Back in the fall I was fortunate to get in on the group buy on Rennlist for the MaxJax 2 post lift made by Danmar. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a mid-rise two post lift that is designed to be easily bolted and unbolted and moved out of the way when not needed.

The installation was very straight forward, one of my brothers gave me a hand, and all together it took us 3-4 hours to get it done. There are two heights that it can lock out at, with the highest being approx 48" - which is a very comfortable height for working underneath the car on a wheeled seat.

We were both impressed with how solid the cars felt on it, and how smooth and quiet it operated. The first car on it was my 993 - I had set the spacing of the posts at what I felt would be optimum for the car that would be on it the most. Once it was determined that the spacing was good, the Porsche came down and we put up my brother's Mercedes - he had sold it to our sister in law and we had to change the lower front ball joints for it to pass the safety. This weekend we'll be putting a new performance exhaust on his Maserati and changing the oil, and then the 993 will be on it for the next few weeks - can't wait!

Here are a few cell phone pictures.

 

Very nice my friend.
Time to giddy up and get those RS engine mounts in.
I tell you one thing that nice red 993 would look great with some RUF 18's on it. I know a guy who is about to sell a set.
Mint and only one set of tires ever put on the rims.
Love that lift, guess I really need one of those

Cheers,
Geoff

 

Steve, it looks like you either custom built your house where you had the chance to pour a slab to your liking or you poured another one, because I see cuts in the concrete floor.

Comments?

BTW, what did you do to level the MaxJax? I see their installation instructions are quite detailed in that respect. I also see plates on the floor where your tires might be located.

 

First thing on the list is the new suspension - so long SUV - but it won't be as low as yours.

You sir, are an evil, evil man...

 

The house was custom built - but the garage floor was spec'd out to a standard 4" thick and 3000psi strength - the main difference to a custom built house and a regular house is I was there when the floor was poured, so I know for sure those minimum standards were met. The cuts you see in the floor are expansion joints that were cut into it to control cracking - its a large floor area - approx 34x24, and after 8 years there are no cracks in the floor.

I used metal plates that I cut out of the steel frame that was used to bolt the posts together for shipping - much better than the shims that were provided. My floor has a slope of 2% for drainage - common for garages in Canada that will see a lot of snow and slush falling off parked cars. Once I had the posts leveled the next issue was that the car was not - which meant that the rear arm of the lift would contact the car before the front arm - although I was still within the allowable range for what Danmar said was acceptable in that regard I made two small ramps out of some scrap wood and some old gym flooring I had lying around and problem solved.

 

Good move! My friend who built his own house did likewise and no cracks either.

Nothing like a garage with an attached house. That is what I call a real 2-car garage.

Too soon to tell, but I wonder how many MaxJax owners actually remove their lifts at the end of a job and store them in the corner which is what this lift is about (not that you have to). That is what concerns me; if I will actually do that if I go for the MaxJax over a scissors lift set-up.

 

For now the posts are staying in place - but once the bulk of all my major projects are done I'll leave the one closest to the wall bolted in and just move the other one over beside it so that it's out of the way. It's very easy to remove and bolt in place - 5 min. I really like scissor lifts but I didn't want something on the floor all of the time, and although lots of guys on here have done it with a scissor lift I think a two post would make it much easier to drop the engine - which is the plan for next winter. If I had a scissor lift I'd want it lowered into the floor like Magdaddy's install - the other benefit of the scissor over the two post is I don't think the qualty of the concrete is as critical - seeing as how you're not drilling anchors.

 

What I was thinking also.

Just make sure it can't fall over onto your 993; perhaps one concrete anchor just for it?

Either way, it'll be a bigger job for me. If going MaxJax, I am cutting out a portion of the slab and setting some 1" thick steel (threaded) plates with rebar into it the minimum 8" thick reinforced concrete, or pouring a trough for a scissors jack.

The damn car isn't what is expensive; its the rest of the toys.

 

The posts on their own are very solid and stable - really no chance for them to be accidentally knocked over if not bolted down.

If I recall correctly reading something from Danmar, they recommend if you need to cut into the exsisting concrete that you make the pad 12" thick. One very important step is that you drill into the exsisting slab laterally so that you can epoxy in some rebar - that will then tie the old slab into the new one when poured. The Garage Journal forum has been a great resource for all things garage related - it's like the rennlist of garages. Gabe, the Danmar rep has posted responses to several posts on there.

 

Steve,

How close are the bolts to the wall on the one post?

Regards,
Peter

 

'The Garage Journal'? I need to check that one out, anyone got a link handy? After the drive home from Costa Mesa with the 'green machine' I need to get the 'cave' organized...and new ideas are always welcome.

I looked at 2 post lifts but like Alex I'm thinking scissor lift for now...

Jim

 

Now you just need to do a high lift conversion on that stall's garage door, and you will be set! Have fun!

 

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=75488

takes you to a maxjax/scissors lift comparo thread but you can click your way to the main forum.

 

Peter - they are 6" away from the wall, I think the minimum allowed was 5" IIRC, but a lot of it comes down to the quality of your concrete.

Jim - both have their merits. Shoot me a pm if you'd like to come over and check out the lift, I've been very busy this last month or so and Alex and I have been trying to set a time for him to come over. Garage Journal forum was a great resource, I used it for researching my heater and the lift and now I'm considering flooring options...

That was my plan - but then, once I had the Porsche on the lift I opened the garage door, and because I back my car in I ended up with a couple of inches of clearance. So I saved some money there - which means more money for parts

 

Steve, running into the same problem wrt slope of my garage floor. It doesn't look like much, but it's actually about 3/16" slope over 12" in my floor. My garage size is similiar to yours.... 33x22.5'.

How much shim did you have to add? I'm thinking about taking some flat steel and shimming at different parts of the post plate....

If I were to use the C shaped shims that came with the post, I would need 0,1,2, and possibly 3 shims in the different mounting holes to get a plumb enough post.

Peter