Car jacks
 

While changing a tyre the other day, the jack that came with our car decided to do a good impression of jelly :thumbdown:. Looking in Walmart, Autozone, and Pepboys for a new jack, their equivalent scissor types are only rated at 1.5 tons. Our car is 4300lbs which I understand is over 2 tons. I can't believe that the jack that comes with the car is also 1.5 tons (and we've used it before) and there are no ratings on it, just a safety label. Googling suggests I can find 2.5 ton jacks - if I order 1000 pieces from China. Anybody know where else I can find one - I can't think of anywhere else that might carry them? I just want one as small as possible to carry in the car in case of blowouts. Thanks.

Re: Car jacks
 

Not a car/screw jack, but I got an adequate trolley jack from Sears. Worth a look.

Re: Car jacks
 

Land Rover sell them :) x

Re: Car jacks
 

A 6 ton bottle jack($23) from Sears is another possibility that is more compact, though depending on the vehicle it may not have enough travel.

Re: Car jacks
 

Harbor Freight have a good selection of jacks.

The jack is probably correctly rated as you're not lifting the entire car off the ground when you change a tyre.

Re: Car jacks
 

Amazon have lots to choose from. As sheepdip stated, you're not lifting the whole weight of the car. You can get 5,000 lbs scissor jacks on amazon if you want.

Bottle jacks, as drew.dean said, will likely have a problem with stroke length - they don't tend

Re: Car jacks
 

Harbor Freight stuff is usually junk, is what I hear from pro tool users. Though some tools may be sufficient for infrequent work.

SEARS is alright quality. I have a Craftsman bottle jack, think it is 4 or 6 ton.

Re: Car jacks
 

That's the bit I was missing I think! Makes sense now. Just bought one from Autozone and they agreed with your comment (when I went in before there was a long line so I didn't hang around).

Thanks all.

Re: Car jacks
 

So what's a bottle jack?

Our Saab came with a crap little jack that needed a screw driver to crank it...but when we got the car, the garage had a smashed up Saab that they were parting up and they gave us the one in that car, which has one of those hand cranks and was slightly larger.

It's still shit though as the base isn't that large, so a bit fiddly getting it set up when off the road in a pot holed bit of hard shoulder.

Re: Car jacks
 

If you think about it, 3 or 4 people can usually lift the corner of many cars off the ground but it may take 15-30 people to fully lift a car completely off the ground. In fact I think the strong man competition has competitors lifting the rear of a small car off the ground as many times as possible during several minutes.

Re: Car jacks
 

Well, yes it does sound sensible. But I didn't want to be on the wrong end of a jack that failed because I misunderstood the rating on it! Better to ask and be safe than not.

I've already found out the hard way that even with the emergency brake on, the car settling forward on the downgrade as you lift that wheel off the ground is enough to warp a cheap jack. (Lesson: chock the wheels if you can) Thankfully it was a busy freeway and no less than three cars stopped to help, one only to offer water but appreciated nonetheless. :thumbup: The first car actually went home to get their spare jack for us. :thumbup:

Re: Car jacks
 

It works on hydraulics, so you move a handle up and down rather than turn a crank round and round. As they work on the principles of fluid incompressibility they can lift a lot - as much as the internal chambers and seals can take.

They typically don't have the same reach as a mechanical type scissor jack, and they can lose seal over not very long, so should never be the only thing stopping your head from getting squashed (same rule as a basic scissor jack but for different reasons).

They are very effective at lifting a load. A trolley jack for a home garage works on the same principles.

Re: Car jacks
 

Cheers! I thought that might be it...but didn't realise you could get a small one for the back of the car...all the one's I've seen have been pretty hefty :)

Re: Car jacks
 

You changed a wheel on a freeway?!!:eek:
I can't speak for the rest of the country but there's no freaking way I would change a tire on the freeway here in Houston. It's just too dangerous. I saw a real nasty crash just today where a pickup wasn't paying attention and ploughed straight into the car in front of him that was stopped who in turn hit the car in front. Didn't look like there were any serious injuries fortunately.

I'm afraid I would call roadside assistance on the freeway. If I was somewhere quiet I'd do it myself.

