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Looks like he had a 2X12 (wood block) under all 4 wheels to raise the Corvette up to get the arms under for the lift points. Not a terrible thing but it would have been nice to mention this issue.
I have one and love it! Used it with my C3 all the time. Just picked up my new C7. was wondering how it was going to work with that. Any tips that you could pass along or is everything straight forward like just about everything else I lift
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-
'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
No, you still have the pads on the lift itself. The jacking pucks are inserted into existing holes in the lift location on the car and are thick enough to where they extend down past the surface of the rocker panel. That way when the lift pads come up against the car to lift it, they make contact with the jacking pucks instead of the painted surface of the rocker panel. This avoids scratching the paint or even worse cracking the rocker panel.
Many of the forum vendors sell sets of jacking pucks.
Not sure about the C3 setup as it has been 30 years since I sold my last C3 but you need to have the Max Jax set up with the lift columns at their max permissible between them. Mine are set 130 inches. If they are narrower than that you end up with the car sitting on the non extendable parts of the lift arms.
Getting the car aligned so it isn't too far to one side or the other is critical to making sure you can actually use the pads on the lift. If I get too far off center I will take a real hockey puck and place it below the lift puck in the frame so it fits between the non extendable part of the lift arm and the lift puck. I put tape on the floor so I know the places to put my left side wheels and where they need to be centered.
The video shows the person using hockey pucks instead of the lift pads. I suspect his car is lowered to some degree since there should be enough room between the frame with a lift puck inserted and the lift pad. As you can see in the video he has very little clearance between the lift arm and the rolled edge of the rocker panel. If you have a car with side skirts on this becomes a problem since their outer edge is lower than the rocker. I had that problem with my lowered C6Z after I put side skirts on it. I have no clearance issues with my C7Z since it isn't lowered but I still have to make sure the car is centered so I can use the extendable portion of the lift arm with the lift pad in place. Mine is on the lift right now so will take some pictures before I put it back down.
The thing I like the least about the Max Jax is the lack of stopping locations. There are times when I only want to lift the car to the half way point between the floor and the bottom hole and there are other times I want to lift it to a point between the bottom hole and the top hole. Without any holes drilled into the lift columns in those locations I have to work with no safety supports keeping the lift up if the hydraulics fail. I don't get under the car unless I can have the safety supports in place but there are times when I am taking the wheels on and off when I want to have the lift at different heights than the holes permit. Same goes for working under my Tahoe. I can't lift it to the top of the Max Jax as I will break the ceiling lights so I have to set it at the middle position. That means I can't lay under the car on my creeper and reach the bottom of the car to work on it. It needs to be about a foot lower and no way am I going to lay under a 5200 lb vehicle with no safety support.
Here are the pictures I took today showing a Z06/Z07 on the lift using the thicker aluminum lift pucks. You can see the clearance to the side skirts and estimate how much it will reduce if you remove the lift pucks or the lift pads or both.
Driver's front showing hole for lift pad in the rocker/side skirt
View from Driver's side to Passenger side under car.
Passenger side rear
C5/C6/C7 all have enough room for a lift pad at the front shipping slot without using a lift puck. The C5 is the only one of the three that absolutely needs the use of a lift puck in the rear since the opening around the rear shipping slot isn't large enough to fit a lift pad. Both the C6 and C7 have enough room around the rear shipping slot to get by without using a lift puck and the lift pad will only contact the frame if carefully placed.
The problem is vertical clearance from the rocker or side skirt to the actual lift arm. A Stingray probably can get by without the pucks but clearance would probably be iffy with side skirts. It would depend on the thickness of the lift pad. Some commercial lifts have pads with a center section that will pop up to provide more room.
Bill
Last edited by Bill Dearborn; 06-04-2017 at 05:06 PM.
Thanks for the info! I had my floor cut out on the one side and redid the anchor system so I have 2 sets of holes in the floor. One and the min and one at the max. I am trying to figure out this whole side skirt deal and was wondering if that was going to cause issues with the lift.
Not sure about the C3 setup as it has been 30 years since I sold my last C3 but you need to have the Max Jax set up with the lift columns at their max permissible between them. Mine are set 130 inches. If they are narrower than that you end up with the car sitting on the non extendable parts of the lift arms.
Getting the car aligned so it isn't too far to one side or the other is critical to making sure you can actually use the pads on the lift. If I get too far off center I will take a real hockey puck and place it below the lift puck in the frame so it fits between the non extendable part of the lift arm and the lift puck. I put tape on the floor so I know the places to put my left side wheels and where they need to be centered.
The video shows the person using hockey pucks instead of the lift pads. I suspect his car is lowered to some degree since there should be enough room between the frame with a lift puck inserted and the lift pad. As you can see in the video he has very little clearance between the lift arm and the rolled edge of the rocker panel. If you have a car with side skirts on this becomes a problem since their outer edge is lower than the rocker. I had that problem with my lowered C6Z after I put side skirts on it. I have no clearance issues with my C7Z since it isn't lowered but I still have to make sure the car is centered so I can use the extendable portion of the lift arm with the lift pad in place. Mine is on the lift right now so will take some pictures before I put it back down.
The thing I like the least about the Max Jax is the lack of stopping locations. There are times when I only want to lift the car to the half way point between the floor and the bottom hole and there are other times I want to lift it to a point between the bottom hole and the top hole. Without any holes drilled into the lift columns in those locations I have to work with no safety supports keeping the lift up if the hydraulics fail. I don't get under the car unless I can have the safety supports in place but there are times when I am taking the wheels on and off when I want to have the lift at different heights than the holes permit. Same goes for working under my Tahoe. I can't lift it to the top of the Max Jax as I will break the ceiling lights so I have to set it at the middle position. That means I can't lay under the car on my creeper and reach the bottom of the car to work on it. It needs to be about a foot lower and no way am I going to lay under a 5200 lb vehicle with no safety support.
Here are the pictures I took today showing a Z06/Z07 on the lift using the thicker aluminum lift pucks. You can see the clearance to the side skirts and estimate how much it will reduce if you remove the lift pucks or the lift pads or both.
Driver's front showing hole for lift pad in the rocker/side skirt
View from Driver's side to Passenger side under car.
Passenger side rear
C5/C6/C7 all have enough room for a lift pad at the front shipping slot without using a lift puck. The C5 is the only one of the three that absolutely needs the use of a lift puck in the rear since the opening around the rear shipping slot isn't large enough to fit a lift pad. Both the C6 and C7 have enough room around the rear shipping slot to get by without using a lift puck and the lift pad will only contact the frame if carefully placed.
The problem is vertical clearance from the rocker or side skirt to the actual lift arm. A Stingray probably can get by without the pucks but clearance would probably be iffy with side skirts. It would depend on the thickness of the lift pad. Some commercial lifts have pads with a center section that will pop up to provide more room.
UPDATED Video after 5 Year of heavy enthusiast use!
After five years of owning the MaxJax, I put together a 5-year long term review. They have revised the MaxJax in 2020 - but it appears to be largely the same unit.
I have done several big jobs on the MaxJax in the past 3 years - including a C5 clutch upgrade that entails removing the entire rear suspenson , transaxle and torque tube. How did the MaxJax do? - check out the video to find out.
11-08-2016, 07:15 PM
2 post MaxJax mid rise 2 post lift review
. Well worth the money.
