HF 2 Ton Aluminum Jack Conversion....?

[Crow Horse]

I'm in the process of attempting to convert a Harbor Freight 2 ton aluminum floor jack to an off-road floor jack using some of Pro Eagle parts. I'm beginning to regret starting this project because it might prove to be more expensive than Pro Eagle's 2 ton unit. Obviously, if that is the case I would have been better off buying the PE right from the get go. Live and learn.

I recently retired from working in a large metal fabrication shop so now my access to the facility is greatly reduced. Poor timing on my part.

That said, has anyone converted a HF floor jack to an off road jack?

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

well what does it mean to convert to "offroad" jack.

like this?

http://dmzfab.com/product/jack-skid-plate-for-harbor-freight-2-ton-racing-jack/

https://www.solomotorsports.com/shop/parts/general-parts/harbor-freight-jack-mount-skid-plate/

https://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/miscellaneous/916161-race-jack-skidplates-ruffstuff.html

 

[thr3squared]

I'm guessing hes putting the big wheels, handles, and jack extender on it?

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I can tell you the Pro-Eagle jacks ****. Most guys I know that have used them (myself included) dislike how slow they are and dislike how their extension piece attaches. My race team has 3 Pro-Eagle jacks and we all prefer to use a standard HF jack. If lifting height is a concern we have some that have an extension piece welded onto the lifting pad.....and it actually stays in place when you go to stab it under the car/truck, unlike the Pro-Eagle. I've never had the need to build an "off road" jack, but most of the ones I've used are just a 5/8" axle holding larger tires.

Outside of welding on a lifting pad extension and sometimes welding the two handle halves together (if being mounted to a race car), we run them as is. Sometimes an aluminum skid is also put on in place of the wheels on a car mounted jack. FWIW, my off road jack experience is with everything from UTV's to 1600's to 5u to Class 1 to Trophy Truck.

Only pic I have on my phone, but here you can see our spare jack arrangement (our primary jacks are hydraulic similar to a Dakar ralley car) and one of the Pro Eagles being discussed down on the ground.

 

[Crow Horse]

I'm guessing hes putting the big wheels, handles, and jack extender on it?

Plan A is to retrofit with large wheels of the appropriate capacity. I have a gravel driveway and it was horrible trying to use my steel 3 ton floor jack. The Harbor Freight aluminum jack is about half the weight and a lot easier on my old bones.

Plan B If plan A tanks, I'll build a skid.

 

[SeisMec]

Back in the 70s, Blackhawk made a 1-1/2 ton jack with no wheels - just a (13 gauge?) skid plate bottom. It weighed less than 20 lbs. We had one in the shop that went on service calls. Loved that thing - it worked especially well on gravel driveways and alley ways.

IMHO your plan B should be plan A.

Edit: It had fixed handle at the pump end - 3/16" rod bent to a [ shape and welded to the sides of the skid. Easy to carry and just toss it under the vehicle and shoved it a few inches this way or that. All three of pennsylvaniaboy's examples seem to be missing that essential feature.

 

[Jagmandave]

I don't understand why they're using the jack with the small end (as for lowered cars) aren't most offroad cars and trucks lifted well off the ground? One of the quoted articles mentions a welded on extension for the lift plate, I assume to be able to lift high enough to get these tall offroad tires on?.

 

[RCL]

I have been using one of the skids made by RuffStuff for several years on a HF aluminum jack.
It has been used hard and has held up well.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I don't understand why they're using the jack with the small end (as for lowered cars) aren't most offroad cars and trucks lifted well off the ground? One of the quoted articles mentions a welded on extension for the lift plate, I assume to be able to lift high enough to get these tall offroad tires on?.

Probably because the market is so small for such a specialty item. The other issue is every vehicle is jacked up differently. I've pitted trucks where we have a jack on each rear trailing arm with no extensions, and I've pitted trucks where we go right off the center diff with an extension.

 

[kbeefy]

I have both their extensions and the 'Phoenix' CO2 jack.

None of them performed as expected. The extensions aren't Pro Eagles fault as it's on my HF jack, not theirs.

Here is a picture of the small extension not lifting a tire off the ground.

 

[Crow Horse]

Maybe the 13" extension would be in order? Is that the 1.5T HF jack?

