Hello guys, does anyone know of any quality made, small portable, hydraulic, floor jacks, and if possible affordable, made in either the USA, Canada, Europe or Japan? Below are the details of my reasons and issues about these jacks if you care to read it.
I decided to get one of these for a few reasons: 1) To avoid having to wait on AAA if I get a flat tire. 2) To avoid having to use the scissors jacks that come with vehicles. 3) To do some current work on a car needing its brakes bleed before it can be moved, and there is virtually no other choice. I have a sedan sitting in front of my house on a slight incline, front of vehicle pointing downward, (weight all toward the front). A small portable jack is the quickest and easiest solution. My bottle jacks either dont fit or can tip over.
Previously, I had purchased one of those small aluminum racing jacks from HF (Harbor Freight). It was lightweight for a floor jack and it was fairly small. But, after I checked the hydraulic oil level and bled the air out, as I started to work the jack, to make sure it worked before using it, I heard a screeching sound and it started leaking oil. I found a small ball bearing blew out the back of the jack. Of course, I returned it. So, now I was one of the many people that got a lemon jack. Btw, these all look identical except for color, brand name, etc. And I confirmed that from research and talking to mfrs. Btw, the tool truck versions are the same exact thing. They are all made in China. I read tens upon tens of bad reviews about these jacks, warning potential buyers to avoid them. I don't know why so many of them fail, other than the obvious, China is not a country of craftsman, and I think that they just pump these out of their factories, without any regard to exact tolerances and machining. But the odd thing is there are way more good reviews than bad. However, some of them are suspicious, like shills. Some bad reviews mentioned the frame twisting), but that's a separate issue.
I used a bottle jack a few days ago to rotate the wheels, but it eventually failed. The only thing I found that might work, is two possible Craftsman jacks from Sears, only a few pounds heavier than the aluminum racing jacks. Both have steel frames (maybe its wise to avoid all aluminum framed jacks -- but I do like the light weight). The one is a 2 1/4 ton, and the other a 2 1/2 ton. The 2 1/4 comes in a case (nice feature for storage in my trunk). Looking at the design the 2 1/2 ton jack, just looks more stable. however, both jacks have plenty of bad reviews, just like the HF jacks.
For the bad reviews, there seemed to be only two issues: the frames twisting or the jacks not working at all. I only found one other guy that had the screeching sound and subsequent leaking oil.
So, back to square one, does anyone know of a brand or model with the features I want without a high failure rate?
For any replies thank you in advance.
I decided to get one of these for a few reasons: 1) To avoid having to wait on AAA if I get a flat tire. 2) To avoid having to use the scissors jacks that come with vehicles. 3) To do some current work on a car needing its brakes bleed before it can be moved, and there is virtually no other choice. I have a sedan sitting in front of my house on a slight incline, front of vehicle pointing downward, (weight all toward the front). A small portable jack is the quickest and easiest solution. My bottle jacks either dont fit or can tip over.
Previously, I had purchased one of those small aluminum racing jacks from HF (Harbor Freight). It was lightweight for a floor jack and it was fairly small. But, after I checked the hydraulic oil level and bled the air out, as I started to work the jack, to make sure it worked before using it, I heard a screeching sound and it started leaking oil. I found a small ball bearing blew out the back of the jack. Of course, I returned it. So, now I was one of the many people that got a lemon jack. Btw, these all look identical except for color, brand name, etc. And I confirmed that from research and talking to mfrs. Btw, the tool truck versions are the same exact thing. They are all made in China. I read tens upon tens of bad reviews about these jacks, warning potential buyers to avoid them. I don't know why so many of them fail, other than the obvious, China is not a country of craftsman, and I think that they just pump these out of their factories, without any regard to exact tolerances and machining. But the odd thing is there are way more good reviews than bad. However, some of them are suspicious, like shills. Some bad reviews mentioned the frame twisting), but that's a separate issue.
I used a bottle jack a few days ago to rotate the wheels, but it eventually failed. The only thing I found that might work, is two possible Craftsman jacks from Sears, only a few pounds heavier than the aluminum racing jacks. Both have steel frames (maybe its wise to avoid all aluminum framed jacks -- but I do like the light weight). The one is a 2 1/4 ton, and the other a 2 1/2 ton. The 2 1/4 comes in a case (nice feature for storage in my trunk). Looking at the design the 2 1/2 ton jack, just looks more stable. however, both jacks have plenty of bad reviews, just like the HF jacks.
For the bad reviews, there seemed to be only two issues: the frames twisting or the jacks not working at all. I only found one other guy that had the screeching sound and subsequent leaking oil.
So, back to square one, does anyone know of a brand or model with the features I want without a high failure rate?
For any replies thank you in advance.
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