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The MaxJax Portable 2-Post Lift

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C

carusso1

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
12
MaxJax Anchor Bolts

Hi,

This is my first ever post here on The Garage Journal so I apologize if this is a repeat issue.

I have had my MaxJAx for a little over a year now and have not really experienced any problems. My issue is with the anchors. The instructions included with the lift explained to set the anchor, first remove the Set Tool hex bolt and add a washer to give better support during the setting procedure. Tighten the hex nut while holding the bolt head (to assure the anchor does not spin) and until the Power Drop Anchor sets flush with the concrete surface. Upon beginning the installation of these anchors, as outlined in the included instructions, it appeared that once the anchor became flush with the top of the concrete it essentially "topped out" at the washer and would lead one to believe the anchor had set itself. After further inspection of the anchor, I could see that it still appeared loose in the socket and not adequately set. This lead me to call customer service who explained that the anchor should be set with a max torque of 90 ft-lbs. As stated above, if the anchor "tops out" at the washer one would believe that the necessary 90 ft-lbs of torque has been reached, but alas this was not the case. In order to insure that I had reached the 90 ft-lbs of torque, I placed a steel "cup" over the anchor and continued the setting process as outlined above and found that in some cases the top of anchor would actually set slightly higher (1/8" - 1/4") than the wearing surface of my concrete floor slab upon reaching 90 ft-lbs of torque. I trimmed the portion of the anchor above the floor slab off so that the anchor is now flush with the floor.

The scary part is that after using the lift for about 13 months, as explained above, with no notable problems, I found that one of my anchors appeared to be loose in the socket last night. So I installed the set tool in order to re-set the anchor at 90 ft-lbs of torque, if necessary. I used the same process as before but this time pulled the entire anchor out of the concrete floor slab with little torque. Therefore, I am concerned about the anchors and have decided to saw cut out portions of my existing 6" floor slab to re-install a thicker more reinforced slab. I am going to dowel the new slab to the old and also mushroom the new slab under the old to "key" them together. I would rather cast-in-place some "L" shaped anchors in lieu of drilling and using a wedge type anchor. Has anyone done something similar and if so where did you purchase your cast-in-place anchors?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
A

accord driver

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
53
Location
Chicago, Not the burbs, actually in Chicago
I also have 3 anchors that set higher and cut off the tops, but at about 1/8-1/4 inch beneath the level of the floor. Have not "installed" the Max-Jax yet but I did notice Danmar now offers epoxy in anchors. You may want to try those before you cut the slab?
 
M

Mr onetwo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Messages
2,009
Location
Coastal Maine
les_garten said:
Look under part brand, says MaxJax

Comes with a lot of holes too!
Click to expand...
I wonder if Gabe knows about this?:confused:It says MaxJax, but I think its just a search term.I think this might be the Chinese manufacturer going around Danmar with a popular product.:lol_hitti I do like the extra holes!
 
C

Chetter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
243
Location
Northern Ohio
Thought I would give an update to my MaxJax purchase and install. I bought mine this past December and after getting things together on the lift, I waited until we started getting this unusually warm weather here in Ohio and finally moved my car out of the way to drill the holes for the anchors. I bought a Wel-Bilt 1/2" chuck hammer drill that was cheap but it survived the drilling of all 10 holes. My anchors all set perfectly without any problems and I put the posts in place to bolt down and had one anchor that was off about an 1/8" so I used a deburring bit in my die grinder and hogged out the room I needed and the last bolt went right in. I then proceeded to filling up the oil resevoir and hooked everything up and started the lift up and bled the cylinders and was pleased with no run, drips or errors, I threw away their cheap teflon tape and used my good stuff in its place. Next was the first lift of my car which went without problems and I used the 2 small magnetic levels to keep an eye on the posts. I really like this lift, it will be so nice not to have lay on my back, this 56 year old body just doesn't recover as easily like it used to. Sorry for the long post, just thought I would share my experience of my install. :thumbup:
 
R

regguy1

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
4,055
Location
On Mount Olympus with Zeus
les_garten said:
Look under part brand, says MaxJax

Comes with a lot of holes too!
Click to expand...

I think someone has come out with a knockoff of the MaxJax. This one has a chinese pump. MaxJax has a high quality pump, I'm not sure if the difference in price is worth it. Also Dannmar has been very good about tech help and customer service. That's certainly worth something.
Here's mine in action: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=140674
 
C

Chetter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
243
Location
Northern Ohio
Here's mine in action also.
 

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D

dmeadow

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
952
Location
Houston, Texas
Re: MaxJax Anchor Bolts

carusso1 said:
Hi,

This is my first ever post here on The Garage Journal so I apologize if this is a repeat issue.

I have had my MaxJAx for a little over a year now and have not really experienced any problems. My issue is with the anchors. The instructions included with the lift explained to set the anchor, first remove the Set Tool hex bolt and add a washer to give better support during the setting procedure. Tighten the hex nut while holding the bolt head (to assure the anchor does not spin) and until the Power Drop Anchor sets flush with the concrete surface. Upon beginning the installation of these anchors, as outlined in the included instructions, it appeared that once the anchor became flush with the top of the concrete it essentially "topped out" at the washer and would lead one to believe the anchor had set itself. After further inspection of the anchor, I could see that it still appeared loose in the socket and not adequately set. This lead me to call customer service who explained that the anchor should be set with a max torque of 90 ft-lbs. As stated above, if the anchor "tops out" at the washer one would believe that the necessary 90 ft-lbs of torque has been reached, but alas this was not the case. In order to insure that I had reached the 90 ft-lbs of torque, I placed a steel "cup" over the anchor and continued the setting process as outlined above and found that in some cases the top of anchor would actually set slightly higher (1/8" - 1/4") than the wearing surface of my concrete floor slab upon reaching 90 ft-lbs of torque. I trimmed the portion of the anchor above the floor slab off so that the anchor is now flush with the floor.

