Max Jax install

Well, as some of you know, I purchased a Max Jax lift from Costco on sale for $2000 plus tax. Delivery was included and they took it off the truck and placed it in the garage.
I installed it over Thanksgiving weekend, but have not had time to post about the install till now. So for those that may be interested, here is my experience and a few pointers that may help you. I did this over the course of 2 days. It took about 3 hours to unpack and inventory all the parts and then assemble the hydraulic pump and then another 4 hours the next day to drill the concrete, install the posts, bleed the system, etc.
The most frustrating part was that the instructions were not very clear and seemed incomplete. If you don't have a fair amount of DIY ability, you may want to consider hiring someone to do it. I was quoted $400 by one company and they would provide the hydraulic fluid and $500 from another and I would have to provide the fluid. In retrospect, the $400 was a good deal, because there is a lot of assembly besides the concrete drilling, for which I had to rent a hammer drill.

The lift came well packaged in a fairly compact arrangement. The parts list was sometimes hard to decipher, but after a process of elimination, I felt confident I had everything, although there were 4 brackets I could not identify. A call and text of a photo to the distributor verified that they had no idea what those were and must have been mistakenly included during the assembly of the package for shipping.

Once I had everything laid out, I noticed that just about all of the threaded connections already had Teflon tape applied, which was a real time saver. The only threads that did not have tape applied were the ends of the hydraulic hoses, so I assumed those did not need them....WRONG! This was the only area where i had a leak and had to remove and reinstall.

So TIP #1: Make sure ALL threaded connections have Teflon tape, but don't apply more than 2 layers, otherwise it will be hard to assemble.

TIP #2: On the pump assembly to the cart, attach the short hose between the pump and the flow divider before bolting on both, because the hose is too long and inflexible to attach once they are both mounted.

TIP #3: On the right side of the flow divider, you will need to trim off the excess threads of the upper black bolt, in front of the hose port, otherwise it is difficult to get a wrench on the hose to tighten it properly.

With the hydraulic pump cart assembled, I moved on to the drilling. I rented a hammer drill from Home Depot along with the required 5/8" and 7/8" bits for around $70.00. When you consider the cost of the drill rental along with the $40.00 cost of the hydraulic (transmission) fluid, and the time involved, not to mention the back pain, $400.00 seems more than fair to pay to have someone else do it. Anyway, back to the install. I followed the instructions here to a tee, shimming the columns plum, aligning the bases across the floor, drilling the back center hole first, then bolting the columns down before marking and drilling the remaining 4 holes per column. I also used a 3/8" bit on my own small hammer drill to start the holes. Despite doing all this, the drill still "walked" a bit so that some holes were off center. I also used a machined square to try to stay plum, but still had a couple bolt anchors end up tipped. I attribute this to getting a much bigger hammer drill then I needed, because it was a little difficult to control.

TIP #4: Don't get the biggest, baddest hammer drill they have…more is not better.

Fortunately, the holes in the column bases are large enough that you can be a little off and still get it bolted down, but in my case, when I install the columns, I have to start all the bolts first and wiggle the columns a bit to get them all going and to find he “sweet spot” before bolting down all the way.

TIP #5: When determining the distance between columns, I pulled my car in and placed the columns in the proposed locations, extended the arms and made sure that the lift points were reachable (not too far, but also not too close). If you plan to use the lift with multiple cars, do so for each to find a width that allows it to work. I then marked the column locations before drilling. In my case, I mounted the columns 128” from the back of one plate to the back of the other. I needed to mount wider for the 430 than the BMW X5!

Once everything is drilled, you need to set the anchors. I read some posts where they recommended epoxy with the provided anchors, and even though technically, you don’t need it. In hindsight, I wish I had done this, since my holes did not end up perfectly round and there were some small gaps at the top of the anchors. I will probably fill these in at some point. Also, the instructions for the anchors specify that you initially set the anchors 5/8” below the surface of the concrete, as they will come up 1/2” as you “set” the anchors. I noticed that mine hardly budged (maybe came up 1/4”), so I after the first, I initially set them 1/2” below the surface and they all ended up between 1/4” and 3/8” below. I think this may be related to the strength of your concrete. I know that when I had a basketball post installed in the driveway a few years ago, the installers commented that the concrete was extremely hard and deep. I was able to determine that it was 5” deep by examining the expansion joint at the apron and then verified it at drilling. Because mine are set a little deeper than what is described, I will get 2 1/2” bolts for the columns instead of the 2” bolts that were supplied. Finally “setting” the anchors requires placing a 4” bolt with a washer and nut attached (these are provided) onto the anchor, allowing 1/2-5/8” from the top of the anchor to the washer, hammering the anchor into the concrete until the washer sits at the surface and then tightening the nut to pull the anchor upward into the sleeve and lock it into the concrete. I used a pipe wrench for this, as I did not have a big enough box wrench for leverage. This caused significant distortion of the “sacrificial washer” and I ended up using one of the final washers half way through which also got distorted. The setting bolt also got pretty beat up after 6 or 7 uses.

TIP #6: Consider using epoxy with the anchors to fill in any irregularities that may result when drilling.

TIP #7: Set up so that your first anchor will go 5/8” below grade, then adjust if needed based on how much the anchor moves up when tightened.

TIP#8: Instead of using the sacrificial washer alone, which will get quite bent, stack a couple more washers on it to prevent this. Also, consider having an extra “setting bolt” to use after the first 5 holes (one column).

Now you can bolt the columns in place and shim them to be plum. I made a diagram that I keep with the bolts that tells me how many shims I need where for easy future set up. Eventually I will epoxy them to the column base to make it even more fool proof. Once all of this is done, you will connect the hydraulic hoses, fill the reservoir, and bleed the system. The instructions tell you to have 7 quarts of hydraulic fluid or transmission fluid. You need 9 quarts. I bought 2 gallons and 1 quart from O’Reilly’s. Bleeding is straight forward per the instructions. Some have upgraded the quick connect couplings or extended their hydraulic hoses to position the pump in a more favorable location. I will eventually mount it on the wall and will thus need the hose extensions. Here is the Amazon link to what you need: Apache Hydraulic Hose - 3/8in. x 120in.L, 2-Wire, 4000 PSI - Amazon.com. You will also need 2 male to male couplers and a little more tranny fluid.

Finally, I can get the car on the lift….well, almost. With the columns firmly bolted plum, and with the pitch of my floor, the arms nearest the door would not fit under the car. Solution: drive the car onto 2 pieces of 12 x 2 lumber to raise it a bit and allow the needed clearance. I happened to have this laying around, but if I didn’t I would have been greatly disappointed to get to this stage and not be able to achieve the moment of gratification, especially since Home Depot was closing. So consider having some lumber scraps around. For the future, I will make some custom fixtures for this and mark where they will set on the floor so that I can position the car easily. Also, there is not much room to open the door without hitting the column, so either pad the column or better yet, drive the car into position and then bolt the column to the floor if you are doing this as a portable system, as I am. Once all was positioned, I lifted the car a few inches and then really leaned on and rocked the front and rear ends....solid as a rock. So first order of business, install the new Scuderia wheels I had recently gotten. Photos are below.
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According to the manufacturer, the columns need to be placed 6" from any concrete edge or major crack. Joint lines are not considered cracks or edges. I am 10" away at the closest location. There is no mention of joint lines between posts.

 

The fittings already had Teflon tape, so I guess the manufacturer is OK with it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the compliment. I can't recall if the hoses had JIC fittings or not, but I don't think that they did. I plan to add extension hoses, so I will check it at that time.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have that info any more. I will try to search for it and PM you if I find it.

 

From the MaxJax website: