If you are trying to figure out two post lift installation what to expect before the crate lands in your shop, you are already ahead of most of the people who call us. We are Auto Lift Services, based in Ames, Iowa, and we install and service lifts across the state and the surrounding region every week — everything from a single 10,000 lb clearfloor unit in a two-bay independent shop to a row of columns at a dealership. Installation is not complicated work, but it is unforgiving work. Concrete, anchor embedment, plumb columns, and cable routing either get done right the first time or they haunt the lift for its whole service life. Here is the honest version of the day, start to finish.
Rotary and Challenger two-post lifts in stock, with installation available throughout Iowa. Not sure which capacity or arm configuration fits your bays? Call us at 800-674-9302 and we will spec it with you.
Before the Truck Arrives: The Site Survey Nobody Wants to Skip
The single biggest variable in any install is the floor. A two-post lift concentrates the entire weight of the vehicle plus the lift itself into eight or ten anchor holes, so the slab has to be right. Most manufacturers want a minimum of four inches of 3,000 PSI concrete, cured at least 28 days, and more for higher-capacity models. In Iowa we run into two recurring problems: older shops with three-inch slabs poured over questionable base, and newer buildings where nobody knows what got poured because the general contractor is long gone. We core-test or drill test holes when there is any doubt. Finding out you have three inches of concrete over dirt after the columns are standing is a bad afternoon.
Beyond concrete, we check ceiling height against the lift’s overall height plus the tallest vehicle you plan to service, then add clearance for the overhead beam on a symmetric or asymmetric overhead model. We check bay width — you need room for the vehicle, the columns, and a person walking around both. We locate the power drop, because a 208-230V single-phase power unit needs a dedicated circuit near the column, not an extension cord across the floor. And we look at floor slope. A little pitch toward a drain is normal and manageable with shims; a badly sloped or heaved slab is a different conversation. Our two post lift installation requirements rundown covers the specs in more detail.
Delivery, Uncrating, and the Parts Inventory
A two-post lift shows up on a flatbed or in a box truck, usually as two columns strapped to a pallet, a crate of arms, and a smaller box holding the power unit, hoses, cables, hardware, and manual. The columns are heavy — a 10,000 lb clearfloor column runs several hundred pounds — so unloading needs a forklift, a lift gate, or several strong people and a plan. We bring equipment. If you are receiving the freight yourself, inspect it before you sign. Bent column ends, crushed carriage covers, and missing hardware boxes are far easier to resolve while the driver is still in your lot.
Once uncrated, we inventory everything against the parts list. This step feels tedious and it saves entire days. A missing overhead beam bolt kit or a short hydraulic hose stops the job cold, and depending on the brand it can take a week to arrive. We also read the specific manual for that model — Rotary SPOA10 hardware differs from a Challenger CL10V3, and both differ from an older unit somebody bought used off a farm auction. When people ask us about two post lift installation what to expect in terms of surprises, this is where most of them show up: wrong-length cables, a base plate cover that does not match, or a used lift missing its safety lock ratchets entirely.
Layout and Marking: Getting the Columns Square
Layout is the part that separates a professional install from a weekend project. We snap chalk lines for the column centerlines using the dimensions in the manual, then square the layout with diagonal measurements — corner to corner, both ways, matched within a fraction of an inch. On a clearfloor lift the columns must be square and parallel or the overhead beam will not seat, the carriages will not track evenly, and the arms will fight each other under load.
We also think about how the vehicle actually enters the bay. Asymmetric lifts put the driver’s door forward of the column so people can get out of the car; symmetric lifts center the vehicle. Which one you chose changes where the columns land relative to the bay opening, and it changes whether your bay feels usable or cramped for the next fifteen years. We also verify that anchor holes will not land on top of a conduit run, a floor drain, radiant heat tubing, or a control joint. Drilling into radiant tubing in a heated Iowa shop floor is a memorable mistake. If a hole conflicts, we shift the whole layout rather than moving one anchor, because the geometry has to stay square.
