lower-ceiling variant.

The builder chose to relocate. That shift meant one drainage line had to be rerouted before install day, but the electrical service was still within easy reach and the door swing still worked for the trucks. We marked the new anchor pattern in blue chalk, photographed it, and confirmed clear ceiling of twelve feet two inches at the new location. Small changes like this in the site-survey phase are exactly what separate a clean install from a rework. On automotive two post lifts we have installed across Ankeny, the ceiling number is the single most common source of last-minute redesigns.

Freight and Unloading in a New Pole Shop

The lift shipped on a standard dry van from the Rotary regional distribution warehouse. Two pallets, about 2,300 pounds total, delivered on a Tuesday morning with the driver dropping the load in the shop’s overhead-door bay. The builder had a small telehandler on-site for his construction phase, still available for another few weeks, so unloading was a fifteen-minute operation. We have installed automotive two post lifts in situations with a pallet jack and a couple of strong friends when no forklift was available, but the telehandler makes the day a lot shorter and safer.

Everything on the packing list was accounted for. That does not always happen — occasionally a factory-shipped lift arrives missing a hardware bag or a decal set — but this one was complete. The install crew came in Wednesday morning, unpacked everything, hit the anchor pattern with a rotary hammer, set the columns to plumb, ran hoses, wired the power unit, and had the lift under an unloaded test cycle by mid-afternoon. Two vehicle cycles later, we signed off and left the paperwork with the owner.

The Differential Fluid Service Workflow

Servicing front and rear differentials on a 4Runner or a Land Cruiser is a two-drain-and-fill job that takes an experienced hand about ninety minutes per axle. The truck goes up to full working height, the arms swing into the factory pad positions, and the mechanical locks drop into the highest available slot for the vehicle. Ground clearance under the front pumpkin on a stock 4Runner is a manageable working posture; on a lifted rig with roof rack and rooftop tent, you want the extra height a full-column two-post gives you.

The builder is now running his own service schedule on both trucks and reports the work is dramatically easier than the ramps he used to use. Differential covers come off with clean tool clearance, fill plugs are at chest height, and there is no crawling on the floor with a drip pan balanced on his knees. That is why automotive two post lifts win over any other lift style for maintenance-heavy owners — you get real, standing-height access to everything under the vehicle without the deck of a four-post blocking the axle centerline.

Seasonal Storage: Land Cruiser Upstairs, 4Runner Down

Late October last year, the Land Cruiser went up on the mechanical locks at the second-highest position and stayed there through April. The 4Runner rolls in and out underneath through winter — plenty of clearance for the daily driver, no need to move the stored vehicle at all. This is exactly the kind of dual-duty use case where automotive two post lifts pay for themselves compared to a four-post storage lift, because the same platform serves the maintenance workflow all summer and the storage workflow all winter.

One caution we always give: the vehicle stored on the locks needs redundant catches. The builder uses two pin-style jack stands set to the pinch-weld height on each side, as a backup in case a cable failure ever compromised the equalizer geometry. Belt-and-suspenders is cheap insurance when your Land Cruiser is your project car. We have never seen a cable failure on a properly maintained Rotary or Challenger unit inside twenty years of service, but the stands cost sixty dollars and eliminate the entire failure mode.

Warranty and the Concrete Story

Because the slab was fresh and spec-compliant, the warranty registration on this install was as clean as it gets. We photographed the anchor torque values, we photographed the ALI Gold Label serial and placement, we filled out the factory registration on-site, and we emailed the whole packet to the owner and to our own service file. Full lifetime structural warranty on columns, arms, and carriages. Three years on cylinders and hoses. Two years on the electrical package. Wear coverage on cables. All documented.

That paperwork is worth its weight in gold five years from now if any component ever needs service. On automotive two post lifts installed in shops with unknown or borderline concrete, we still register the warranty, but we also make sure the customer understands that anchor pull-out from an under-spec slab is not something the factory will cover. This owner does not have that risk hanging over him. He has a clean install on a clean slab, and it should serve him for the next twenty-plus years without drama.

Six Months Later: The Follow-Up

We called the builder six months after install to check in. His answer: the lift has been used every weekend, both trucks have been serviced multiple times, the Land Cruiser has now completed a full winter of storage, and he has zero complaints. His only ask was for a spare set of arm restraint pins to keep in the parts drawer — a five-dollar item — and we shipped them the same afternoon. That is the follow-up cadence we run on every Iowa install, not just the marquee ones.

If you are an Ankeny, Bondurant, Grimes, or Waukee homeowner or shop owner thinking about automotive two post lifts, this is the process you get from us: honest sizing conversation, proper site survey, spec-verified slab review, clean install by our own crew, complete warranty documentation, and a follow-up phone call. Call 800-674-9302 and we will start the conversation for your build.

Related reading: Two-post lift setup for 4Runner and Land Cruiser, Servicing differentials on a two-post lift, and Lift installation in Ankeny and the Des Moines metro.