An off-road and overlanding builder in West Des Moines called us last fall about installing a two-post in the back half of his shop. He specialized in lifted trucks and Jeep builds, and most of his weekly work involved CV axle replacement and half-shaft service after off-road trips. He was operating out of a rented industrial bay, needed the lift financed rather than paid cash, and wanted the whole project done in under six weeks. This case study walks through what we quoted, how the financing worked, how the install ran on the day, and what a year of CV axle service on the lift has looked like since. Every West Des Moines shop planning auto lifts installed follows a similar arc.
Financing available with 0% APR for twelve months on qualifying lifts. Two-post commercial and heavy-duty models sized for off-road builds and lifted trucks.
The Shop and the Vehicles He Services
The builder ran a two-bay operation with one existing scissor lift for tire and light service work. What he needed for the second bay was a full two-post that could clear a lifted JL Wrangler on 37-inch tires, a Bronco with a Baja kit, and the occasional 3/4-ton pickup with a mid-travel suspension. That put his tallest vehicles right at about 88 inches of overall height loaded, and the heaviest at around 7,500 pounds curb weight.
For that mix, we quoted a Rotary SPO12 12,000 pound two-post with a symmetric arm set. The 12K capacity gave him margin over his heaviest current build and headroom for future half-ton and three-quarter-ton platforms. Symmetric arms let him spot the truck in the center of the columns and swing the arms forward and rear evenly, which matters when the vehicles are lifted and the factory jack points are relocated by aftermarket skid plates. Every West Des Moines overlander build shop we have quoted since has gone with a similar spec, because the vehicle mix is roughly the same. Auto lifts installed for that customer base need to handle tall builds and moderate weight, not maximum weight.
Financing Terms He Actually Used
The financing conversation was straightforward. He wanted to preserve cash for parts inventory, so he asked about zero-percent options. We ran the numbers through our financing partner and got him twelve months at 0% APR with the first payment deferred 90 days. That deferral was important because his install was in October and his heavy service season starts in April; the deferral meant no payments until January, when his winter tire-service work was already generating revenue.
The monthly amount for the twelve-month term worked out to one-twelfth of the total lift-plus-install package, no interest added. If he wanted a longer term to lower the monthly, extended options ran into the mid-single-digit APR range with our banker’s tier. He chose the twelve-month because the interest savings paid for a set of quality alignment arms he added to the order. That is the tradeoff most shop owners run when they have auto lifts installed on financing: shorter term at zero interest is almost always the better math if the monthly is manageable. We walk every customer through both options.
Site Survey and Landlord Approval
His bay was leased, which meant we had to get landlord written approval for the concrete anchoring before install day. That is a step first-time lift buyers often miss, and it can delay a project by weeks. Our site survey report included the anchor pattern, the load specification, and the confirmation that removal at end of lease would leave patchable holes rather than structural damage. The landlord signed off on that within a week.
The survey itself found a 4-inch slab poured in 2011, mesh-reinforced, in solid condition with no visible cracks or delamination near the intended column positions. Ceiling was a clean 14-foot flat with metal decking, which was more than enough for an overhead two-post at his working heights. Door swing was not an issue because the overhead door was a roll-up style with no interior arc. Every piece of the survey confirmed the install would be routine. That is the ideal situation for auto lifts installed in a leased space, and the survey is what verified it upfront rather than on the day the crate arrived.
Install Day Timeline
Install ran a single day. Our crew of three showed up at 7 a.m. with the crate on our truck. Column locations were marked in blue tape from the survey visit, so the first hour was drilling anchor holes and vacuuming the concrete dust out. Anchors set and torqued by 10 a.m. Overhead crossbeam and columns raised and squared by noon. Hydraulic lines, equalization cables, and safety-latch cables run and adjusted by 2 p.m. Reservoir filled, first cycle under empty load by 3 p.m.
Test load with a fleet pickup we brought along ran three cycles up and down with lock engagement checked at every safety position. Final calibration adjustments took another 30 minutes. Paperwork signed and warranty registered by 4:30 p.m. The builder was cycling his first Jeep on the lift by 5:00. That is a typical install-day timeline for auto lifts installed by our crew when the site prep is complete. When it slips, the reason is almost always electrical not run or slab needing repair, both of which we flag in the survey ahead of time so the customer can handle them before we arrive.
CV Axle Work on the Lift
His first month of service with the lift ran heavy on CV axles, which is exactly what he expected. Lifted Jeeps and Broncos see a lot of CV boot wear at aggressive suspension angles, and a shop that fixes them well gets repeat business. On the lift, a CV axle replacement runs about two hours per side for a Jeep, including breaking free the axle nut, disconnecting the tie rod and upper control arm, pulling the shaft, cleaning and installing the new unit, and torquing everything back to spec.
The two-post gives him full underside access, which is critical because CV work requires the wheels to be hanging free at full droop. A scissor or four-post would not work for this because the wheels stay loaded on the runways. This is why we so often recommend a two-post as the primary lift for off-road build shops. He runs three to five CV axles a week during heavy season, and the lift handles that duty cycle without complaint. Auto lifts installed for shops doing this kind of work need to be commercial-grade with proper arm geometry, and the Rotary SPO12 has been the reliable answer.
What the First Year Actually Cost
One year in, we asked him for a rough total cost breakdown. His financed lift-plus-install package sat in the mid five figures, spread across twelve zero-percent monthly payments that are now paid off. His annual ANSI/ALI inspection through us was a couple hundred dollars in month twelve. He had one warranty part replacement, a hydraulic hose that developed a slight seep at month eight, which we covered under Rotary’s warranty and installed on our next service visit at no charge to him.
Total maintenance beyond the annual inspection was zero. He has cycled the lift roughly 900 times in the first year based on his estimates, and it looks and sounds like the day we installed it. That is what a commercial-grade lift install should look like at the one-year mark. For a West Des Moines shop planning auto lifts installed with financing, the total cost math works out to about a $5-per-cycle operating cost in year one, dropping substantially in year two and beyond as the financing pays off. That is a very good number for a shop billing $400 to $600 per CV axle job.
What He Would Do Differently
Asked what he would do differently, he had two answers. First, he wished he had also budgeted for a set of rolling jacks from day one instead of adding them six months later. He does enough front-axle work that being able to lift a single axle while the vehicle is on the two-post would save him time. We are quoting him a rolling jack set for next quarter. Second, he wished he had gone with a taller-column two-post, because a couple of the taller Jeep builds he brings in are right at the arm reach limit on a standard-height Rotary SPO12.
Both are learnings we now share with every off-road shop we quote. If a shop knows they will service builds over 88 inches tall, we push them toward a tall-column variant even at slightly higher cost. If a shop does front-suspension work in volume, we build rolling jacks into the initial quote. Those are the small specification decisions that turn a good lift install into a great one. If you are planning auto lifts installed for an overlanding or off-road build shop in the West Des Moines area, those are the two upgrades we would encourage you to consider upfront.
Related reading: lift financing options, off-road shop lift buying guide, and rolling jacks for two-post lifts.
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