Auto Lift Parts: OEM Cables, Cylinders, Arms, and Every Wear Item That Matters

Auto lift parts are the wear items on the vehicle lift in your shop or garage – the equalizer cables, lifting cables, hydraulic cylinders, arm restraints, lock ladders, pad adapters, hoses, motors, and safety components that eventually need replacement. This page tells you what we stock, how to identify the right part for your specific lift, and how the fitment-check process works when you are not 100 percent sure which auto lift parts number matches your lift.

Two ways buyers show up for auto lift parts

The first camp already has the exact factory part number in hand – from a service manual, from the old part’s packaging, from a technician on the phone. If that is you, drop the number into the search bar on our store and you land on the SKU with live stock and current price. Done.

The second camp knows the symptom (cable fraying, cylinder leaking, arm drooping, motor not running) but has no idea which auto lift parts number to order. That is where our fitment help comes in. Call 800-674-9302 with the lift brand, model number, and serial number stamped on the column data plate, and we will look up the exact part that fits before you pay. That data-plate lookup eliminates the wrong-part-ordered problem that costs so many shops time and money.

The auto lift parts we stock and source

Cables

Equalizer cables (that tie the two carriages of a 2-post lift together mechanically) and lifting cables (that drive the platform up on many 4-post lifts) are the highest-turn auto lift parts in the industry by a wide margin. They stretch under load, individual strands fatigue and break, and the safety authority (ALI) recommends taking a lift out of service the moment broken strands are visible. Always order equalizer cables as a matched set of two – never one at a time.

Hydraulic cylinders and seal kits

Cylinder complaints show up the same way across every brand: lift dropping under load, bleeding down over 24 hours empty, or dripping fluid on the shop floor. Sometimes a seal kit is enough (much cheaper), other times the cylinder body needs replacing. Tell us the symptom and we will steer you to the cheaper repair when it will actually fix the problem.

Swing arms, arm restraints, and pad adapters

Arm pins wear and arms droop under load. Arms occasionally get bent by inattentive drivers. Pad adapters take the direct beating from every vehicle that gets lifted. All three are common auto lift parts orders. Available in factory replacement, screw-up pad extenders, flip-up truck pads, low-profile car pads, and complete arm assemblies for the worst cases.

Lock ladders, latches, and safety components

The mechanical safety lock that catches the carriage at each stop height. Safety-critical. Do not run worn lock parts even briefly. Replace immediately when the tooth engagement gets sloppy or the release cable is worn.

Motors, contactors, and electrical

Single-phase and three-phase power units, motor start contactors, up-button switches, thermal overload protectors, and pressure hoses. If the lift will not power up, will not go up under load, or trips a breaker on motor start, this is where to look.

Hoses, fittings, and fluid

Hydraulic hoses (column-to-power-unit and column-to-cylinder), JIC and NPT fittings, and the correct hydraulic fluid for your specific lift. Do not mix random fluid brands – stick with what the manual specifies.

Brands we source auto lift parts for

Rotary, Challenger, Forward, BendPak are the big four – we stock high-turn wear items for each. Beyond those we source auto lift parts for Ammco (absorbed by Challenger), Direct Lift, Wheeltronic, Ben Pearson, and older brands whose lifts are still running in shops nationwide. If your lift’s manufacturer went out of business decades ago, that does not automatically mean parts are unfindable – call with the plate data and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.

Special note on Stertil-Koni: their parts network is factory-controlled and not released to the aftermarket. We service and repair Stertil-Koni lifts, but the parts themselves have to come through Stertil-Koni’s own pipeline.

OEM versus aftermarket auto lift parts

For safety-critical parts – cables, cylinders, lock ladders, cylinder seals – stick with OEM or true OEM-equivalent auto lift parts. The tolerances are exact. A cable a fraction off the correct length will not equalize the lift properly. A cylinder with the wrong bore cannot achieve rated capacity. Save aftermarket for consumables (fluid, decals, cosmetic covers, generic mounting hardware).

Same-day shipping on in-stock items

In-stock auto lift parts ship same-day when you order by early afternoon Central time. Non-stock items come in from our distributors or the factory in three to seven business days depending on the item. Anything backordered we flag before checkout, not after. For emergency shop-down situations, mention it on the call and we will route the fastest option.

Install help along with the parts

Some auto lift parts are a straightforward swap for a shop technician (bumper pads, hoses, cable sets in a familiar shop). Others are jobs where a mistake creates a real safety problem (complete cylinder swaps, lock ladder replacements, motor and power unit swaps). Our install crews do these jobs regularly and we can quote a service visit alongside the parts order. Central Iowa is our local zone; outside we can handle remote diagnosis plus shipped parts, which works well when the shop is confident on the wrench work but wants a second opinion on what to replace.

Preventive replacement versus reactive replacement

Some shops replace auto lift parts on a schedule (cables every 8 years, cylinder seals every 10) whether or not they show symptoms. This is preventive replacement and it prevents downtime. Other shops wait until a symptom shows up. Reactive replacement saves money short-term but can bite you when a critical lift goes down in the middle of a busy week. For any lift that is running production work day-in and day-out, we recommend a preventive schedule on cables specifically – they are cheap, the labor to swap is manageable, and a failed cable at height is a genuinely dangerous event you never want to see.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the right auto lift parts for my lift?

Every lift has a data plate on one of the columns with the manufacturer, model, serial, and capacity. Take a phone photo and share it with us along with the symptom you are seeing. That plate data is what we need to look up the right parts.

What auto lift parts fail most often?

Equalizer cables and lifting cables by a wide margin. Second is hydraulic cylinder seals. Third is arm restraint pins on 2 post lifts.

Are aftermarket auto lift parts safe?

For safety-critical items (cables, cylinders, lock ladders), we recommend OEM or true OEM-equivalent. Save aftermarket for consumables like fluid, pads, and cosmetic covers.

How quickly do auto lift parts ship?

In-stock items ship same-day when ordered by early afternoon Central time. Non-stock items come in from distributors or the factory in three to seven business days.

Do you sell Stertil-Koni parts?

No. Stertil-Koni parts are only available through their own factory network. We can service and repair Stertil-Koni lifts, but the parts themselves come from Stertil-Koni.