dr bob

The instructions on the anchors give you some guidance on the initial setting of the anchors. Assuming the holes aren't wallowed out by the drillbit, the anchors will need to be driven into the hole. The ring at the wedge part is what is sticing in the hole some. So you drive it in per the spec, then put the setting bolt through a thick washer,and draw the center of the anchor back uo towards the surface. The instuctions (not near me at this time) tell you ho many full turns and how close the surface to draw up the anchor. Once the anchor is set that way, use 50 lbs/ft as a guide to help avoid overtorqueing the bolts, which would draw the anchors even closer to the surface. If the anchor is drawn up to the surface, you --might-- be able to reset it down a bit. Might.

pjg

If the anchors continue to pull-up, you may want to consider replacing the wedge anchors with the epoxy ones.

*********************************************************

Info from Wejit:


Dear Paul,
There is an alternative anchor available for your use assuming that you
drilled through the slab.
The Power Sert PS2-58. It is an adhesive anchor that you can see in our
on line catalog at;
www.wejit.com
It's located on page 29 and 30 for your review. It is used in concert
with Inject-tite adhesive.
There are two choices of adhesive based on the temperature of the
concrete. They are ECA8 or ECT8F.
Our VP of Sales says that he will sell these to you for $7 per Power
Sert and $14.95 per tube of adhesive.
His contact name and number are listed below.

David Gentry
Vice President of Sales
Wej-it Fastening Systems
Cell 918 630-2323
Office 800 722-8063
Fax 800 952-5063
www.Wejit.com

Basically, you would pound the XPD58 back down through the hole with a 2
1/2 pound sledge, then fill the hole 1/2 to 1/3 full of adhesive and
follow the installation instructions located on the website, page 30.


*********************************************************

jpflip

Sorry I was away for work....Dr Bob and pjg thanks a lot for the info and your help. After shimming the inner sides of both post the anchors are now stable. I had a gap of .415 " outside to .250 " three inches from the inner part of the base.... Got four tapered shims fabricated and now the load rest properly and the complete bases.

But I had another scary adventure!!!!!! Went full up with the Porsche to see the ceiling clearance after relocating the garage door motor and......Left side post refuse to come down!!!


OOOOOHHHHH MYYYYYYY GOD!!!! My car is lower on the right by about 4 inches and I can go up but not down!!!!!! Decided to lower it with the bleed screw to the upper lock pin hole and put the pin in and release the pressure to rest on the pins........ Now what to do..... Went up again just enough to release the pressure on the pins and strange both sides went down together OUF!!!!!!!

After several attempts I discover one of my hose quick release was at fault. I simply switch the hoses and the problem switch sides....

Every time I had a car on the jack (weight required to repeat the snag because when empty the jack operate properly) and every time I press the handle to lower it, the side with the faulty hose refuse to lower. And I realized the hose stay pressurized!

Did a little bit of measuring and the good check valve quick release adaptor pin is protruding by .156" and the one at fault is only .104" . Probably not sticking out enough and when back pressure applied it closes due to insufficient opening....

I am now waiting for Danmar to see if they will replace this faulty adaptor....


Thanks again for your help! J.P. Now I need a beer.....

jpflip

Just to be exact with my explanation here's some pictures of the faulty adaptor....

dr bob

Good stuff!

The instructions have you cycle the lift up and down a few times, bleeding air out along the way. It would seem that a dufo disconnect would show up then, but maybe the extra load on the cylinders with the car made the difference in the way the valve in the Q-D connector works.

I did an unintentional test of the flow divider early on, when I forgot to pull the safety rod on one side before lowering the car. Turns out that one side will come down a bit without the other side moving. (!!!!) so, while the flow divider is a good idea and all, it does not protect me from stupidity. There's enough bleed-by in the gears to be dangerous. So be religious about how you keep track of the safety bars, and know that the flow divider is not a positive device by any stretch; it's there to keep a relatively even load going up and down in a relatively even fashion, no more.

---

I don't have pictures with me, but... I have the arms hanging on the sides of the lift columns when I'm not using the lift. I bought some longer steel stock for safety bars, long enough to hang the arms from them with the longer bars in the middle position in the column. A short 2x4 block holds the pad end of the arms off the column base enough to be able to leave the pads on the arms. A couple straps hold the arms tight against the columns. We live in earthquake country, so I have extra anchors set in the floor where the lift columns park when they aren't out in the bay for use. I futzed with a few different places to store the arms, and decided that they are safest and most out of the way wjen they are tied to the columns this way. With straps top and bottom, the columns can be rolled into place with the arms attached.

If I were designing this lift from scratch, the columns would have permanent brackets welded on for just this purpose. Or the carriage would have a couple horizontal pivot pins so the arms could be rotated up vertically next to the columns for storage.

jpflip

Agree with you dr bob this flow divider valve did not protect me at all.... Good idea you had with the arms and the safety bars, noted with thanks ;-)

One thing I've notice. The bleeding is the most important part. At the beginning I had one arm about 3 inches higher than the other, so I open the bleed screw, a small air bubble came out and the lift was lifting equally after that ????? It is really sensible to air. Only a small quantity of air is enough to affect the equal movement. Also, after reading about quick disconnect I realized that any quick disconnect, every time you disconnect the hose a small amount of air is aloud in the system. Some of the best quick disconnect like Aeroquip used in the aviation let 1.5 cc of air in and 1.3 cc of fluid out.... So this is why it is important at every reinstallation of the Maxjax to bleed it properly.....

