Forward Lift I10 Pre-Purchase Checklist for Des Moines Metro Farm Shops

If you run a farm shop in the Des Moines metro doing restoration and metal work, a used forward lift i10 can be one of the smartest buys you make all year — or one of the more expensive mistakes, depending on what’s hiding in the cables. We’ve inspected plenty of these two-post lifts that got parked in a machine shed for a few winters before someone decided to sell, and cable wear is almost always the thing that gets overlooked. Before you hand over cash for a forward lift i10, walk through this checklist with us so you know exactly what you’re buying and what it’ll cost to make it safe.

Why the Forward Lift I10 Shows Up on Farm Shop Wish Lists

The forward lift i10 has a reputation for being a heavy, no-nonsense two-post asymmetric lift, which is exactly what a restoration or metal fabrication shop needs when you’re pulling frames, swapping beds, or hoisting a half-finished project truck for weeks at a time. It’s not fussy, the columns are solid steel, and parts are still available even on older units, which matters a lot once you’re an hour outside Des Moines and don’t want to wait a week for a fitting.

That said, popularity among farm and restoration shops means these lifts often get bought secondhand from an auction, an estate sale, or a shop that’s closing down. Nobody at those sales is going to tell you the cables haven’t been touched since the Clinton administration. That’s on you to check, and it’s the single biggest safety item on any used two-post lift, forward or otherwise.

What Cable Wear Actually Looks Like on a Forward Lift I10

Start by running the lift up under load and looking at the cable path from the carriage down to the sheave and back to the other post. You’re looking for fraying strands, flat spots where the cable has been riding against a pulley wrong, rust that’s pitted the wire instead of just sitting on the surface, and any kink that never straightened back out. A cable with even one visibly broken strand needs to be replaced before the lift goes back into service — that’s not a maybe.

Also check the sheaves themselves. A groove that’s worn a groove of its own, uneven, or glazed shiny in one spot means the cable has been riding wrong for a long time, which accelerates wear on whatever cable you put in next. On a forward lift i10 specifically, we see wear concentrate at the lower sheave more than people expect, because that’s where the cable takes the sharpest direction change under full load. If the sheave looks chewed up, budget for that part too, not just the cable.

Replacement Intervals: What’s Normal vs. What’s Overdue

Most shops running a forward lift i10 daily should plan on a full visual cable inspection every month and a hands-on inspection — actually running your hand along the length, gloved, feeling for burrs — every 90 days. Full cable replacement intervals vary a lot depending on load and duty cycle, but a shop lifting heavier truck frames and equipment several times a day should expect to replace cables every couple of years, sometimes sooner if the shop is unheated and humid, which describes a lot of Iowa machine sheds in spring.

If you’re buying used and the seller has no maintenance log at all — which is the norm, not the exception, for farm shop equipment changing hands — assume the cables are original and near end of life unless you can prove otherwise. Build that into your offer price. A full cable set plus labor is a lot cheaper than finding out the hard way with a truck frame six feet in the air.

The Pre-Purchase Walkthrough We Recommend

Before you buy, run the lift through a full cycle empty, then loaded, and listen. Cables that are about to go often make a subtle popping or ticking sound as strands separate under tension, distinct from normal hydraulic noise. Check that both sides rise evenly — a forward lift i10 with a stretched or damaged cable on one side will visibly lean or one post will lag the other during travel, which is an immediate red flag.

Check the arm restraints and locking mechanism while you’re at it, since sellers who neglect cables often neglect everything else too. Look underneath for hydraulic seepage around the cylinder, and check that the safety locks actually engage at each notch rather than being bypassed or rusted solid. If you can, ask to see the lift run through a full raise-and-lower cycle with someone standing clear, not just sitting static in the raised position, since that’s when cable problems reveal themselves.

What It Costs to Get a Used I10 Safe Again

Cable replacement on a forward lift i10 is a moderate job — figure a few hours of labor if someone experienced is doing it, longer if the sheaves also need replacing or if corrosion has frozen fasteners in place. Factor that into your offer. A seller asking a premium price for a lift with visibly rough cables should expect you to negotiate down by roughly what the repair will cost, plus a bit for your time and risk.

We get calls from farm shops across central Iowa who bought a lift sight-unseen from a farm auction and then called us once it was already sitting in their bay wondering why one side won’t rise smoothly. We’d rather help you before that purchase than after. If you send us photos of the cables and sheaves on any forward lift i10 you’re considering, we can usually tell you within a day whether it’s a safe buy or a walk-away, and quote parts if it just needs cables.

Installing and Maintaining It Once It’s In Your Shop

Once you own the forward lift i10, get it anchored properly to a concrete pad rated for the load — this gets skipped more than you’d think in older farm buildings with thinner slabs than a lift this heavy needs. We can evaluate your slab before install so you’re not finding out about a cracked pad after the fact. Proper anchoring also keeps the columns from working loose over years of heavy truck and equipment use, which indirectly protects your cables too since a lift that’s shifted slightly puts uneven load on the cable path.

From there, set a simple maintenance calendar: monthly visual cable checks, quarterly hands-on inspection, annual full safety inspection including arm restraints and locks. Keep a written log even if it’s just notes in a shop notebook — it protects you, and it makes the next buyer’s life easier if you ever sell. Farm shops that do this consistently get years more life out of a forward lift i10 than shops that just run it until something breaks.

When to Call In a Professional Instead of DIY

Cable replacement on a two-post lift is doable for a mechanically capable farm shop owner, but there’s real risk involved in working under a raised, unloaded lift while cables are disconnected, and we’d rather talk you through it or send someone out than have you improvise. If you’re not confident identifying whether a sheave is worn enough to replace, or whether an anchor bolt pattern is adequate for your slab, that’s exactly the kind of call we take every week from shops across the Des Moines metro and beyond.

We stock cables and parts for Forward lifts along with Rotary and Challenger equipment, so whether you’re refitting an old the lift you just bought or maintaining one you’ve run for a decade, we can get you the right part instead of a generic substitute that wears out fast. A quick call before you buy, or before you climb under a raised vehicle, costs nothing and saves a lot.