Never One-Arm Lift!
Unless you like buying expensive lift parts from NES.
We see this more often than we should.
A technician needs to get one corner of a vehicle a little higher, unload a suspension component, or get a tire off the ground. Instead of grabbing the right jack or support equipment, they swing one arm of the two-post lift underneath the vehicle and use the lift like a giant floor jack.
Don’t do that.
A Two-Post Lift Is Not a One-Arm Jack
A two-post lift is designed to raise a vehicle using its lifting arms positioned at the proper vehicle lifting points.
Each arm and its components are designed for a specific portion of the lift’s rated capacity. When you put a significant load on a single arm, you can put forces into the arm, carriage, restraints, cables, cylinders, and other components that the lift was never intended to see by itself.
The fact that the lift can pick something up with one arm does not mean it should.
“I’m Only Lifting It a Couple Inches”
We hear that too.
The problem isn’t how high you raise it. The problem is how the lift is being loaded.
Using one arm to raise one corner of a vehicle can overload that arm and put an uneven load into the rest of the lift. Depending on what you are trying to do, the vehicle can also shift as suspension unloads or weight transfers.
Best case, nothing happens.
Less-best case, you damage something expensive.
Worst case, somebody gets hurt.
There are better tools for the job.
Use the Correct Lifting Points
When raising a vehicle on a frame-engaging lift, position the adapters at the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended lifting points.
Don’t guess. Lifting points can vary between models and even model years. ALI publishes an updated lifting-point guide specifically for this reason.
Once the vehicle is positioned correctly, use all of the required lift arms and follow the lift manufacturer’s operating instructions.
If you need to support or raise one part of the vehicle after it is already on the lift, use equipment designed for that purpose.
We Sell Parts. We’d Rather You Didn’t Need Them.
We’re happy to sell replacement lift arms, restraints, cables, sheaves, and other lift parts.
We’d just prefer that you didn’t need them because somebody used a 10,000 lb. two-post lift as a one-arm jack.
Use the lift the way it was designed to be used. It’s safer, it’s easier on the equipment, and it usually costs a lot less in the long run.
Northcoast Equipment Specialists provides automotive lift sales, installation, inspection, maintenance, and repair throughout Northeast Ohio.
Never One-Arm Lift!