BendPak MD-6XP Car Lift: Up to the Challenge in Any Garage

You may have noticed that heavy-duty BendPak lifting equipment has been our topic of choice for the last couple weeks. Let’s face it—if you’re a serious shop where time is money, you’re going to need a BendPak XPR-10 two-post lift that can get a car up and down quickly and reliably. And if you’re looking for a place to put up your weekend driver but still want to be able to work on your ride like a pro, then you’ll benefit from the versatility of the BendPak HD-9 four-post lift.

But maybe you don’t own your own automotive service shop. Maybe your garage didn’t come with a 12-foot ceiling. What if you’re just a regular Joe with a regular garage but an abnormally large appetite for wrenching on cars? Good news, BendPak has you covered with the incredible MD-6XP, a mid-rise scissor lift designed specifically for the space-strapped automotive enthusiast.

The MD-6XP garage lift is a special kind of car lift. It doesn’t utilize posts or cables, and it doesn’t require the operator to drive up ramps and onto runways. Instead, the MD-6XP is designed to be driven right over like it wasn’t there at all. Now, all this slick design and convenience does come at a slight cost in overall lifting capacity. But still, the MD-6XP is an honest-to-goodness mid-rise car hoist capable of lifting a full 6,000-pound automobile or truck well over four feet into the air. And to be honest, for most DIY jobs a 6,000-pound maximum lift capacity is all the lifting power you’ll ever need.

A Scissor Lift on Lock Down

If you’ve been following along, you already know some of the features and design you can expect from a car lift manufacturer like BendPak. First of all, you know to look for top-notch safety mechanisms. Much like other BendPak products, the heavy-duty safety lock bar has multiple safety lock positions on the MD-6XP car lift for maximum reliability and security.

Now, there are some similar mid-size scissor car lifts on the market, but the BendPak MD-6XP gets the unique distinction of having a hands-free locking mechanism. Knock-off products sometimes use gizmos like bike handle breaks or manual under-the-lift locks that the lift operator has to disengage by hand while the lift is loaded (ouch!). But BendPak developed a special lock that acts differently when the user is raising the lift and when the user is lowering the lift.

As the lift rises, the lock engages the lock bar at each level to ensure a secure lift. When you reach the height you want, just stop the lift and lower it down a few centimeters onto the last engaged lock position. Then, whenever you want to lower the lift, just raise the lift up a little more to disengage the lock before lowering the vehicle back down to the floor. It’s perfectly safe and practically full-proof.

The Mid-Rise Lift That Keeps a Low Profile

When the MD-6XP isn’t lifting a 6,000-pound payload, it doesn’t look like much. In fact, you may not even notice it coming a mere 4-3/4 inches off of the garage floor. And that’s really the true genius of the MD-6XP lift. Unlike its bigger brothers the XPR-10 and the HD-9, the MD-6XP doesn’t really take up floor space when it’s not in service. It’s a little like an in-ground lift in that it’s barely there, except you don’t have to rip open your shop floor to install it. Many happy MD-6XP scissor lift owners just drive their low-profile vehicles over it day after day without paying it much attention. But when it’s time to work on their truck or car, it’s both a life-saver and a back saver.

This Car Lift Goes More Places Than Just Up

The MD-6XP scissor lift measures about 79-inches long and almost 40-inches wide. So you couldn’t call the MD-6XP small but it isn’t a floor-hog either. But just in case you had other plans for that patch of cement, BendPak designed the MD-6XP garage lift to be portable.

As with many of their larger lifts, BendPak opted to use dual hydraulic cylinders and a power unit to get the MD-6XP moving. Unique to the MD-6XP however, is that the power unit is not physically attached to the car lift itself. Instead, it’s mounted on a sturdy rolling cart. This rolling power cart is also the key to the MD-6XP’s portability. You just roll the hydraulic power cart over to the front of the MD-6XP, engage the lift frame, and, just like that, a single person can place a 6,000-pound car lift anywhere! Heck, your neighbors will probably even bug you to roll it over to their driveways so they don’t have to bother with ramps and floor jacks.

Watch Out For the Fakes

Like we mentioned before, you might find some knock-off scissor lifts out there that look similar to the BendPak MD-6XP but BUYER BEWARE. Just because it’s a blue rectangle frame lift does NOT make it a BendPak garage lift. The quality just isn’t there in the build and the arm design really limits your pad placement. So many customers were having trouble with these wanna-be BendPak lifts they made a special site just to point out the posers. Check out this side-by-side mid-rise scissor lift comparison and you’ll be blown away by staggering differences in quality and innovation.

When you take a close look at the real deal, the MD-6XP by BendPak is designed to be an exceptional lift for the average Joe. And if that wasn’t appealing enough, the MD-6XP mid-rise scissor lift even comes with an average Joe price tag and a free truck adapter kit. Hopefully that will make the average Joe’s wife a little more understanding about his healthy automotive addiction.