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Advice needed for mounting a heavy weightlifting rack to a wall

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1.5K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  banjopicks  
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#1 · (Edited)
Hey, all, new user. Been into woodworking for awhile but just finally getting the space setup to do it!

Recently I bought a wall-mounted power rack for weightlifting, and was planning to mount in an unfinished shed with 24" OC studs of mystery wood.

The rack comes with steel stringer boards set up for 16" OC stud spacing, so I made 2x12 fir stringers to mount the kit on, ensuring a minimum of 4 studs are securing the rack. The included rack is only compatible with 3/8" lag screws.

Here's the part where I screwed up:

For some reason, even though I knew better, I piloted a hole at 3/8" instead of 15/64", causing the screws not to thread. Not just once, but 8 times for every pilot hole for the bottom stringer board.

To correct this, I drilled a 1/2" hole with a standard bit and then used TiteBond III to secure some 1/2" oak dowel hammered fully in to the formerly (too big) pilot hole. (In the studs, not the board)

Unfortunately, my space heater doesn't seem to want to keep up in my uninsulated shed and I'm concerned the glue may not cure properly in the studs.

I need to use the exact same screw placement in the studs as the previous holes I repaired for this rack to work, I cannot shift up or down, left, or right.: Am I all-good to just pilot new holes and screw in 3/8"s lag bolts directly into the 1/2" dowel repairs (like you would for a door hinge repair or similar), or will the dowel repair make it significantly weaker in this use-case?

Seemingly the answer is, "of course it will be fine" but, I only feel the need to ask this because it's my family's safety that could be affected if I did something wrong.

Most of the time, the rack will be out and the weight will be distributed downwards through the (4) 3x3 11ga steel uprights, but when folded, I am concerned if this will have any meaningful effect or not.

Thanks for the help! I can be a bit long-winded so I appreciate you reading my post :) happy to be a part of the community!
 
C
#4 · (Edited)
Here is how I plan to fasten to studs:

(8) 3/8"x4" lag screws directly to studs
(4) 3/8"x1" lag screws from included metal stringer into wood board

(12) 3/8 washers to prevent screw sinking in

the process will be repeated for the top board, which should be bearing most of the weight when the rack is folded. Luckily I didn't drill any holes up top yet

Image


Image


quite specific on where to put stringer

Image


As you can see, when rack is unfolded, all of the weight should be directly downwards through the steel uprights.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
Are you able to reach around behind the 2 X 12's you put in. If so I would use 3/8" bolts with fender washers on the back side . I would not trust the dowels and lags.

You may be able to mount it to the 2 x 12 before you mount the 2 x 12 to the wall.

You can leave the dowels in just drill a clearance hole for a 3/8 bolt so a 1/64" -1/32" larger ........... 25/64" or even 13/32".

Be sure to use fender washers though and even double up.

Sheds can be put together quite cheaply so you may want to reinforce the whole wall.
 
C
#5 ·
I think I may have miscommunicated, I do not intend to use the same drill holes in the 2x12 board, I will shift it over a few Inches and drill fresh holes, as I have about 12" of extra length. I may plug them for aesthetic reasons though, lol.

So the only concern of mine is screwing directly into the dowel studs, (after piloting of course) like this:

Image


Depth of dowel repair:

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Thanks
 

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#7 ·
I'm no engineer, but I'm with you in thinking that going into the dowels should be fine (assuming the glue cures which I would rely on temps on the label for). However, it looks like the lags you're using to go into the wood stringer are pretty short. Unless that's what came with the Kit, I would go with @Tree Hugger 's suggestion on the stringer (go through and use washers/nuts).

EDIT: It's also worth noting that the lags going through the wood stringer into the studs are effectively doing double duty. Again, I'm no engineer so that might be fine but probably worth throwing in a couple extra lags per stud in that empty space of the metal stringer.
 
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#9 ·
SomeDudeOnline said:
I'm no engineer, but I'm with you in thinking that going into the dowels should be fine (assuming the glue cures which I would rely on temps on the label for). However, it looks like the lags you're using to go into the wood stringer are pretty short. Unless that's what came with the Kit, I would go with @Tree Hugger 's suggestion on the stringer (go through and use washers/nuts).

EDIT: It's also worth noting that the lags going through the wood stringer into the studs are effectively doing double duty. Again, I'm no engineer so that might be fine but probably worth throwing in a couple extra lags per stud in that empty space of the metal stringer.
Click to expand...
I was somewhat worried about that, since the included lags are 3 1/2". I think I will upgrade that to a bolted connection to ensure there aren't any issues.

deltap said:
Glue should set up at 50F. Try one and see if it pulls out. Is all the weight stress downward on the uprights? Then there won't be much stress pulling the screws out of the wall.
Click to expand...
Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is test it. I feel silly because it seems so obvious now that you mention it! And I agree, I'm not sure the overall stress would be enough to really cause an issue when the rack is folded out, however the weight of the rack itself when folded close to the wall is where I also have a concern.
 
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