BendPak XPR-10AS for Alignment Work in Waukee: Getting the Slab Right First

An RV and trailer service shop in Waukee added alignment work to its service menu and quickly discovered that a BendPak XPR-10AS is only as good as the slab it sits on. The shop’s existing floor was original to a building built in the late 1990s, and before we ever talked about arm configurations or rise height, we had to talk about concrete slab thickness and rebar placement. This is the part of buying a two post lift that almost nobody budgets time for, and it’s the part that determines whether your first year of ownership goes smoothly or turns into a costly surprise six months after install.

Why Alignment Work Changes the Slab Conversation

Most shops assume that if a slab held up a car lift before, it’ll hold up any car lift. That’s not quite right, especially when the use case shifts toward alignment work. Alignment jobs mean the lift holds a vehicle steady while a technician makes fine adjustments, sometimes with a rack or turn plates involved, and that steady, sustained load over longer periods puts different stress on anchors than quick in-and-out oil change work does.

When the Waukee shop first called us about installing a BendPak XPR-10AS, the plan was straightforward on paper — clear floor, good ceiling height, plenty of room. But once we got into the concrete specifics, it became clear the existing 4-inch slab in that bay wasn’t going to meet BendPak’s anchoring requirements for a 10,000 lb asymmetric lift used for alignment. BendPak specs generally call for a minimum of 4 inches of structurally sound concrete for this class of lift, but that number assumes properly cured concrete without cracks, without rebar interference at anchor points, and without a lot of surface spalling — none of which was guaranteed on a floor that old.

What We Found When We Cored the Slab

Before setting anchors for the BendPak XPR-10AS, we cored test holes at each proposed column location to check actual thickness and condition, not just what the building plans said. This step catches problems that a visual inspection alone will miss — hairline cracking below the surface, aggregate segregation, or rebar sitting exactly where an anchor bolt needs to go.

In Waukee, we found the slab was technically at the minimum 4-inch depth in most spots, but one column location landed almost directly over a rebar mat left over from an old equipment pad that had been patched over years earlier. Drilling into that spot as planned would have either destroyed a drill bit or put the anchor in a compromised position. We shifted the column layout by about eight inches, which is a small adjustment on paper but meant the difference between a lift installed to spec and one that could develop anchor pull-out issues under the sustained loading that alignment work creates.

Rebar: Friend or Obstacle, Depending on Placement

Rebar in a slab isn’t automatically a problem for a BendPak XPR-10AS install — in fact, properly placed rebar generally strengthens the slab and helps anchors hold better over the long run. The issue is rebar directly in the path of an anchor bolt, which either has to be avoided by shifting the lift’s footprint or, in rare cases, requires an engineered solution if the layout truly can’t move.

For alignment-focused bays specifically, we push harder on getting this right than we might for a general service bay, because alignment work means the lift stays loaded and stationary for extended stretches, sometimes 30 minutes or more per axle, versus a quick five-minute tire swap. Anchors under sustained load need full engagement in solid concrete, not concrete compromised by nearby rebar cuts or old patch work. The Waukee shop’s final layout ended up slightly offset from their original mental picture of where the lift would sit, but it meant every anchor bolt landed in clean, full-depth concrete rated to handle the loads this specific use case demands.

The First-Year Install Timeline, Start to Finish

From first phone call to first customer alignment job, the Waukee project took about five weeks — longer than a standard install because of the slab evaluation, but worth it. Week one was the site visit and coring. Week two was reviewing options with the shop owner, including whether to pour a new equipment pad instead of working around the existing slab, which we ultimately didn’t need to do once we found a clean layout. Weeks three and four were lift delivery and scheduling around the shop’s existing workload, since nobody wants a bay down during a busy stretch.

The actual install of the BendPak XPR-10AS itself took less than a day once the anchor locations were confirmed clean. We ran the lift through a full test cycle under load before signing off, checking arm reach for a range of trailer and RV chassis widths the shop expected to service. By the start of week five, the shop ran its first real alignment job on the new equipment, and the owner told us the extra time spent on slab evaluation upfront was the best money they didn’t have to spend twice.

How Alignment Loads Differ From General Lift Use

It’s worth spending a section on why alignment work specifically drove so much of our slab decision-making, because it’s a use case that’s easy to underestimate. During an alignment, the vehicle sits loaded on the lift with all four wheels either free-spinning on turn plates or locked depending on the adjustment being made, and the technician may be applying force to steering and suspension components while the vehicle is elevated. That combination of sustained weight plus dynamic force transfer is different from simply raising a vehicle to change oil and lowering it a few minutes later.

For a BendPak XPR-10AS specifically, this means the anchoring needs to handle not just static weight but repeated micro-stress from technician activity during the alignment process. We factor this into every install where alignment is a stated primary use case, which is part of why the Waukee shop’s slab evaluation was more thorough than a typical residential garage install would need. It’s a detail that pays for itself the first time a competitor’s improperly anchored lift develops a wobble mid-alignment and that shop has to eat a comeback appointment.

What We’d Tell Any Shop Adding Alignment Capability

If your shop is considering a BendPak XPR-10AS specifically to add or expand alignment services, get the slab evaluated before you finalize your floor plan or order the lift. Concrete thickness and rebar placement aren’t exciting topics, but they’re the foundation — literally — of whether your lift performs safely under the sustained, repeated loading that alignment work creates over a full year of daily use.

The Waukee shop’s first year has gone smoothly specifically because we caught the slab issue before it became a lift issue. We serve shops across central Iowa doing exactly this kind of expansion, and we’d rather spend an extra week coring test holes than have a customer call us in month eight with an anchor problem that a thorough evaluation would have caught. If you’re weighing a similar setup, we’re happy to walk your bay and give you a straight answer on what your existing slab can and can’t support.

For related reading, check out our pieces on preparing a shop floor for two post lift installation and choosing lift capacity for alignment and heavy suspension work.