Direct drive: the cylinders push the carriages, and nothing has to be equalised

On most two-post lifts the two carriages are tied together by a chain or cable running over sheaves, and that linkage is the part that needs attention over the years — it stretches, it needs re-tensioning, and if it is neglected the two sides stop rising together. The Tuxedo TP12KC-D uses direct drive push cylinders instead. Each cylinder acts on its carriage directly. There is no equalising chain to stretch, far less to inspect, and the failure mode people quietly dread on an older lift simply is not in the design.

That is the reason to look at this lift rather than a cheaper one with the same capacity number. It is a 12,000 lb clear-floor, symmetric two-post with a single-point pneumatic lock release, and it is built so that the routine ownership burden is small.

Will it fit your building? Read this section before you buy

More two-post purchases go wrong on the building than on the lift. Four things to establish, all of them yours to verify.

• Ceiling. The lift stands 165″ overall to the top of the beam. Your ceiling must clear that plus working room above the beam, and you have to measure to the lowest obstruction in the bay — the door track when it is open, the unit heater, the light fittings, the sprinkler heads — not to the highest point of the roof. The installation manual states the recommended minimum ceiling height for this model and it is more than the lift's own height; read it before you commit, because this is the requirement that most often kills a garage installation.
• Floor. Every two-post lift must be anchored into concrete, and the manual specifies both a minimum slab thickness and a minimum compressive strength. We deliberately do not print an approximate figure on this page — the number that matters is the one in the manual for this model, and a slab is expensive to get wrong twice. If you do not know what your slab is, find out before you order rather than after the lift is standing in the bay.
• Width. Allow 151″ overall including the power unit, with 122″ between the columns. Then add door swing on both sides and somewhere for a technician to stand.
• Power. 220V, single phase, 20 Amp. Have an electrician confirm the circuit before delivery day.

Drive-through, rise and reach — the numbers that decide the daily work

Drive-through clearance between the carriages is 109″, which is what governs whether a wide vehicle can be driven straight in rather than shuffled. Maximum lift height at the pad is 72″, giving a working height under the vehicle that suits standing work rather than stooping; measured under the arms the rise is 67″. Minimum pad height is 5.5″, which is the specification that decides whether a low sports car or a lowered truck can be picked up at all — a lift that cannot get its pads under the sill is no use however much it will lift.

The arms are symmetric, with short and long arm reach both running 37-5/8″ to 56-3/4″, and each arm is rated to 3,000 lbs. Symmetric geometry means the vehicle sits centred between the columns; it loads both posts evenly and is the arrangement most technicians find predictable, particularly on trucks and vans. A heavy-duty arm restraint system holds the arms where you set them so they cannot swing out from under a load.

The details that show up after the first year

Three features here are the sort you only appreciate once the lift has been in service. Rubber door guards protect the paintwork of a car opened next to a steel column, which on a customer's vehicle is not a cosmetic matter. External hose guards keep the hydraulic lines where a technician can actually look at them — hoses buried inside a column are hoses nobody inspects. And the single-point pneumatic lock release takes the locks off with one control rather than a walk around the lift.

Drop-in lift pads and stackable adapters are supplied. The adapters are what let you reach a factory lift point on a truck with a deep rocker or a body-on-frame vehicle without improvising a stack of blocks — included, rather than an upsell.

Perfect for

• Independent repair shops wanting capacity headroom over a lighter-duty lift for three-quarter-ton and one-ton trucks.
• Truck, van and light commercial specialists where the daily vehicle is heavier than a car.
• Fleet and municipal workshops running service vans and pickups, where downtime on a lift stops the whole schedule.
• Dealership service departments adding a heavier bay to a line of car lifts.
• Serious home and collector garages — provided the ceiling, the slab and the single-phase supply are genuinely there.

What comes with the lift

Two columns with carriages and direct-drive push cylinders, symmetric arms with the heavy-duty restraint system, drop-in lift pads, stackable adapters, rubber door guards, external hose guards, the single-point pneumatic lock release and the power unit. Anchors, hydraulic fluid and installation are where kits vary — if any of those matter to your quote, ask us before ordering and we will confirm what is in your crate.

Specifications

One number we will not settle for you: the crated weight

Tuxedo's published specification for this lift, and our own spec sheet, both state a ship weight of 2,295 lbs. The weight held in our store's shipping record is lower, and it is being corrected. That is worth telling you plainly rather than burying, because your freight price is calculated live from that record — an understated crated weight is not a cosmetic error.

If you are booking your own transport, hiring lifting equipment by capacity, or planning how this comes off the truck, ask us to confirm the crated weight in writing before you commit to anything. We will get the figure from Tuxedo rather than pick whichever number is convenient.

About certification

Tuxedo does not claim an independent third-party lift safety listing for this model in the data supplied to us, and we are not going to imply one. The distinction to be clear on before you buy: a manufacturer's own statement that a lift is built to a standard is a different document from an outside body having examined the design and listed it. Insurers, fleet policies, dealership programme requirements and some local jurisdictions require the second specifically, and they ask for the certificate rather than the brochure. If that applies to you, get the requirement in writing and send it to us before you order — we would rather lose a sale answering honestly than have a lift installed that your inspector will not sign off.

Shipping and delivery

The lift ships by freight to the lower 48. Freight is quoted live at checkout for your own address, so it reflects current rates instead of a figure typed into a page and forgotten. You must be able to take a crated two-post lift off the truck — a forklift with real capacity, or a dock — or you can choose to collect from the carrier's local terminal instead. Delivery to a residential address carries a residential fee, disclosed before you pay.

Inspect the shipment before you sign anything. Look at the banding, the column packaging, the arms and the power unit, and write any damage you find on the delivery receipt before signing — then photograph it and contact us the same day. Freight damage is a carrier matter rather than a warranty matter, and a clean signature is very difficult to walk back. Missing or concealed-damage parts have a short reporting window with the manufacturer too, so unpack and check the shipment against the parts list promptly rather than leaving a crate sealed for a fortnight.

Warranty

The lift carries the manufacturer's limited warranty, which treats structural components and wearing parts differently and excludes on-site labour. Because those terms are Tuxedo's to set and a paraphrase on a product page drifts out of date without anyone noticing, we publish the current terms, the exclusions and the claim procedure on our warranty claims page. On a purchase this size, if a specific warranty term is part of your decision, ask us to confirm it in writing before you order. And if a fault appears, photograph it as found and speak to us before dismantling or modifying anything — a component already taken apart is usually outside the claim.