 

[Lucid Moments]

well what does it mean to convert to "offroad" jack.

like this?

http://dmzfab.com/product/jack-skid-plate-for-harbor-freight-2-ton-racing-jack/

https://www.solomotorsports.com/shop/parts/general-parts/harbor-freight-jack-mount-skid-plate/

https://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/miscellaneous/916161-race-jack-skidplates-ruffstuff.html

I am seriously thinking about doing something like this for my road racing jack. A couple of the tracks I go to have limited paving in the paddock and forbid you from jacking a car up on the paving they do have (for traffic reasons). So jacking your car up for something as simple as rotating tires can be an adventure sometimes. Any of these would fix that entirely.

 

[kbeefy]

Maybe the 13" extension would be in order? Is that the 1.5T HF jack?

IIRC, the 13 will work if the tires are aired up. If one is flat it is too tall and will not fit. I have both extensions.

Yes, HF 1.5T

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I am seriously thinking about doing something like this for my road racing jack. A couple of the tracks I go to have limited paving in the paddock and forbid you from jacking a car up on the paving they do have (for traffic reasons). So jacking your car up for something as simple as rotating tires can be an adventure sometimes. Any of these would fix that entirely.

The skids work awesome and make it so much easier to position the jack; especially the lighter jacks.

 

[Crow Horse]

While using a jack with a skid, does the jack skid "towards" the vehicle of does it try to pull the vehicle towards it? Maybe better stated, does a jack with a skid slide towards the vehicle while lifting?

 

[Crow Horse]

While I'm waiting for parts to arrive, I noticed that the handle isn't weight centered and makes carrying it rather awkward. Relocating the handle is in order.....

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

While I'm waiting for parts to arrive, I noticed that the handle isn't weight centered and makes carrying it rather awkward. Relocating the handle is in order.....

I will say this, if you push the limits of the jack, the handle will most likely fail...I remade mine using 1.5" DOM.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

While using a jack with a skid, does the jack skid "towards" the vehicle of does it try to pull the vehicle towards it? Maybe better stated, does a jack with a skid slide towards the vehicle while lifting?

It really depends on the surface the skid is on. When we use a jack with no skid on a dirt/gravel surface it will typically bury in and move the vehicle. The skids will typically move a little bit on harder ground and gravel, but not as much as a regular jack on a hard surface. We really only put skids on our car mounted jacks. In the pits all of our jacks still have wheels. We also have a pneumatic jack that has big wheels on the back kinda like a rototiller and skid on the bottom surface. This helps get it in place and slide in easy once lined up with the wheels.

 

[Crow Horse]

I will say this, if you push the limits of the jack, the handle will most likely fail...I remade mine using 1.5" DOM.

The steel handle will fail? For my purposes, all I anticipate doing is either brake work or tire rotations.....

 

[Crow Horse]

First phase, the easy part.....

Waiting on wheels and axle. That's when the real fun starts.....

 

[Crow Horse]

The front wheels are on. I just need to get the proper nuts for the axle and then onto the rear axle....

 

[General Geoff]

Harbor Freight could probably sell a lot of off road conversion kits that are ready-made to fit their jacks. $60 for the kit, they'd sell like hot cakes to folks who use floor jacks on uneven/broken pavement or gravel driveways.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

The front wheels are on. I just need to get the proper nuts for the axle and then onto the rear axle....

Did you use Pro-Eagle wheels/axle?

 

[thr3squared]

Keep a parts list going as you do this conversion. I'm sure that would be helpful for a few folks on here.

 

[Crow Horse]

Did you use Pro-Eagle wheels/axle?

I used the Pro Eagle axles for the 2 ton jack and 6" & 8" PE wheels.

If one had access to a metal lathe, it wouldn't be too difficult to fab the axle.

 

[Crow Horse]

Using the PE axle, the center spacer section is a little longer than the HF axle spacer section. I used a step drill to drill out the existing axle holes in the side plates to 3/4". Again, if one had a lathe, this could be resolved perfectly, but just assembling as I did worked.

I need to source axle nuts and the appropriate washers and the front axle will be finished.

 

[Crow Horse]

Keep a parts list going as you do this conversion. I'm sure that would be helpful for a few folks on here.

I'm kind of doing this *** backwards. Once I'm finished, I'll post all the parts that I used for others who might want to try this. So far, so good.

