A Pre-Purchase Checklist for Automotive Two Post Lifts: Garage Build-Out Sequencing for Council Bluffs Hobbyists

A weekend hobbyist in the Council Bluffs area emailed us in early April about automotive two post lifts for a 30×40 pole building he was finishing out. He wanted to do his own maintenance, store a convertible up in the air through the winter, and still park a daily driver underneath. Reasonable goals — but the order he was planning to do things in was going to cost him money. He had already scheduled the concrete pour, hadn’t decided on a lift model, and was planning to run electrical after the walls went up. We rearranged his sequence on a phone call and saved him a slab cut. Here is the checklist we walk hobbyists through, in the order it actually matters.

Step One: Measure Ceiling Height Before Anything Else

Ceiling height is the single most common reason a lift order gets cancelled. On a clearfloor two-post unit, the overhead beam sits above the columns, so the total installed height is taller than the column itself — commonly in the 12 to 14 foot range depending on model and rise. Our Council Bluffs customer had 12-foot sidewalls with a trussed roof, which sounds generous until you account for the overhead beam plus whatever lights, sprinkler lines, or garage door track sit in the way. Sidewall height is not the same as clear height at the lift location.

Measure from the finished floor to the lowest obstruction directly above where the columns will stand, then measure to the peak. If the number is tight, you have two outs. A baseplate model routes the cables and hoses through a floor plate instead of an overhead beam, dropping installed height to roughly the column height — usually well under 12 feet. Or you go with a lower-rise model. We had a customer in western Iowa with a 10-foot ceiling who ended up with a baseplate unit and a slightly reduced full rise, and he is perfectly happy because he is 5’9″ and can still stand under a sedan. Be honest about your own height and the vehicles you own. Overhead garage door tracks are the other frequent surprise — a high-lift door conversion or a jackshaft opener often clears the problem for a few hundred dollars.

Step Two: Nail Down the Slab Before It’s Poured

If you have not poured concrete yet, you are in the best possible position and most people waste it. Manufacturers publish minimum slab thickness and compressive strength for anchoring — typically 4 to 6 inches at a specified PSI, fully cured, with minimum setbacks from joints and edges. A standard residential garage pour is often four inches of 3,500 PSI, which is marginal, and a lot of pole-building floors get poured thinner than the owner thinks.

The fix while the forms are still open is trivial: tell your concrete contractor to thicken the pour to eight inches in a generous rectangle where the columns will land, and add rebar. It costs almost nothing in the middle of a pour and it permanently removes the biggest constraint on automotive two post lifts. It also lets you upsize later. Our Council Bluffs hobbyist was thinking about a 7,000 lb capacity unit for passenger cars; we told him to spec the concrete for a 10,000 or 12,000 lb machine anyway, because in ten years he will want to lift a pickup and the slab is the part you cannot change without a saw. If your concrete is already down, get thickness verified with a core hole or a hammer drill test at each anchor location before you order anything, and check for radiant heat tubing. We have drilled into heated floors that owners swore were not heated.

Step Three: Plan Power and Air on Paper

Most two-post power units come wired for 208-230V single phase, drawing somewhere in the 20 to 30 amp range depending on motor size. Some models offer 115V, but in our experience the higher voltage option is worth it — faster rise, less strain, and you probably want a 230V circuit out there anyway for a welder or a compressor. Put a dedicated circuit with a disconnect within sight of the lift, and put the receptacle on the column side where the power unit mounts, not across the building.

Here is the sequencing point: run that conduit before the interior walls and ceiling go up, and run it to the exact spot the power unit will live. That means you need the lift model picked before the electrician finishes, because the power unit side varies by model and configuration. The same logic applies to compressed air — some two-post units use air to release the safety latches, and all of them are more pleasant to work under with an air drop nearby. Route air and electrical together, high on the column side. We have watched too many people surface-mount conduit across a freshly finished white steel liner panel because the lift decision came last. Ten minutes of planning here makes the finished shop look intentional instead of improvised.

Step Four: Match Capacity and Arms to Your Actual Vehicles

The email we got said “7 thousand pound or less,” which is a common way hobbyists think about it — total vehicle weight. That is the right instinct, but capacity is only half the spec. Arm configuration determines whether you can actually pick up your specific cars comfortably.

