Katool KT-T160: a hydraulic truck tire changer you drive with low-voltage controls

Almost every tire changer in a car bay runs on shop air. The KT-T160 does not. It is an electro-hydraulic machine built for truck, bus, tractor and earth-moving wheels, which means the force that breaks a bead and turns a rim comes from a hydraulic power pack rather than from a compressor line. That is the difference between a machine that hesitates on a loaded agricultural tire and one that simply keeps going, and it is the reason this unit is specified for commercial fleets rather than for a two-bay workshop.

The second thing worth knowing before you read a single dimension: the electrical components on the operator side are low voltage. The control circuit a technician actually touches is not carrying line voltage, which matters on a wash-down floor covered in water, mud and tire soap. The controls are also multifunctional, so the operator drives the machine from wherever they happen to be standing rather than walking back to a fixed pedal box on every step of the job.

What it is sized to handle

The clamping chuck is a Multifix system covering rims from 14 in up to 26 in, gripped from the inside or the outside, and the machine takes assembled wheels up to 62 in (1,600 mm) in overall diameter and 30 in (780 mm) across the tread. Put those three figures together and you have the working envelope: commercial truck and bus wheels, duals, tractor and implement tires, and the smaller earth-moving sizes. What it is not is a passenger-car machine with a bigger motor bolted to it — the clamping range starts at 14 in, so light-truck and car rims below that are outside the chuck.

Will it fit your shop?

There are three checks, and all three are the buyer's responsibility before the crate leaves the terminal. We cannot see your building.

• Power. The machine runs on 220V single-phase supply. That is a dedicated circuit run by an electrician, not an extension lead off a wall socket, and it needs to be in place before the machine is uncrated.
• Floor space and access. The shipping crate measures 79.9 in x 61.8 in x 32.7 in (2,030 mm x 1,570 mm x 830 mm). Measure your roller door, your corridor and any turn between the delivery point and the bay against those numbers, because a crate that will not turn a corner is a problem you discover with a truck waiting outside.
• Floor. A hydraulic changer working a 62 in tire puts real load into its feet. It wants flat, sound concrete and enough clear radius around the chuck to swing a wheel of that diameter without hitting a bench or a column.

Why hydraulic drive changes the job

A pneumatic changer applies force in a burst and then waits for the tank to recover. Hydraulic drive applies force continuously and holds it, which is what a stiff commercial sidewall needs — pressure that stays on while the bead peels rather than a series of shoves. The KT-T160 carries two motors for this: a 2.0 HP pump motor feeding the hydraulic circuit, and a separate 3.0 HP motor driving the gearbox that turns the chuck. Separating the two means turning torque does not compete with clamping and bead-breaking pressure; the rim keeps rotating under load instead of stalling at the point in the revolution where the tire fights hardest.

The bead tool, and rims you cannot afford to mark

The mounting side uses a beak-and-disk arrangement rather than a single steel lever. The disk rolls the bead down and the beak works it over the flange, so the load on the rim edge is spread and rolling instead of concentrated and dragging. On a polished alloy bus rim or a customer's expensive drive wheel this is the whole argument: the machine that saves you five minutes and gouges a rim has cost you the job. A bead-seating blast function is included for the other end of the process, where a wide or low-profile truck cover has to be persuaded onto the seat cleanly rather than by repeated inflation attempts.

Assist arms take the physical weight of positioning. On wheels of this size the arms are not a convenience feature — they are what stops two technicians wrestling a rim by hand, and what stops a heavy wheel dropping onto a foot or against a chuck jaw at an angle.

Perfect For

• Commercial truck and trailer shops turning over drive, steer and trailer wheels daily.
• Bus and transit depots maintaining a fixed fleet where wheel-off time is scheduled, not improvised.
• Agricultural and plant dealers handling tractor and implement tires that no car-bay machine will clamp.
• Mixed heavy fleets — municipal, quarry, haulage — where the alternative is paying a mobile service every time a tire fails.

What comes with the machine

• Electro-hydraulic tire changer with the Multifix clamping chuck
• Assist arms for positioning and holding the wheel
• Bead-seating blast function
• Multifunctional low-voltage operator controls

Not included, and worth budgeting for: the electrical work for the 220V single-phase supply, and whatever handling equipment you need to get the crate off a trailer.

Specifications

The net weight and working hydraulic pressure are printed in the specification table further down this page, taken straight from the manufacturer's sheet.

Approvals, stated plainly

We will not put a safety-listing badge on this page that the manufacturer's own data does not carry. What the data does state is that the machine uses low-voltage electrical components on the operator side, which is a design decision about operator safety rather than a certificate. If your insurer, your local code or a fleet contract requires a specific third-party listing document for shop equipment, ask us before you order and we will put the question to the manufacturer in writing. That is a better answer than a logo.

Shipping and delivery

This machine ships by freight truck within the lower 48 states. This item ships free, so there is nothing to add at checkout. Getting the crate off the trailer is the receiver's responsibility: you need a forklift with the reach for a crate of this footprint, or a loading dock, or an arrangement to collect from the carrier's local terminal — terminals have the equipment and it is very often the easier route. Delivery to a residential address carries a residential fee, applied at checkout when you select that option.

Inspect the crate before you sign anything. Look for crushed corners, punctured sheeting, shifted banding and hydraulic oil on the pallet, and write what you find on the bill of lading while the driver is still standing there. Photograph it. A clean signature is the carrier's evidence that nothing was damaged in transit, and it is extremely difficult to argue with afterwards.

Warranty

Katool covers this machine with a one-year warranty on all product parts, and publishes the full written terms as a document we can send you before you buy. One warning that applies to any hydraulic machine regardless of brand: if something fails, do not open the power pack, a cylinder or the gearbox before a claim is raised. A disassembled component is normally treated as a modified one, and that is the quickest way to lose cover that would otherwise have been honoured. Photograph the fault, record the serial number, and call us first.

Contact us for more information on heavy duty truck tire changer machines.