Max Jax Car Lift a users review and Group buy opportunity for P-cars will close...
#123
Chronic Tool Dropper
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A lister PM'd me for some Max-Jax info. Thought I'd share some of that conversation (my part anyway) for others who might be interested.
No floor surgery needed at my house. When I built the garage, I put 8" concrete on most of the floor, up to 12" in the area where the lift sits. 4000PSI concrete, with #8 (1/2") rebar on 12" centers, two layers. Tighter spacing under the lift pads. The steel in the floor is tied to the caissons and grade beams that support the north and east sides (left and rear as you look at the space from the front door). The only challenge in installing the lift was when I hit steel with the rotary hammer. Had to buy a rebar cutter bit to get through so the holes would stay round. If I'd used standard mild-steel mat, the drill wouldn't have noticed it.
You can drill a test hole in your floor and see if the slab is thick enough. While the Wed-Jit instructions say that you need at least a 5.5" deep hole, the Max-Jax instructions state a minimum of 4" slab thickness. The Wed-Jit anchors are installed a little deep in the hole, then drawn back up into the hole to make the wedge gismo expand.
It took me a few mins to figure out how the anchors work. Max-Jax ignores a few factors in their published load calcs too, like the derating for spacing between the holes. Their calcs still show plenty of safety margin for the capacity of the lift, no worries. The base plate is drilled to easily accept 3/4" bolts, if you aren't happy with the 5/8" bolts they spec. But your drilling needs to be really accurate in the concrete, with only 1/16" of walk in the bit; most folks aren't that good with the drill.
I bought the extra 6" lift pad extensions with the lift, along with a full extra set of anchors. The extensions are just enough to let me use my existing roll-around creeper seat under the car without banging my head. That added $100 to the cost. The extra 10 anchors were $25 total. That let me set a couple position options with some hole sharing. I started off with the columns pretty close to as tight as they could go against the side of the car with the arms and pads in position, figuring that it would give me max walk-around room. It's OK, but there's no way to open the car door with the car between the posts. Three additional positions total (two options on one side, three on the other) let me have the car on the lift with goth doors wide open at the widest option. I leave the columns widest so I can drive in and out easily without needing to install the columns for work.
Things I'd do differently:
1) Maybe buy a real lift instead of the Max-Jax. Maybe. I really like the ability to R&R the columns out of the way though. Otherwise the ability to work standing up on some projects would be nice.
2) Get extra hose sections and quick-disconnects for same. The supplied hoses require that the power unit is right at the nose (or tail) of the car when raising or lowering. At least one hose extension would let me wall-mount the power unit, and just deploy the hoses when needed. I will soon add the hose length from a local hydraulics shop, but it would be cool to be able to disconnect the extra hose lengths and coil them up separately.
Other interesting things: The stated 48" lift height is a little misleading, since it's not really the total available stroke on the lift cylinders, it's the max height of the lift pads at full lift. So when you think about it, it pretty much means that the car will go up a bit more than 40" from where it sits on the floor. Adding the included 3" pad extensions gives some help. You can't get the 6" extensions underneath the car without setting the tires back on to intermediate pads of some sort. Put the extensions in and lift again, and you can move the pads out of the way while you work. Same two steps in reverse to get the car back on the ground.
There are two fixed positions where a safety rod passes through the columns, therefore two safe work heights. It really needs a few more holes drilled to add some convenience to some projects. The supplied mid-height position is fine for brake and wheelwell area work while standing. Top position is Ok for undercar work sitting on a low creeper seat, but requires lifting a tire and wheel up to high chest height for instance if you are doing suspension work. A little planning helps, but a few more positions like at 12" or even 6" centers would be very convenient.
Plan on getting a well-padded hat or even a hard-hat for work under the car. Even with the 6" extensions under the pads, the lift arms are still at noggin-bashing height as I roll around underneath. No blood yet, but I'm learning not to go rolling around under there freely.
Overall, the Max-Jax was a very good purchase for me. Anything that needs a bigger lift is probably bigger than what I plan to do on the car anyway.