Re: Car jacks
 

http://www.amazon.com/Powerbuilt-640...s=bottle+jacks

That is a much safer idea - the small ones aren't really much use for a car over here, they just don't have the lifting height. This one has a built in locking system. Apparently you can get them for $30 from tractor supply. It also weighs 23 lbs, so it's not exactly lightweight....

Re: Car jacks
 

An other things with a bottle jack compared to sicssor jack are that bottle jacks are generally a lot faster and easier, but require a greater clearance height to get them in place.

Re: Car jacks
 

The newer Craftsman stuff also seems to be getting a bit of a reputation, and I don't mean a good one.

For infrequently used tools I tend to buy HF first and replace it with a used Snap On or Mac Tools one if I manage to break it. eBay tends to have a lot of the pro tools, but shipping a large jack might not be a cheap endeavour.

One of our HF jacks (trolley, not bottle) started leaking after about 1 1/2 years, the other one is doing OK-ish so far but doesn't work on all our cars. The main issue with the cheap jacks vs the good jacks is that you can get rebuild kits for the good stuff. The rebuild kit for the HF ones is usually called "get another one". We also have a 20 ton bottle jack for "higher elevations" and the wife's Jeep. It works, but I've already noticed that I can see scratches on the not-so-hard chrome surface of the piston.

Re: Car jacks
 

How many times do you use a jack, Harbor Freight, I still have my lightweight one that has been used for a lot more than lifting cars.

Re: Car jacks
 

Me? Almost every weekend. The cars aren't that heavy, but usually one of them needs to be put up on jack stands every second week.

Re: Car jacks
 

I second Harbor freight tool store Dh is a mechanic and buys loads of stuff from there including his two floor jacks and stands.

Re: Car jacks
 

Northern Tool is another place to buy Jacks. They have branches all over the US.
http://www.northerntool.com/

I have bought several tools from them, they range from adequate to good, just depends on brand and what the specific tool is . They too have a lot of Chinese stuff like SEARS and Harbour Freight.


What I usually do for tools is buy the cheap stuff only if I need it ASAP and can not find a quality tool vendor. I buy used quality stuff off Ebay, Industrial Auctions or on rare occasion off Craigslist.


Grainger sells a lot of quality stuff, and they stock items you will not find in any of the other brick and mortar places around . Branches are all over the US. Grainger supplies to Pros/Industry only and not to the general walk in public, so unless you have a company shirt on, it will be an issue .

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/start.shtml


Craftsman is sometimes referred to as Crapsman. Imho, they are decent enough for the occasional use, but don't know about recent Craftsman quality. If one has time, better to buy used Snap-On, Mac, S K etc...
I bought my Craftsman bottle jack to lift my Toyota and my Landie but with the latter I have to stick some cinder blocks under the jack due to the lack of vertical height of the piston.

Re: Car jacks
 

Simplex makes good quality industrial duty stuff. Their 5 ton Jack is sold in some SEARS. About $87 on Amazon. Made in Japan.

http://www.tksimplex.com/html/produc...name=Hydraulic Jacks&scatname=Bottle Jacks

http://www.amazon.com/Simplex-HJ5-Hy...ata/B001HWOEUC

They also have tall cylinders if you need the height.
http://www.tooldex.com/product/SI1-H...J5-Hand-Jacks/

Re: Car jacks
 

The older Craftsman tools - say, up to the late 80s/early 90s is actually pretty good quality, not quite on par with Snap-On and Mac, but good enough that pro mechanics use(d) them. I've got some, I've got a bunch of Snap-On, and the main difference to me would be the warranty. Both have a lifetime warranty, but how useful is that if you get a tool of lesser quality if you have to replace it with the newer tools that you might as well buy at HF?

Re: Car jacks
 

Dh has a tool chest full of 80's and 90's craftsman, mainly because of the replacement guarantee they had (do they still have it), he is famous for breaking his tools. He stopped buying Snap on and Mac cause the guys would take the broken stuff to replace and and he'd have to wait months for him to bring the replacements back. His Snap on and Mac boxes are still going strong. from the 70's and 80's but even those he's replaced in the last year with Harbor freight.
So he's Harbor freight all the way now (except for a few rare things and specialty tools) If he looses screw drivers or breaks things it's not a huge loss

Re: Car jacks
 

They don't any more, not to the same level. They stopped it because to many people were buying them cheap at yard sales etc and then exchanging them in for new items and then flogging them on ebay as new.