Floor jacks

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
After 19 years, the hydraulics in the 3 ton floor jack I got as a wedding present (probably the most useful thing we received) are shot.
I can't find manuals on it anywhere and I'm tired of lugging this heavy ass thing around.
Decided it's time to treat myself to a nice new aluminum jack.

Any suggestions? Are they pretty much all the same besides the weight and height/throw? I really only need about 2-2.5 ton, but height is always an issue, I'm already at the point where the 3 ton will barely get the 4Runer's front wheels off the ground with the suspension unloaded. But I figure that can also be fixed by making an adapter to put on top.

The HF AL jacks seems nice enough, but they can't be sued w/ the 20% coupons and never seem on clearance sale, which makes that less of a no-brainer.
 
We have a local guy that sells return/damaged HF merchandise for about 50% retail. I'm sure there's one around you somewhere .
 
Harbor freight. We have a 3 ton aluminum, two 1.5 ton aluminum and 2 steel 3 ton. Out of all of those, one steel low profile 2.5 ton failed after 3 years, and one of the 1.5 ton was bad out of the box. They work excellent for the money. The first one we got was the 3 ton aluminum, and it’s going on 5-6 years now with no issue.

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another harbor freight.

We keep the 1.5 ton with us on our car trailers for road trips.
 
^^^. He’s spot on with the Harbor Freight floor jacks. I’ve had a 3 ton HF unit and used it quite a a lot. Bought it at the Florence HF store when there were no others around. That’s bee at least back in 99 or 2000. Been working really well ever since.
 
Another vote for HF. I've seen one wheel broken off a dudes aluminum 1.5 ton midget jack(abuse I figure), but I've got a 2.5 ton steel unit I've been abusing since 2010 and it still works ok. It's lost a little lift height (lost fluid? 2" from all the way up) but it's been literally dropped out the back of my service Jeep, dragged through gravel and dirt and mud, flopped sideways doing stuff I shouldn't, etc, the last 6 years... but it's heavy.. been highly considering an AL version.. I went with the 2.5 because of the lift height being like 22 or 23" and going low enough to get under most anything. I love the dual stage pump too.
 
I have the small aluminum jack from HF. used, abused, still works. lill tweeked from using it as a roller to load a axleless truck on my old hauler. But still works. light, take off the handle, it rides in my trailer box. with the help of some wood blocks, it will lift my Jeep.
 
I got pissed at an old sears 2 ton that left me stranded in the middle of a project. Went to NAPA and got a steel jack there. Same jack I have seen in a bunch of mechanic shops. I figure if it is good enough for people that use them every day, it should last me a long time.
 
Thanks all.
junkxj said:
3 Ton Arcan Floor Jack Aluminum Steel Low Profile Quick Pump Lifting Car Garage 858957002796 | eBay

Looks like this one is $50 less than the HF one......
Click to expand...
After looking around, this was the best deal. It's kind of an odd model Arcan, seems only available via eBay, but I can't tell any diference from their other 3Ts.
It'll be here Friday :D
sgtbriangreen said:
I got pissed at an old sears 2 ton that left me stranded in the middle of a project. Went to NAPA and got a steel jack there. Same jack I have seen in a bunch of mechanic shops. I figure if it is good enough for people that use them every day, it should last me a long time.
Click to expand...
I've just gotten to the point I dread dragging that 100+ lbs thing around the garage. And the few times I've had to actually pick it up to put in something... argh. Screw steel jacks. Was great when I was young an full of energy.

Hell I figure just what I get back from recycle scrap of this one will be a discount towards the new one.

Now, one of these days, hopefully in less than two years, I have a real lift so the jack will get a lot less use...
 
RatLabGuy said:
Thanks all.

After looking around, this was the best deal. It's kind of an odd model Arcan, seems only available via eBay, but I can't tell any diference from their other 3Ts.
It'll be here Friday :D
Click to expand...

Hope that one I found is worth a shit. Looked the same as most of the Chinese ones, with a different sticker.......
 
UTfball68 said:
HF in Salisbury just had an Easter deal on their 3ton floor jacks for $79.99...bought 2 for me and 1 for my nephew.
Click to expand...
What?
Oh those most be steel
 
RatLabGuy said:
What?
Oh those most be steel
Click to expand...

Yeah...sorry, these ones.

D82316AF-4BF6-4478-998B-0EDCC6C49A61.jpeg
 
13bullets said:
This is what I have. No complaints, but it sees minimal use.
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just to be clear - for 18 years I had no complaints either, EXCEPT for the hernia when I had to pick it up.

which I guess raises the question, really, how many ways can a jack not work? just leaking hydraulics, right? Or maybe just being really slow going up or down?
Of course I sure wouldn't mind some bigger wheels so it wouldn't get stuck on a freaking twig or zip tie.
 
catfishblues said:
Get an o-ring kit and fix it, man. Ain't rocket surgery. The rings on the piston are probably bad
Click to expand...
that isn't gonna shave 50 lbs off of it :flipoff2:.
Wife gave me the green light so she could stop hearing me bitch about the weight. Why would I not jump on that?

(besides, I can't figure out how to take it apart nor find any docs on it. But really... I just don't want to.)
 
As a general rule, avoid any of the fast up jacks unless you are spending coin.
 
RatLabGuy said:
that isn't gonna shave 50 lbs off of it :flipoff2:.
Wife gave me the green light so she could stop hearing me bitch about the weight. Why would I not jump on that?

(besides, I can't figure out how to take it apart nor find any docs on it. But really... I just don't want to.)
Click to expand...

Well I didn't know you had wifal approval. That changes everything! Jack on, buddy!
 
Ron said:
As a general rule, avoid any of the fast up jacks unless you are spending coin.
Click to expand...
care to explain? This seems to be the norm on most.
 
RatLabGuy said:
care to explain? This seems to be the norm on most.
Click to expand...

Think of how the jack is designed to allow it to move fast with no load and slow down under load...

There are different mechanisms...but many of the cheap jacks have a hole in the piston when it encounters load excess pressure is bled off so non-NFL linemen can operate the jack. This works fantastic for that purpose but also allows the jack to leak down over time.

Other systems utilize a hydraulic check valve that is troublesome on anything but flat ground. I had a harbor freight fast up.
 
Ron said:
Think of how the jack is designed to allow it to move fast with no load and slow down under load...

There are different mechanisms...but many of the cheap jacks have a hole in the piston when it encounters load excess pressure is bled off so non-NFL linemen can operate the jack. This works fantastic for that purpose but also allows the jack to leak down over time.

Other systems utilize a hydraulic check valve that is troublesome on anything but flat ground. I had a harbor freight fast up.
Click to expand...
Ha, I always wondered how that worked but never bothered to look :D
Are you saying the HF Fast Up model is the check valve style?
 
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