A good two post lift installation checklist is the difference between a bay that works for the next twenty years and a phone call to us three weeks after the crate showed up. We are Auto Lift Services, based in Ames, Iowa, and between our install crews and our parts counter we touch hundreds of two-post columns a year — new installs, relocations, and the occasional rescue job where somebody drilled anchors into four inches of driveway slab and wondered why the posts wandered. This walkthrough is the same sequence our techs follow when they roll into a shop in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, or a farm shop an hour from pavement. Read it before you order, not after.
Rotary and Challenger asymmetric and symmetric columns, clearfloor and overhead, 9,000 to 18,000 lb. Not sure which model fits your bay? Call us at 800-674-9302 and we will spec it with you before anything ships.
Start With the Concrete, Not the Catalog
Every argument about lift selection ends up back at the floor. Most two-post columns in the 9,000 to 12,000 lb range call for a minimum of four inches of 3,000 PSI concrete, cured at least 28 days, with no expansion joint, saw cut, or slab edge inside the anchor footprint. Heavier capacities and taller columns push that to five or six inches. The number on the manufacturer’s spec sheet is a minimum, not a target — we like more, and in Iowa shops built in the sixties and seventies we frequently find less.
How do you know what you have? Core drilling is the only honest answer, and it takes a tech about twenty minutes per hole. Short of that, we drill a test hole with a rotary hammer and measure depth to subgrade, then check for rebar and mesh. If the slab is thin, the fix is a poured pad — typically a four-by-four-foot minimum per column, tied into the existing slab with dowels and allowed to cure fully. We have cut and poured pads in farm shops where the original floor was barely three inches over gravel. It adds a week and some cost, but it is far cheaper than a column that loosens under load. Any two post lift installation checklist that skips the concrete verification step is not a checklist, it is a wish list.
Measure Ceiling Height Twice, Including the Obstructions
Ceiling height decides whether you get an overhead-beam lift or a clearfloor model, and it is where we see the most expensive mistakes. An overhead two-post typically needs 12 to 14 feet of clear height depending on model and column height. Clearfloor lifts run the hydraulic lines and equalization cables through a floor-mounted channel or baseplate instead, so they work under 10-foot ceilings — but the tradeoff is a bump in the drive-through path.
The word that matters is clear. Measure to the lowest thing over the bay, not to the deck. Sprinkler heads, unit heaters, radiant tube heat, garage door tracks and springs, air lines, conduit, and light fixtures all steal height. In older Iowa shops we routinely find a gas unit heater hung right where the overhead beam wants to live, and relocating it means bringing in an HVAC contractor. Also measure the swing of your overhead door — a sectional door in the open position drops six to twelve inches below the header, and that is the real ceiling in the drive-in path. Sketch the bay with dimensions before you buy. If you want the long-form version of this, our two-post lift spec checklist walks through the same measurements in table form.
Lay Out the Bay Before You Chalk a Line
Column spacing on a typical asymmetric two-post is around 11 to 12 feet between posts, but the number that determines whether the bay is usable is the space around it. We want a minimum of three feet of walkway behind each column, more like four if techs will be carrying wheels or rolling a jack past. Door-to-column clearance matters on the drive-in side, and so does the distance to the next lift or bench — an open swing arm reaches a long way.
Then there is vehicle mix. Asymmetric columns rotate the posts and offset the arms so the driver’s door opens; that is the right choice for a shop doing mostly cars and light trucks. Symmetric layouts center the vehicle and handle long-wheelbase duallies and vans better. If you run a mixed fleet, we usually put an asymmetric unit in the general-service bay and a symmetric or higher-capacity model where the three-quarter-tons live. Mark the whole footprint on the floor with chalk or tape, park your longest and widest vehicle on the marks, and open the doors. Ten minutes of tape saves a permanent regret. This step is one that a printed two post lift installation checklist should force you to physically walk, not just read.
