Need a shop jack

[Jon718]

Hey everyone,



Was looking to get a nice shop jack and was considering two diffrent types of jacks.



1.) Costco floor jack, forgot the name but saw it for $80, Seems pretty heavy duty but its also heavy as hell! I don`t know if it has enought clearance to go underneath my Acura Legend which has been lowered abuout 1.1" but it does look pretty sturdy and "low"



2.) Harbor Freight has a "Racing Jack" which is a lightweight jack ~35 lbs and has a minimum clearance of about 3.5" which is suitable for my needs. Only thing is its quite expensive for a floor jack givenits lofty price of $139.99.



http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/47200-47299/47246all.gif

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47246



So has anyone had an experience with any of these jacks? I`m leaning more towards the Harbor Freight jack but it doesnt look as stable as those heavy duty jacks .....

[FredBro]

You can go check out the Jack at a Sears hardware store or

Click here (http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&fromAuto=YES&bidsite=CRAFT&pid=00950239000)



And if you`ve ever had a car roll on one of the real cheap jacks. You wouldn`t think 200.00 is expensive!

[Jon718]

The Harbor Freight jacks looks pretty nice, however I am a bit weary of some of their products. The Sears jack is more then I need and its a lot more costlier too. But what determines if a jack is a good/bad one?

[FredBro]

The jack I linked to is the same one that you have pictured.

You want to have thick side pieces in the frame of the jack. The cheap Consumer car parts that I had was pretty thin. this allowed to car to roll back and "twist" the jack in a way that the lift arm couldn`t come all the way down.



I never trusted the jack after that. :scared



So go to your local Sears Hardware store and try that jack out. If you like it, order it from Harbor Freight

[Jon718]

Good idea! Thanks

[togwt]

~One man’s opinion~



I brought the low-profile 2-Ton floor Jack(2-1/2" - 18") and the 3-Ton Jack Stands (10-1/2" – 16-1/2") from Groit’s, loved the quality and the solid ‘safe’ feel. Well worth the $450 for peace of mind {I’d hate to be under a collapsed car thinking how much money I’ saved by getting ‘cheap’ lifting equipment)



This is one of the only (quality) low profile floor jacks I’ve seen, what clearance do you have to work with?





Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/



justadumbarchitect

[Quickstrike]

Originally posted by TOGWT

~One man’s opinion~



I brought the low-profile 2-Ton floor Jack(2-1/2" - 18") and the 3-Ton Jack Stands (10-1/2" – 16-1/2") from Groit’s, loved the quality and the solid ‘safe’ feel. Well worth the $450 for peace of mind {I’d hate to be under a collapsed car thinking how much money I’ saved by getting ‘cheap’ lifting equipment)



This is one of the only (quality) low profile floor jacks I’ve seen, what clearance do you have to work with?





Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/



justadumbarchitect



My understanding is the jack is just to prop the car up to use the jack "stands".. Maybe it was just my high school mechanics class but they seemed pretty confident that you can`t put your life on any jack.. if you go under the car, you must use jack stands..



We`re all adults here so I am not going to tell you that *you* need to do the same. Just offering some advice given from other mechanics I have come in contact with.

[topnotchtouch]

If I had the money I would have bought one of these before anything from Griots.



http://www.ultimategarage.com/acjacks.html



They are made in Denmark by AC Hydraulics. Their laws require the jack to be able to lift 2 times its rated capacity.

[Quickstrike]

I want to buy my dad a jack for a christmas present.



He has an 83` Scirrocco (lowered even more then stock :eek:, a `91 Jetta and a `96 Ford Windstar.



With the lowered VW`s the DK13HLQ looks like the best bet but then for the van.. it would need a DK20HLQ right?



Under DK20HLQ it says recommended for trucks & SUV`s only so I guess I couldn`t use it for both cars and van?



What would be the best jack to buy for jacking up lower profile cars and a van?



By-the-way, is this the only company that sells AC Hydraulic jacks in North America? I was wondering if some store in Canada would sell them.. With the shipping costs I might have to look for another jack :sosad:




Originally posted by rjstaaf

If I had the money I would have bought one of these before anything from Griots.



http://www.ultimategarage.com/acjacks.html



They are made in Denmark by AC Hydraulics. Their laws require the jack to be able to lift 2 times its rated capacity.

[topnotchtouch]

Do a Google search of the particular AC Hydraulics model number you are looking for and it should show you a good many places that carry them. I just did a search on google for DK20HLQ and got quite a few hits.

[PATHFNDR]

:wavey



I just recieved a Harbor Freight Racing Jack, and it seems plenty strong to me and for the price, how can you go wrong. I also, would not get under a car without jack stands.