Buying a Used 2 Post Lift: What We Check Before You Pay

Buying a used 2 post lift is one of the most common questions that comes across our desk in Ames, and it usually arrives the same way: somebody found a listing three counties over, the price looks too good to pass up, and they want to know if it’s worth hooking the trailer up. We’re an Iowa lift installation and parts company, so we’ve seen the good deals and the expensive mistakes. Some of the best equipment in the shops we service was bought secondhand for a fraction of new. Some of it got hauled straight to the scrap yard after we looked at it. The difference almost always comes down to what somebody checked before the money changed hands, so let’s walk through exactly what we look at.

Start With the Data Plate, Not the Price

The first thing we want when someone calls us about a listing is a photo of the data plate — usually on the column, sometimes inside the leg. That tag tells us the manufacturer, the model number, the capacity, and the serial number. From those four pieces of information we can figure out roughly what year it was built, whether the manufacturer still supports it, and whether parts are a phone call or a fabrication project. A tag that’s been painted over, ground off, or is simply missing is a genuine warning sign. Without it we’re guessing at capacity, and guessing at capacity on a hoist that holds a vehicle over a person’s head is not something we’re willing to do.

We also look for a certification label. Lifts that were third-party certified to the ANSI/ALI standard carry a gold ALI label, and while an expired label doesn’t make a lift unsafe, its presence tells you the design was validated by somebody other than the factory. Insurance carriers and some commercial landlords ask about this. If you’re buying for a business rather than a home garage, it matters more than most people expect. When we’re consulting on buying a used 2 post lift for a commercial shop, an uncertified off-brand column lift with no traceable manufacturer is usually where we recommend walking away, no matter how attractive the number on the listing is.

Columns, Baseplate, and Anchor Bolt Evidence

Columns take the load, so they get the closest look. We sight down each column looking for bowing or twist — a subtle bend near the base often means the lift was overloaded or something got backed into it hard. We check the top of the columns for cracked welds around the overhead beam brackets, and we look at the carriage tracks inside for gouging or uneven wear that indicates a slide block ran metal-on-metal for a long time. Surface rust on a column is cosmetic and we don’t care much about it. Rust that has scaled and flaked away actual material near the base, particularly on a lift that lived in a wash bay or an unheated pole barn, is a different conversation entirely.

The baseplate and anchor holes tell a story too. Elongated or torn anchor holes mean the lift moved under load at some point, and that’s a red flag we take seriously. We also count the holes and compare them to the manufacturer’s spec — shops occasionally anchor with fewer bolts than the instructions call for, or with the wrong diameter, and a lift that’s been running under-anchored for a decade has been stressing its base welds the whole time. If the seller has the original installation manual, grab it. Anyone buying a used 2 post lift without the manual should plan on tracking down a PDF before the crew shows up to set it, because anchor patterns, torque values, and concrete requirements are not things to improvise.

Cables, Chains, and the Equalization System

Every two-post lift uses either cables or chains to keep the two carriages level with each other, and this is the single most common thing we end up replacing on secondhand equipment. We run our hand along the length of every cable — carefully, with a rag — feeling for broken strands, and we look hard at the sheave areas where wear concentrates. Any broken wires, any flat spots, any kinks, and the cable set is done. Frayed cables aren’t a reason to skip a deal, but they are a reason to negotiate, because a full set plus labor is a real number that belongs in your math before you agree to anything.

While we’re in there we inspect the sheaves themselves for grooving and the sheave pins for wear, and on chain-driven models we check for stretch and stiff links. The safety locks get tested at every position — we want to hear all of them click in unison and we want to see the release mechanism return fully. A lift where one side locks a beat behind the other usually needs adjustment, not parts, but it needs to be sorted before the thing carries a customer’s truck. Our used two-post lift inspection checklist covers the sequence we actually follow on site if you want to run through it yourself.