Anchoring: The Step That Makes or Breaks the Lift
With layout confirmed, we drill anchor holes with a rotary hammer using the exact bit diameter the manufacturer specifies, to the exact depth, then blow and brush the holes clean. Dust left in the hole cuts wedge anchor holding power dramatically. Anchors are set through the base plate, shims are added as needed to bring each column plumb, and then everything gets torqued to spec with a calibrated torque wrench — not by feel, not with an impact.
Plumb matters more than people think. A column leaning even slightly loads the carriage rollers unevenly, wears slider blocks fast, and can make the safety locks engage inconsistently on one side. We check plumb on two axes with a good level, shim, re-check after torquing, and re-check again after the first few cycles. This is also where the number of shims gets honest attention: manufacturers cap how much shim stack is allowed under a base plate, usually around a half inch, because beyond that you are no longer transferring load into the slab the way the engineer intended. If the floor needs more correction than the shim limit allows, the right answer is saw-cutting and pouring new pads, not stacking steel.
Hydraulics, Cables, and Electrical Hookup
Next comes the mechanical assembly: overhead beam or floor plate, equalizer cables, hydraulic cylinder connections, hoses routed through the beam or the base channel, and the power unit mounted to the column. Cable routing is where inexperienced installers get into trouble. The equalizer cables keep both carriages traveling at the same rate, and they have to be seated in every sheave, routed without twists, and tensioned evenly. Uneven cable tension shows up immediately as one arm set sitting higher than the other, and over time it shows up as frayed cable at a sheave.
Hydraulic fittings get thread sealant appropriate to the fitting type, and then we fill the reservoir with the correct fluid — usually AW-32 or AW-46 hydraulic oil, or ATF on some older units — and bleed the system by cycling the lift through its full travel several times with the bleeders cracked. Electrical is straightforward but has to be right: correct voltage, correct rotation on three-phase units, a dedicated disconnect, and no daisy-chaining off a welder circuit. A licensed electrician handles the permanent wiring on our commercial jobs. For a walkthrough of the sequence hour by hour, see our installation day breakdown.
Testing, Adjustment, and the ANSI Inspection
An install is not finished when the lift goes up. We cycle it empty through full travel repeatedly, listening for cable slap and watching lock engagement. We verify that both safety lock ratchets engage and release together, adjust the lock release mechanism, set the arm restraints, and confirm the automatic arm restraint gears engage when the arms leave the floor. Then we load-test with a vehicle, raise it in stages, and check that the lift holds without creep after sitting.
We also walk the owner through the daily and monthly checks: greasing the slider blocks and cable sheaves, watching for cable stretch, keeping the columns clean, and never leaving a vehicle parked on the hydraulics instead of the mechanical locks. On commercial installs we recommend an ANSI/ALI ALOI annual inspection by a certified inspector — in many cases required by insurance carriers, and always a good idea. Anyone asking us two post lift installation what to expect should plan on that annual inspection as part of ownership, not an optional extra. It is the cheapest insurance in the building.
Timing, Cost Ranges, and When to Hire It Out
A straightforward install on good concrete, with power already at the column location, typically runs four to six hours for a two-person crew. Add time for concrete work, electrical runs, disposing of an old lift, or a shop where the bay is full of parts cars. Multi-bay jobs go faster per lift because layout and setup are already dialed in. Installation labor is generally priced as a flat rate per lift with adders for concrete cutting, electrical, and removal of existing equipment — call us at 800-674-9302 for a number specific to your building.
Can you install it yourself? Some people do, successfully, especially on a home-garage-grade unit. But we get calls every year from shops that need us to re-anchor columns that were never plumb, replace cables that were routed wrong, or condemn a lift bolted to a slab that could never support it. If the lift is going into a commercial shop where employees work under it, hire someone who does this for a living and carries the insurance to back it up. For the full sequence and checklists, our two post lift installation guide is a good companion read, and it answers most of the remaining two post lift installation what to expect questions we hear on the phone.
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