An RV and trailer service shop in West Des Moines called us in early 2025 for a car lift automotive install to support their growing restoration side. They do metal repair on aluminum trailer bodies, weld work on drop frames, and full frame-off restorations on classic travel trailers. They needed a lift, and they needed to decide between overhead-style and baseplate-style 2-post configurations. It is a real decision with real trade-offs, and it comes up on every specialty-shop install we do. At Auto Lift Services in Ames, Iowa, we walked them through the choice, installed the lift, and stayed with them through the first year of use. Below is the honest first-year story of that car lift automotive install, from spec to signature to service call.
BendPak and Rotary baseplate 2-posts for RV, trailer, and specialty restoration shops with tall vehicle clearance needs. Iowa install crew included.
Overhead vs baseplate: the ceiling question
Every 2-post lift is either overhead (clearfloor, cables run through a bar across the top) or baseplate (cables run through a channel across the floor). Overhead is what most auto-repair shops use because nothing sits on the floor to catch a floor jack or a drain pan. Baseplate is what body shops, welding shops, and specialty operations use because nothing hangs overhead to catch a tall trailer, a boom, or a roof-mounted air conditioner unit.
The West Des Moines RV shop had a real overhead constraint: they work on 13-foot-tall Class A motorhomes and roof-mounted trailer components. An overhead 2-post at 147-inch cross-bar height would smack every RV roof cap that came through the door. That is a disqualifier before any other spec matters. For their car lift automotive setup, baseplate was the only viable configuration, and we spent the rest of the conversation on which baseplate model made sense.
Why an RV shop usually cannot use overhead
The overhead cross-bar on a clearfloor 2-post is not optional. It is a structural tie between the two columns that carries the cable and the equalizer, and it is what makes a clearfloor lift a clearfloor lift. The bar sits at 12 to 13 feet depending on the model. For a general auto shop with 6-foot vehicles, that is invisible overhead space. For an RV shop with 12-13 foot vehicles, that is a collision zone every time a coach rolls in with roof AC or a satellite dome.
Baseplate lifts move the cable and equalizer into a low channel that sits flush or slightly proud of the slab between the columns. The trade-off is a 4-inch bump the drive-over has to clear, fine for RVs and trailers, an obstacle for a car with 3 inches of ground clearance. Every car lift automotive setup for a mixed-vehicle shop has to make this trade. For an RV specialist, baseplate wins every time and the drive-over penalty is a non-issue on their vehicle mix.
The BendPak XPR-10ACX baseplate we quoted
BendPak’s XPR-10ACX is the baseplate version of their XPR-10 line: 10,000 lb capacity, asymmetric arms, 82-inch overall column height (which fits under an 8-foot garage ceiling, irrelevant for an RV shop but a nice option for the low-lift range), baseplate cable channel at 4 inches proud of the slab. The RV shop’s fleet was mostly under 8,000 lb (single-axle travel trailers, small motorhomes), so the 10K capacity was fine with cushion.
We quoted the XPR-10ACX for a car lift automotive install in the mid-$4,000s range with our two-day install package including the anchor work, hydraulic bleed, and load test. BendPak’s parts and warranty were the fit: the shop had used a BendPak in a previous location and preferred that brand’s service history. We do not push a brand — we quote what the customer asks for if it fits the application and if the spec sheet holds up under real-world use.
Install week: what the car lift automotive setup involved
Install day one started with a slab check: 6-inch commercial pour, fiber-reinforced, easily above spec for a 10K 2-post. We drilled anchor points, ran the base channel, plumbed the columns, and set the hydraulic hoses through the channel. By end of day one the columns stood plumb and the safety latches worked dry. Day two we filled and bled the hydraulic system, cycled the lift 20 times empty, load-tested with a shop vehicle, and handed the shop the ALI ALOIM startup form for their file.
One surprise: the shop’s electrical panel was three-phase 208V (not 230), which was fine but required a motor jumper adjustment on the XPR-10ACX. BendPak’s motor is dual-tap, and the jumper swap is a five-minute job we handle at install without extra charge. That is the kind of small hiccup every real car lift automotive install runs into, and it is why we bring a full tool kit and a spare set of common jumpers on every install run.
First month: teething problems and adjustments
Two weeks in, the shop called: the arm restraint on the front-right arm was clicking on lift-up but not fully seating on lift-down. That is a common break-in issue on new lifts. The spring-loaded restraint needs 20 to 30 cycles to seat into its detent. We drove out, watched the cycle, adjusted the restraint pawl by a quarter turn, and it settled. No parts, no cost, just part of the install support we include with every lift.
Three weeks in, they asked about drive-over ramps for the baseplate channel. A 4-inch step is too much to roll a floor jack over comfortably, especially loaded with a transmission or a heavy toolbox. We shipped them two aluminum drive-over ramps from our stock in Ames, which they placed at the shop-side of the channel. That is the sort of accessory a full-service car lift automotive supplier includes in the follow-up conversation, not just at the initial sale.
Six months in: the wear patterns we watched
Six-month check-in visit: the shop had cycled the lift roughly 200 times, mostly on 5,000 to 7,000 lb trailers. Cable stretch was inside factory tolerance. Hydraulic reservoir level was fine (a small top-up from initial fill). Arm restraint pawls were seating correctly. One arm’s low-profile pickup pad had a small chip on the rubber where a trailer coupler had grazed it — cosmetic, not functional, and we replaced the pad free of charge under the warranty coverage.
What was interesting was that the shop had adapted the lift to their work rather than the other way around. They had welded a small extension plate onto the front pickup pads to catch trailer frame rails without slipping. That is exactly what a specialty shop should do with a real car lift automotive install: customize the working end where it makes sense, leave the structural end and the safety systems alone. Good specialty shops know the difference intuitively.
One year later: what the shop said
At the one-year mark I stopped by the West Des Moines shop for a routine ALI ALOIM annual inspection. The lift had done roughly 450 cycles over the year, mostly trailer and small-motorhome work with a handful of pickup truck jobs mixed in. Everything passed inspection cleanly. The shop’s owner told me the baseplate configuration was the right call: they had turned down one auto-repair job that would have benefited from an overhead lift, but they had done a dozen restoration and metal-work jobs that would have been impossible with an overhead bar in the way of a 13-foot vehicle.
If you run an RV shop, a trailer service shop, a metal-fabrication operation, or any specialty business that needs a car lift automotive setup with real overhead clearance, call us at 800-674-9302 or email founder@autoliftserv.com. We will walk you through the overhead-versus-baseplate decision honestly, quote the right configuration for your work, and stay with you through the first year. West Des Moines, Ankeny, or anywhere in central Iowa — same team, same support, same follow-through.
Related reading on our site: our overhead vs baseplate 2-post lift guide, our BendPak XPR-10ACX field review, and our RV shop lift planning checklist.
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