Picking up midrise lift tomorrow- WooHoo, Was MaxJax VS Midrise car lift question Options

[GaroldShaffer]

Since I am not partner in teh shop anymore (long story) I'm back to working out of my garage at home. The only thing I miss about the old shop is teh 2 post lift we have there..

So I have been looking around at different lifts for home. My biggest isssue is I have 10ft ceiling in there so a standard two post lift won't work. I was thinking about a mid rise lift like I know some here have when I came across the MaxJax portable two post system.

I like what I see. It will work in my garage, portable, and easy to use. I like the fact that when not in use it can be removed and stored against the wall.

Here is the link to their website MaxJax

The more I look at it the more I like it over a midrise lift. Your thoughts?

[RattPack]

I too have been looking at the MaxJax and stumbled across this thread. Last week my thought process was hijacked by comments from armchair engineers posting their opinions. The only reason I registered today was so I could possibly save others like me a lot of aggravation, or provide further topic for debate. I've been sold on the MaxJax because of the free access underneath and the mobility, stow‘ability convenience. Oh yea, and of course, the obvious - the lack of a high ceiling.

I urge (plead) all armchair engineers. Is it factual or just your opinion?

• Has it ever been reported?
• Sources – remember, the more the better.
• Respect argument.
• Fallacies - aren’t or are?
• Summary

Although many of the mid rise lift options claim to be portable, I'd hate to try moving these behemoths around. And not just fore and aft – I can only imagine turning them around a cluttered garage. They may have what can be described as wheels, but portable? I laugh. The E-Z lift is probably the best thing to portable, but do I really want a lift that can be stowed in the truck of my car? And is the E-Z lift really in the same league as the MaxJax or other Mid-Rise options? 26-inches – really?

Accessibility - The MaxJax appears to be the obvious hands down winner. True, maybe the other mid-rise lifts are ready to go in a snap, but how much time is wasted trying to work around the lift structure(s). I have yet to work underneath a mid-rise scissors lift, but from the many photos I’ve gathered, they do appear to have quite limited accessibility from below. In addition, drive-over height for most mid-rise lifts seems to rear-its ugly head quite frequently - 2 x 8 planks becoming an overlooked necessity.

Portability – I’ve seen the MaxJax videos; I’ve seen Mr. Leno roll the thing around (with the arms attached); I’ve seen the beautiful girl roll it around - a girl that appears to weigh no more than 110 pounds wet. I have yet to see video of other mid-rise lifts that would come even close to the portability of the MaxJax. Can you say turning radius?

From an engineering perspective (I urge all of you engineers to chime in now), isn’t the moment loading on scissors type structures and components considerably greater than what can be assumed would be the worst possible moment loading on any part of the MaxJax? Maybe instead of focusing on concrete or anchors, we should be focusing on possible weaker links. Before putting pencil to paper however, I urge you to consider the moment loading from the get-go. What loads are these scissors components subjected to during the first few inches of lift? I suspect a helluva lot.

As the MaxJax appears to be quite literally a mini-two-post, I would be fairly confident in the design. From what I have read, most end-users are pleased at the robust quality - truckers and rodders alike.

I am leaning towards the MaxJax because I’m pretty confident that my residential concrete floor is equal to or better than any shop floor around these parts. I have seen dozens of full-rise two-post lifts installed on questionable concrete with cracks galore – lifts that appear to be in use for quite possibly decades.

This link provides valuable insight as well - definitely worth reading.

If I'm reading correctly, the worst case anchor bolt tension (pull-out) with the lift loaded to max capacity is 3238 lbs. The test report shows those anchors holding at over six times that.


Am I missing something? This is so frustrating.