Forward 2 Post Car Lift Checklist: What to Know Before You Buy

If you’re a weekend mechanic in Council Bluffs shopping for a forward 2 post car lift to make suspension and shock work easier on your knees and your back, you’re about to make a decision that will outlast three or four vehicles in your garage. We’re Auto Lift Services, an Iowa-based lift installer and parts distributor, and we get calls every month from hobbyists who bought the cheapest two post lift they could find online, only to discover six months later that nobody stocks the arm pads, cables, or safety latch parts anymore. This checklist walks through what actually matters before you sign for one.

Why Brand History Matters More Than Sticker Price

A forward 2 post car lift isn’t a one-time purchase the way a floor jack is. It’s a piece of equipment you’ll be lifting a 4,000-pound vehicle over your head with, sometimes for a decade or more, so the manufacturer’s track record matters. Forward Lift has been building automotive lifts since the 1920s and has gone through several ownership changes over the years, which means parts availability can vary depending on which era of Forward equipment you’re looking at. Before you buy a used or older Forward unit off a classifieds site, find out who currently owns the parts pipeline for that model year, because a cheap lift with no support behind it isn’t actually cheap once you factor in downtime.

We stock and service multiple commercial-grade brands precisely because brand consolidation happens constantly in this industry, and a name that was strong ten years ago may have changed hands twice since. When we evaluate a used two post lift for a customer, the first thing we check is whether the columns, arms, and safety mechanisms match a documented parts catalog we can actually source from. If a seller can’t tell you the model number and year with confidence, that’s a red flag worth walking away from, no matter how good the price looks in the driveway.

The Pre-Purchase Checklist Every Hobbyist Should Run

Start with your ceiling height and your heaviest vehicle. Suspension and shock work on trucks or lifted vehicles requires more overhead clearance than sedan work, so measure your garage door header and ceiling before you fall in love with a specific configuration. Next, confirm the lifting capacity matches your actual vehicles with margin to spare; a 9,000-pound lift running at capacity every day wears out faster than a 10,000-pound unit doing the same job with room to breathe.

Check the power requirements next. Most two post lifts run on 220V single phase, and older garages built for 110V outlets may need an electrician before installation day. Ask about the base plate versus overhead configuration too. A baseplate lift needs a flatter, thicker slab, while overhead models need more vertical clearance. Finally, ask who’s going to bolt it down and calibrate the safety locks. A forward 2 post car lift installed by someone without proper training is a liability sitting in your garage, not a convenience.

Suspension and Shock Work Demands Specific Arm Geometry

Not every two post lift arm configuration is ideal for suspension and shock replacement. Because you’re often removing control arms, struts, or full shock assemblies with the wheels hanging free, you want a lift with generous arm reach and the ability to position pads under factory-recommended lift points without the arms fighting each other. Symmetric lifts, where both arms extend equally on each side, tend to give hobbyists more flexibility for this kind of work compared to asymmetric designs built primarily for quick service.

We’ve set up lifts for Council Bluffs-area hobbyists doing everything from coilover swaps to full strut replacements, and the ones who are happiest with their purchase are almost always the ones who thought about arm reach and pad height before buying, not after. If your project car sits low or has aftermarket suspension already installed, tell your lift supplier that up front so they can steer you toward a configuration with enough ground clearance for the arms to tuck under safely.

Parts Pipeline: The Question Nobody Asks Until It’s Too Late

Here’s the scenario we see constantly: someone buys a forward 2 post car lift secondhand, uses it happily for two years, and then a hydraulic seal starts weeping or a cable frays. They go looking for parts and discover the company that originally sold the unit is out of business, or the specific model was discontinued and orphaned. Suddenly a $40 seal kit becomes a multi-week search, or worse, a lift that sits unusable in the garage.

This is exactly why we ask about make, model, and approximate age before we quote any lift work. As a parts distributor as well as an installer, we maintain relationships that let us track down cables, arm restraints, hydraulic components, and safety latch hardware even for older or less common configurations. Before you buy anything, ask the seller directly whether replacement cables and seals are still being manufactured for that specific model, and get that answer in writing if you can. A five-minute question now can save you months of downtime later.

Installation and Anchoring: Don’t Skip This Step

Council Bluffs garages vary wildly in slab thickness and age, and a forward 2 post car lift is only as safe as the concrete it’s anchored into. Before installation, the slab needs to be inspected for thickness, cure time, and any existing cracks near the proposed footprint. A slab that’s too thin or too old can fail under repeated loading even if the lift itself is perfectly good equipment.

We’ve walked into garages where a previous lift had been anchored into a driveway slab that was never rated for the load, and it’s not a pretty fix after the fact. If you’re buying a lift for a detached garage or an older home, budget for a slab inspection as part of your total cost, not an afterthought. It’s far cheaper to pour a new pad section now than to deal with anchor bolts pulling loose while a vehicle is in the air.

Used Versus New: Making the Real Cost Comparison

Used two post lifts show up on classifieds constantly, and some of them are genuinely good deals. But when you’re comparing a used forward 2 post car lift to a new commercial-grade unit, factor in more than the purchase price. Consider the cost of recertifying the safety locks, replacing worn cables preemptively, and sourcing any missing hardware. Add in delivery and installation, since a used lift rarely comes with professional setup included.