Above ground lifts are the reason a Dubuque vehicle collector we worked with can finally do his own oil changes without crawling under a jack stand at 6am on a gravel driveway. He came to us a year ago wanting to store two vehicles in a detached garage and still be able to service them himself. Twelve months later, he’s got a clear-eyed take on what worked, what he’d change, and why the arm style he picked mattered more than he expected going in. This is that story, from the install truck pulling up to his first fluid change under the car.
Compare symmetric and asymmetric arm configurations built for home garages and collector storage, sized for the vehicles you actually own.
Why He Chose Above Ground Lifts Over an Inground Pit
He looked at inground lifts first, mostly because a buddy in Dyersville had one. But once we walked through what an inground install actually requires — cutting concrete, dealing with drainage, and living with a cylinder buried in the ground that you can’t easily inspect — the math changed fast. Above ground lifts install on the slab he already had, no excavation, no plumbing headaches, and no waiting on a hole to cure before he could park a car on it.
For a guy storing two vehicles and doing his own maintenance, portability mattered too. If he ever sells the property or wants to reconfigure the garage, above ground lifts come out with unbolting and a forklift, not a jackhammer crew. We told him straight: inground lifts make sense for high-volume shops that need a completely open floor. For a collector’s garage in Dubuque, above ground equipment gave him full function without the commitment.
Symmetric vs Asymmetric Arms: The Decision That Mattered Most
This is the sub-decision that ate up most of our first phone call. Symmetric arm lifts center the vehicle between the columns, which is great for general storage and vehicles with even weight distribution — pickups, SUVs, most passenger cars. Asymmetric arms swing the front arms further forward, opening up the driver’s door and giving more room to get in and out once the car is up, which matters a lot if you’re going to be sliding underneath for oil changes regularly.
He ended up going symmetric because one of his two vehicles is a longer wheelbase classic that sits awkwardly on asymmetric geometry — the front arms wanted to hit the frame rails in the wrong spot. For his second bay, if he ever adds a lift, we’d probably steer him asymmetric since that vehicle is a daily-driver style sedan with conventional lift points. There’s no universally right answer here. It depends on what you’re lifting and whether you’re prioritizing storage or serviceability.
Install Day in Dubuque: What Actually Happened
Install took about a day and a half start to finish, including anchoring into his existing slab and running the initial calibration. Dubuque winters meant we timed the install for a stretch without deep freeze, since anchor epoxy and concrete both perform better above a certain temperature. He was surprised how little disruption it caused — no dust plumes, no jackhammering, just core drilling for anchor bolts and torque checks.
We walked him through the safety lock engagement, cable routing, and how to read the columns for level before that first lift. One thing we always emphasize with first-time owners: don’t rush the first cycle. Run it up empty, listen for anything unusual, check that both sides are rising evenly, and only then load a vehicle. He did exactly that, and it gave him confidence the first time he put his own car up.
The First Oil Change: Where Theory Meets Reality
Three weeks after install, he did his first real service — an oil change and fluid check on the daily driver. This is where the arm choice and lift height decisions actually get tested. He told us the extra working height compared to ramps or a floor jack was the single biggest quality-of-life improvement. Standing upright under a vehicle instead of scooting on a creeper changes how thorough you are with an inspection.
He also caught something he wouldn’t have seen from below on jack stands — a slow weep from a CV boot he’d been ignoring. That’s the real value proposition of above ground lifts for a DIY owner: it’s not just convenience, it’s that you actually inspect more of the vehicle because you can see it properly. He’s since done two more oil changes and a brake job, and each time cited the same thing — better visibility, better posture, faster work.
What He’d Do Differently a Year Later
Looking back, his only regret is not asking about extension packages upfront. His classic’s wheelbase runs long enough that he occasionally wishes he had a couple extra inches of arm reach for certain lift points. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s the kind of detail that’s worth discussing before install rather than after. We now walk every collector customer through vehicle-specific arm reach questions up front because of exactly this kind of feedback.
He’d also tell you to budget for the accessories most people skip — a rolling jack tray, a set of drip pans, maybe a parts shelf. None of that comes with the lift, but all of it makes the first year of ownership smoother. Above ground lifts get you 90% of the way to a proper home shop; the last 10% is the stuff you figure out by actually using it.
Maintenance Habits That Kept It Running Clean
A year in, his maintenance routine is simple: monthly visual checks on the cables, periodic lubrication of the moving parts per the manual, and immediate attention if he ever hears a new noise or sees uneven rise. That’s it. Above ground lifts aren’t maintenance-heavy equipment when they’re installed correctly and used within their rated capacity, but skipping the basics is how small issues become expensive ones.
He’s also become the guy other collectors in the Dubuque area call when they’re weighing the same decision he made a year ago. Our advice to him, and to anyone reading this considering the same path, hasn’t changed: buy for the vehicles you actually own, not the ones you might buy someday, and get the arm configuration right the first time. Related reading on our site covers 2-post vs 4-post lift tradeoffs and home garage lift buying guides if you’re still in the research phase.
Would He Buy Above Ground Lifts Again?
Unequivocally yes. When we asked him to sum up the first year, he said the lift paid for itself in time saved and problems caught early, long before it paid for itself in shop fees avoided. That’s a common refrain from collectors who make this jump — the value isn’t just financial, it’s the shift from being dependent on a shop’s schedule to being able to do the work on your own timeline.
If you’re weighing above ground lifts for a similar setup — a pole building, a couple of vehicles, real DIY intentions — the questions worth asking are the same ones we asked him: what are you lifting, how do you want to access it, and what’s your floor actually rated for. Get those answered honestly and the rest of the decision gets a lot easier.
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