Thanks you that makes allot more sense now. You mentioned You wish you had gone with a screw jack instead of a threaded rod. From your drawing it would look easier to use nuts, Not sure how you would do that with a screw jack unless they makes nuts for those as well.
Will that work with the screw version of the threaded rod? Really could use a picture of it dissembled! I'm sure you need to weld something in this assembly.