BendPak has a new lift - a MaxJax

to all intrested. i purchased a max jac,works as it should.a little sloppy in build quality but works ok.it has limitations though,the arms are only 2 stage so use for different vehicles is tricky.it feels solid,luckly i have a 6" floor. the instructions give several different widths to set posts i set it at 115 ins to fit my 328.works great for my ferrari.my nieces cavaliers sub frame is set deep so it almost didn't fit.for my srx its to wide the srx is too nose heavy so i'll have to make a second set of holes.my sons f150 pu works at 115 ins.all in all not bad for a home shop

 

Must measure garage again, need to do something with the right side of the garage.

Oh great, now my wife is yelling at me, caught me looking at this thread...
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Damn it, not enough clearance for what I want to do with it.

 

I'll throw in an endorsement for Bend-Pak. Instead of the scissor lift, I went with a pit lift (similar to what they use at brake and tire places) as it will get the car 3 ft off the ground and does not have anything between the two lift pads (and lets the tires hang free. The Bend-Pak unit I got (about $1500 if I remember right) is easily the best tool money I ever spent and makes working under cars safe and very easy. Jack stands make me nervous. The unit was easy to put together (other than moving the lift pads from the truck into the garage in the first place, those mofos were heavy!) and hasn't given me a lick of trouble in four years.

 

While I'm sure the Max Jax is viable, when I was looking for a lift the thing that concerned me about the Max Jax wasn't the bolts, it was the plugs - that's the "weakest link in the chain". If those are not installed perfectly, or the concrete isn't 100% adequate - which the average homeowner will not know - then those plugs could pull out of the floor. I was considering breaking the floor and installing a plate with welded stand-offs that would receive the bolts, and then re-pour over it, to effect installation.

A regular two post lift, while also bolted to the floor, doesn't get unbolted/rebolted on a regular basis, and also has more "girth", plus either a lower or upper support brace. So theoretically, a regular two post lift doesn't have to be bolted to the floor in order to operate.

Also, the point about the earthquake....you dont' want to be under anything if one hits, but you would be far worse off under a lift that is bolted to the floor when the "big one" hits. Whatever is connected to the floor will absorb the wave. That's why buildings crumble during earthquakes but cars and trucks and people and animals and such don't.

Phil

 

I have a Max Jax. Used it for a year now on my 911 and 308. No problems. Best tool I ever bought for car work. The great part is that you can sit down on a small stool and do all the under car stuff.

 

The engineer in me never liked two post lifts. Unless they had diagonal side braces also.

Is a two post lift safe? Absolutely, as long as the anchors are properly installed, which includes being installed in a thick enough slab.

Doug

 

I'm in Orange county and lived in So. Cal. all my life. Not to be disbelieving but if the quake was big enough to throw a car off of a scissor lift, I would think it would be enough to fold this in on you.
Maybe with lateral braces between the four pads after raised (like Doug said in the previous post). They could call it the California option. Of course, then there is the front to back rocking. Hmmmm.
My Dad taught me early, in an earthquake, the danger is above you. Stand in a doorway.

 

What is wrong with a 4 post model? It does away with the need to bolt to the slab. By the way, having been "personaly involved" in both the Northridge Quake and the Sylmar Quake, and tangentially involved in others, having a car drop on my head IS a concern of mine. Oh, and if the quake is strong enough to require standing in a doorway, you won't be able to stand. At least that was my experience.

 

Bend Pak makes a parking lift (PL-7000X) that is a two post, but does not have to be bolted to the floor. It has long feet parallel to the ramps. Could a service lift be equiped with the long feet?

 

Nothing, if you have the space for it. For me, the Maxjax looks interesting because I don't have a lot of floor space to dedicate to a lift. Having a lift that sits in the corner and is only deployed when I need it is very attractive.

 

Here is a picture of my MaxJax. I believe it is the only lift you can use with an 8 foot ceiling and still be able to work comfortably under the car.
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