Hydraulics: Cylinder, Power Unit, and Leaks

Hydraulic problems are usually the cheapest thing on this list to fix and the most likely to scare a buyer off. A weeping cylinder rod seal, a wet spot under the power unit, a hose with a crack in the jacket — those are all normal wear items on equipment that’s fifteen or twenty years old. What we care about is whether the cylinder bore is scored and whether the rod is pitted, because a scored cylinder means reseal kits won’t hold and you’re buying a replacement. We wipe the rod clean and extend the lift partway to inspect the exposed section. Pitting from long-term moisture is common on lifts stored outdoors or under a leaky roof.

The power unit gets the same treatment. We pull the reservoir cap and look at the fluid — milky fluid means water intrusion, and dark burnt-smelling fluid means the pump has been run hot. We listen to the motor under load and watch how quickly the carriages rise. Slow, groaning lift with a healthy motor often just means a tired pump or a clogged filter screen. We stock cylinders, power units, seal kits, and hoses for essentially every brand out there, so a hydraulic issue on a lift with a known manufacturer is rarely a dealbreaker. It’s the unknown-brand orphan cylinder with a proprietary port thread that turns into a custom job.

The Costs Nobody Puts in the Listing

Here’s the part where used deals go sideways. The purchase price is one line item. Removal is another — somebody has to unbolt it, unstack the columns, and get them onto a trailer, and columns are awkward, heavy, and unbalanced. Transport across Iowa is a third. Then there’s the concrete question at your building: two-post lifts need adequate slab thickness and strength, and if your floor doesn’t meet the manufacturer’s spec you’re cutting and pouring a footing, which frequently costs more than the lift did. We’ve watched a genuinely cheap lift turn into a mid-range project once concrete work entered the picture.

Add anchors, likely a cable set, probably a fluid change, possibly a new set of adapter pads, and an electrical hookup at the correct voltage and phase. When we add all of that to what somebody paid, a used unit usually lands somewhere between a third and two-thirds of new — real savings, but not the near-free deal the listing implied. That’s the honest arithmetic we give people when they call us about buying a used 2 post lift, and we’d rather share it up front than surprise anybody with an invoice. Our broader used lift buying guide breaks these line items down further.

Parts Availability Decides Long-Term Value

A lift is only as good as your ability to feed it parts for the next twenty years. This is where brand matters enormously, and it’s the factor most first-time buyers underweight. Rotary and Challenger two-post lifts have deep parts support, well-documented model histories, and interchangeable components across generations. We can source locks, cables, carriages, arm assemblies, and hydraulics for units built decades ago without much drama. That’s why a well-worn Rotary SPO-series lift often makes a smarter purchase than a newer import nobody’s heard of — the tired one can be brought back to spec, and the mystery unit becomes a machine you can’t legally or practically repair.

We keep a large inventory in Ames precisely because of this, and our parts lookup will tell you quickly whether a given model is supported. Before you commit money, send us the model and serial and we’ll check. It takes us a few minutes and it has saved plenty of people from towing home a boat anchor. Anyone buying a used 2 post lift with an orphaned brand should assume that the first failed component ends the lift’s working life. Also worth reading if you’re still weighing configurations: our used 2 post lift overview covers asymmetric versus symmetric and clearfloor versus overhead differences that affect what you should be shopping for in the first place.

How We’d Approach the Deal Ourselves

If we were shopping right now, we’d do it in this order. Get the model and serial first and confirm parts support before driving anywhere. Ask why it’s being sold — a shop closing or relocating is a much better story than a lift that was pulled because it stopped passing inspection. Ask when it was last serviced and by whom, and whether the safety locks have ever been worked on. Then go look at it in person, put a light on the columns and cables, and cycle it under load if the seller will allow it. A seller who won’t let you watch the lift run has told you something important.

From there, budget for a cable set and fluid regardless of how good it looks, verify your slab before you spend a dime, and get the removal and reinstall quoted before you negotiate. We install used equipment for customers across central Iowa constantly, and we’re happy to look at photos or a listing before you decide. Call us at 800-674-9302 and we’ll give you a straight answer, even if the answer is that buying a used 2 post lift in that particular condition is a worse deal than a new Challenger with a warranty. We’d rather lose a service call than set a lift we don’t trust.