PD58 Proper Torque (MaxJax)

[tomsmith]

hey all,

Just finished setting my anchors yesterday and am ready to fasten the columns to the floor but I can't find an official torque spec for the anchors.

My owners manual does say anything. Page 16 just says, "tighten all 5/8" x 2" anchor bolts tight to the base. do not use an impact wrench for this procedure"

but nothing about values. I've read through the posts here and other forums and the advise seems to range from:

1. Tighten by hand (I'm assuming this is <50lb/ft)
2. 50lb/ft
3. 100lb/ft

does anyone know what it should it be for real?

I've set them at 50lb/ft for now but hoping someone can chime in.

 

[Jvvmusme]

Tighten them until you feel comfortable. There is no vibration on the maxjax so the torque is not an issue. Danmar tells you not to use impact wrench because they do not want the anchors to rotate inside the concrete and become loose. 2 years experience installing the maxjax every weekend tells me that what is really important is that the columns are well "seated" against the concrete with no free movement at all. My 2 cents.

 

[dr bob]

I've been using 50 lbs/ft for years now on mine with no issues. Religiously using the torque wrench on them actually. Not at all anxious to have to reset any of the anchors, and want the lifted car to stay lifted.

I do cheat and use my little battery impact gun to run the bolts up and down, just don't sit there and hammer on them when tightening; the impact shock risks fracturing concrete I guess.

 

[skamp]

I did 85 ft/lbs with no issue. I think I did that based on some posts here but don't recall ever seeing a specific value in any docs.

Steve

 

[tomsmith]

Thank you for the feedback. I feel a lot better about my 50lb/ft now.

I got my car up off the floor for the first time ever today .. what a great feeling

It's a 300C so mid-size sedan. I put a magnetic level on each column to watch for inwards tipping and lifted the car just enough to take some load off the suspension. Did a quick walk around and noticed that the columns were still perfectly level.

Lifted it a bit higher until all 4 wheels were off the ground and checked again - all good.

Lifted it a good foot off the ground and noticed that one of the columns had ever so slightly moved inwards. When I started, the bubble was exactly in the center with maybe 2 hair widths between the lines. Once the car was up, the bubble was almost kissing the line.

I'm guessing that's OK and nothing to worry about? A certain, albeit tiny, amount of movement is to be expected I hope?

I left the car up for 10 minutes, with 4 jack stands positioned just under the arms - in case

Lowered the car fully and re-checked the bolts. Still all at 50 lb/fts.

This weekend, I'm planning on getting the car all the way to max lift - fingers crossed!

 

[mikeyr]

I do mine at 85lbs. Since I was told to torque the bolts to 90lbs to set it the first time, I figured a little less was the right thing to do. I never had any issues with the bolts being loose lifting quite a few different cars, but after doing a brake job on my GMC Sierra (which was on the lift 2 days), half the bolts were loose when I lowered the truck, some only hand tight. Not happened since, so I assume that the truck being much heavier than the cars "set" the anchors since nothing has moved since.

I will try going lower, like 50lbs. and see what happens.

 

[demoderbydave]

I have tightened them and still do on the rare occasion I move it to 100Ftlbs. No problems.