You can drill a test hole in your floor and see if the slab is thick enough. While the Wed-Jit instructions say that you need at least a 5.5" deep hole, the Max-Jax instructions state a minimum of 4" slab thickness. The Wed-Jit anchors are installed a little deep in the hole, then drawn back up into the hole to make the wedge gismo expand.
It took me a few mins to figure out how the anchors work. Max-Jax ignores a few factors in their published load calcs too, like the derating for spacing between the holes. Their calcs still show plenty of safety margin for the capacity of the lift, no worries. The base plate is drilled to easily accept 3/4" bolts, if you aren't happy with the 5/8" bolts they spec. But your drilling needs to be really accurate in the concrete, with only 1/16" of walk in the bit; most folks aren't that good with the drill.
I bought the extra 6" lift pad extensions with the lift, along with a full extra set of anchors. The extensions are just enough to let me use my existing roll-around creeper seat under the car without banging my head. That added $100 to the cost. The extra 10 anchors were $25 total. That let me set a couple position options with some hole sharing. I started off with the columns pretty close to as tight as they could go against the side of the car with the arms and pads in position, figuring that it would give me max walk-around room. It's OK, but there's no way to open the car door with the car between the posts. Three additional positions total (two options on one side, three on the other) let me have the car on the lift with goth doors wide open at the widest option. I leave the columns widest so I can drive in and out easily without needing to install the columns for work.
Things I'd do differently:
1) Maybe buy a real lift instead of the Max-Jax. Maybe. I really like the ability to R&R the columns out of the way though. Otherwise the ability to work standing up on some projects would be nice.
2) Get extra hose sections and quick-disconnects for same. The supplied hoses require that the power unit is right at the nose (or tail) of the car when raising or lowering. At least one hose extension would let me wall-mount the power unit, and just deploy the hoses when needed. I will soon add the hose length from a local hydraulics shop, but it would be cool to be able to disconnect the extra hose lengths and coil them up separately.
Other interesting things: The stated 48" lift height is a little misleading, since it's not really the total available stroke on the lift cylinders, it's the max height of the lift pads at full lift. So when you think about it, it pretty much means that the car will go up a bit more than 40" from where it sits on the floor. Adding the included 3" pad extensions gives some help. You can't get the 6" extensions underneath the car without setting the tires back on to intermediate pads of some sort. Put the extensions in and lift again, and you can move the pads out of the way while you work. Same two steps in reverse to get the car back on the ground.
There are two fixed positions where a safety rod passes through the columns, therefore two safe work heights. It really needs a few more holes drilled to add some convenience to some projects. The supplied mid-height position is fine for brake and wheelwell area work while standing. Top position is Ok for undercar work sitting on a low creeper seat, but requires lifting a tire and wheel up to high chest height for instance if you are doing suspension work. A little planning helps, but a few more positions like at 12" or even 6" centers would be very convenient.
Plan on getting a well-padded hat or even a hard-hat for work under the car. Even with the 6" extensions under the pads, the lift arms are still at noggin-bashing height as I roll around underneath. No blood yet, but I'm learning not to go rolling around under there freely.
Overall, the Max-Jax was a very good purchase for me. Anything that needs a bigger lift is probably bigger than what I plan to do on the car anyway.
Last edited by dr bob; 02-10-2011 at 11:57 PM.
#125
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I have a 25hp dust collector with a chip bin ahead of the four main bags. We still fill up 5 50 gallon drums every 4 hours. Farmers love the sawdust for bedding. Unfortunately we don't generate enough to make wood pellets a viable option.
#126
Chronic Tool Dropper
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Besides the ceiling height, you need to consider the stuff that hangs from the ceiling, like the garage door. Most sectional doors with standard install are at about 7' +/- when they are open. I planned a cathedral ceiling in my work bay, and re-engineered the door tracks and springs/cables/opener to allow the door to follow the ceiling line closely. There are good openers now that sit at the end of the torsion rod, so even with a flat ceiling you can get the door up to maybe 6" or less.
#127
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Boy do I know what you mean about dust. I own a pallet factory and the 5 head saws make dust like you can't believe.
