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Okay, my Son and I own a race shop. we sell parts as well. We dont own a lift yet, but we want to. Son is REALLY pushing. me eh, I know it would be good, but it would be such a big foot print in the shop, that I havent gotten too excited.
Today a friend in IL. sent me this link http://maxjaxusa.com/maxjax-lifting-system/maxjax-features.html
Wow. it really looks like the perfect solution to our 3000 ft shop.
anyone have any first hand experience with this?
I've never seen one but looks very intresting for the home garage.
how much are these going for?
Thought those looked pretty good too. I couldn't find the price, but I was thinking it probably wouldn't be too hard to do that with many two post lifts. I haven't looked into it in detail, but I am planning on it. The large footprint is the only thing holding me back from putting one in my 700sqft garage.
I'm not a big fan of low rise lifts. If I can't walk under it, I might as well use a jack and jack stands.
16vCorey wrote:I'm not a big fan of low rise lifts. If I can't walk under it, I might as well use a jack and jack stands.
How old are you? As I approach 40, my back appreciates the car being higher than can be attained using jack stands. So I can't walk under the car... whoopdee doo... I can only envision a minimum of taks where standing vs. sitting on a rolling stool would make life easier... and if you don't have the ceiling height to lift the car 6' in the air anyway... forgive me for having a garage with only a 9' ceiling... I'll go hundle in the corner and cry...
MSRP on the Max Jax is about $2000
http://www.gesusa.com/Dannmar-MaxJax-Two-Post-Lift-p/1375659.htm
I'm 31. I'm just saying for me personally, it's not worth $2,000 to have a car 4 feet off the ground instead of 2.5 feet, when I'll probably have to use a creeper either way. It would be pretty nice if you can fit a rolling stool under it, but I'm over 6' tall, so I don't think I'd fit. I don't have the ceiling height for a lift either. If I did I'd probably have one by now.
Haha, there's a picture of my Rabbit in my totally crappy garage on the side bar right now!
Yeah... when I was 31 I didn't care either... a few DH racing wrecks later and I'm not so flexible anymore... I hate using a creeper... don't know why I bought the stupid thing... never use it... takes up space in the garage...
(yeah... someone pissed in my corn flakes this morning...)
I've been fumbling and bumbling (and paranoid) with the jacks and jack stands for years. I finally bought a BendPak P6 open-center mid-rise lift (not two post) and it's been awesome.
Air tools+lift = zen and art of car maintainence 
Ian F wrote:Yeah... when I was 31 I didn't care either... a few DH racing wrecks later and I'm not so flexible anymore... I hate using a creeper... don't know why I bought the stupid thing... never use it... takes up space in the garage...
(yeah... someone pissed in my corn flakes this morning...)
Ouch! Did you have to drive the Cummins this morn? 
geowit wrote: Ouch! Did you have to drive the Cummins this morn?
No... but I wouldn't mind driving over the head of some PITA electrical inspector in New Brunswick... 
The Cummins shouldn't be as annoying to drive once I get a working stereo in it... still selling it, tho... Btw... thought about selling Lorelei lately? May be interested... (after selling the truck).
Ian F wrote: The Cummins shouldn't be as annoying to drive once I get a working stereo in it... still selling it, tho... Btw... thought about selling Lorelei lately? May be interested... (after selling the truck).
Don't want to hijack the thread. Maybe NEMINI to continue on Lorelei.
Back on topic, I would definitely prefer a lift over a floor jack & jackstands. I've got a few years on Ian and I still manage to get under the 7's on a creeper but would feel much safer with a lift. Actually had our 7 fall off of the stands at an event. Soft ground and all that. Luckily, no one was under it.
Having had it both ways, this is much more comfortable than working on a creeper...
Just my opinion...
I don't understand $2000 to get the care 4' off the ground, when you can spend less and go the distance on a real 2 post lift.
Here's 19 under $2000:
I've got a commercial grade lift I bought for $750 and have never had a lick of trouble.
Look for trade schools upgrading, or auto shops going out of business.
SVreX wrote:I don't understand $2000 to get the care 4' off the ground, when you can spend less and go the distance on a real 2 post lift.
For the thousandth time... because SOME of us don't have the ceiling height for a real 2-post... nor want to live with the posts during the 99% of the time the garage is used for general parking.... and are of the opinion that 4' is better than nothing...
I guess SOME people are too good for that... whatever... 
willy19592 wrote:anyone have any first hand experience with this?
They were at Carlisle this week. I looked at them. Seemed quite well made. Nothing I would fear. I did like the way the arms adjust and lock. The welds looked decent, the steel robust. If all you've got is a low ceiling, it's a viable option imo.
