Car Lift Parts: How to Find the Right One and What to Watch For

This page is for the person who has a specific car lift in a shop or a home garage and needs to find the right replacement part before something breaks or before an existing problem gets worse. Whether you already have a part number in hand or you have a lift with a symptom and no idea what to order, our parts lookup will get you there faster than digging through a manufacturer parts book on your own.

The two ways people show up for car lift parts

Almost everyone who searches for car lift parts falls into one of two camps. The first camp already knows the exact factory part number – they saw it in a service manual, on the original packaging, or a tech quoted it. If that is you, drop the number into the search bar on our store and you will land right on the SKU with live stock, current pricing, and add-to-cart. Done.

The second camp is the trickier one. Something is wrong with the lift – a cable is fraying, a cylinder is leaking, the arms are seized, the motor will not run – and the person on this page needs to figure out what to order without pulling the wrong number and paying to ship the wrong box twice. That is where our fitment help comes in. Call us with your lift brand, model number, and serial number off the column data plate, and we will tell you which part fits without guessing.

What car lift parts we stock and can source

We are a full-line lift parts supplier. Between what we hold in-house and what we can pull from our distribution partners, we cover every major mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical wear item on the lifts sold in the North American market for the last thirty-plus years. Broadly, that breaks into these families of car lift parts:

• Cables – equalizer cables and lifting cables for 2-post and 4-post lifts. This is the most-replaced wear part on any lift. Cables stretch, individual strands break, sheaves eat them, and eventually the safety authority (ALI) says take the lift out of service. Match cable sets by model and serial and always replace as a set of two – never one at a time.
• Hydraulic cylinders – full replacement cylinders and seal kits. If your lift is dropping under load, leaking down over a couple of days sitting empty, or dripping fluid on the shop floor, the cylinder is usually the answer. We stock major Rotary, Challenger, Forward, and Bendpak cylinder numbers.
• Lift arms – swing arm assemblies, pad adapters, flip-up truck adapters, screw-up pad extenders. Arms take abuse and eventually the pin bushings wear out or the arm itself gets bent. We can quote a matching arm or the pad adapter kits that ride on top of them.
• Motors, contactors, and electrical – single-phase and three-phase power units, motor start contactors, up-buttons, safety switches, motor thermal protectors. If your lift will not power up or trips a breaker on start, this is where to look.
• Lock ladders and latches – the mechanical safety locks that hold the lift up at each stop height. Lock components are safety-critical and should never be run worn or partially engaged.
• Hoses, fittings, and fluid – hydraulic hoses at the columns and at the power unit, JIC and NPT fittings, and the correct hydraulic fluid for the lift. Do not mix random fluid brands.
• Sheaves, pulleys, and cable rollers – the pulleys at the top of each column that the cables ride over. When a sheave wears out it starts eating cables prematurely – always inspect the sheave face when you have a cable off.

Brand coverage: what lifts we source car lift parts for

Most car lift parts we sell fall under one of these brand umbrellas: Rotary, Challenger, Forward, and Bendpak. Beyond those top four we also handle Ammco, Ben Pearson, Direct Lift, Wheeltronic, and a long list of older brands whose parts still float around the aftermarket. If you are running a lift whose manufacturer went out of business decades ago, do not assume the parts are unfindable – call us with the plate data and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.

Special note on Stertil-Koni: their parts network is owned by the factory and they have chosen not to release parts to the aftermarket. If you have a Stertil-Koni lift we can inspect it and repair it, but the parts themselves have to come through Stertil-Koni’s own factory pipeline.

How to identify the right car lift parts before you order

Every lift ever built has a data plate on one of the columns. On 2-post lifts it is almost always on the front face of the drive-side (motor-side) column, about waist-high. On 4-post lifts it is usually on one of the front outer columns. That plate has the manufacturer, model number, serial number, capacity, and often the year of manufacture. Take a picture of it on your phone before you call – having those numbers speeds every parts conversation up dramatically.

With the plate data in hand, cross-reference the manufacturer parts manual for your model. If you do not have the manual, we can usually pull the diagram for you. From the diagram you can point to the item you need by figure number and we will look up the current part number and stock. This is much more reliable than reading the number off an old original part that might be smudged, painted over, or worn away.

OEM versus aftermarket car lift parts

For safety-critical parts – cables, hydraulic cylinders, lock ladders – we recommend OEM or OEM-equivalent car lift parts. The tolerances on these components are exact. A cable that is a hair too long or too short will not equalize the lift correctly. A cylinder with the wrong bore will not achieve rated lift capacity. Save the money-saving substitutions for consumables like fluid and generic mounting hardware, not for the parts that hold a vehicle in the air.

Where aftermarket is fine: bumper pads, floor plates, cosmetic covers, decals, and anything that is not load-bearing. We will tell you honestly on the phone which parts are OK to buy aftermarket for your lift and which are not.

Turnaround and shipping

In-stock car lift parts ship same-day when you order by early afternoon Central time. If a part is not stocked, we can usually get it in from the manufacturer or distributor in three to seven business days. Anything longer than that (special-order, backordered from the factory) we tell you before you check out – no surprises after the money is spent. For emergency situations where a lift is down and a shop cannot run, mention it on the call and we will do what we can to route it fastest.

If you need install help along with the parts

Some car lift parts are easy for a shop technician to swap – a bumper pad, a cable set, a hose. Others – a complete cylinder swap, a full column tear-down, a motor and power unit replacement – are jobs where a mistake creates a real safety problem. We run install crews for exactly this reason. If the parts and the job are more than you want to tackle, we can quote a service visit alongside the parts order. Our techs work on lifts every day and will bring the tooling, the fluid, and the safety experience to make sure it goes right.

Frequently asked questions

How do I identify what car lift parts I need?

Find the data plate on one of the lift columns. It shows manufacturer, model number, serial, and capacity. Take a phone photo and send it to us along with your symptom. That plate data is what we need to look up the right car lift parts.

Do you sell aftermarket or OEM car lift parts?

Both. For safety-critical items (cables, cylinders, lock ladders, seals) we recommend OEM or true OEM-equivalent. For consumables (fluid, pads, cosmetic covers) aftermarket is fine and often cheaper.

What brands of car lift parts do you carry?

Rotary, Challenger, Forward, and BendPak are our top four. We also source Ammco, Wheeltronic, Direct Lift, Ben Pearson, and older discontinued brands. Stertil-Koni parts are only available through Stertil-Koni’s own factory network.

How fast do car lift parts ship?

In-stock items ship same-day when ordered by early afternoon Central time. Non-stock or specialty items come in from our distributor or the factory in three to seven business days.

Can you install the parts for me?

Yes. Our install crews handle service visits on any brand. Central Iowa local; outside we can handle remote diagnosis plus shipped parts.