Vehicle Storage Lifts in Davenport: Symmetric vs Asymmetric Arms

A racing team crew chief we work with near Davenport called us with a problem a lot of race shops run into: not enough floor space to store the trailer’s worth of cars between events, but still needing full underbody access for differential fluid service between rounds. Vehicle storage lifts solved the space problem, but the real decision came down to arm configuration — symmetric or asymmetric — and that choice changes everything from how you climb into the car to how easily you can get a jack under the diff. We put together the same decision tree we walked him through, starting with budget and ending with the exact arm style that fits a race-prep bay.

Step One: Set the Budget Floor

Every decision tree for vehicle storage lifts starts with what you’re actually willing to spend, because arm configuration, capacity, and even brand availability all shift once you set that number. Entry-level two-post lifts in the 9,000 to 10,000 pound range are the most budget-friendly path to storage plus service capability, and they’re widely available with either arm style. If the budget is tight and you’re mainly storing lighter cars between events, a symmetric two-post at the lower end of that capacity range gets you the most storage-per-dollar.

If the budget allows for a step up, moving into a 12,000 to 15,000 pound asymmetric lift opens up better clearance for larger tow vehicles or trailers you might also want off the ground, and gives you more working room around the vehicle. For most race teams working out of a Davenport shop, we find the mid-tier asymmetric units hit the sweet spot between cost and function, but the budget conversation always has to happen before the arm conversation, not after.

Step Two: Define the Primary Use — Storage or Service

The next branch in the tree is whether the lift’s primary job is storage with occasional service access, or service with storage as a bonus. A crew chief running differential fluid changes between every event needs quick, repeatable underbody access more than he needs to squeeze in one extra car. That use case points toward asymmetric arms almost every time, because the offset arm design pulls the front arms back and angles the rears out, giving a clear shot at the differential and drivetrain without the front arm blocking the path.

If the lift is purely for overnight or seasonal storage — cars going up and staying up for weeks between events — symmetric arms are perfectly fine and often cheaper. Vehicle storage lifts used mainly for storage don’t need the drivetrain clearance that service work demands, so there’s no reason to pay for asymmetric geometry you won’t use. Being honest about which use case is primary saves money and avoids buying more lift than the job requires.

Step Three: Symmetric Arms for Straightforward Storage

If the decision tree lands on storage-first, symmetric arm lifts are the simpler, more affordable choice. The arms extend evenly on both sides of the lift, which centers the vehicle directly between the columns. That’s ideal for parking a car and leaving it, since you don’t need to think about door clearance or offset weight distribution — the car just sits centered and stable for as long as you need it stored.

The downside for a race team is underbody access. Symmetric arms position the front arms in a spot that can interfere with reaching the front differential or front-mounted components on some chassis, and door swing can be tighter in a symmetric setup depending on the vehicle. For a team that occasionally needs to do quick fluid checks but isn’t doing full differential service on the lift itself, symmetric arms are still a reasonable choice — just not the optimal one for frequent drivetrain work.

Step Four: Asymmetric Arms for Differential and Drivetrain Access

If differential fluid service is a regular part of the routine, asymmetric arms are the better branch. The offset geometry moves the front arms rearward and angles them outward, which clears the front end of the vehicle and leaves the differential, transmission, and full underbody exposed with the arms out of the way. For a crew chief swapping gear oil or checking the diff between every event, that clearance turns a fifteen-minute job into a five-minute job, which matters a lot on a tight race weekend schedule.

Asymmetric lifts also tend to make driver entry and exit easier because the arms sit further back, reducing the chance of hitting a door on the front arm — a small thing, but it adds up over a season of getting in and out of low race cars multiple times a day. The tradeoff is typically a slightly higher price point and, on some models, a marginally longer footprint, both of which need to fit your Davenport shop’s floor plan.

Step Five: Confirm Ceiling Height and Floor Requirements

Once arm style is chosen, the tree moves to physical fit. Two-post vehicle storage lifts need adequate ceiling height to fully raise the vehicle for underbody work, and floor thickness has to meet the anchor requirements for the lift’s rated capacity. We’ve walked into more than one shop where the arm decision was made before anyone measured the ceiling, which is backwards — a great asymmetric lift is useless if the car can’t come up far enough to actually get a drain pan under the diff.

Davenport shops built in older industrial buildings sometimes have lower clearance or thinner slab than newer construction, so this step isn’t optional. We physically lay out lifts on-site before a purchase whenever possible, checking overhead obstructions, floor condition, and anchor spacing so the arm configuration you picked in steps one through four actually works in the space you have.

Step Six: Final Selection and Long-Term Fit

The last branch is matching everything back to how the team will actually use the lift over a full season, not just the next event. A racing team storing multiple cars and rotating differential service between them benefits from standardizing on asymmetric arms across all their vehicle storage lifts, since that consistency speeds up the crew’s workflow and reduces confusion about which lift does what. Mixing arm styles across a multi-lift bay can work, but it’s worth deciding intentionally rather than by accident.

Whether you land on symmetric or asymmetric, budget, use case, and physical space all have to agree before you order. We help Davenport-area shops and teams work through this exact decision tree regularly, and we stock both configurations so there’s rarely a long wait once the choice is made. For more on related setups, see our articles on two-post lift arm configurations explained, differential service lift setup tips, and racing shop lift layout guide.