When a Quad Cities dealership service manager calls us about turning a back bay into a real autolift garage for restoration and metal work, the first question is never about paint colors or floor coatings — it’s about warranty coverage and how fast we show up when a lift goes down mid-repair. We’ve built out enough dealership bays across eastern Iowa to know that a restoration department can’t afford a lift sitting broken for a week. Whether you’re pulling quarter panels, dropping a subframe, or doing full frame-off work, your autolift garage has to be dimensioned right and backed by a service plan that actually performs when metal work is on the rack and the clock is running.
Browse Rotary and Challenger two-post models built for dealership body and restoration bays, then talk to us about warranty coverage before you buy.
What a Restoration-Ready Autolift Garage Actually Needs
Restoration and metal work isn’t like an oil-change bay. You need clearance for a body cart underneath, room to swing doors wide open without hitting arms, and a lift rated to hold a car at full lift height for hours while a tech is welding or grinding underneath. For most Quad Cities dealership shops doing frame and panel work, we spec a two-post lift with a lifting capacity in the 10,000 to 12,000 lb range and roughly 71 to 76 inches of rise, since that gives enough headroom to work standing under rocker panels and floor pans without stooping.
Ceiling height matters more here than in a typical quick-lube autolift garage. If your bay has anything under 13 feet of clearance, we’ll walk that with you before quoting, because a tall two-post overhead-style unit simply won’t fit. We also look hard at concrete — restoration bays see a lot of dropped tools, ground metal, and welding slag, so anchor bolt integrity gets checked, not assumed. A pit isn’t required for a surface-mount two-post, but we always confirm slab thickness meets the anchor spec before install day, since a dealership bay poured decades ago may not match what a modern lift needs.
Warranty Coverage That Fits a Working Restoration Bay
Our Platinum Package was built for exactly this kind of shop, where an autolift garage can’t sit idle. It covers lift repair time within 48 hours of you contacting us, annual lift inspections, and full lift repairs — parts, mileage, and labor included. Tire removal is included too, which matters if a lift-related repair means pulling wheels to get at a cylinder or arm pin. If we don’t get your lift repaired within 48 hours, your next month is free. That’s not a marketing line — it’s the actual guarantee written into the package.
The coverage also includes structural components, install, removal, and moving if you ever reconfigure the bay, plus replacement equipment while yours is down, so a restoration job in progress doesn’t grind to a halt. Evening shift light repairs and inspections are available too, which Quad Cities dealership managers ask about often since restoration work sometimes runs second shift to keep bays open for daytime warranty traffic. Junk removal is included with no limit, hauled within seven days, which sounds minor until you’re staring at a pallet of old lift parts after a swap.
How a Warranty Claim Actually Works
A lot of dealership managers assume a lift warranty claim means filling out paperwork and waiting on a distributor somewhere out of state. Ours doesn’t work that way. You call us directly, we log the issue same day, and our 48-hour repair clock starts from that call — not from when a claim gets approved by some third party. Parts, labor, and mileage are all covered under Platinum, so there’s no surprise invoice tacked onto a warranty visit.
If the repair genuinely can’t be finished inside 48 hours — a rare structural part on backorder, for example — the next month of coverage is on us automatically. We track that internally so you’re not the one who has to remember to ask for the credit. ALI Certified Lift It Right training is bundled in as well, so your techs aren’t guessing at safe loading procedures on a lift that’s holding a partially disassembled vehicle for days at a time, which happens constantly in restoration work.
Real Dimensions for Metal and Frame Work
For heavier restoration jobs — full frame swaps, structural rust repair, or classic truck builds that dealerships take on as side work — we typically recommend stepping up to a 12,000 to 15,000 lb capacity two-post or a four-post drive-on unit if the vehicle needs to sit level for extended alignment or frame straightening. A four-post in this range usually runs 16 to 18 feet of runway length, which needs real floor space beyond just the lift footprint — you need approach room for a vehicle with a trailer or dolly still attached.
Arm reach on a two-post also deserves attention in a restoration autolift garage. Short-body classics and long-wheelbase trucks both push the limits of standard arm reach, so we check pad-to-frame contact points before recommending a model rather than defaulting to whatever’s cheapest. Getting this wrong means a lift that technically holds capacity but can’t actually cradle the vehicle’s factory lift points safely, which is a bigger risk in restoration work where frames are already compromised by rust or cutting.
Freight, Install, and Getting the Bay Ready
Every install conversation starts with logistics: do you have a forklift on site, is there a loading dock or just a dock-high door, and how much lead time do you need before the truck shows up. Dealership bays in the Quad Cities usually have decent dock access, but restoration bays specifically sometimes get repurposed from older storage space, so we double check door height and turning radius before freight ships. We coordinate delivery timing so your service drive isn’t blocked during a busy warranty week.
Concrete readiness is the other half. We ask about slab age, thickness, and whether there’s any known rebar or in-floor heat before we finalize anchor specs. A pit is uncommon for these installs but we’ll flag it if your bay layout calls for an inground option instead of surface-mount. Getting this right before the crew arrives saves a wasted trip and keeps your restoration schedule on track.
Why Dealership Managers Choose Structural and Replacement Coverage
Structural components being included in the Platinum Package isn’t a small detail for restoration bays. These lifts see more torque, more asymmetric loading, and more vibration from grinding and welding than a standard service bay lift. When a structural part needs replacing, that’s the kind of repair that can sideline a bay for weeks without coverage — and weeks without a working autolift garage in a restoration department means missed delivery dates on customer builds.
Replacement equipment being included means if your lift truly can’t be fixed in time, we get a loaner or comparable unit into your bay so work doesn’t stop. That’s the difference between a warranty that looks good on paper and one that actually protects your shop’s throughput. Dealership service managers who’ve been burned by slow-moving warranty processes elsewhere tend to be the ones who ask the most detailed questions about our 48-hour guarantee — and we’d rather answer those questions up front than have you find out the hard way.
Getting Started on Your Quad Cities Bay
If you’re planning a new autolift garage buildout or converting an existing bay for restoration and metal work, the smartest first step is a walkthrough — ceiling height, slab condition, dock access, and how many bays you’re outfitting. We’ll spec lift capacity and rise based on the actual vehicles coming through, not a generic recommendation, and we’ll lay out exactly what Platinum coverage includes so there’s no guessing later.
We install, service, and stock parts for Rotary and Challenger commercial lifts across Iowa, and a dealership restoration bay in the Quad Cities is squarely the kind of job we do routinely. Reach out before you order equipment so we can confirm dimensions match your actual bay, not just a spec sheet.
Our Clients Include: