Hofmann 12K Scissor Alignment Lift — 12,000 lb Capacity

The 12K's most useful feature is the one nobody photographs: its approach ramps expand. They give a multi-tiered drive-on approach that extends up to 87" when a long, low vehicle needs a gentler angle, and they retract into themselves to a 35" minimum when the bay is short and the ramp would otherwise be in the way. One lift, two answers to the two problems that ramps normally force you to choose between.

That flexibility sits on a 12,000 lb capacity open-front scissor with flush-mounted rear slip plates and a heavy-duty wheel-free rolling jack, certified to the current ANSI/ALI ALCTV:2011 lift standard.

Ramps that adapt to the vehicle and the building

Fixed approach ramps are a compromise made once, at the factory. A short, steep ramp saves floor length but scrapes the front of anything low. A long, shallow ramp takes low vehicles happily and then occupies floor you may not have.

Expandable, multi-tiered ramps let you make that choice per vehicle and per bay. Extended to 87" the approach is shallow enough for a low car to drive on under its own power; retracted to 35" the lift's total occupied length comes down substantially, which can be what makes it fit a bay at all. If your building is tight at one end, measure with the retracted figure and use the extended one when the work needs it.

Lifting straight up, and holding mechanically

A scissor lift's design problem is that a scissor naturally wants to move the platform fore and aft as it rises. The 12K lifts straight up with no fore or aft movement, which is not a small claim on an alignment lift — a platform that shifts as it rises drags the tyres against the floor and pre-loads the suspension in a way that corrupts the reading you are about to take.

Cross-aligned heavy-duty hydraulic cylinders maintain constant level lifting, backed by a reinforcing rear-mount cross member. Hydraulic equalization and the full-support rear member together deliver repeatable, level lifting — and repeatable is the operative word for a machine whose whole output is a measurement.

The lift holds on dual engaging twin interlocking mechanical safety racks with pneumatic release, operated through a single point safety lock release system. Two independent interlocking racks means the load is never held by hydraulic pressure alone, and a single-point release means the operator is not walking the lift to reset locks corner by corner. Motion is smoothed by captured, reinforced glide blocks.

The rolling jack and the plates

Each heavy-duty rolling jack is easy to position and provides 6,000 lbs of wheel-free lifting. Wheel-free is what turns an alignment lift into a service lift: with the vehicle raised off the runways you can pull a wheel, change a bushing or work the suspension without moving the vehicle to another bay, then set it back down and finish the alignment.

The rear slip plates are flush mounted with heavy-duty encapsulated bearings, so they support the wheel while still moving smoothly to ease rear alignment adjustments — and encapsulating the bearings is what stops shop grit doing to them what it does to exposed plates. Turnplate pocket depth is adjustable, which is how you get the turnplates sitting genuinely level with the runway surface instead of proud or sunk, and a turnplate that is not level is a caster reading you cannot trust. An on-board Filter/Regulator/Lubricator protects the air system, and the runway platform surface is non-skid over a powder-coat finish.

Will It Fit?

The lift needs both a dedicated electrical supply and shop air, in place and inspected before installation day. The floor, the concrete, the electrical work and any permit your jurisdiction requires are the customer's responsibility. If you are considering the flush mount version, the pit work has to be designed from the manufacturer's drawings — ask us for them before anything is excavated.

Perfect For

• An alignment shop with a mixed book, where a low sports car and a work van both need to get on the same lift the same afternoon.
• A shop with a length-constrained bay — the retracted ramp figure is what may make this lift fit where a fixed-ramp machine will not.
• A general repair shop wanting one machine that does alignments and wheel-free suspension work without a second bay.
• A facility planning a flush-mount installation, since a flush model of this lift exists as a direct alternative.

Certification

This lift is certified to the current ANSI/ALI ALCTV:2011 lift standard, which is the manufacturer's own stated claim for it. That is certification against a published standard rather than a self-declaration, and it is normally the document an insurer, a dealership programme or a workplace inspector wants to see. If yours needs a current certificate or a specific listing reference, ask and we will get you the paperwork.

One figure to confirm with us

The runway width is recorded two different ways on this product. The manufacturer's description calls them "Pro-Style" 24" wide runways; the specification list and a separate product field both give a runway width of 23". That is an inch, and on a wide-track vehicle an inch of runway is not nothing. We are not going to pick one for you — ask us and we will confirm it against the factory drawing before you order.

We have also left the lifting and lowering times off this page. Both are recorded, but in a form our data cannot express as a checkable figure, and a speed claim is not worth publishing unless it is exact. Ask us if it matters to you.

Shipping and delivery

All Hofmann machines come with free delivery, setup, and instruction, as stated in the Pick Up and Delivery section on this page. On an alignment scissor that setup is the levelling, and the levelling is what the machine's accuracy rests on. Delivery is within the lower 48 states.

Your responsibility is the site: a sound and level floor, the electrical supply, shop air, working room around the runways and the ramps at full extension, and access for the delivery vehicle and the installers. Go through it with us before delivery is booked. On arrival, inspect the runways, the scissor assemblies, the console and the jack before signing, and write any damage on the delivery paperwork at the time rather than reporting it later.

Warranty

Warranty terms are published on our warranty claims page; read the terms rather than a summary. If a fault appears, contact us before anyone opens the power unit, the cylinders, the safety racks or the rolling jack. Equipment that has been disassembled is much harder to claim on, and on a certified lift, unauthorised work on the locking or hydraulic systems can call the certification into question as well.