I have a 25hp dust collector with a chip bin ahead of the four main bags. We still fill up 5 50 gallon drums every 4 hours. Farmers love the sawdust for bedding. Unfortunately we don't generate enough to make wood pellets a viable option.
I have a 25hp dust collector with a chip bin ahead of the four main bags. We still fill up 5 50 gallon drums every 4 hours. Farmers love the sawdust for bedding. Unfortunately we don't generate enough to make wood pellets a viable option.
#128
Three Wheelin'
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The Max Jax has made it possible to do all the under need car services in just a regular size (home) size garage.
I now do under need work right away like replacing my clutch lever bushing in 45 minutes see this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/attachme...-39-20_131.jpg
I had the bushing well over 6 months before I got the MJ.
If you really plan to work on your own car on a regular basis and just have regular garage space you’ll learn to appreciate the MJ real quick.
I now do under need work right away like replacing my clutch lever bushing in 45 minutes see this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/attachme...-39-20_131.jpg
I had the bushing well over 6 months before I got the MJ.
If you really plan to work on your own car on a regular basis and just have regular garage space you’ll learn to appreciate the MJ real quick.
#129
Rennlist Member
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
The Max Jax has made it possible to do all the under need car services in just a regular size (home) size garage.
I now do under need work right away like replacing my clutch lever bushing in 45 minutes see this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/attachme...-39-20_131.jpg
I had the bushing well over 6 months before I got the MJ.
If you really plan to work on your own car on a regular basis and just have regular garage space you’ll learn to appreciate the MJ real quick.
I now do under need work right away like replacing my clutch lever bushing in 45 minutes see this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/attachme...-39-20_131.jpg
I had the bushing well over 6 months before I got the MJ.
If you really plan to work on your own car on a regular basis and just have regular garage space you’ll learn to appreciate the MJ real quick.
#130
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Anyone else who was on the buy or has one installed care to share good/bad thoughts?
I have a low ceiling (~93" finished) with some stuff even lower (door, door tracks, openers, etc.). I also have RaceDeck installed so would need to pull up 2-4 tiles on each side, and modify them to no longer "lock" with the surrounding tiles so I could pull them at will when I wanted to mount the lift.
I really get a kick out of the videos - all of them are shot in tall, huge garages. If I had a garage like those pictured it would have permanent big lift(s) installed. Seems contrary to to the intended audience, but I'm not a marketing guy.
I have a low ceiling (~93" finished) with some stuff even lower (door, door tracks, openers, etc.). I also have RaceDeck installed so would need to pull up 2-4 tiles on each side, and modify them to no longer "lock" with the surrounding tiles so I could pull them at will when I wanted to mount the lift.
I really get a kick out of the videos - all of them are shot in tall, huge garages. If I had a garage like those pictured it would have permanent big lift(s) installed. Seems contrary to to the intended audience, but I'm not a marketing guy.
![bigbye](https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/xyxwave.gif)
#131
Chronic Tool Dropper
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Anyone else who was on the buy or has one installed care to share good/bad thoughts?
I have a low ceiling (~93" finished) with some stuff even lower (door, door tracks, openers, etc.). I also have RaceDeck installed so would need to pull up 2-4 tiles on each side, and modify them to no longer "lock" with the surrounding tiles so I could pull them at will when I wanted to mount the lift.
I really get a kick out of the videos - all of them are shot in tall, huge garages. If I had a garage like those pictured it would have permanent big lift(s) installed. Seems contrary to to the intended audience, but I'm not a marketing guy.![bigbye](https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/xyxwave.gif)
I have a low ceiling (~93" finished) with some stuff even lower (door, door tracks, openers, etc.). I also have RaceDeck installed so would need to pull up 2-4 tiles on each side, and modify them to no longer "lock" with the surrounding tiles so I could pull them at will when I wanted to mount the lift.
I really get a kick out of the videos - all of them are shot in tall, huge garages. If I had a garage like those pictured it would have permanent big lift(s) installed. Seems contrary to to the intended audience, but I'm not a marketing guy.
![bigbye](https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/xyxwave.gif)
Responded to your PM with answers to your questions, plus contact info. If you don't mind, please share the PM contents here so others can take advantage. Minus the contact info please.
