I'm working on installing my new Max Jax over this holiday weekend. Of course I can't call Max Jax tech support until Monday so thought I'd describe the situation here and see what you good people have to say.
I've got the Max Jax posts bolted down to new 24" x 24" x 8" pads that I had installed by a friends engineering company. These new pads are flush with the surface of the existing garage floor. They were poured 10 days ago so I've still got some time to wait before lifting a car on them. I've got a 2 bay garage wtih 88" ceilings so the Max Jax will run just a few inches short of full potential height. I worked the height issues out with Max Jax tech guys before purchasing the lift. I'm not quite ready to work with the power unit and fluid but that is next.
I'm taking my time in getting the posts installed properly. All my anchors in the new concrete are dead on the centers of all the base holes and I'm good and parallel between the two post bases. I'm a commercial woodworker and so cut a 16" wide x 10'+ long template on my CNC router to locate all 10 bolt holes. Once positioned on the floor and held in place it precisely located the bolt locations for both post at the same time.
When solidly bolted down the post against the side wall is 1/4" lower than the post out in the center of the garage (passenger side driving forward into the bay). My initial thought was to put two 5/8" washers under the base at each bolt hole to raise it up the 1/4". I wasn't crazy about the idea of the whole base being suspended off the floor though so decided it would be better to make up a 1/4" sub-base steel plate to put below the Max Jax base plate.
However I then I read here on the forum that in some installs the posts are off in height by 1" or more. The manual states the posts should be level.
Question #1: Is 1/4" difference in post height an insignificant amount?
The next question is about bringing the posts perfectly plumb. With one of the supplied shims under various bolt locations on the two posts I can only bring them near to plumb. The wall side post is nicely plumb left to right (that being in the direction of the lift arms) but leans back towards the wall about 5/16" over the full post height.
The center post leans back away from a car about 3/8" and sideways about 5/16" over the full post height.
In both cases if I add another one of the supplied 1/16" thick shims the lean gets worse in the other direction. I have some .015" shims I could add to bring it dead on plumb but this seems a little nuts.......especially on the center post as it will be removable (I'll leave the wall side post bolted in place).
Question #2: Is this close enough to vertical for the posts?
Thanks for your help.
BH Davis
I've got the Max Jax posts bolted down to new 24" x 24" x 8" pads that I had installed by a friends engineering company. These new pads are flush with the surface of the existing garage floor. They were poured 10 days ago so I've still got some time to wait before lifting a car on them. I've got a 2 bay garage wtih 88" ceilings so the Max Jax will run just a few inches short of full potential height. I worked the height issues out with Max Jax tech guys before purchasing the lift. I'm not quite ready to work with the power unit and fluid but that is next.
I'm taking my time in getting the posts installed properly. All my anchors in the new concrete are dead on the centers of all the base holes and I'm good and parallel between the two post bases. I'm a commercial woodworker and so cut a 16" wide x 10'+ long template on my CNC router to locate all 10 bolt holes. Once positioned on the floor and held in place it precisely located the bolt locations for both post at the same time.
When solidly bolted down the post against the side wall is 1/4" lower than the post out in the center of the garage (passenger side driving forward into the bay). My initial thought was to put two 5/8" washers under the base at each bolt hole to raise it up the 1/4". I wasn't crazy about the idea of the whole base being suspended off the floor though so decided it would be better to make up a 1/4" sub-base steel plate to put below the Max Jax base plate.
However I then I read here on the forum that in some installs the posts are off in height by 1" or more. The manual states the posts should be level.
Question #1: Is 1/4" difference in post height an insignificant amount?
The next question is about bringing the posts perfectly plumb. With one of the supplied shims under various bolt locations on the two posts I can only bring them near to plumb. The wall side post is nicely plumb left to right (that being in the direction of the lift arms) but leans back towards the wall about 5/16" over the full post height.
The center post leans back away from a car about 3/8" and sideways about 5/16" over the full post height.
In both cases if I add another one of the supplied 1/16" thick shims the lean gets worse in the other direction. I have some .015" shims I could add to bring it dead on plumb but this seems a little nuts.......especially on the center post as it will be removable (I'll leave the wall side post bolted in place).
Question #2: Is this close enough to vertical for the posts?
Thanks for your help.
BH Davis
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