If you’re a weekend mechanic in northern Missouri shopping Facebook Marketplace or a farm auction for a used 2 post lift, the cables are one of the first things you should check before you hand over cash — not after you’ve hauled it home and bolted it to your slab. We hear from hobbyists all the time who bought a lift cheap, got it installed in their garage, and only then discovered the 2 post lift cables were stretched unevenly, the safety catches didn’t engage right, or the arm restraints were missing entirely. Auto Lift Services sells replacement cables and can help you evaluate a used lift before it becomes your problem.
Find equalizer cable sets sized for BendPak, Atlas, Rotary, and generic 2 post lifts, or call us with photos of a used lift before you buy.
Item One: Look at the Cables Before Anything Else
Before you even ask about the hydraulic system or the arms, walk up to the lift and trace the equalizer cable path from the top of one column, down through the carriage, across to the other side. You’re looking for fraying, especially near the swage fittings where the cable end is crimped. Rust discoloration on the cable itself is common and not automatically disqualifying, but visible broken strands sticking out from the cable body means that cable is at or near the end of its service life and needs replacing before the lift goes into use.
Also check that both cables have roughly equal tension and that the arms sit level with each other when the lift is at rest. If one side sits visibly lower, one 2 post lift cable has stretched more than the other, which usually means both need replacing as a set rather than swapping just the bad one. Sellers who don’t know the lift’s history often can’t tell you when the cables were last changed, so treat any used 2 post lift with unknown cable age as needing replacement cable in your budget, not as a maybe.
Item Two: Test the Arm Restraints and Locking Pins
Arm restraints are the pins or latches that keep the swing arms from rotating out from under a vehicle once it’s positioned. On a lot of used lifts we inspect, these restraints are missing, bent, or were removed at some point and never replaced because the previous owner found them annoying. That’s a real safety problem, not a cosmetic one — without functioning arm restraints, an arm can swing out mid-lift and drop a vehicle’s contact point.
Before you buy, cycle each arm through its full range and confirm the restraint pin drops into place and holds. If a restraint is missing, ask the seller directly and factor a replacement into your offer. This is also a good moment to check the arm pads themselves; worn or missing rubber pads are cheap to replace but are one more sign of how well the previous owner maintained the equipment, which tells you something about what shape the cables and safety cams are probably in too.
Item Three: Confirm the Safety-Cam Engagement Actually Works
Every 2 post lift has a mechanical safety catch — usually a cam or latch system — that grabs a notch as the lift rises and holds the carriage in place even if hydraulic pressure is lost. This is the system that keeps a car from free-falling if a cable snaps or a hydraulic line fails, which is exactly why you test it before you buy, not after. Raise the lift a foot or two, engage the release handle briefly, and confirm the safety locks re-engage cleanly at the next notch rather than slipping or grinding.
A safety cam that doesn’t engage smoothly, or that requires excessive force to release, usually means it needs adjustment or the mechanism has years of grime built up inside it. On older or generic lifts with no manufacturer support left, we’ve seen safety cams welded shut or bypassed by a previous owner trying to stop an annoying rattle — which defeats the entire point of the system. If you can’t verify the safety cam works correctly during a test lift, walk away or negotiate hard, because this isn’t a part you improvise a fix for.
Item Four: Ask for the Model Number Before You Commit
A surprising number of used lifts get sold with zero documentation — no manual, no tag, no idea what brand it originally was. That’s fine for negotiating price down, but it’s a real problem once you need replacement 2 post lift cables, because cable length and swage type vary by model even within the same manufacturer’s lineup. Before you finalize a purchase, look for a serial tag on the base of each column, usually a metal plate riveted or stamped with a model number and capacity rating.
If there’s no tag, take photos of the overall lift, the equalizer cable routing, and the carriage assembly and send them to us. We can often identify the general lift family even without a model number, which lets us quote replacement cables with reasonable confidence. Lifts we can’t identify at all are a bigger risk — you may end up needing custom-length cable made to order, which costs more and takes longer than a stocked set for a known brand.
Item Five: Factor Annual Inspection Requirements Into Your Purchase
Most states, including Missouri, don’t mandate lift inspections for a purely personal home garage the way commercial shops are regulated, but if you ever plan to use this lift for anything beyond your own vehicles — side work, helping neighbors, running a small side business — you should assume inspection standards will eventually apply to you. Buying a used lift with cables, restraints, and safety cams already in good shape saves you from a bigger repair bill down the road when you do decide to formalize things.
Even for strictly personal use, we recommend treating your garage lift like it’s subject to an annual inspection anyway. Check cable condition, arm restraint function, and safety cam engagement once a year at minimum, more often if you use the lift heavily. A weekend mechanic who builds this habit in from day one avoids the surprise failures that hit people who assume a home lift needs less care than a shop lift just because it sees less daily use.
Putting the Checklist Together Before You Buy
Walking into a used lift purchase with this checklist means you’re negotiating from information instead of hope. Cable condition, arm restraint function, safety cam engagement, and model identification are the four things that determine whether a used 2 post lift is a good deal or a hidden repair project. Price the lift assuming you’ll need a new set of 2 post lift cables if there’s any doubt about their age or condition — that cost should come off your offer, not surprise you after delivery.
If you’re in northern Missouri and want a second opinion before you buy, send us photos and we’ll tell you honestly what we see. We ship cable sets nationwide and can usually get you a quote same day once we know the model. For more on keeping a home garage lift safe long-term, see our articles on 2 post lift maintenance, how to inspect lift cables, and buying a used car lift.
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