Atlas PRO-9D 9,000 lb 2-Post Overhead Lift

Most two-post lifts make you choose a geometry when you buy. Symmetric columns put the vehicle centred between the posts, which suits trucks and even weight distribution. Asymmetric setups rotate the columns and shorten the front arms so the car sits further back and the doors open clear of the posts. Pick wrong and you live with it.

The PRO-9D does not ask you to choose. It has symmetric columns with arms that can be set in either the symmetric or the asymmetric position, so the same lift covers both jobs — and in its EZ-metric arm configuration it reaches an unusually low lift pad position, which is what lets it get under a small car with low pick-up points and still handle a heavier pickup.

The second thing worth knowing is what raises it: dual direct-drive cylinders. The cylinder acts on the carriage directly rather than through a chain running over sheaves, which means fewer moving parts and fewer things to stretch, wear or need adjusting over the life of the lift.

Will It Fit?

This is an overhead lift, so the ceiling is the first question and the floor is the second.

• Overall height 144" — a 12 foot lift. That is the finished, standing height, and it is the figure your ceiling has to clear.
• Overall floor width 134 1/2" (11' 2 1/2"), outside column to outside column 124 7/8" (10' 4 7/8"), and 110" (9' 2") inside the columns.
• Drive-through 100" (8' 4") set symmetric, 90 1/2" (7' 6 1/2") set asymmetric. Note that the arm setting you choose changes this by nearly ten inches — measure your widest vehicle against the configuration you actually intend to run.
• Lift height 68" without adapters, 74 1/4" with them. Minimum arm height 4 1/2".
• Concrete: a minimum of 4" at a 3000 psi rating. This lift is anchored and the slab is part of the structure.
• Power: 220 volt single phase, 30 amp breaker recommended. Budget for an electrician unless the circuit is already there.
• Oil: 3 to 5 gallons of AW32 or AW46, not included.

Confirming the ceiling, the bay width, the slab and the route in is the customer's responsibility. Ask us before you order if anything is close — it costs nothing and it is the one class of problem that cannot be solved after the truck has been.

Symmetric or Asymmetric: Choosing Per Vehicle Instead of Per Purchase

The practical difference shows up the moment somebody has to get out of the car.

Run symmetric and the vehicle sits centred, weight split evenly front to rear across four arms of similar reach. That is what you want under a pickup, a van, or anything long and heavy. Run asymmetric and the vehicle moves rearward in the bay; the doors then clear the columns, so a technician can open a door on a car that is already in the air rather than climbing round it. On a lift that spends its day doing interior electrical work, diagnostics or anything requiring the driver's seat, that is not a nicety.

Because the PRO-9D's arms set either way, the configuration follows the work rather than being fixed on the day it is installed. The EZ-metric arrangement is the one that produces the very low pad position, and a low pad is the difference between reaching a sports car's lift points and giving up and using ramps.

Direct Drive: Fewer Parts in the Load Path

A chain-drive two-post uses a hydraulic cylinder to pull a chain that runs over a sheave and lifts the carriage. It works well and it is common. It also means a chain, a sheave, and the tension and wear that come with them.

Direct drive removes that step: the cylinder moves the carriage. Fewer moving parts is the whole argument, and it is a maintenance argument rather than a performance one — over years of service there is simply less in the load path to inspect, adjust and eventually replace. Two cylinders, one per column, keep the carriages working together.

Around that sit the safety systems you should expect and should check for: automatic arm restraints, which lock the arms against swinging as soon as the vehicle's weight is on them, and a single-point lock release, so one control frees both columns instead of an operator working round the bay. Rubber guards on the carriages keep car doors off bare steel, and the whole lift is powder coated rather than painted.

Perfect For

• Smaller commercial repair facilities running a genuine mix of cars and light trucks through one bay.
• Serious home and enthusiast garages with 12 feet of ceiling and the electrical supply to match.
• Shops doing interior and diagnostic work, where the asymmetric setting earns its keep every day.
• Low cars with low pick-up points, which is exactly what the EZ-metric arm configuration is for.

What's in the Box

• 8 piece truck adapter set
• Adapters at 1.5" and 5" heights, four of each
• Mounting hardware

The arm hole and adapter peg size is 1.5" — the figure to check against any adapters already in your bay. Hydraulic oil is not supplied.

Specifications

Certification, Stated Plainly

Atlas publishes no independent third-party safety listing for the PRO-9D and we will not imply one. The difference that matters is between an outside laboratory testing a design against a published standard and then auditing the factory that builds it, and a manufacturer stating conformity itself. This lift is sold on the latter basis.

Whether that affects you depends entirely on who else has an interest in your workshop. An insurer writing a commercial policy, a landlord's lease conditions, a fleet or contract customer, or a local jurisdiction with its own rules on vehicle lifts may all ask. If one of those applies, settle the requirement before you buy and ask us rather than assuming either way.

Shipping and Delivery

Freight carrier delivery within the lower 48 at 1,450 lbs, quoted live at checkout for your own destination instead of a flat national rate.

Unloading is down to you, and Atlas states what it takes: a forklift, a bobcat or skid steer, or a roll-back wrecker truck. Assume a full-size enclosed tractor-trailer will be making the delivery, which rules out some driveways and narrow streets. Arrange the equipment and check the access in advance, or take terminal pickup and collect the crate. Delivery to a home address rather than a commercial one carries a residential fee.

Look the crate over before signing. Photograph anything that is not right, have the damage written onto the bill of lading with the driver present, and keep your copy. Without that note a claim becomes an argument.

Warranty and Installation

Cover is 5 years on the structure and 2 years on the hydraulic power system, parts only. Parts are supplied under warranty; fitting them is not.

Bleed the cylinders properly at installation. Air in a new hydraulic system is the usual reason a two-post rises unevenly, settles slightly, or stops short of full height in its first week, and it is not a fault — ask us for the bleeding procedure with your order rather than diagnosing it as one.

If there is a real failure, leave the lift assembled. Photograph it in place, record what the lift was carrying and what it was doing, and speak to us before anything is dismantled. A part that turns up already taken apart has lost the evidence the claim depends on.