Asymmetric units rotate the vehicle rearward so the doors clear the columns — great if you are getting in and out of a stored car frequently. Symmetric puts the vehicle centered, which suits longer trucks and vans. Low-profile or three-stage front arms matter enormously if you own anything with limited ground clearance; a lowered car or a sports car with side skirts will not accept standard arm pads without ramps or blocks. We had a customer with a classic convertible and a modern sedan who needed low-profile arms for one and full reach for the other, and the answer was a three-stage arm set with a mix of pad heights. Also think about pickup points: unibody cars lift at pinch welds with the right adapters, while frame vehicles lift at frame rails. Buy the adapter set with the lift, not later. For a two-car household we generally recommend 10,000 lb capacity as the sweet spot in automotive two post lifts — it covers everything short of a heavy-duty dually and costs surprisingly little more than a 7,000 lb unit.

Step Five: Think Hard About Seasonal Storage on a Two-Post

This is where we push back on a lot of hobbyists. Storing a vehicle in the air for months on a two-post unit is possible, but it is not what the design is optimized for. The vehicle hangs from four arm pads at suspension or frame points, the safety latches carry the load, and the tires sit unloaded all winter. Some owners are fine with that. Others come back in spring with flat-spotted tires and a suspension that has been fully unloaded for five months.

A four-post lift is genuinely the better storage machine — the car sits on its own wheels on runways, the load path is simple, and you can drive on and off without positioning arms. If long-term storage is your primary goal and maintenance is secondary, we will usually steer you to a four-post with a rolling jack for wheels-off work. If maintenance is primary and storage is an occasional winter thing, a two-post is the right call and you should plan on lowering the vehicle onto stands or dropping it periodically. Our Council Bluffs customer landed on a two-post because he wanted brake and suspension access more than he wanted a car elevator, and he parks the convertible on a low cradle in the corner instead. Read our comparison of 2-post versus 4-post lifts and our piece on home garage ceiling height requirements before you commit.

Step Six: Decide New, Used, or Refurbished

We get asked about used equipment constantly, usually right after someone sees the price of new. It is a fair question and the honest answer depends on what you are buying. A used commercial-grade unit from a shop that closed can be an excellent value — heavy columns, good carriages, decades of life left. A used bargain-tier import with unknown history, missing manuals, no visible ALI label, and cables of unknown age is a bad trade at any price.

What we look at on a used two-post: cable condition and age, cylinder and hose weeping, carriage slide block wear, arm restraint gear teeth, latch engagement at every notch, column plumb, and whether the manual and model number exist so parts are available. Cables and hydraulic components are consumables and we can replace them, and we stock parts for most major brands. The dealbreakers are bent columns, cracked welds, and orphan models nobody makes parts for. If you buy used, budget for a service visit and a fresh set of cables before the first vehicle goes up. New automotive two post lifts from a stocked brand come with warranty, current certification, complete documentation, and parts availability for decades — for a lot of hobbyists that peace of mind is worth the difference. We sell both and we will tell you which one makes sense for your situation.

Step Seven: Sequence the Install Into the Build

Here is the order we give people, and it is the whole point of this checklist. First, pick your lift model — or at least narrow to a configuration and capacity — because everything downstream depends on it. Second, spec and pour the concrete with thickened footings and rebar at the column locations. Third, run electrical and air to the exact power unit location before the interior is finished. Fourth, confirm clear ceiling height at the column positions after the roof and lighting are in. Fifth, schedule the install.

Doing it in that order, an install on a fresh slab is usually a single day for a two-post unit. Doing it out of order means saw-cutting a finished floor, surface-mounting conduit, or discovering that the light fixture you just paid to install lands exactly where the overhead beam goes. Our Council Bluffs customer moved his lift decision ahead of his concrete pour, got thickened footings for the price of a little extra mud, and we set his unit two weeks after the slab cured. He has since had us back for an inspection and a set of low-profile adapters. If you are building or finishing a shop anywhere in Iowa, Nebraska, or the surrounding region and thinking about automotive two post lifts, call 800-674-9302 while the plans are still on paper. That conversation is free and it is the cheapest part of the whole project.