Greg Smith GS-9000-A Asymmetric Lift Review: Premium Hydraulics and Lifetime Frame Warranty

Greg Smith Equipment is an Indianapolis distributor that has imported and supported automotive lifts since the 1980s, and the GS-9000-A is its asymmetric 9,000 lb model, sold alongside the Atlas line the same company owns. The layout is overhead clear floor: two columns tied by a beam at the top, nothing across the bay at floor level, so a transmission jack rolls anywhere under the car.

The numbers are 9,000 lb of capacity, 70 in of rise, 113 in between the posts, a 2.5HP single phase 220V power unit and 1,480 lb of shipping weight. Price is around $3,599. The distinguishing spec is not on that list: a lifetime frame warranty, with 3 years covering the hydraulics and electrics. Nothing else in this price band offers structural coverage that long, and the company backing it has a parts counter rather than an Amazon storefront. Whether that is worth $3,599 for 9,000 lb is the question the rest of this review works through.

The 9,000 lb rating covers sedans, SUVs, half-ton pickups and an unloaded three-quarter-ton. It does not cover a loaded three-quarter-ton, a one-ton or a heavy van, and that is the honest limit of this lift. Buyers with a diesel crew cab should stop here and look at a 10,000 lb model.

70 in of rise puts a car body at chest height and a truck frame slightly low for a tall mechanic. The 113 in inside width is a normal drive-through for full-size vehicles. The arms are asymmetric, so the car sits about a foot rearward of center and the doors open far enough to get in and out with the vehicle raised, which matters for interior and dash work.

Overall height is 144 in, exactly 12 ft, and the overhead shut-off bar sits above the beam, so the practical minimum ceiling is about 12 ft 2 in. That rules out most attached garages and a lot of detached ones. Measure to the lowest obstruction, not to the peak.

Lifetime coverage on a lift frame sounds like marketing, and it partly is, because frames rarely fail. Columns bend from a bad anchor or a mispositioned load, and those are usually excluded. What the warranty really signals is that the seller expects to exist in twenty years and is willing to say so in writing.

The clause that pays out is the other one: 3 years on hydraulics and electrics. Pumps, cylinders, seals, solenoids and the motor are the parts that actually fail on a 2-post lift, usually between years two and five. Three years of coverage on them, from a distributor that stocks the replacements, is longer than the 2 years Atlas offers on its 10,000 lb clear floor and the 1 year most imports give.

Keep the paperwork and a photograph of the serial plate. Warranty claims on lifts stall over proof of purchase and proof that the lift was anchored to a slab that met the manual, so both are worth filing the week it goes in.

The power unit is 2.5HP on 220V single phase. There is no 110V version, so a garage without 220V needs an electrician and a dedicated circuit before the lift arrives. Anchoring calls for a minimum 4 in slab of 3,000 psi concrete, and a garage floor poured thin at the edges is the most common reason an install stops halfway.

At 1,480 lb the freight arrives on a pallet with no liftgate unless one is ordered, and each column is a two person job with an engine hoist or a forklift. The overhead beam needs a tall ladder and a second set of hands. Plan a full weekend, and plan on renting a rotary hammer for the anchor holes.

Because the columns are joined only at the top, an out of level slab shows up as a beam that will not sit square and cables that will not stay equalized. Shimming under the bases is normal and the manual sets a limit on it. A floor that exceeds that limit needs grinding or a pad poured, not more shims.

The BendPak XPR-10AS at $4,035 is the direct problem for this lift. For $436 more it is 10,000 lb rather than 9,000, asymmetric as well, ALI and ETL listed, dual-synchro equalized, 73 in of rise, and it needs only 11 ft 6 in of ceiling. On paper it beats the GS-9000-A on every line except the frame warranty, and BendPak covers its frames for life too.

The Atlas 10,000 lb clear floor at around $3,899 comes from the same Greg Smith parts network with 1,000 lb more capacity and a 3HP motor, but it is symmetric, so the doors stay shut with the car up, and it wants 12 ft 4 in of ceiling.

The Triumph NT-9 at around $3,299 is $300 cheaper, also 9,000 lb, and carries an ALI and ETL listing the Greg Smith does not. It is symmetric, and its warranty runs 3 years structural and 1 year parts.

The GS-9000-A wins only where asymmetric arms and long warranty coverage both matter and the ceiling is tight enough to rule out the Atlas.

Buy the GS-9000-A if the garage has 12 ft 2 in of clear ceiling, 220V and a sound 4 in slab, if the heaviest vehicle is a half-ton pickup or a large SUV, and if getting in and out of the car while it is raised is part of the work. The asymmetric arms and the warranty are the two things this lift does better than its price rivals, and buying it for any other reason means overpaying for capacity.

Skip it if a diesel three-quarter-ton or a one-ton is in the fleet. Skip it if the ceiling is short, since 12 ft 2 in is more than most attached garages have. Skip it if an ALI listing is needed for insurance or for lifting anyone else's vehicle, because the GS-9000-A has none and the Triumph NT-9 has one for $300 less.

And if the budget can stretch another $436, look hard at the BendPak XPR-10AS before ordering this one.