BendPak XPR-10AS Build Case Study: Arm Restraints and Safety Cams for Off-Road Rigs

A central Iowa off-road builder came to us after tearing up a set of jack stands doing a shock and suspension swap on a lifted truck, and he wanted a BendPak XPR-10AS that could actually handle the width and weight distribution of a built rig without arm restraints slipping mid-job. Off-road vehicles are not stock geometry — wider tires, lift kits, aftermarket bumpers, and shifted centers of gravity all change how a two post lift needs to grip and hold the vehicle. This is the real story of how we spec’d and installed that lift, with the safety-cam and arm restraint details that matter most for suspension work.

Why Suspension Work Demands More From Arm Restraints

When you’re pulling shocks, control arms, or a full suspension setup, the vehicle’s weight distribution shifts constantly as components come off. A stock sedan sitting on a lift is a fairly predictable load; a lifted truck with aftermarket long-travel suspension is not. The BendPak XPR-10AS uses arm restraints and a locking safety-cam system on each arm specifically to prevent that kind of load shift from swinging the vehicle off its lift points mid-job, which is exactly the failure mode our central Iowa customer had been fighting with stands and a floor jack.

We spent real time on this install confirming that his arm restraint pins engaged fully at the wider stance his lifted trucks require, not just at the mid-range setting most shops never adjust past. With larger aftermarket tires and wider track widths, the arms often need to extend further than a stock truck would need, and every additional inch of arm extension changes the load angle on the restraint pin. We tested engagement at full extension before signing off, because a restraint that only locks properly at factory width is a restraint that fails you exactly when you need it most on a modified vehicle.

Safety Cam Engagement Under Uneven Loads

The safety-cam system on the BendPak XPR-10AS is a mechanical backup that locks the carriage at set height increments independent of the hydraulics, so if a hose or seal ever lets go, the vehicle doesn’t drop. For suspension work specifically, this matters more than most jobs because you’re frequently working with a wheel or two removed and the vehicle’s weight resting unevenly across the remaining contact points. That uneven loading puts asymmetric stress on the cam engagement, and we’ve seen setups where a cam that looked locked wasn’t actually seated because the columns weren’t level with each other.

Part of our install process on this job included leveling both columns to spec and running the carriage through a full cycle with a load on it to confirm both safety cams engaged simultaneously and evenly. We also walked the owner through never relying on hydraulic pressure alone once he’s under the vehicle pulling a shock — always drop onto the mechanical locks first. For anyone doing repeated suspension and shock replacement work, this is the habit that prevents the kind of accident that ends a build, not just delays it.

Handling Width and Height for Lifted Trucks

Off-road builds change two dimensions that matter to a two post lift: overall vehicle width and ride height. A truck with a 6-inch lift and 35-inch tires sits taller and wider than the sedans and stock trucks a standard bay is often planned around, and that affects both arm reach and how much clearance you need before the frame or pinch points come into range of the pads. The XPR-10AS’s telescoping arm design gave us the reach to get under this builder’s trucks at their factory frame rails even with the added ride height, without needing drive-on adapters for most of his fleet.

We also talked through pad height stacking for extreme lift kits, since some builds sit high enough that even fully extended arms need supplemental pucks to reach a solid frame contact point safely. For this central Iowa shop, we kept a set of extended pucks on hand specifically for the small percentage of customer trucks running the tallest kits, rather than sizing the whole lift installation around the outlier vehicles. That kept his day-to-day arm and cam settings consistent for the bulk of his suspension and shock replacement work.

Concrete and Anchoring for a 10,000 Lb Capacity Lift

Suspension work involves more dynamic loading than routine oil changes, because you’re often applying leverage with breaker bars and impact tools directly against the vehicle while it’s on the lift. That means the anchoring under a BendPak XPR-10AS in a performance or off-road shop needs to be treated with the same seriousness as a heavy-duty commercial install, even in a home garage setting. We checked this central Iowa shop’s slab thickness and cure age before approving anchor points, and confirmed there was no rebar interference at the drill locations.

We also spaced the columns with extra runway clearance given how often lifted trucks with larger tires and mud flaps need slightly wider approach angles to drive on straight. A columns-too-narrow layout is a common regret we hear from off-road builders who bought lifts sized for stock vehicles and then upgraded their trucks later. Getting the anchoring and spacing right up front on the XPR-10AS avoided that problem entirely for this build.

Training the Shop on Safe Load Practices

Even the best-installed lift is only as safe as the habits around it, so a meaningful part of this install was walking the shop’s crew through proper loading procedure for suspension jobs specifically. That includes always centering the vehicle’s weight before raising, never disconnecting more than one corner of suspension at a time without additional support, and re-checking arm restraint engagement any time a vehicle is repositioned on the pads mid-job. For a shop doing frequent shock and suspension replacement, these habits matter more than they would for a shop just doing oil changes and tire rotations.

We left this central Iowa builder with a written checklist covering safety-cam checks, arm restraint torque points, and a monthly visual inspection routine for the lift’s cables and hydraulic lines. A BendPak XPR-10AS is built to handle this kind of repeated heavy use, but only if the crew treats the mechanical locks as mandatory rather than optional. That’s the difference between a lift that lasts fifteen years in a working off-road shop and one that develops problems in three.

Ongoing Support After the Install

Our relationship with an off-road shop doesn’t end when the XPR-10AS is bolted down and leveled. We follow up after the first month of real use to check anchor torque again, confirm the arm restraints haven’t developed play from repeated adjustment, and make sure the safety cams are still engaging cleanly under load. Suspension shops put more cycles on their arm pins and cam mechanisms than a typical shop because they’re constantly repositioning for different truck geometries, and catching early wear before it becomes a safety issue is cheap compared to the alternative.

We also stock replacement parts for the BendPak XPR-10AS locally, so if an arm restraint pin or cam component needs replacing down the road, this central Iowa shop isn’t waiting on a freight shipment to get back up and running. For a working off-road build shop, downtime on the lift means downtime on every job in the bay, and having a nearby installer who knows this specific lift’s service history matters as much as the initial install quality.