Floor jacks

R Q

R Q

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Charlotte
Floor jacks in my shop like to die premature and untimely deaths.
The only one that keeps kicking is the slowest and weakest of them all.
Do ya'll rebuild them or send them to floor jack heaven?
What is involved in rebuilding them? Never tore one apart and really don't want to. Got a nice Jack Roush speed jack for C-mas and hate to trash it but it didn't last a month. It was bought from Sam's so no returns.
Thanks,
RQ
 
Rich, On some, I don't know about all, but you may need to top off the hydraulic fluid. there should be a port you can open to fill it up. Again, may not be on all models, but I have seen it before. you can get a squirt bottle of floor jack hydraulic fluid.
 
You should be able to replace the O-rings.
 
haveing them repaired is usually cost prohibitive, you can buy a new one cheaper.

BUT, you can rebuild them yourself, usually just an O-ring that has bit the big one. just be sure when you reassemble that all burrs are removed and that you don't snag a seal on the way in. use lots of oil during assembly

I have a floor jack I bought from Sams 9 years ago, other than a caster wheel that is screwed it works fine.

I have found the cost of the jack is relitive to it's longevity, the cheaper the better. a Joe no name jack ($60ish) would probably last 3 times the life of a $200 high zoot Napa brand.

The fast pump jacks aren't made to really be used, never saw one that actually lasted more than a year.
 
We have compared the Jack Rousch and the Michelin Jack, both from Sam's or Costco...THEY ARE THE SAME THING...just different stickers. The paint color is even the same...
 
I'm looking for one a bit bigger then my 3.5 ton, that sucker strains lifting the front of my truck.
 
I have a 3-ton from Advance... unf I cannot remember the name, but will look this evening. I think it was about $70 or so... I received it as a wedding present :huggy: :smokin: .
I've never had a problem w/ it groaning or struggling. However every now any again when lifting, it will do this funny "ghost lift" thing where I can push the handle goes down real fast and no lifting occurs - dosn't slip or anything, just no lift - never been able to figure that out. Otherwise it works great, I'd reccomend it.
Biggest problem is that the sucker is *heavy*. Ok to roll around, but you just don't ever pick it up to move it.
 
Don't crank the shit out of the knob to close the valve, it'll last longer.. and when you're done, leave the valve open, that'll make it last longer.

I've got the same Craftsman 'professional' since '98.. still works perfectly.
 
I bought a Craftsman unit about four years ago. It has the quick pump feature so it raises up to the axle or whatever in one pump. I really like that, but the jack is very slow once it makes contact and starts to lift the weight. That is the trade off though for lifting power because it never strains to lift anything. It is either a 3 or 3.5 ton unit.
 
I got the Harbor Freight special, 3 ton jack. Cheap, but its been working great for the last 3 years with no sign of letting up.
 
My blue "Michelin" jack was kickbutt! Would lift the front or back of the Mule with minimal effort on my part!

*WAS* because after 4 months, out of the blue (pun intended) it wouldn't lift anything heavier than me... hauled it back to Sam's and of course, they're OUT of "blue jacks".... now they have "red jacks" (Rousch? identical to the blue that already died) for an additional $25 ($85-95 total)... of course I got a refund, figuring to wait until they have blue jacks again for the original $60 price and haven't looked since.

OTOH, the 2 POS mini-jacks are still working fine, but require Popeye strength to jack up the diesel and neither is tall enough to jack the Moss up high enough to pull the @#$%^&! tires! :mad:

I'll watch this in hopes the collective can come up with a dependable jack for less than SO/Mac want for theirs...
 
x2 on the orange Harbor Freight POS jack


5 years and still kicking

Even lifted a 10x16x12 storage building and left it sitting on it for a week.

orange paint wore fast jack keeps on going
 
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