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MaxJax installation woes

petee_c

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Oct 4, 2010
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Location
KW area, Ontario CANADA
I suppose my 1/2" pilot hole was telling a fib. I had measured 4" depth in the hole when I measured it 2weeks ago.

I rented a sds max drill for the weekend and drilled the 1st hole and then tried to set the anchor. It would not take. I drilled 2 more holes. And decided to measure the depth of the new full bore holes. Only got 3". No way the anchors will hold. Now researching options for pouring a 30x30x8" footing for each post.

Oh well. $50 drill rental down the drain. Hopefully I can salvage my 1st anchor when I bust out the cement.

Arghhh!!!
 
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P

petee_c

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Oct 4, 2010
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Location
KW area, Ontario CANADA
maxjax1.JPG


Success!! Sorry for the blurry iPhone photo.

Lift arrived from Costco on May 7th or so - Finally got a vehicle up on August 1st.

$500 for new concrete
$150 rental of SDS Drill (x2) and Concrete Saw x1.

9 out of 10 anchors went in 'perfectly', one gave me trouble and didn't seat fully until it was about 1/8 to 3/16" above the floor surface. Ground down the extra flush to the surface.

The sacrificial bolt is definitely sacrificed. Using it for all 10 anchors was definitely more than the threads could handle. It threaded into the anchors fine, but the area of threads where the nut was for drawing up the anchor were stretched to the point where it became very hard to turn the nut. Working in some oil on the threads helped for the last few anchors.

I used the angle grinder to grind down the bit of the anchor that was above the surface of my concrete. I left the sacrificial bolt turned in a few turns to not muck up the 1st few threads of the anchor.

It is very hard to get the holes perfectly plumb when using a very large Bosch SDS (max) Drill, with an 18" long bit. There is enough wiggle room in with the base holes on the lift to still line everything up and get all the bolts in.

Have to move the garage door openner to the side, so I can get the vehicles up to the 48" spot.

The 15amp circuits was enough to lift my Jetta (about 3200lbs) . The new $10 12guage 10' extension cord from HF sure came in handy. The CRV is the heaviest vehicle we currently have at about 3500lbs.

I need to extend the hoses. With the posts at 125+" apart, not much extra hose for the pump to clear the nose of the jetta. I would prefer to be a couple feet back when lifting the vehicles.

I greased the channels of the lift with chassis/wheelbearing grease that I had, and the couple times I lifted the Jetta, it went up pretty evenly as far as I can tell.

Not much reserve capacity for the hydraulic fluid reservoir. I have enough fluid I think so that I don't hear any cavitation with the lift all the way at the top. (I added a couple ounces extra) with the lift at the max, but when I lower the lift to the bottom, ATF comes out the fill hole. I may just need to shim up the front of the pump base so the fill hole sits a bit higher. Of course, I didn't keep track of the amount of ATF I put in the unit. I had 2 x 5L bottles.
 

Jack T.

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Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
31
Looks good! Did you dowel in the new concrete piers to the existing floor? I ordered my Max Jax before I checked the thickness of the floor, so I was relieved that it was 4"+ when I drilled.

I know what you mean about the sacrificial bolt. I ordered more from McMaster-Carr because I knew I wasn't going to get 15 uses out of one bolt. I have two sets of anchors for one side for lifting different vehicles.
 
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petee_c

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KW area, Ontario CANADA
I did not dowel. The one side only was about 3.5" thick after I busted out the old concrete and wasn't sure how much strength it would add. I undercut the existing floor by about 4-6" around the perimeter and keyed in the new concrete that way. My new concrete weighs almost as much as the vehicles I am lifting. My vehicles are between 2800-3500 lbs
 
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petee_c

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KW area, Ontario CANADA
$500 for new concrete? Did you pour it yourself or have someone in to do it?

Did it myself.

It's about $230/m3 here for concrete. However, there is a $150 delivery charge if u don't order 3+ m3 of concrete.

I ordered 1.25m3. My calculations showed that I needed just about 0.95m3 for my 2 holes, but that was cutting it close at just 1m3.

P
 
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isaac338

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Aug 4, 2007
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Location
Halifax, NS, Canada
Did it myself.

It's about $230/m3 here for concrete. However, there is a $150 delivery charge if u don't order 3+ m3 of concrete.

I ordered 1.25m3. My calculations showed that I needed just about 0.95m3 for my 2 holes, but that was cutting it close at just 1m3.

P

I see. I ask because I have a couple of similar projects coming up. Any reason why you didn't go with bag concrete and mix it yourself?

By my calculations, even with Nova Scotia's mega-high tax, those footers could be poured for $200 in 8000psi bag concrete.
 
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petee_c

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Oct 4, 2010
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Location
KW area, Ontario CANADA
I calculated that I would need 30-32 bags of concrete (each bag I think mixes up to 1/2 cu ft), at $10/bag, plus $100 to rent an electric mixer to help with that. That's a lot of lifting, even if u can get the bags delivered.

I thought that I could get the truck to back right up to the holes to pour, but we have a pretty nice driveway, and the cement truck guy was wary of driving on it. The sun had been out for a few hours, and the asphalt would be soft.

So it was me and a conscripted neighbor with 2 wheelbarrows. It was 60' of pretty level wheelbarrowing from the street to the pour location. About a dozen wheelbarrow load fulls for each of us. Got the cement in the holes in about 20-30 minutes....

Best bet would be to see if there are any neighbors near you that have concrete work that needs to be done, and see if u can split a load along your street to save on costs....

P
 

isaac338

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Aug 4, 2007
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727
Location
Halifax, NS, Canada
Ah, I figured it was something to do with the labour. I'm a cheapass so I'll be lugging the 21 bags required for my project (I'm filling about 11 cubic feet) and renting an electric mixer (about $37 a day).

Cheers!
 

Brad54

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Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
4,646
Nice work!

Regarding your drill rental:

I needed a hammer drill for setting some deck anchors in the side of a poured concrete foundation (between my house and my shop).

Renting a 1/2-inch hammer drill was $50. Buying one from Harbor Freight was $19.95.

It was the cheapest ************* drill the Western world has ever seen... after using it, the chuck refused to unscrew, so the 1/2-inch concrete bit has become a permanent part of the drill.

I figured I was money ahead buying it instead of the rental. That was about 6 years ago. I haven't had to use it since, but it's still here, waiting for it's time to shine. If I ever use it again, it'll be with an ear-to-ear grin... that cheap POS made me money the first time I used it. Anything after is gravy.

-Brad
 
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