MaxxJax Review

[D_Eclipse9916]

For a while I have been looking for a lift. 2 Herniated discs in high school have left me with never-ending back pain that is just exacerbated by getting up and down under a car, leaning over the side of an engine bay, leaning into suspension/brake area etc. Within the past 8 months, the pain has just gotten worse and my energy level is leveling off. None of us are getting any younger.

My ceiling height is 10ft, but limited by a garage door (which will be fixed and go above the rafters and giving me the full 10ft soon). A standard 2-post is large, and I was limited to the lines going across the floor since I couldn't do an overhead beam. Scissor jack is limiting since I have a RWD car and it is always in the way (my brother has one that I have used). 4-post isn't open enough for my needs since I am constantly doing projects with engines out, not just storage and oil changes.

I came across the Danmar MaxxJax about 2 years ago when it was relatively new. I liked the idea but always thought I would go for a full 2-post. Once I realized it was impossible, I hmmed and hawwed on an expensive purchase. Finally, back pain came on strong this summer and I swore I would buy myself one when it came on sale at Costco. Low and behold, the next month it went on sale at Costco for $1999 shipped. That includes liftgate fees/shipping etc which is a big expense with other lifts. Also paying with an Amex at Costco doubles the warrantee.

It arrives...in a big ugly box. Picture is slightly disassembled to inspect it.


I had a contractor friend come over and help me install it. Once he looked at the anchors I felt better as he said "for the weight you really only need 2 per post. You install 5 per post which we did. We also threw a little epoxy on each one for good measured and tightened them up before the epoxy dried. This is a long process of measuring/drilling/installing anchors. The posts are then tightened down using bolts into the anchors in the floor.

I also got a 30' hydraulic hose made for one side. I ditched the "rolling cart" and hard mounted it to the wall and used the longer hose so the floor is completely clear. Use 10 quarts of ATF (and it was easy to bleed). First test lift of about 4 inches off the ground and I left it overnight to make sure everything was good.



The lift has made my life working on cars infinitely better. Raise or lower the car to where it is comfortable in front of you. Hook up engine, and lift car away. I am going to buy 2 rolling stools but the fold out chairs worked well. Already done the LS1/M3s exhaust, E46 M3 diff/trans fluid, fuel filter, oil change, Part-out of M Roadster, and miscellaneous things on the race car. I frigging love it, should have bought it 2 years ago.

Currently you can be on a fold out chair and sit upright with the garage restriction. Once I change to one of the side garage openers and have the door moved (talked with a garage door guy that said it can go above the rafters), I will be able to really get it nice and high.

[HAULN-SS]

Does it have some kind of safety catch every so often as it lifts?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Does it have some kind of safety catch every so often as it lifts?

It has these bars you put in place through holes on the towers, comes with 3. Many on garagejournal contacted DanMar and more can be added. Once I get the garage door moved I will see where I most often lift to and go from there.

[ScottyB]

damn that's nice. you're doing it right.

is your garage floor level? always wanted something like this but my floor slopes to the door enough that i question whether its truly safe for me, 5 bolts per side or not.

[Sully]

I know you mounted your control thing but How practical do you see it being as a portable lift. Let's say have one set of anchors in the garage and another set in the driveway? My truck is too tall to fit in most standard garage door openings and is too long to do much if you got it in.

Could you even use it in asphalt or would you have to have a concrete driveway?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Yup garage is fairly level aside from the regular grade to drain. It's practical to move, but I wouldn't mount the pump to the wall. 2 sets of anchors, one in the garage, one in the driveway would be perfect. Would take about 20-30 minutes to move but worth it. No idea on asphalt

[davej]

Real nice! Did it say how thick the concrete should be for the anchors? Did you have to cut out a section to test? I'm with Scott, floor slopes out, not real steep but don't know the grade off hand.

[Evan]

:thumbup: kickass

[D_Eclipse9916]

Real nice! Did it say how thick the concrete should be for the anchors? Did you have to cut out a section to test? I'm with Scott, floor slopes out, not real steep but don't know the grade off hand.

It has to be at least 4-inches. We drilled through and found mine to be 4-5 inches depending on the spot. How bad is your slope? Like if you put a creeper on the ground does it slide away or is it just normal grade to allow water runoff? I think that is perfectly fine.

[Beej]

Thanks for posting this! I thought this was going to be one of the first things I did, but ended up pushing it back. Our garage actually has next to no grade, so water doesn't really go anywhere - gotta figure that out before doing any other crap.

Interesting the guy said you only need 2 bolts per side - sounds nuts. I remember when doing my research that you needed a certain PSI (or some other quality measurement, I forget) concrete. Did you happen to look into testing or whatever to figure that out?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Thanks for posting this! I thought this was going to be one of the first things I did, but ended up pushing it back. Our garage actually has next to no grade, so water doesn't really go anywhere - gotta figure that out before doing any other crap.

Interesting the guy said you only need 2 bolts per side - sounds nuts. I remember when doing my research that you needed a certain PSI (or some other quality measurement, I forget) concrete. Did you happen to look into testing or whatever to figure that out?

Certain PSI concrete, yes I heard of that. I asked my contractor and he said it was no problem with mine. It pays to have a good friend that is a contractor. GarageJournal seems to indicate pretty much 99% of modern concretes were fine.