Automotive Two Post Lifts: A West Des Moines Pre-Purchase Cable Checklist

A West Des Moines weekend hobbyist called us about a used two-post he had spotted forty minutes down the road. The seller was retiring, the price seemed too good, and the buyer had just enough mechanical experience to be dangerous with hydraulic equipment. The conversation focused on one thing: the cables. Cables are the single most overlooked wear item on automotive two post lifts, and inspecting them properly before you buy a used lift is the difference between a bargain and a hospital bill. This is the checklist we walked him through, expanded into a full pre-purchase guide. Auto Lift Services keeps replacement cables in stock for all the major brands, so we see enough failed ones to know what to look for.

Why cables matter more than anything else on a used lift

On automotive two post lifts, the equalizer cables synchronize the two columns so both carriages rise and fall together. If one cable stretches or breaks, one column can drop while the other holds, and a loaded vehicle can tip. Modern lifts have secondary mechanical safety locks that prevent a full drop, but the tip event itself can damage the vehicle, the lift, and anyone standing near it. Cables are not a component you look at last during a used-lift inspection. They are the first thing you check, and the deal-breaker if they look wrong.

A cable set consists of two braided steel cables running from each carriage over sheaves at the top of the columns and down to the opposite side. Load them incorrectly and the tension is uneven. Let them corrode and the individual strands weaken. Run them for a decade and they fatigue from repeated bending over the sheaves. Any of those three problems can happen invisibly. A cable that looks fine to a casual inspection may already be at the end of its safe life. This is why a pre-purchase check needs to be methodical, not a glance.

Step 1: Look for visible strand damage

Start with a flashlight and a slow visual walk of both cables from end to end. You are looking for broken outer strands (any strand that stands proud of the main cable body), kinks (a permanent bend where the cable did not straighten out after use), corrosion (brown or black staining, especially where the cable enters a sheave), and flat spots (where the cable has been pinched against something and now has a squared cross-section). Any of those signs mean the cable is past its life. On automotive two post lifts, both cables are always replaced as a pair because they wear together, so even damage on just one side is a full replacement.

The West Des Moines buyer found two broken strands on the passenger-side cable near the top sheave and a section of corrosion on the driver’s side about two feet down from the top. That was already a $220 replacement job before he had even negotiated. He factored it into the offer. The seller was flexible because he knew the cables were old. A used lift where the seller pretends the cables are fine when they are visibly not is a lift where other problems are being hidden. Walk away from those. There are more used lifts on the market than there are honest sellers, and finding an honest one is worth waiting a month.

Step 2: Check the sheaves

The cables ride over sheaves at the top of each column. Sheaves are the small pulleys that redirect the cable’s path, and worn sheaves are what accelerate cable death. Look at the groove where the cable seats. It should be smooth and match the cable’s diameter with a slight clearance. A groove that is worn wider or deeper than the cable is dragging metal off the cable every cycle. Rotate each sheave by hand with the lift unloaded; it should spin freely with no play in the bearing.

The Rotary two-post the West Des Moines buyer was looking at had one sheave that felt slightly notchy — a subtle click every quarter turn — and a groove that was noticeably worn on the driver’s side. A sheave replacement is a $60 to $110 part plus about an hour of labor on most automotive two post lifts. We told him to add it to his mental price. On used lifts more than twelve years old, budget for both cables and both sheaves as a starting point. If the seller has already done the replacement recently and can prove it with a receipt, that is a genuinely valuable used lift. If the seller cannot prove it, assume the parts are original and price accordingly.

Step 3: Test tension and travel

With the lift powered up and running, cycle it from full down to full up with no load. Watch both carriages closely. They should rise and fall together, staying within about an inch of each other through the full travel range. If one carriage leads or lags the other by more than a couple inches, the cables are out of tension balance. That is usually adjustable at the anchor point, but on a cable that is stretched from age, adjustment only masks the underlying problem.

Cycle the lift five times. Listen for any grinding, clicking, or hesitation. Watch the carriages for smoothness. A healthy two-post glides. A worn one lurches. The West Des Moines buyer’s inspection turned up a slight lag on the passenger side that got worse each cycle, which confirmed the cable degradation he had seen visually. On new automotive two post lifts, all of this is factory-set and stays balanced for years. On used lifts, the tension conversation is a proxy for how well the previous owner maintained the equipment. A well-maintained used lift stays balanced; a neglected one drifts and grinds. What you observe in five cycles tells you which category you are buying into.

Step 4: Ask for maintenance records

Any commercial shop selling a used lift should have some record of maintenance: cable replacements, seal kits, safety-lock inspections, hydraulic fluid changes. Ask for it. If they cannot produce any records, that does not mean the lift is bad, but it does mean you are buying blind and should price accordingly. A residential seller may not have records at all, and that is a different conversation — you assume the worst and inspect harder to compensate.

The West Des Moines seller had a folder with a hand-written log of cable checks going back six years and a receipt for a hydraulic fluid change two years prior. That was enough to give the buyer confidence that the lift had been maintained even if it was showing its age. He offered $600 below asking to cover the cables and one sheave, and the seller accepted. Total landed cost, including our replacement parts and a Saturday of his own labor, came out to about sixty percent of a comparable new lift. That is the right end of the used market. Automotive two post lifts at that end of the used market are legitimate buys. The wrong end — no records, no cable inspection, cash-only, seller wants it gone this weekend — is where people get hurt.

Step 5: Verify wheel bearing service will actually work

The West Des Moines buyer’s primary use case was wheel bearing service on his and his friends’ vehicles, so we asked him to walk through the specific procedure he intended to perform and check that the lift would support it. Wheel bearing work needs the vehicle at a working height where you can access the hub, and you need to be able to spin the wheel freely with the vehicle supported by the frame or subframe, not the wheels. Both are basic capabilities of any working two-post, but with a used lift you verify.

He also asked about air tool use. Most automotive two post lifts do not include an integrated air line, but running an air hose to the working area is trivial. The bigger question was floor space around the lift for a bearing press and pullers, which he had covered. This is the small stuff nobody thinks to check before they buy: does the lift actually enable your workflow, or is it just a lift-shaped object in your garage. We asked, he thought about it, and he was set. That kind of pre-purchase due diligence is what separates satisfied first-time lift buyers from frustrated ones. Take the time to do it before the money changes hands. Automotive two post lifts are excellent tools when the buyer has thought through the whole workflow, not just the sticker price.

What we told him to do the day after purchase

He bought the lift on a Saturday and had it in his garage by Sunday afternoon. Our checklist for day one of ownership: replace both cables, replace the notchy sheave, replace the hydraulic fluid with the correct grade, check anchor torque and re-torque as needed, and cycle the empty lift twenty times before you put a vehicle on it. Total parts bill from us was around $340. Total time investment was one full weekend day.

Two months later he called us to say the wheel bearing work he had done in the interim would have been impossible on the jack stands he had used previously, and he was already planning the next set of projects. That is the story we like hearing from a used-lift buyer, and it happens when the pre-purchase inspection is honest and the day-one refresh is complete. If you follow a similar sequence on your own used purchase — inspect ruthlessly, negotiate fairly, refresh the wear items on day one — you can save real money against buying new without giving up safety. If any of those steps feel beyond your experience, we would rather help you buy new. Call us at 800-674-9302 and we will walk through the options.