Some that might interest others:
With the 3" pad spacers, the top of my car is about 92", plus maybe a couple more for the roof antenna mount. In Marty's 93" garage, the car will just fit with no pad extensions, garage door down, and no opener using space directly over the car. In his installation, the height of the Race-Deck pads would need to be considered.
The floor-to-bottom-of-tire clearance with the 3" extensions is 36" on mine, with suspension extended/unloaded. The 48" full-lifted pad height assumes that you are using the 3" extension, by the way. The total lift on the car is NOT 48" from on-the-ground height, but the pads are at 48". So consider that as you look at clearances and under-car workspace estimates.
There are 6" pad extensions available, but they don't fit with the car on the floor even with stock ride height; they are an inch or two too long. You can put supports under the wheels and do your lifting in two steps for those few extra inches, keeping in mind that the arms are still at the same height lifted, and it's only the lift pads that are higher. This leaves the arms at the same head-hunting height if you are rolling around underneath on a wheeled seat. Just a heads-up....
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Observation: With the lift, there's a LOT more stuff underneath that needs a little cleaning and detailing. Underneath yesterday, I found myself going through the planning steps to drop the exhaust so I could get the heat shields off for cosmoline removal and detailing. No, I'm not an addict; I can quit any time.
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#132
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....Observation: With the lift, there's a LOT more stuff underneath that needs a little cleaning and detailing. Underneath yesterday, I found myself going through the planning steps to drop the exhaust so I could get the heat shields off for cosmoline removal and detailing. No, I'm not an addict; I can quit any time. ![Smilie](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif)
![Smilie](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif)
![Big Grin](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
#133
Three Wheelin'
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Or, like me, been considering one for a long time but would only do if in addition to being able to use to work on cars could lift high enough to be able to park another vehicle underneath.. Of course garage ceiling isnt high enough for that so spoke to builder last week about possibly rasiing the celinng two feet!
#134
Rennlist Member
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Or, like me, been considering one for a long time but would only do if in addition to being able to use to work on cars could lift high enough to be able to park another vehicle underneath.. Of course garage ceiling isnt high enough for that so spoke to builder last week about possibly rasiing the celinng two feet!
![surrender](https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/surrender.gif)
#135
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Marty:
The lifting carriage includes a box tube section that runs transverse, with the arms pinned to it when they are in use. The box tube does not extend past the baseplate, and the arms rotate back so they are just clear of the drive-through. Eyeball, the front edge of the the box is directly vertical to the front edge of the baseplate. The drive-through clearance with arms removed or rotated fully back is therefore the same as the baseplate spacing.
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The car happens to be up on the lift right now, so measurement of the car's height is no problem. From floor to highest roofline is about 92", plus the height of the rooftop antenna base if you are getting a late S4, GT or GTS. That stub is about 2" off the roofline with the antenna mast removed. These dim's are with the 3" pad spacers, so you can adjust the heights down those 3" if you don't use the spacers.
Related: The bottom of the tires are 36" from the floor, suspension extended and still using the 3" spacers. Might be important if you are thinking of trying to park a car underneath. One of my old Lotus cars might fit under the tires. Maybe... I'm not sure I'd want to use the lift for stacked parking, and certainly not here where the ground moves every once in a while.
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The lift pads are 48" from the floor, with the 3" extensions installed. Incidentally, I bought the 6" extensions with the lift (added $100) but need to do the lifting in a couple steps to actually use them. The MaxJax rep recommended against using the 3"+6" extensions together, saying that users had reported that the arms might want to roll over some with the additional leverage. Just the 3" more would be the difference between easy clearance for me sitting on the creeper seat I own, but the arms are still at the same head-hunting height so it would still require a lot of care gliding around underneath.
