big wheel high clearencefloor jack?

[londonsteve]

Has anyone changed the wheels on a floor jack to larger and maybe pneumatic ones, I often use a floor jack outside on a gravel drive and would like a jack with higher ground clearance and easier to roll. Any ideas?.

 

[mrholeshot]

pneumatic tires wouldn't carry the load and if one tire burst it could be expensive to fix you vehicle depending on the lift point

 

[londonsteve]

Or even solid rubber tyres that mobility scooters use.

 

[mrholeshot]

I'd just get a peice of 3/4 plywood to set the jack on

 

[londonsteve]

Driveway is to big and jack is too heavy to keep carrying it around.

 

[kythri]

Sounds like it's time to bring in some asphalt...

 

[londonsteve]

Would love to but in historic conservation area and too much red tape to get planning permission.

 

[mrholeshot]

Pour concrete then cover it with gravel until you need to lift something then sweep it out of the way.

 

[kbs2244]

Put on what ever size wheels you need.
Then carry around a piece timber thick enough to lift the wheels off the ground. (4x6 ?) about 2 feet long.
Then you can set the jack on the timber to lift the wheels off the ground.
That will give you a bigger bearing surface and keep the load off the wheels.

 

[mrholeshot]

That makes me shutter

 

[eborcim]

mrholeshot has the better idea with 3/4" plywood. I have taken 1 foot square pieces of 3/4 to the dirt racetrack to set jackstands or the jack on if we were off the concrete pad. They fit nicely in a milk crate too.

 

[nexum1919]

it's a good idea to keep in mind that a floor jack has to 'walk' during lifting, since the lift pad does not really move in a straight up and down path.
just leave enough room for the jack to walk on pieces of timber or plywood that has been placed under the jack. you definitely don't want the jack to walk off the edge of the plywood!
if the jack gets stuck in some way and cannot walk, something is gotta give. either the contact point with the car will jump, or yank the pinch weld to the side or even pull the car off the jackstands if the other side happen to be on them, or at the very least tip them enough to make it highly unstable.
just let the jack walk to stay out of trouble...

 

[Hiball]

Im sure your not gonna find any pneumatic wheels that will hold up to the weight load that is required to lift a vehicle. If your using a jack on a un-level surface regardless if your using plywood or not it will find the low spot and will eventually bend the frame. Its why you see lots of jacks that only rest on 3 wheels. LOL

 

[bchee]

pneumatic tires will easily hold the load he is talking about

 

[Hiball]

pneumatic tires will easily hold the load he is talking about

I guess i missed his specifications (lol), I sure dont see how a 3 1/2" wheel diameter can hold 4000lbs when you factor in the Rim diameter required. Can you show me a 2 ton pneumatic wheel? LOL I cant wait to see the swivel verison..

 

[bchee]

Get one of these.
It has pneumatic tires.

(took me a long time with Paint)

 

[Hiball]

Get one of these.
It has pneumatic tires.

(took me a long time with Paint)

If thats what the OP is thinking about doing, I would not recommend it. He is seriously messing with the ability of the jack to safely lift a vehicle. The wheels are set tight to the frame for a reason, Any outward extension changes things, not to mention the rear swivel wheels allow the jack not to bind when lifting. Ugh.. Not wasting anymore time on this thread due to liability reasons. LOL

 

[bchee]

OK just messing around.
I also don't see any practical way of that working out, either solid rubber or air.

It's tough to meet both requirements - rolls easily AND strong enough to support the load of a car

 

[blue dog]

Found this back a while ago. it's different.
http://www.zendextool.com/rakjak/

 

[I can fix anything]

Buy an aluminum jack if you have to carry it.

 

[azotto]

Look around the offroad racing circles, they do it all the time. Not sure if they use a specific wheel/tire combo but they have been modifying their jacks this way for years.

 

[junk]

I read about a guy putting bigger wheels on his floor jack in one of the 4x4 mags years ago. It did hurt the rating of the jack, but I never pickup 3 ton on my floor jack. Normally it's half of a 4,000 lb vehicle. So that would be around 2,000 lb. 4 wheels with a 500 lb capacity and you are there. If I remember the article correctly the jack no longer had swivel wheels in the back. It had 4 wheels on straight axles. Pneumatic tires would be interesting if one blew, but large solid tires wouldn't bother me. As we all know jacking on crazy angles and soft ground can easily lead to a tipped over jack and vehicle or worse.

later
Jeremy

 

[Hiball]

I read about a guy putting bigger wheels on his floor jack in one of the 4x4 mags years ago. It did hurt the rating of the jack, but I never pickup 3 ton on my floor jack. Normally it's half of a 4,000 lb vehicle. So that would be around 2,000 lb. 4 wheels with a 500 lb capacity and you are there. If I remember the article correctly the jack no longer had swivel wheels in the back. It had 4 wheels on straight axles. Pneumatic tires would be interesting if one blew, but large solid tires wouldn't bother me. As we all know jacking on crazy angles and soft ground can easily lead to a tipped over jack and vehicle or worse.

later
Jeremy

When you take away the lateral movement of a jack during the lifting stage, you are
submitting the frame to some serious torque. Now.. If your using your jack on a perfectly
level floor it's a moot point. I know everyone here has a perfectly level shop/garage floor. Lol

 

[londonsteve]

ve found these 8 inch castor wheels online with a max load per 4 of 11,500 kg (over 25,000lb) I think i am going to try and fit these to an old jack. If you don't shoot you don't kill.

 

[MFortie]

I've got a pneumatic-tired floor jack (actually two of them) that I use for my sandcar. I agree with the comments about lifting capability with 'air' tires -- the sandcar weighs probably less than 1000 lbs and the tires do compress a bit (especially if they're a little low).

They look just like hand truck tires and if I needed to lift anything heavier I think I'd look at some of the solid hand truck tires (our local Ace Hardware has some) -- they'd probably do much better than the pneumatic tires.

Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[mikevango]

just go jump off a bridge and save some time.

 

[larry_g]

Can you figure out how to center a couple of big wheels near the center of gravity of the jack. Mount them on a spring loaded axle that will carry the jack but retract when loaded? Or have the big wheels on a toggle that will retract them for lifting.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Hiball]

Can you figure out how to center a couple of big wheels near the center of gravity of the jack. Mount them on a spring loaded axle that will carry the jack but retract when loaded? Or have the big wheels on a toggle that will retract them for lifting.

lg
no neat sig line

After reading your post i cant seem to get the little asian kid from goonies out of my head.

 

[londonsteve]

I thought you all had a sense of adventure!! It's only to lift it then obviously use axle stands to hold it. I have ordered the wheels from previous post and will update when they come.