An off-road builder in the Des Moines metro called us last spring trying to decide between symmetric and asymmetric arms for the A0436 lift he was about to order, and the deciding factor wasn’t horsepower or budget — it was wheel bearing service on a lifted rig with 35-inch tires and aftermarket long-arm suspension. His shop does a steady stream of bearing swaps, hub rebuilds, and axle work for the overlanding crowd around central Iowa, and arm geometry turned out to matter more than almost anything else on his order. Here’s the case study from that install, and what it should tell you if you’re weighing the same decision.
Compare symmetric and asymmetric arm configurations for the A0436 setup before you order — get help matching arm geometry to your build’s suspension and tire size.
Why This Builder Was Even Weighing Symmetric vs Asymmetric
Most independent shops default to asymmetric arms without much thought because that’s what most two-post lifts ship with, and for sedans and stock trucks that’s usually the right call. But this builder’s shop specializes in off-road rigs running long-travel suspension, oversized tires, and aftermarket bumpers that shift the vehicle’s balance point compared to a stock truck. On the A0436 configuration specifically, arm geometry determines exactly where the lift pads contact the frame or pinch weld, and on a heavily modified rig those contact points aren’t where the factory service manual assumes they’ll be.
He’d been running an older asymmetric setup that worked fine for daily-driver service but caused real headaches on lifted trucks with aftermarket skid plates and rock sliders, because the shorter front arms didn’t reach past the sliders to find a safe lift point. Every bearing job on those trucks meant extra time positioning adapters or stacking blocks just to get the pads somewhere solid. That extra setup time was eating into his margins on a job type that was becoming a bigger and bigger share of his workload.
What We Installed and Why Symmetric Won for Bearing Work
We ended up specifying a symmetric arm configuration on his A0436 lift, which was the opposite of his first instinct going into the conversation. Symmetric arms extend the same distance on both the front and rear columns, which gives a more balanced weight distribution across all four contact points — exactly what you want when you’re loading and unloading heavy hub and bearing assemblies from a wheel well that’s already sitting higher off the ground than stock. Asymmetric arms are designed to give the front door more swing clearance, which matters for sedans, but that advantage disappears on a lifted truck where door clearance was never the limiting factor to begin with.
For wheel bearing service specifically, the builder needed to get full access to the hub, rotor, and bearing assembly on all four corners without the front arms crowding the tire and wheel well the way they would on a symmetric-versus-asymmetric mismatch. With the front and rear arms sized the same, his techs could rotate the same lift pad positions front to rear without recalculating contact points every time they moved from a bearing job on the front axle to one on the rear. That consistency alone cut meaningful minutes off every hub swap once his crew got used to the new setup.
The Specific Wheel Bearing Access Problem Lifted Trucks Create
Wheel bearing service on a stock truck is straightforward because the factory lift points, suspension geometry, and ground clearance are all designed to work together. Once you add a lift kit, larger tires, and aftermarket control arms, none of those assumptions hold anymore. The pinch welds may be relocated by aftermarket body armor, the factory jack points might be covered by skid plates, and the suspension travel means the vehicle sits at a different height than the lift’s arm reach was calibrated for out of the box.
On the A0436 configuration, this shows up most on the front end, where long-arm suspension kits and larger CV axles change the swing radius the front arms need to clear. We walked this builder’s shop through positioning the front arms slightly wider than a stock recommendation to avoid contact with aftermarket sway bar links and steering components that sit lower than factory parts. Getting that arm placement right on the first lift meant his techs weren’t second-guessing pad position on every single bearing job that came through the door, which matters when you’re running a shop that depends on turning jobs quickly during peak build season.
How Arm Choice Affects Axle and Hub Removal Specifically
Pulling a hub and bearing assembly requires stability throughout the whole job, not just at the moment the vehicle goes up. Techs are often applying significant force with a slide hammer or press to break a bearing loose, and if the lift arms aren’t distributing weight evenly, that force can translate into unwanted rock or sway at height. Symmetric arms on the A0436 setup gave this shop a more stable platform specifically because the weight distribution front to rear stayed consistent regardless of which corner the tech was working.
The builder told us the difference was most noticeable on solid front axle conversions and heavier hub assemblies used in serious overlanding builds, where the components themselves weigh considerably more than stock parts. A less stable lift platform on those jobs isn’t just inconvenient — it’s a real safety concern when a tech has both hands on a breaker bar or slide hammer at shoulder height. Since switching to the symmetric configuration, his shop hasn’t had a single incident of unwanted movement during a bearing job, and his techs have said the lift simply feels more predictable under load.
What Other Builders in the Des Moines Metro Should Consider
Not every off-road shop needs to make the same call this builder did. If your bay is doing mostly stock or mildly modified trucks with factory suspension geometry, asymmetric arms on your A0436 lift will likely serve you fine and give you better door swing clearance for daily service work. The decision point is really about how much of your workload involves heavily modified suspension, oversized tires, and aftermarket armor that changes where a safe lift point actually is.
We ask every Des Moines metro shop the same questions before recommending arm configuration: what’s your typical vehicle mix, how much lift and tire size are you regularly seeing, and what percentage of your work is bearing, hub, or axle service versus general maintenance. Shops doing occasional off-road work can usually stick with standard arms and use adapters as needed. Shops where lifted trucks and overlanding builds make up the bulk of daily volume, like this one, tend to see a real return from switching to symmetric arms on their A0436 configuration.
Getting Your Own A0436 Setup Right the First Time
The biggest lesson from this install is that arm configuration decisions should be made based on your actual daily workload, not on whatever ships standard with the lift you’re considering. We walk every Des Moines metro shop through a short conversation about vehicle mix and job type before finalizing an order, because swapping arm sets after installation costs more in downtime than getting it right from the start.
If you’re building out a bay for off-road and overlanding work and you’re staring down the same symmetric-versus-asymmetric decision this builder faced, bring us your typical vehicle list and the type of service work you expect to do most. We’ll walk through arm geometry with you the same way we did on this install, and we’ll make sure the A0436 configuration you order actually matches the bearing, hub, and axle work you’re going to be doing on it every day.
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