I’ll have to give this a try. I had my Honda Civic stick about 3/4 way up. It’s unnerving to say the least. I rocked, bled air, lifted, lowered ,kicked and screamed. It was not a good day but fort. ended without incident. other than me being frazzled and I pulled out of the garage and smacked my wife’s minivan. I hate this lift, and the crappy advice I get from Danmar.
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What paint exactly, I thought the pictures you showed earlier looked like a block that is inside a galvanized channel.
The Maxjax lift columns are not assembled with awesome precision. I had to tighten mine up at the tops (clamp during assembly and spot weld spreader) due to a lot of slop at the top. At least one other user added metal spacers to force the internal slider bars outwards. Regardless, a smooth inner bore should be a quality control check for every column. This is not a replacement for correct balance on the lift, which really is a "calibration" issue for every vehicle you lift. I have colored tiles in my Freeflow floor to help with vehicle placement for decent balance during the lift.
You should also read this on pad leveling vs column leveling:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303644
True, but I was only 4-5" off of the perfect balance point, so I think any lift should work with that small of an imbalance.
That is some great info on your post. Fortunately my garage floor is almost perfectly level.
I am glad the issue is resolved. That said I have looked at this thread a lot and suspect that the underlying issue is clearance rather than surface. Removing the paint added a little bit of clearance and reduced the parts from digging in. When the photos are looked at, it is not the block that is rubbing but rather the tube that goes into the block. At the top one can see a fine line of grease where the block stopped. There is still grease left where the block was. But, if one looks in the center one will see that there is an area where all the grease is gone. That aligns with the tube - same placement and width. The tube is exerting too much pressure on the block. This does not appear to be lean because the opposite side also is rubbed clean. From this I infer that the width of the assembly is too much for the upright, causing severe friction. That friction was enhanced by the matte finish. Likely this is a quality control issue at the manufacturer where the part was made too wide. Regardless I am happy the OP found a work around.
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The block is inside of a channel that is painted with the same matte paint (with a rough surface) that is all over the post. I removed the paint where the glide blocks slide and it fixed the binding problem. The info is on the previous page of this thread.
I purchased the M6 and installed a week ago labor day weekend. Had the exact same problem. Contacted Danmar and they claim it was because of the cylinder binding. Advised them of the exact situation I was having and still they came up with cylinders. They stated they had me on a list for 2 brand new cylinders which were in back order almost four weeks. They claim the cylinders in my lift were not manufactured properly and a new thicker cylinder was in order.
I'm so glad I came across this thread. I used the same discs and removed as much of the powder coat as I could and reinstalled the carriage. Lift is smooth like butter. After 4 hours of grinding and reinstalling, I now have a working lift.
I will be contacting Danmar in the morning and giving them my 2 cents on this fix. Noone (after spending this amount of money) should have to *fix* their problem. We should be compensated for our labor
Thanks again for posting this repair!
I purchased the M6 and installed a week ago labor day weekend. Had the exact same problem. Contacted Danmar and they claim it was because of the cylinder binding. Advised them of the exact situation I was having and still they came up with cylinders.
Wow, I am having the exact same problem with a brand new lift. It worked fine on a unloaded test, so I put a car on there and it got stuck on the very first lift. I have greased the hell out if it and gone back and made the lift as level as possible. That helps but it still gets stuck at the higher positions.
I looked at tons of Maxjax posts and reviews and nobody had a sticking issue. This seems to be something that only afflicts the M-6.
Seems no point to contact Dannmar if they are just going to give us the wrong solution... How much time did it take you to clean off the paint and regrease?
Just finished installing mine. I took care to make sure the post was leveled and everything lined up. Same result. My car got stuck. I ended rocking it back and forth, it eventually it came down but it was very sketchy.
I’m going to call them tomorrow.
JLee50 could you post the instruction?
Without seeing this closeup, I would guess a machining operation was skipped. The 'blocks' that slide in the channel probably still have a raw/as cut edge rather than having a rounded or angle edge profile. That sharp edge is biting into the channel steel.
the seller owns this problem IMO.
I would assume so, too. Agreed that it's on them.
Dannmar claims it was a manufacturing issue. I've been in communication with them via phone and email and they have nobody in my area able to service the lift (so much for the 3 year parts/labor warranty) and my only solution is to sand it myself or send the lift back.
Their social media team claims they will have new inventory in mid-December: https://i.imgur.com/pdVqvrd.png
I am strongly tempted to send the lift back and buy an Atlas or Bendpak, but I've already installed all the anchors/etc and it'd be a lot less work to just sand this one. Extremely conflicted...
That's a tough moral thing. I would recommend getting them to compensate your time (and future time to remedy) if you go the route of fixing. You might be better off with one of those two in the long run should something else break that you can't fix. I really like the Atlas and rotary lifts I've used.
I created an account just to chime in and say I'm having the same problem.
I bought my M6 from JEGS in July. Short in the long; my home builder had to cut out and pour two concrete pads just for the posts. This was after I discovered that the slab in my garage wasn't poured to the building code requirement of 4". Shoulder surgery also added to the delay.
Finally finished up the install yesterday. Put my '11 Mustang GT in the air about a foot to check for leaks and what-not. After making sure everything was good to go, which included dropping the car on the first set of safety latches and raising it back up, I went full height. Hit the release lever to lower and nothing happens.
After finding this post, I confirmed that my posts were also left with the rough painted surface on the inside of the channels for the 3D printed blocks causing them to bind. The upper set were bound towards the car (inner on both sides) and away from the car for the bottom set (outer). After a few hours of beating the sleds with a BFH and the sleds dropping two or more inches at a time (rated an 11 on the ******** pucker scale), I finally got the car low enough to lift off the arms with my floor jack and jack stands.
I'm going to call Dannmar on Monday, but I'm at a pretty extreme level of pissed off. The whole idea behind these lifts is to simplify things. Not creating more work and having to constantly worry about my car getting stuck in the air.
I strongly encourage anyone else having trouble to do the same. They hold their certification to a high standard and deserve to know when a product they've gold-certified is unsafe.
I may do just that. I finally found time to call Dannmar. Was advised that they've requested the manufacturer to go back to the gloss paint but apparently don't have any in stock to do a swap. They're only solution was for me to follow your sanding process and be compensated (mentioned warranty extension or product) or a refund. I've waited too long for this to just send it back, so I'll give the sanding a try.
Unfortunately, I've already ruined the finish on the front of the carrier, so I guess I'll get to sand that down and re-do it at some point to make sure I don't run into corrosion issues later.
EDIT: Had to remove the link and email since I have less than 5 posts.
Update, my M6 left on a flatbed this morning. I strongly encourage anyone else who has this problem to return their lift and report it to ALI. This is a huge safety concern and their certification should be pulled until it actually meets standards.