Katool KT-AS110D: asymmetric arms, and the reason the door opens

Asymmetric is not a marketing word on a two-post lift, it is a geometry. The columns are rotated and the arms are unequal in length, so the vehicle sits further back between the posts than it would on a symmetric lift. The consequence is the one technicians care about: the doors clear the columns. On a symmetric lift a driver's door on a long-doored coupe meets a post at exactly the wrong moment, and the KT-AS110D is designed so that it does not. Katool also fits rubber door protection on the columns for the times when a door still swings further than anyone expected.

The second geometry number is the one that decides whether low cars can use the lift at all. The arms retract to 3.74 in (95 mm) at their lowest, which is what allows a low-clearance vehicle to be driven over them without a ramp or a run-up. At the other end of the range the lift raises to 70.75 in (1,800 mm) at the top of the pad, giving 67 in of rise measured under the arms.

Will It Fit?

Every figure below is the buyer's to check against their own building before ordering. We cannot see your bay, your roof or your slab.

• Ceiling, and this is the one that catches people. Overall height is 141.25 in (3,587 mm). That is a hair under twelve feet of structure standing in your bay, before anything is lifted. A garage with a nine-foot ceiling cannot take this lift, whatever the capacity says.
• Floor width. 134.65 in (3,420 mm) overall, 120.4 in (3,058 mm) across the outside of the columns, and 109.37 in (2,778 mm) between their inside faces. The inside figure is your working width.
• Drive-through. 99.61 in (2,530 mm) between the carriages. This governs how wide a vehicle can be driven straight in, and it is a harder limit in practice than the 11,000 lb rating ever is.
• Concrete. A slab at least 5.9 in thick with a compressive strength of at least 3,000 psi, level and unbroken under the anchor pattern - no expansion joint, no crack, no patch. Confirming this is the owner's job and it is the most common reason an installation stops on the day. If nobody knows what the slab is, core it before you order.
• Power. 220V single phase at 60 Hz, on a dedicated circuit that exists before the lift is stood up.

Lock release from one place

The mechanical locks engage as the carriages climb, so a raised vehicle rests on steel rather than on hydraulic pressure. Lowering therefore means releasing those locks - and on the KT-AS110D a single-point release unlocks both columns from one side. That sounds like a convenience and it is really a safety property: an operator releasing one column, walking around a raised vehicle, and releasing the second is an operator doing something asymmetric with a loaded lift. One handle, one action, both columns.

Above the carriages an overhead shutoff bar stops the lift if a vehicle roof reaches it, which is what protects an SUV from being raised into the crossbeam. Guardrails at the base protect feet from the carriages on the way down.

Two cylinders, one power unit

Each column carries its own hydraulic cylinder fed from a single power unit, rather than one cylinder dragging both sides through a linkage. Two cylinders working together is what keeps the carriages tracking level, and that matters most with an offset load - a pickup with a heavy engine forward and an empty bed, or a van loaded down one side. On a lift that rises unevenly the difference is taken up by the arms and pads instead of by the structure. Hydraulic lines, locks and pulleys are laid out so they can be inspected and serviced without major disassembly, which is what keeps annual inspection an hour's work rather than a day's.

Arms, pads and adapters

Screw-up pads carry adapters that extend from 3.94 to 6 inches, with a minimum pad height of 4 in. That range is what lets one lift take a low car at its pinch welds and a pickup at its frame rails without improvising. Pad reach and adjustability, far more than the capacity figure, decide whether an awkward vehicle can be picked up at the points its manufacturer intended.

Perfect For

• Professional service bays with the ceiling height for a clear-floor two-post and a mixed vehicle intake.
• Trucks, SUVs and full-size cars up to the 11,000 lb rating.
• Shops doing door-open work - interiors, glass, electrical - where symmetric geometry costs time every single day.
• Low vehicles that a 3.74 in arm height makes possible without ramps.

Specifications

Certification, stated plainly

Katool markets the KT-AS110D as CE certified, tested to 115 percent of its dynamic load and 150 percent of its static load. Take that for exactly what it is worth. CE is a European conformity marking founded on the manufacturer's own declaration; it is not the same document as a North American third-party lift safety listing and it does not stand in for one. For most home garages and a great many independent shops the difference never arises. It does arise for some commercial insurance policies, for fleet and municipal operations, and for local codes that name a specific listing. Establish what your insurer or inspector actually requires before you order, not after the lift is bolted down.

Shipping and delivery

The lift travels by freight truck within the lower 48 states, with the freight quoted live at checkout against your address so the number is a current carrier rate rather than a guess. Columns and carriages arrive as long, heavy crated assemblies and unloading them is the receiver's responsibility - a forklift with the capacity and reach, a dock, or a collection booked at the carrier's local terminal, which is very often the simplest route because the equipment is already on site. Residential delivery carries a residential fee, applied at checkout when you choose it.

Inspect the shipment before you sign for it. Look for bent column ends, crush damage, missing or shifted banding, damaged arm assemblies and oil anywhere on the pallet, and write what you find on the bill of lading while the driver is present, photographing as you go. A clean signature is the carrier's evidence that everything arrived undamaged and it is very hard to reopen afterwards.

Warranty

Katool publishes a written warranty document for this lift and we will send you the current copy before you order if the terms bear on your decision. One caution applies to every hydraulic lift whoever built it: if something fails, do not open the power unit, a cylinder or a lock mechanism before a claim has been raised. A disassembled component is normally treated as a modified one, and that is the fastest way to lose cover you would otherwise have received. Photograph the fault, note the serial number and call us first.