Auto Jack thoughts

[cobob]

a floor jack for the car/mower seems to be kind of handy. Sears has one on sale for $60. I might rotate my tires more often if I had one. Using the car jack seems too time consuming (or should I look at it as badly needed exercise)

Are there any (& I know there are) helpful POVs out there?

[LCHIEN]

a floor jack for the car/mower seems to be kind of handy. Sears has one on sale for $60. I might rotate my tires more often if I had one. Using the car jack seems too time consuming (or should I look at it as badly needed exercise)

Are there any (& I know there are) helpful POVs out there?

Yeah, then you can justify a compressor and a Pneumatic impact wrench.

[ragswl4]

a floor jack for the car/mower seems to be kind of handy. Sears has one on sale for $60. I might rotate my tires more often if I had one. Using the car jack seems too time consuming (or should I look at it as badly needed exercise)

Are there any (& I know there are) helpful POVs out there?

I have three hydraulic floor jacks which get used instead of the POS jack that comes with the vehicles. Mainly I don't trust car jacks. Anytime I use a floor jack I always, always use a jack stand as well. One hyraulic failure can ruin your entire future!

[Pappy]

Got 2 and when one gives out, it WILL be replaced!

The newest one is the aluminum 'racing' jack from HF. Wide roller on the front instead of casters make it more stable and it is a lot lighter.

[jseklund]

I have a floor jack that I have used extensively. I bought it at lowes for $75 I believe. It's a Kobalt brand with a 3 ton limit. I wouldn't use anything less than 2.5 tons unless you have small cars...but that may just be me liking more power! The only down side to buying the jack I bought- it is HEAVY. The aluminum jacks are a little more expensive (sometimes a lot more), but a lot lighter.

Please keep in mind- you should never get under a car while it is on a jack. (see that period?) I don't care if it's hydraulic, or the jack that came with your car- if you're under it it needs to be properly rested on stands. They are cheap- $20 a set usually- and necessary. Just to put this in perspective- hydraulics do weird things- and one time I was under a car and my hand slipped and the tool I was holding hit the side of the jack. It wasn't THAT much force, but something happened and the jack just let go and sank straight down. Luckily I wasn't using the jack to support the car- it was there in case a stand failed (I'm overly cautious maybe)- but it really hit home why I don't ever want to be under there with just the hydraulic lift.

Personally, I would buy 6 stands, 2 wheel blocks, and the lift. You'll be in it for less than $150 and safe. You can get away with 4 stands, but here's why I bought 6. I am a wimp. I can't lift a car off me. I always have 2 jacks where they should be, and 2 jacks under "backup points" on the end of the car I am under. If I need the car off the ground, this means 4 jacks to support it, and 2 to back me up. You really don't need the backups, but if something ever happens, I have a feeling I may be glad they're there to keep me from becoming raspberry jam. If I only lift one end, I put the 4 under that end and block the tires on the other end. Oh, and the backups are usually set one setting lower than the ones the car rests on. In other words, the backups are just slightly lower so they have no pressure on them unless something goes wrong.

And I'll second the pneumatic tools idea. If you're rotating tires the compressor will blow them up with a quickness, and the impact wrench will make changing them a breeze.

Good luck, and be safe.

[cabinetman]

I have several floor jacks. One is a pro model, they call a long frame, I use it for the vehicles. I agree with the use of wheel chocks and jack stands. Then I have some smaller floor jacks that I also use to jack cabinets up to the ceiling, or to high places when I'm working alone.

If you do use all this neat equipment to jack up your vehicle and change tires, it's worthwhile to get at least a 1/2" click type torque wrench to properly tighten lug nuts to factory specs. A lot of these new alloy wheels require certain torgue amounts, either to insure safety or eliminate the possibility of wheel damage.

[JimD]

I have a couple of floor jacks, both inexpensive and both work fine. For cars, you do not have to be very careful about how high they will lift but for my SUV and my son's pickup, we needed a floor jack that would lift to about 20 inches. I got the last couple from HF when they had them on sale before last Christmas. They work fine. I lift the whole end of the vehicle (front or back). Saves a little time. They are heavy but they have wheels so you do not have to lift them much. The heavy pipe handle also makes a good pull handle.

I have never used a torque wrench on wheels and I also do not use an impact wrench. My SUV has aluminum wheels, a first for me, so I may try it. I normally use a T-wrench. It is pretty quick and I do not get things too tight. Maybe I'll snug it with the T-wrench and then torque it. I haven't taken the wheels off but will need to soon to check the brakes. It's rear wheel drive so I don't rotate the tires (I got 70,000 miles without rotating on my last rear wheel drive SUV).

Jim

[scorrpio]

The jack supplied with the car is for on-the-road wheel replacement - not for any kind of serious work.

I don't service the car myself lest I void the warranty - but once warranty is out, and I am still driving that car, I see myself investing in some service equipment.

[LCHIEN]

The jack supplied with the car is for on-the-road wheel replacement - not for any kind of serious work.

I don't service the car myself lest I void the warranty - but once warranty is out, and I am still driving that car, I see myself investing in some service equipment.

Yup, not safe for anything more than lifting the wheel an inch off the gournd for tire replacement.

[cobob]

Well, as usual, I'm bass ackwards &/or lessdyxic; I've got the compressor, pneumatic tool set, & 2 plain jack. Ya'll have ( as usual ) made salient advice & when I show my wife your comments, I'll have a 'go to HF, do not pass go' card.

Thanks again.

[DaveStL]

Flooor Jacks and Torque Wrenches

Sorry that I'm late getting in on this topic, but I do have a little background-- I have done some fairly serious work to cars over the years and have tracked them (we call track sessions "safety seminars" and do quite a bit of advanced driver education as well as driving really fast).

I still have my first floor jack, a $30 cheapie (bought at least 15 years ago) from Target that came w/ jack stands. It works fine, but it's heavy. It also doesn't go low enough to get under the proper lift point for my current vehicle, which is slightly lowered. It's a bit of a pain to raise the car an inch with the factory scissors jack to get the floor jack in place. I use a wood spacer to prevent damaging the undercoating.

The next time there's a major project under the car I'll look again for an aluminum 2-ton model. With lowered cars it's especially important to get one with a frame that is low enough long enough to get the business end where you want it, and these are typically expensive commercial models. On most of the cheap "racing jacks" I've seen, the frame comes up too quickly, making it useless.

Several folks have commented about using jack stands. AMEN. Never rely on a jack when you're working under a vehicle. Jack stand placement is also important. The car must be supported on a solid part of the car (not the floor pan!) with the weight distribution such that torque you're exerting with a tool doesn't shift the car. On my Audi, factory procedure is to use a 6-foot cheater to break loose the control arm without damaging the ball joint. When the car is up, try opening a door; if it binds, you've flexed the frame and should probably find different support points.

When changing a wheel, always do the heavy loosening/tightening with the car on the ground. Much safer! Lug nuts (or bolts) should always be broken loose before raising. To replace the wheel, snug them up with the wheel off the ground, but put the car down before final torqueing. I always use a torque wrench to make sure they're tight but won't damage the wheels or mess up the threads. Also, there's nothing worse than having to change a tire on the road and not being able to get the wheel off.

Bottom line on jack selection: for an occasional user on a car with normal ground clearance, a cheap floor jack is probably fine. What's really important is how you use it.

Dave

[jaybee]

I bought one of these:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...=1190595416779

ON SALE of course, had to wait over 6 months and checked every week. I'm still keeping my eye out for a good floor jack on sale.