I did the brakes on my BMW and I have to admit this tool is fantastic. But it will take a little bit of time before I get confident with it and spend hours under the Porsche at max level....

dr bob

I've been disconnecting just one hose, and only at the column end between projects. I leave the other hose connected and just roll the pump next to the colunm where the hose is still attached. No issues with bleeding so far. I think I've done it a few times just to see what was in there, but no problems with bubbles causing uneven lifting. At least not yet.

I do need to follow up with the hose extensions and the 90º angle fittings so things will stow more compactly. The 10' hoses pieces are a bit more than US$30 each in the Fastenal online listing. There's one near the house (Burbank) but I haven't remembered during the week to get by there when they are open. The longer hoses will definitely make it more convenient; right now with the pump behind the car on the lift, there isn't much room to close the garage door. Extending just one hose will let the pump stay against the corner wall out of the way. That's gotta be worth the cost of a hose and some fittings at my house.

----

FWIW, I stick a standard jackstand under each carriage to hold the car up at a comfortable engine-work height on the lift. Worked great, you can adjust the comfort height some, and easier than drilling different holes for in the columns for the safety bars. One of my 'standard' 3/4" plywood jackstand pads allowed a 3-ton stand to sit nicely under the middle of each carriage. I already gave away a set of now-surplus jackstands at SITP in May. Only 6 pairs left.

jpflip

Thanks again dr bob. For your info I got a call from Dannmar. I was ask if the quick connectors were gold in color , I said yes. And the support rep. told me that they are aware of a problem with these connectors and they are sending me a different set-up. Only two quick connectors , female and male for the post . And now two "fix" fittings to plug the hoses permanently to the flow divider.... We can say that the support department is efficient!

martyp

jp - please keep us posted if you would. I'm not having any issues but am interested in potential factory "fixes". Glad you got it installed and working!

martyp

FWIW Bob, I have two 10' extensions (the same Apache part numbers as Fastenal shows) that I got from somewhere in FL via Amazon. With those installed, depending upon the size of your pump reservoir you may or may not have enough fluid to reach full height without pump cavitation. Mine cavitates just as the rams top out. My reservoir is full up to the fill hole when the lift is on the ground. I'm probably going to remove one the 10' pieces and see if that helps. I read somewhere (garage journal maybe?) that older units came with 7-ish qt capacity, but newer ones are 6-ish. As always, YMMV.

I also use jackstands under the lift points to gain additional work heights without modifying (drilling) the columns. Works well.

I have an extra set of fittings (4 ea 90 degree and 2 ea straight coupler, all non-swivel) that are yours or JP's if either of you want.

jpflip

Thanks Marty for your help and offer. As soon I get the new parts installed I will post some pictures of this modification from Dannmar and hope it will fix my problem.

dr bob

Interesting comment on the reservoir capacity. My thinking is that the hose has the sealing hyudraulic couplers at both ends, so once it's full, that is fluid that never gets lost. So once the hoses are full, they don't affect the quantity in the reservoir needed to fill the cylinder. Should be able to top the reservoir once all the hoses are full and the system is burped, and not see any difference in quantity needed to run the cylinders full again. better: Reservoir level should change the same amount lift down to lift up no matter what length of filled hose you have in the system. So if the 6-qt reservoir is too small now, it was too small when you got it even with just the original hoses. Consider that the 10ft long 3/8" ID hose holds about 7.5 fl oz of fluid. Fill both hoses the first time you use and burp, takes 15 ounces of ATF, a bit shy of half a quart. Once filled, the fluid quantity in the hose never changes, so you only need the reservoir capacity once, just to get them filled. Top up the reservoir half a quart part way through the first lift, and never have to think abaout it again unless the fluid is somehow drained from the hoses.

Herman K

Their service is good - I had a leaking seal in one of the lift cylinders spoke to the service manager on his direct line e-mailed him a picture and they send a replacement FOC.

The tool has made working on the car so much easier... should have bought it when I got the car

martyp

Doh! Agreed, makes sense. In other words, the reservoir capacity needs to be at least a little more than the fluid capacity of the rams. Once filled, the hoses don't impact the amount of fluid required to achieve full lift.

I do remember a step in the instructions to add 1/2 qt at partial lift, but I did not do that at the time since my fill plug seal was inside the reservoir (I accidentally pushed it in when installing the fill plug - Danmar quickly provided a new seal) and I was worried about fill hole overflow/leak. Maybe the system is designed to work with the fluid level in the reservoir higher than the fill hole when at zero lift? Hmmmm . . .

Thanks for straightening me out

jthwan22

I use the 90 degree coupler and run the hose up the columns, along the ceiling down to the pump. This way the hose is off the floor and my wife and kids won't trip on it.