Requirements for Installing a 2 Post Lift

The bottom of a vehicle isn’t a pretty sight. Road grime and salt build up in the nooks and crannies, curbs and potholes do untold damage to the muffler and axles, and sometimes cats and squirrels find their way to your machine’s warm innards.

Unfortunately, humans are quite that dexterous. So we’ve found other ways of getting into our vehicles’ gears and joints without causing our own bodies harm.

It’s called a car lift, and it’s all in the name—such a piece of equipment will use hydraulic or gear-based lift technology to get your car or truck elevated quickly. You’ll need a few things to get that quick oil change, tire rotation, or absolutely any other maintenance issue dealt with: the space, the tools and the foundation.

You can’t set up a 2 post car lift on your front lawn. Your car may end up underground, which is the opposite of what we’re going for here.

Most 2 post lifts will fit in a decent-sized personal garage, as long as the foundation is solid and the area isn’t prone to sinking.

You’ll need the tools to set it up, though chances are if you’re using the lift to perform maintenance on your car, you may already realize this. At any rate, check with the manufacturer to assure you’ve got the right sized tools to assemble the lift once it’s delivered.

However, chances are the one tool you’re missing from the get-go is a forklift.

Upon delivery of your new BendPak lift, Danmar lift, or Norco lift, you’ll either need a local freight terminal to handle the delivery or borrow a forklift from Jeff down the street.

Finally, make sure you have the vertical and horizontal space required. Don’t buy a lift, put it in your super-wide garage, and then lift your F-150 into your daughter’s bedroom because you didn’t measure the vertical space.

Instead, call your daughter or son, niece or nephew downstairs with you. Having a two-post car lift is an amazing way to teach the intricacies of mechanics to your kids. A Sunday afternoon spent in the garage, gazing up into the inner workings of your chosen ride, teaching a useful skill to the next generation is a noble way to spend time.

Perhaps you’ll light a spark, they’ll become a mechanic, and you’ll never have to pay for an oil change or tire replacement again.

As you can see, a car lift is an investment in the here and now as well as the future.