The scary part is that after using the lift for about 13 months, as explained above, with no notable problems, I found that one of my anchors appeared to be loose in the socket last night. So I installed the set tool in order to re-set the anchor at 90 ft-lbs of torque, if necessary. I used the same process as before but this time pulled the entire anchor out of the concrete floor slab with little torque. Therefore, I am concerned about the anchors and have decided to saw cut out portions of my existing 6" floor slab to re-install a thicker more reinforced slab. I am going to dowel the new slab to the old and also mushroom the new slab under the old to "key" them together. I would rather cast-in-place some "L" shaped anchors in lieu of drilling and using a wedge type anchor. Has anyone done something similar and if so where did you purchase your cast-in-place anchors?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Click to expand...

This is a common problem. If you do a search you'll find lots of theories about the cause. If you are uncomfortable with what you have, just redrill all the holes in a different location and use the epoxy anchor kit available from Dannmar.

On the other topic:-

I was wondering how long it would take to start seeing knock-offs of the Maxjax. I'm surprised that the knock-off is so expensive, actually. The cheapest I've seen is $1950, which isn't that great a difference in price, particularly if you get into a group buy. Do a search on Longhorn Lift if you want to see more of them.
 
C

Chetter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
243
Location
Northern Ohio
Re: MaxJax Anchor Bolts

dmeadow said:
This is a common problem. If you do a search you'll find lots of theories about the cause. If you are uncomfortable with what you have, just redrill all the holes in a different location and use the epoxy anchor kit available from Dannmar.

On the other topic:-

I was wondering how long it would take to start seeing knock-offs of the Maxjax. I'm surprised that the knock-off is so expensive, actually. The cheapest I've seen is $1950, which isn't that great a difference in price, particularly if you get into a group buy. Do a search on Longhorn Lift if you want to see more of them.
Click to expand...

What do you do if you can't move the hole placement? I myself, don't any other place to move the posts, so can you epoxy new anchors in the existing holes? I kind of want to know what my options are if a problem starts on mine.
 
D

dmeadow

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
952
Location
Houston, Texas
Re: MaxJax Anchor Bolts

Chetter said:
What do you do if you can't move the hole placement? I myself, don't any other place to move the posts, so can you epoxy new anchors in the existing holes? I kind of want to know what my options are if a problem starts on mine.
Click to expand...

I think you can epoxy into the existing holes without a problem, except you have to get the old, failed anchors out of the way. If you drilled through the slab to install them, then you can just pound them through. If you only drilled partially through the slab, then you are probably SOL and will have to drill new holes.

I used epoxy anchors in the existing holes where my mechanical anchors didn't work and everything worked just fine.
 
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C

Chetter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
243
Location
Northern Ohio
Re: MaxJax Anchor Bolts

dmeadow said:
I think you can epoxy into the existing holes without a problem, except you have to get the old, failed anchors out of the way. If you drilled through the slab to install them, then you can just pound them through. If you only drilled partially through the slab, then you are probably SOL and will have to drill new holes.

I used epoxy anchors in the existing holes where my mechanical anchors didn't work and everything worked just fine.
Click to expand...

What brand epoxy anchors did you use? I did drill all the way through, so pushing them down through will not be an issue. Did you use anchors that were the same size of the old or did you have to enlarge the holes? Thanks for the reply..:thumbup:
 
E

ejwan

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
10
regguy1 you a lucky gentleman!!!

Well I been a super long time looker on this forum and i think its time for my first post. I can only wish to have a garage to work out of someday but the back yard will do for now :( . Had this lift for about 6 months now but only used it a hand full of times.

Here is my lift in action

Lift001.jpg


I made 4 custom jack stand for each pad and a getto oil drop holder using two milk crates.

Lift004.jpg


Here is a more detail view of the jack stand

Lift002.jpg


i source 4 toyota bottle jack from a buddies junkyard :thumbup:

Soon i will make an adjustable fluid drain pan using a broken bottom water bottle

Lift006.jpg


Just need to weld on a plate to mount on the casters. The bottle neck fits right into the 2 3/8 fence tubing. after the oil is done draining just grab it by the handle and pour the hazardous waste into a 5 gal paint bucket for disposal at a local LA City Sanitation facility :). Need to add a wire mesh to prevent losing the drain plug.

Lift007.jpg


Thats all for now. I will be working on a transmission jack after the oil pan.
 
D

dmeadow

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
952
Location
Houston, Texas
Re: MaxJax Anchor Bolts

Chetter said:
What brand epoxy anchors did you use? I did drill all the way through, so pushing them down through will not be an issue. Did you use anchors that were the same size of the old or did you have to enlarge the holes? Thanks for the reply..:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't see your post until now.

I used the Wej-it epoxy anchors, the same that Dannmar is offering in their kit now.

They are the same diameter and use the same size bolts and holes as the original mechanical anchors (and I would not recommend a smaller size).

I used the same holes as the mechanical anchors. I also put down some fine mesh "sleeves" since the holes went all the way through the slab and I wasn't interested in filling the void below the slab with epoxy ;). I made the sleeves from hardware cloth, though there is a specialized product available for this purpose.
 
4

427HISS

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
746
Still using mine with no issues. One of the best products I've ever bought !
 
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