Power, Air, and the Electrician Conversation
Most two-post units ship with a 208-230V single-phase power unit, though three-phase is common in commercial shops and worth having if it is already in the building. The lift needs a dedicated circuit sized to the motor, a disconnect within sight, and the correct rotation if it is three-phase — we have arrived to commission lifts and found the phases swapped, which means the pump runs backward and moves nothing.
Have the electrician on site the same week as the install, not two weeks later. We coordinate this constantly, and the pattern is always the same: the lift goes up in a day, then it sits dead while everyone waits on a panel upgrade. Air matters too. Most two-post lifts use shop air to release the mechanical locks, so you need an air drop near the column with reasonable volume — 90 to 120 PSI at the lift. If your compressor is at the far end of the building through 200 feet of half-inch line, the locks will feel sluggish. Also plan conduit and air routing so nothing crosses the drive-in path at floor level. Our two-post lift installation guide covers the utility rough-in sequence in more depth.
Anchoring, Plumb, and Torque
This is the part where discipline pays. We drill anchor holes with the correct bit diameter and depth, vacuum them out completely — dust is the number one cause of anchors that never reach spec torque — and set the manufacturer-supplied wedge anchors. Not hardware-store substitutes. The anchors that came in the crate are matched to the baseplate holes and the engineered load.
Columns get shimmed plumb in both axes before final torque. Manufacturers publish a maximum shim stack, usually around half an inch, and if a floor is out more than that you are grinding or pouring, not stacking steel. We torque anchors to the printed spec with a calibrated wrench, then re-check after the first few cycles under load. On overhead models, the crossbeam gets squared and the equalization cables and hydraulic hoses routed through it without kinks or tight bends. Cable tension is set so both carriages rise together — a lift that racks a half inch out of level on the way up will chew a cable sheave over time. Every step here goes on the paperwork, because a torque value nobody recorded is a torque value nobody can defend later.
Shakedown, Safety Locks, and ANSI Documentation
Nothing gets signed off until we cycle the lift empty through full travel several times, listening for lock engagement at every position and watching for uneven rise. Then we load it — ideally with a vehicle near the middle of the capacity range — and cycle again, checking the locks by lowering onto them at multiple heights. Arm restraints must engage. The lowering speed should be controlled and smooth, not a drop.
Then documentation. ANSI/ALI standards expect the lift to carry its capacity label and operating instructions, the owner’s manual to stay with the equipment, and an annual inspection by a qualified inspector. We hand over the manual, walk the shop’s crew through arm placement and lock operation, and set a reminder for the first annual. Insurance carriers and OSHA inspectors both ask for that inspection record, and Iowa shops that keep it clean have easier conversations. If you are working from our Iowa-specific two-post installation checklist, the documentation section maps to the same items — permits and inspections vary a little by municipality, and Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are not identical.
What Our Two Post Lift Installation Checklist Looks Like on Paper
Condensed, here is the sequence we work through. Verify slab thickness, PSI, and cure age by test hole or core. Confirm anchor footprint is clear of joints and edges. Measure clear ceiling height at the lowest obstruction, with the overhead door open. Confirm column spacing and walkway clearance with tape on the floor and your largest vehicle parked on it. Confirm voltage, phase, dedicated circuit, disconnect location, and air supply. Confirm crate contents against the packing list before the crew shows up.
Then execution: layout, drill, vacuum, set anchors, shim plumb, torque to spec, set crossbeam or floor channel, route hoses and cables, bleed the hydraulics, set cable tension, cycle empty, cycle loaded, verify locks and arm restraints, label, train, document. Fourteen line items and a two post lift installation checklist you can print. Most single-lift installs take our crew one day when the site is ready and two or three when the concrete needs work. If you want us to look at your bay before you commit to a model, send photos and dimensions or call 800-674-9302 — we would rather spend twenty minutes on the phone with you now than a day fixing something later. That is the whole point of a two post lift installation checklist: catch the expensive surprises while they are still cheap.
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