----
The new garage bay that I built has 10-13' cathedral ceilings in anticipation of a full-height lift, and I installed the garage door tracks so the door follows the sloped ceiling minus maybe 6" I used a standard screw-drive opener mounted right up tight to the sloped ceiling. The main garage bay has a standard door installation and a flat ceiling. That door itself has 84" min clearance underneath when open, (same height as the opening) so I couldn't use the MaxJax lift on that that side with this car and the garage door open without making new higher tracks. This is not an impossible task, just takes some careful track fitting and spring selection to make it work right. I had to take installation out of the door-supplier's scope so I could get the installation I needed in the new bay, and even that was like pulling teeth. They were very concerned about their liability for a door falling, and weren't interested in any non-standard methods that had not been blessed by their engineering dept. I pretty much had to release them from that liability to get them to leave the door for me to install. Even then they insisted on 'inspecting' my installation, this after I sent them the design plans, structural loading calcs, and a slew of finished pictures.
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The 'fingers' at the rear/outsides of the base plates are the support tabs for the little 3" plastic wheels that make the column 'portable'. The tabs without the wheels extend 2" beyond the rear edge of the baseplate. With the wheels installed the space goes out another inch for a total of three. If you don't plan on moving the lift on those wheels, you could do a little Sawzall surgery and remove the rear of the tabs. You need maybe a foot behind the column to rock it back onto the wheels for movement, anyway. Otherwise you can duck-walk the column out and turn it before rocking it back onto the wheels for moving.
----
The lifting carriage includes a box tube section that runs transverse, with the arms pinned to it when they are in use. The box tube does not extend past the baseplate, and the arms rotate back so they are just clear of the drive-through. Eyeball, the front edge of the the box is directly vertical to the front edge of the baseplate. The drive-through clearance with arms removed or rotated fully back is therefore the same as the baseplate spacing.
-----
The car happens to be up on the lift right now, so measurement of the car's height is no problem. From floor to highest roofline is about 92", plus the height of the rooftop antenna base if you are getting a late S4, GT or GTS. That stub is about 2" off the roofline with the antenna mast removed. These dim's are with the 3" pad spacers, so you can adjust the heights down those 3" if you don't use the spacers.
Related: The bottom of the tires are 36" from the floor, suspension extended and still using the 3" spacers. Might be important if you are thinking of trying to park a car underneath. One of my old Lotus cars might fit under the tires. Maybe... I'm not sure I'd want to use the lift for stacked parking, and certainly not here where the ground moves every once in a while.
----
The lift pads are 48" from the floor, with the 3" extensions installed. Incidentally, I bought the 6" extensions with the lift (added $100) but need to do the lifting in a couple steps to actually use them. The MaxJax rep recommended against using the 3"+6" extensions together, saying that users had reported that the arms might want to roll over some with the additional leverage. Just the 3" more would be the difference between easy clearance for me sitting on the creeper seat I own, but the arms are still at the same head-hunting height so it would still require a lot of care gliding around underneath.
----
The new garage bay that I built has 10-13' cathedral ceilings in anticipation of a full-height lift, and I installed the garage door tracks so the door follows the sloped ceiling minus maybe 6" I used a standard screw-drive opener mounted right up tight to the sloped ceiling. The main garage bay has a standard door installation and a flat ceiling. That door itself has 84" min clearance underneath when open, (same height as the opening) so I couldn't use the MaxJax lift on that that side with this car and the garage door open without making new higher tracks. This is not an impossible task, just takes some careful track fitting and spring selection to make it work right. I had to take installation out of the door-supplier's scope so I could get the installation I needed in the new bay, and even that was like pulling teeth. They were very concerned about their liability for a door falling, and weren't interested in any non-standard methods that had not been blessed by their engineering dept. I pretty much had to release them from that liability to get them to leave the door for me to install. Even then they insisted on 'inspecting' my installation, this after I sent them the design plans, structural loading calcs, and a slew of finished pictures.
-----
The 'fingers' at the rear/outsides of the base plates are the support tabs for the little 3" plastic wheels that make the column 'portable'. The tabs without the wheels extend 2" beyond the rear edge of the baseplate. With the wheels installed the space goes out another inch for a total of three. If you don't plan on moving the lift on those wheels, you could do a little Sawzall surgery and remove the rear of the tabs. You need maybe a foot behind the column to rock it back onto the wheels for movement, anyway. Otherwise you can duck-walk the column out and turn it before rocking it back onto the wheels for moving.
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Thanks to all for the info
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