SVreX wrote:I Look for trade schools upgrading, or auto shops going out of business.
Every locale has a lift distributor/installer ...find out who and ask them if they have any trade-ins, OR they may tell you who is upgrading and get you and the customer together especially if the lift in question would be a PITA to store.
A customer of mine bought a 4 post Rotary alignment lift with two track jacks for like $400.00 because a Chevy dealer needed a lift to handle the longer wheelbase trucks.
Ian F wrote:SVreX wrote:I don't understand $2000 to get the care 4' off the ground, when you can spend less and go the distance on a real 2 post lift.
For the thousandth time... because SOME of us don't have the ceiling height for a real 2-post... nor want to live with the posts during the 99% of the time the garage is used for general parking.... and are of the opinion that 4' is better than nothing...
I guess SOME people are too good for that... whatever...
I'd still take my commercial grade $750 lift. I'd put limiters on it to not go through the ceiling, then later plan on raising the ceiling (My walls in my last shop were only 8' tall and the lift worked fine with a cathedral ceiling). The nice thing is you can take it with you if you ever move (I've moved mine twice).
Question: Are you suggesting this thing can lift things like a 2 post up to 4' high, without needing to be secured to the floor? I'm missing that part.
Hey Paul- you got mail.
Ok, probably another hijack here and not an answer to the OPs question, but I like this alternative: http://www.ezcarlift.com/default.asp
I have no room for a lift, don't want the inconvenience of a permanent lift so this looks like an answer to my needs and perhaps the OP's.
I think its a bit pricey for what it is but that's what Craigslist is for.
SVreX wrote:Question: Are you suggesting this thing can lift things like a 2 post up to 4' high, without needing to be secured to the floor? I'm missing that part.
they need to be secured to the floor, they are just designed to be unbolted from the floor when not needed.
we have been considering them for our shop since we have 9ft ceilings to contend with in most of the shop
internetautomart wrote:they need to be secured to the floor, they are just designed to be unbolted from the floor when not needed.
That sounds a little scary.
Part of the appeal of this lift is the fact that it can be unbolted. all of these things are really bolted down in one way or another, right? well this one has sleeve/ fasteners that stay in the concrete once installed. I am in the building trades by profession and the fasteners look very similar to a product we use, to hold buildings down to concrete. I am confident in this application.
our shop is a bit unique, we rented one part of it, 850 sq feet until recently, and then took over another part, 1300 or so, and blew a wall out between. when we are not heating we will be doing most of the work in the larger side, and store the race cars/toys on the other side. but once we are in heating season, we will switch.
I did order the lift, and so did my Buddy (dave lieb)who sent the link to me. we ordered 2 lifts at one time, and got a bit of a price break because of that, and a bit of a break on shipping as well. I ordered an extra set of sleeves so we can move the lift when our seasons change.
Most of what we do is take cars apart, (miata) and how we do things is everything comes out the bottom for the most part, essentially we will be lifting the body off the subs etc once they are loose. we are also looking forward to using the lift when we are aligning the race cars, we campaign 3 cars, and align them all our selves with smart strings/smart camber. and use the long acre scales as well. the car goes up and down MANY times when we are corner weighting, and aligning and it gets real old ;) hopefully this will work as well as we think it will for this
Thanks for all the thoughts on why we wouldn't want a 4' high lift, but really we had thought out carefully all the pros and cons. in my original post I was asking if anyone had first hand experience with this lift, not really why I wouldn't want this lift
internetautomart wrote:we have been considering them for our shop since we have 9ft ceilings to contend with in most of the shop
With 9' ceilings, you should be able to make a full height 2 post lift work.
My posts are 8' 5". So obviously the posts would fit.
My lift at it's max is 6' 1" off the floor, and the roof on the car currently on it sits at 9' 7". So, if I put a limiter on the lift to keep it from going through the ceiling, I'd have 5' 6" clear space underneath.
Let's try a bigger car. My 1960 Elky is next to it (that's a pretty big car), which measures 5" more from frame to roof (the wheels/ suspension/ ride height don't matter). I could still clear a 9' ceiling with a 4000 lb chunk of American metal if the lift was 5' 1" off the floor.
But full height would be easy.
Almost any garage with standard stick framing (not trusses) could be re-framed with a 1' high bump-up in the middle so a full sized car could go to full height without issues. This work would take 2 guys a weekend and less than $100 in materials.
Even a trussed roof could be done, but this would take an extra day, and you'd need to pay an engineer (perhaps $500) to design the changes for you.
So, my $750 lift would now fit in a garage with a 9' ceiling, the car would go full height, I could pay the engineer $500, and I'd still have more than $600 for beer money. What's not to like?
