I think Wej-it would roll their eyes at the suggestion of a coffee filter as a installation aid as well. Full disclosure, I did ask Dannmar and they said 90 ftlbs but had no response to my concerns about pre load. Guy was very nice, but basically said, dunno but 90 will work . I
MaxJax Installed!
- Thread starter nholmes
- Start date
Resurrecting the dead! Got a question for you. When you placed the hardware cloth in the hole why didn't it get pushed down further when you tapped the anchor in being that the anchor and the hole are both 7/8 in diameter? I thought it would be a tight fit. I will be using the maxjax epoxy anchor set ($334.00)! Im wondering if I should make the hole slightly bigger? I was also wondering if I should have the hardware cloth almost flushed with the floor. Any thoughts?Sure can.
I ended up with more than enough epoxy to do all ten of them, you can get away with one single 22oz, canister from Home Depot. I was very liberal with my use of epoxy, too. There's no running to the store if you end up with a half full hole!
Here was my process. Not sure if it's the best or whatever, but it worked for me!:
- Drilled the holes and hand fit the anchor in the hole to check plumb. (being sure to not drop it into the void!) I used a shop vac near the bit to catch dust and concrete as the bit worked its way through.
- After I was done drilling I then used a shop vac to pull as much of the loose debris from each hole.
- Brushed them out with a 7/8" brush to get even more debris out.
- I then wrapped the brush with a thin rag soaked in acetone and ran it into each hole one at a time until I was satisfied that there were no more concrete particulates in the hole that would impact the strength of the epoxy.
- Using aviation snips I cut and hand rolled hardware cloth around each anchor to bend it into the appropriate shape and then stuffed them into the holes. (remember, my slab was only 4" and had a void below, so I had to do this step)
- Laid out the anchors and got plenty of rags on hand to catch the epoxy.
- Following the instructions on the Simpson SET-XP epoxy bottle, I filled the first hole up about 2/3 of the way. The stuff is super thin and gets everywhere, so I did one hole at a time for my sanity.
- I then gently inserted each anchor with a twisting motion, keeping a small hammer on hand to gently tap them down as needed. There were a few that I was not able to push down by hand (it's very snug) so tapping on the head of the bolt worked it down. I set each anchor to be flush with the surface of the concrete.
- As epoxy escaped out the sides, I wiped it up immediately and then moved on to the next hole.
- I let them sit for 72 hours at ~65-75* temperature before even attempting to touch one bolt. Safety first!
- I then marked each anchor with a sharpie, being sure to hit both the lip of the anchor and the concrete. This will let me know if they are spinning in the hole during the torquing process.
- At this point I moved the posts back into place and placed shims where necessary to get it as plumb as my bent post bases would allow. (Not a deal breaker, but one of them was bent from the factory)
- Once in place, I went one by one and torqued each anchor to 95 ft/lbs with my split beam torque wrench. I suggest not bothering with the highly inaccurate and cheaper ratcheting head torque wrenches. Ensuring these are torqued properly was important to me. YMMV
- I then broke them all loose, moved the posts out of the way and then checked the marks I made with the sharpie. Not a single one spun in the hole or pulled up, so I was content with the outcome and then did a final setting of the posts.
Good luck!
You have a very nice and clean set up. Congrats!
I miss that lift and garage! We moved in 2021, sold the house and we moved to a house with a slab on deck, so I can't use the lift and had to sell it.
Anyway, let me answer your post as best I can going off of memory...
IIRC there was enough space around the ends of the anchors to account for the hardware cloth. I also pushed the cloth to the bottom of the hole and into the void where it could reach the dirt beneath the concrete slab. There the hardware cloth seemed where it would work like a "trap" to catch and hold the epoxy to some degree.
I would not make the hole slightly bigger, personally. I trust the engineering behind the anchors and epoxy. If it was me, I wouldn't want to put myself into a situation where the anchors are too small or have play in them.
Good luck!
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Copy that! Thanks for the quick response!
Sorry, just saw this!
I never had an issue due to the length, but I did have an issue with not filling the lines with fluid before I ran them. I was constantly having issues bleeding the cylinders and getting all of the air out. I think in the end I never managed to do so as I was always needing to bleed them or they wouldn't lift symmetrically.
This next time (I'm getting another lift in my next garage) I'm going to fill the lines first, cap them and then run them to their final locations. I was lazy last time and figured it would just sort itself out.
I'm not on here much but I'm going to be moving into a new place soon so I'll be working on making a new garage more functional for my needs.