The axle nuts for the front axle (Pro Eagle 2 ton axle) are 18m x 1.5.

I'm having the aluminum plate for the rear axle cut to size but won't be able to get them till the end of the month......

 

[Crow Horse]

Almost finished. I just need to swap out some bolts that are too short.....

 

[Crow Horse]

It rolls with ease on my gravel driveway......

 

[Crow Horse]

Almost finished. A parts list will be forthcoming....

 

[Crow Horse]

Harbor Freight Low Profile Aluminum Jack 2 Ton #64542 Off Road Wheel Conversion Parts List

Front Axle

Pro Eagle front axle - $24.99

Pro Eagle 6” front wheels - $29.98

(2) M18 x 1.5 nuts

(2) M18 flat washers



Rear Axle

Pro Eagle rear axle - $24.99

Pro Eagle 8” rear wheels - $49.98

(2) M18 x 1.5 nuts

(8) M18 flat washers

(4) 12.9 M8 x 1.25 x 30 button head bolts

(8) M8 washers

(4) M8 x 1.25 nylock nuts

(4) 12.9 M10 x 1.5 x 25(30) button head bolts

(4 ) M10 split washers

(4) M10 flat washers


Rear Adapter Plate

3 ½” x 3½” x 3/8” aluminum flat stock



Optional Parts

Pro Eagle saddle - $24.99

Pro Eagle 8” saddle extension - $59.99

1” grade 8 flat washer

Stainless steel metric external snap rings – M14, M16, M18

(2) 13” aluminum grab handles

(8) 12.9 M6 x 1.00 x 25 flat head bolts

(8) M6 washers

(8) M6 x 1.00 nylock nuts

 

[Crow Horse]

Pro Eagle parts = app. $215, plus hardware,shipping & tax. This still doesn't get you the skid plate they offer and the extension clamp. If you buy the HF 2 ton jack on sale for $109, add the PE parts, that brings you to $324 plus hardware.

If you have access to a lathe and/or a welder, you can change the design a bit to shave off some of the costs. Ironically, I started this project after I had just retired from a metal fabrication shop so I wanted a conversion that virtually anyone could do with the average arsenal of tools. The only help I had was cutting the 3/8" aluminum plate to size.

The only "special" tool I used here other than transfer punches was a step drill that was metric to drill 18mm holes and a 90° countersink (for the flat head bolts).

I knew going into this project that it wasn't going to be cheap and I probably will go beyond the retail price of the PE jack but I had a lot of fun laying out this project and have a tremendous sense of satisfaction when I completed it.

I opted to add side handles. The one that came with the jack was located poorly and interfered with the larger front wheels.

In addition to everything else, I replaced some of the external snap rings with stainless steel snap rings.

I'm hoping to see itinerations of the conversion from others........

 

[mike93lx]

I don't need, and wouldn't be able to use the raised block, but larger diameter wheels would be super useful for me

 

[Crow Horse]

I don't need, and wouldn't be able to use the raised block, but larger diameter wheels would be super useful for me

The saddle extension twists out from the saddle, so it's removable for when it's not needed. If you don't need it at all, you save a nice chunk of change...

 

[Bluedodge]

Looks like you're having fun doing this, but I gotta ask.... why not just slide a sheet of plywood under your car?

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Nice job!

 

[eyeball]

Looks like you're having fun doing this, but I gotta ask.... why not just slide a sheet of plywood under your car?

Because this is garage journal... Over engineered and over built is necessary to meet the bare minimum standards we (me included) set.

 

[mike93lx]

Looks like you're having fun doing this, but I gotta ask.... why not just slide a sheet of plywood under your car?

Tiny metal wheels don't roll well on rough terrain and a jack frame can easily bottom out if the surface isn't flat.

 

[Crow Horse]

Looks like you're having fun doing this, but I gotta ask.... why not just slide a sheet of plywood under your car?

Good question. Firstly, I did have a lot of fun putting this together. Using plywood (yes I've tried this) pretty much sucked because I still had to drag the jack (an old steel 3 ton ) through the dirt from the shed where it is stored to our vehicles. I was like dragging an anchor around and I'm too old to play that game. Now, I can roll this jack around with ease. The manner in which I chose to do it was costly, but still far cheaper than seeing a chiropractor or orthopedic surgeon. Gotta work smart at this stage of the game.....