We got a call from an EV specialty shop opening up in northwest Iowa, and the owner had a theory: since electric vehicles don’t have a differential in the traditional sense, and most of his lift time would be spent on quick fluid checks and battery pack access rather than heavy suspension teardown, he figured he could skip worrying about arm restraint engagement on his ali certified 2 post lifts. He was wrong, and it’s a mistake we hear more often than you’d think. Whether you’re servicing a rear differential swap on a hybrid crossover or just doing a quick fluid top-off, the arm restraint and safety cam system on a properly certified two post lift isn’t optional equipment — it’s the difference between a stable lift and a rotating arm accident waiting to happen.
Browse ALI certified 2 post lifts built for EV, hybrid, and conventional service bays across Iowa, with arm restraints and safety-cam systems included standard.
Myth #1: “My Job Is Quick, So I Don’t Need the Arm Restraints Engaged”
This is the single most common myth we hear, and it’s the one that worries us most. A differential fluid service, a quick tire rotation, a battery inspection on an EV — these all sound like “in and out” jobs. But the arm restraint pins on ali certified 2 post lifts aren’t there because the job is long or short. They’re there because the arms themselves want to swing once a vehicle’s weight settles onto them. If those pins aren’t dropped into their locking position before you raise the vehicle, the arms can walk or rotate under load, even during a five-minute fluid check.
We’ve inspected lifts all over Iowa — dealership service bays, collision centers, independent shops — and arm restraints are consistently one of the first things we check on an annual inspection. A lift that’s ALI certified left the factory with a specific arm restraint design engineered to that model’s capacity and geometry. Skipping the restraint step because “it’s just a quick job” defeats the entire certification the lift was built and tested to meet. It takes three seconds to drop the pin. It takes a lot longer to recover from an arm swinging free under a loaded vehicle.
Myth #2: “Safety Cams Only Matter If the Lift Fails”
The safety cam system on a two post lift — sometimes called the locking pawl or ratchet mechanism — is often misunderstood as a backup that only matters in a failure scenario, like a hydraulic hose bursting. In reality, the safety cams engage every single time you raise the vehicle, ratcheting into place at set height intervals so the lift is mechanically supported by steel, not just hydraulic pressure. This is standard on every ali certified 2 post lifts model we sell, whether it’s a Rotary or a Challenger unit.
We’ve had techs tell us they raise a vehicle, do the job fast, and lower it right back down without ever hearing or feeling the cams engage — and that’s usually a sign something is dragging, worn, or misadjusted, not that the cams don’t matter for a quick job. On an annual inspection we test that the cams are catching cleanly at multiple heights, not just at the top. If a shop in northwest Iowa is doing frequent EV service work with techs sliding creepers and pallet jacks around the bay, a cam that doesn’t lock reliably is a much bigger risk multiplier than most owners realize.
Myth #3: “EVs Are Lighter, So the Restraint System Matters Less”
This one trips up a lot of EV-focused shops. The logic goes: EVs don’t have heavy engine blocks up front, so the load on the lift arms is somehow gentler or more evenly distributed. In practice it’s often the opposite. EV battery packs are frequently mounted low and centered, and overall curb weight on many EVs and hybrids runs higher than the gas equivalent. That means the arm restraint and safety cam system on your two post lift is working just as hard, sometimes harder, than it would on a comparable gas vehicle.
We size ali certified 2 post lifts by capacity for a reason — a 9,000 lb or 10,000 lb rated lift needs its arm restraints engaged the same way regardless of whether the vehicle is a gas sedan or an EV crossover. Weight distribution on EVs can also shift the lifting points, which is exactly why we always recommend checking the manufacturer’s frame-engaging lift point guide for the specific EV model before setting the pads. Skipping arm restraint engagement because “it’s just an EV, it’s lighter” is a guess, not a fact, and it’s not a guess worth making under a raised vehicle.
What Arm Restraint Engagement Actually Looks Like
On a properly maintained two post lift, arm restraint engagement is simple: position the arms and pads under the vehicle’s rated lift points, extend or retract each arm until it’s snug, then drop the restraint pin through the arm into the base or column so the arm can’t swing laterally once weight is applied. On some ali certified 2 post lifts, this is a spring-loaded pin; on others it’s a manual pin you drop by hand. Either way, it should lock with a positive, felt click, not just rest loosely in a hole.
We show new techs at shops across Iowa the same thing every time: put your hand on the arm after you think it’s locked and try to move it side to side. If it moves at all, the restraint isn’t engaged. This two-second check should be part of every single lift cycle, whether you’re pulling a transmission or checking a differential fluid level. We’ve seen shops build this into their pre-lift checklist right alongside checking that the lift is clear of tools and bystanders, and it takes almost no extra time once it’s habit.
Why Certification Status Depends on This Working Correctly
ALI certification isn’t just a sticker on the column — it’s a statement that the lift, as designed and maintained, meets a specific set of engineering and safety standards tested by an accredited third party. Arm restraints and safety cams are part of what’s actually tested. If a lift’s restraint pins are bent, missing, or seized from lack of lubrication, that lift may still look like an ali certified 2 post lifts unit on paper, but it’s no longer performing to the standard the certification represents.
This matters for liability too. If a shop in northwest Iowa gets an insurance audit, an OSHA visit, or a customer injury claim, the first question is often whether the lift was maintained to its certified condition. A lift with disengaged or broken arm restraints, even if it never caused an incident, is a liability exposure the shop owner may not realize exists until it’s too late. We build arm restraint and safety cam checks into every annual inspection we run precisely because this is where certification status quietly erodes over time, one skipped click at a time.
Maintenance Habits That Keep Restraints and Cams Working
Arm restraints and safety cams are mechanical parts, and like any mechanical part they need occasional attention. Pins can seize from rust or dried grease, especially in shops that run humid or see road salt tracked in during Iowa winters. A quick shot of dry lubricant on the pin and its bore, done a few times a year, keeps the restraint dropping freely instead of getting forced or skipped because it’s stiff.
Safety cams should be checked for smooth ratcheting at multiple heights, not just full extension. We’ve found on inspections that cams which only get exercised at the very top of travel can develop uneven wear or debris buildup lower on the column, since that’s the section that doesn’t see regular engagement. Cycling the lift through its full range periodically, and listening for that solid mechanical click at each stop, is the simplest way for any shop — EV specialist or general repair — to catch a restraint or cam problem before it becomes the reason a lift fails its next certification inspection.
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