How to Replace Car Lift Arm Pads

Lift arm pads are the rubber pads that contact the vehicle’s pinch weld or frame. They wear out from years of pressure, get cut by odd contact points, or crack from heat and age. On some lifts the pad is a stack of steel and rubber that sits into a foot-pad receiver; on others it telescopes; on flip-up designs the pad rotates in and out. In every case the actual replaceable part is the rubber pad bolted to the steel foot-pad plate. Knowing how to replace car lift arm pads is one of the simpler lift repairs, but a pad that will not stay under the vehicle is a vehicle that comes off the lift — so getting the right pad and confirming its motion afterward is the part that matters.

Tools and prep

Have ready: a bench vise, wrenches or sockets, a grinder for seized or broken bolts, safety glasses, anti-seize, and the correct replacement pads — the new bolts are usually in the bag with the new pads. Make the lift safe first: compare the new pads to the ones on the lift, and if they are not exactly correct, decide whether they will work as a replacement. If they will not fit, photograph the old pads and get the correct part before doing anything else. There is no point pulling foot-pads off a working lift for a pad that does not fit.

Step-by-step: how to replace car lift arm pads

1. With the correct pads confirmed, remove the foot-pads — the actual pieces of steel the rubber pad bolts to — from the lift.
2. Clamp the foot-pad in a bench vise.
3. Unbolt the old rubber pad from the steel. If the bolts will not break loose or they snap off, cut them with a grinder — safety glasses on.
4. Bolt the new rubber pad on using the new bolts from the bag with the new pads.
5. Place the foot-pad back onto the arm.
6. Confirm the pad turns if it is telescoping, extends if it is a stack style, or flips up if it is a flip-up style.

How to tell it’s time to replace

Replace pads when the rubber is worn flat, cut, cracked from age or heat, or no longer grips the pinch weld. While you have the foot-pad off, check the steel foot-pad plate for cracks, broken welds, and severe rust; the foot-pad screw threads (anti-seize on reinstall); any truck adapter extensions (anti-seize the threads if used); and the arm itself, since it is right there at working height — look for cracks, broken welds, and rust. Knowing how to replace car lift arm pads is a good excuse to give the arms a quick structural look while the pads are off.

Safety

A pad that will not stay under the vehicle is a vehicle that comes off the lift. Confirm the pad turns, extends, or flips as designed before returning the vehicle to service, and check that the pad seats fully into the foot-pad receiver. Wear safety glasses if you have to grind off a seized bolt. Doing how to replace car lift arm pads properly ends with the pad moving the way the design intended and sitting flat under load — not just bolted on.

Common mistakes and how we avoid them

The first mistake is starting the job before confirming the pad actually fits. Compare the new pad to what is on the lift, and if it is not exactly right, decide honestly whether it will work — if not, photograph the old pad and get the correct part before you pull anything apart. There is nothing worse than a lift down for a pad that does not seat. The second miss is fighting a seized pad bolt until it snaps flush; if it will not break loose cleanly, cut it with a grinder from the start, safety glasses on, and save yourself the extraction.

The third mistake is bolting the new pad on and calling it done without checking motion. Every pad design moves a certain way — telescoping pads turn, stack pads extend, flip-up pads rotate — and a pad that will not move as designed will not stay under the vehicle. Confirm the motion and confirm the pad seats fully into the receiver before the vehicle goes back on. Because you already have the foot-pad in the vise, take the extra minute to check the steel plate for cracks and broken welds and to anti-seize the threads on reinstall; that is the difference between a pad swap and a pad swap that holds up.

It also pays to look past the pad while you are there. The truck adapter extensions that stack onto some foot-pads seize at the threads if they are never broken loose and greased, and a frozen extension is useless the day a tech needs the extra height under a pickup frame — so anti-seize those threads on reinstall. Check that the foot-pad drops cleanly into its receiver and that nothing is bent from a past slip. A pad is cheap; a vehicle that rolls off a lift because a foot-pad would not seat is not, which is the whole reason this small job is worth doing carefully.

Knowing how to replace car lift arm pads is one of the easiest repairs on a two-post lift, which is exactly why it gets rushed. Slow down on the two things that matter — the right part and the confirmed motion — and how to replace car lift arm pads becomes a fifteen-minute job you never see again.

We do this every week — how to replace car lift arm pads is a job our field techs run in customer shops across the region, not a procedure we read out of a manual. If you get partway in and something does not match what you see, or a part looks wrong before you commit to it, call us at 800-674-9302 and we will walk it with you. When you are ready to order, find the exact parts for your lift in our parts lookup so you get the right fit the first time and finish the job in one trip.