What kind of Floor Jack are you using?

Nice try in your heart you know what is right

 

I recommend this one, get the long reach for an extra 4” of height.

 

Built in, Made in, Assembled in, shipped from U.S. warehouse... and my favorite U.S.A. seller...

 

nothing from America is built with that quality anymore. in fact because of USA regulations a lot of stuff is worse now. so you can go ahead and get off your high horse with that buy only America or your killing our country bullshit.. it dont fly like it did 20 years ago.

to top it off this is in a TOYOTA forum LOL

 

Even though I disagree with your attitude towards stuff made today, I gotta admit those things are sweet. If I ever see one for sale I will buy it if I can.

 

That’s the one I got, a good purchase’s. Really happy with it.

 

I have an intergenerational pair that meet my needs.



The one on the left came from a neighbor's WWII era machine shop, and works fine. I once figured out the brand, but I forget now. The one on the right is a Duralast 2½ ton. It was made in China and is available from several sources like AutoZone. I got mine on CL. I use them mostly for my tractor maintenance now. I like the steerable wheels on the Duralast, I like the top of handle valve for opening and closing flow. I'm kind of floor jack agnostic.

 

I have no idea what mine is, i bought it used at a tool sale. Its big, orange, and heavy with steel wheels with a long white handle. Works great, lifts anything with ease i need.

 

At the end of the day, it's just a hydraulic jack, so don't over think this! I have an old 4 ton Craftsman truck jack that I have been using for years and it one HD Mofo. But when I bought my Corvette, I needed one of those uber-low profile jacks. I bought one from Harbor Freight and it has also done the job it was designed to do (lift cars). As stated before, it's just a jack man. Just make sure whatever you buy is rated to lift what you are trying to lift.

 

At the recommendation from someone on this site, I carry a 2" x 6" board in my truck for my bottle Jack. Should help on the side of the road.

At home I've got a nice floor jack.

 

Costco has some good aluminum jacks usually right around $200.

 

Don't go cheap like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-3-Ton-Light-Duty-Truck-Jack-and-Jack-Stand-Pair-HD00127/206696699?

Regrets...

:::

 

Until about a year ago I had been using a Chinese-made 4 or 5 ton Floor jack I bought at Pep Boys on a whim ~15 years ago because I needed it to finish something I was working-on. It survived lots of use and abuse before failing just after pulling a Transaxle from my VW. I replaced it with a 4 or 5 ton Chinese-made Jack from Home Depot. Been working great!

Prior to buying the Home Depot Jack I did look at an American-Made floor jack. It was quite a bit more money and the quality looked comparable to the Chinese Jacks which cost 1/4 as much. For a weekend wrencher the Chinese-made jacks are fine. A friend who owns and runs a professional repair shop uses HF Jacks daily; he seems to get a couple of years out of them with no problems.

Now if you really want to go nuts, add a set of Quick Jacks to your garage! I did about six months ago and so far am very pleased with them.

 

This is what I do as well, I keep a couple pieces of scrap 2x4" in the bed cubby.

Regarding a floor jack at home, I have this one from HF. It's a beast and I've had no issues with it so far. Only thing is I added a jack pad for cars you lift at the pinch welds. I believe Snapon also sued HF as they were claiming copyright infrigement on these jacks.

 

I think you have to differentiate from Chinese parts produced for American, European or Japanese companies. The parts are of course designed by the parent company, not the Chinese. The production on those parts are (usually) strictly monitored for quality, they will have engineers onsite.

Products designed by the Chinese for the consumer market are a different story altogether. The design and quality is often very poor and the companies are not liable for loss of property or life due to product failures. Major retailers like Walmart etc. do their own testing of Chinese designed products to ensure safety but of course not all retailers are motivated to do this or do not have the resources.

I had a power strip that partially melted, could have burned my house down. I bought a LED flashlight on Amazon and when I removed the charger from the wall socket, one of the contacts pulled out of the charger and remained in the socket. I'm an EE yet my first impulse was to grab the contact.

I have a Craftsman floor jack, manufactured 1988 still works fine.

 

They probably broke it off in me but I like it.

 

The larger point here is buying a tool in this case a Jack that you can use and can maintain indefinitely by rebuilding as needed. I know we live in a throwaway society now but I do what I can to mitigate that mentality, I don’t buy into that and perhaps it’s a generational thing. I grew up in the 60s As for finding the old jacks look at Craigslist. I got the first one for free from behind a vacant building, it been left outside for years. One thing about the new aluminum jacks is weight, you’ll get a hernia lifting those old steel monsters into your truck bed.

 

Sounds just like mine.
Big, Orange, Heavy, white handle. No idea who makes it, but it lifts stuff well.
I do oil changes and other general maintenance on 5 cars. it sees a decent share of work.

 

Hobo Freight Daytona 3 ton long reach. She's a big girl at 103 lbs and a PITA to carry around in the gravels.

 

I use this one as my main go to and also have another smaller one I got as an x-mas present year ago. Some Amazon cheapo but it's been great so far. Really only use it when I'm rotating tires when I need (2)