Quick Jack or Harbor Freight Lift?

[Swoboda]

Hello:

I have a one car garage with limited height and I’m considering a Quick Jack or a Harbor Freight lift.

The QJ is on the list for the obvious reasons. The HF lift is there because it’s only a little more expensive, but gives the option of lifting the vehicle higher than the QJ. (A Bendpak may be too expensive.)

I’m not a ********* mechanic, but I have a tough time lifting my car for any basic work in my one car garage.

I’d appreciate your thoughts and experiences with these lifts, please.

Thanks in advance for tour thoughts and advice!

LS

 

[papabil]

Hi I got a hf lift about 25 years ago. still use it almost every day. with no problems. still works great. bill

 

[regguy1]

Max Jax you get full access to the underside of the car: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71225

 

[rmsg0040]

I owned a scissors lift and currently own a set of quickjacks.

Quick jacks is slow to setup, I am faster with 2 jacks and 4 jackstands.

Scissors lift you will lose the under body access but may not be a big deal if you own a FWD vehicle.

Quick jacks you get under body but you will be on your back.

Also with 2 moving dollies it is easy to move a scissors lift, just raise it and lower it down on the dollies

 

[txvwnut]

Quick jacks are better than nothing I guess but they don’t offer much more height than a jack and jack stands. Scissor lift will get you 48” or so and with some creativity you can do under car work like clutches and trans work. You didn’t mention your ceiling height. Eight foot ceiling will be close with cars on a scissor at full extension and ain’t gonna happen with a truck.

 

[PoorOwner]

have (had) both, kept scissor.

Too hard to lay down to shove the quickjacks to the right spots. It was alot more physical work than the actual automotive work itself! which defeats the point of a lift. Company customer support is poor.

QJ resale was HARD. I bet if I was selling scissor it will be gone quick.

 

[JRC3]

Mid-lift. Also serves as a lift table for loading/unloading, mower/motorcycle lift and workbench.

I use the mid-rise for everything else as much as I use it for cars and trucks. Good luck using a Max-Jax or a Quick Jack as easily for the same things.

 

[JRC3]

Eight foot ceiling will be close with cars on a scissor at full extension and ain’t gonna happen with a truck.

8' still gives you a lot of room under a full size PU (pic). Even back when I had Astro vans it would put the center of the hub at 24".

Cooper-Dog is a big, tall boy.

 

[meboatermike]

JRC3 of course you have the advantage of Cooper Dog in the 1st picture supervising the operations

 

[rmsg0040]

have (had) both, kept scissor.

Too hard to lay down to shove the quickjacks to the right spots. It was alot more physical work than the actual automotive work itself! which defeats the point of a lift. Company customer support is poor.

QJ resale was HARD. I bet if I was selling scissor it will be gone quick.

Very true, I should have kept the scissor and never bought the quickjack system.

The time it takes to take it off the wall, hook up hoses, position, re-position, position, re-position, lift, work on vehicle, lower and put away everything is too much.

As JRC3 said, you can use the scissors lift for many different things.

 

[joey1320]

I have had the HF midrise for about 7 years. It's great for what it is. You can get $300 off with the 20% coupon online.

Unfortunately my old garage had more height. This one only let's me raise the car about 3ft. I could roll the lift outside if I really needed to.

 

[jismay]

I have an atlas scissor lift from Greg Smith.
Its certainly not perfect, but for my needs it works really good.
It gets my VW Squareback up to full extension on the lift and I can get to the entire drivetrain easily. Could pull the motor even easier than with an ATV jack.
It will get my VW Van up high enough to do brakes,etc no problem.

Even had the Jeep YJ on it with lots of clearance.

Next project is getting the Bronco in and on the lift. Might even need to pull the transmission, but even that should be do-able.

I considered the MaxJax, but given the variety of vehicles I work on the scissor lift is a better fit for me. I'm even considering making an adapter with a motorcycle wheel chock on it so that I can use it as a bike lift.

 

[joey1320]

I have an atlas scissor lift from Greg Smith.
Its certainly not perfect, but for my needs it works really good.
It gets my VW Squareback up to full extension on the lift and I can get to the entire drivetrain easily. Could pull the motor even easier than with an ATV jack.
It will get my VW Van up high enough to do brakes,etc no problem.

Even had the Jeep YJ on it with lots of clearance.

Next project is getting the Bronco in and on the lift. Might even need to pull the transmission, but even that should be do-able.

I considered the MaxJax, but given the variety of vehicles I work on the scissor lift is a better fit for me. I'm even considering making an adapter with a motorcycle wheel chock on it so that I can use it as a bike lift.

I had a '71 Square. Such a cool wagon

 

[Jarhead0408]

I’ve had my HF scissor lift for around 5 years. It’s been a game changer for me and my family. I’ve dropped entire drivetrains on FWD vehicles; used it for timing jobs, wheel and suspension services. It’s been great!

 

[JRC3]

And as I've mentioned in another thread, less than $400 will get you some jack stands to make things safer and maybe allow you to raise the vehicle and then lower the lift for RWD ****** work.

 

[nerraw117]

Absolutely love my scissor lift. I will get some pictures today. I made a table/cover to go over it so it doubles as a lawnmower/bike lift and a work table.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I have an Atlas Kwikbay 7K scissor lift from Greg Smith. It'll lift big pickup trucks. With the wide support plates, it makes a great adjustable bench. The center is open, so you can get in to the middle of the car. The floor part is a bit rugged. Eventually, like this year, I'm going to make some sort of floor plate, and/or flush mount it in the floor.

 

[Swoboda]

And as I've mentioned in another thread, less than $400 will get you some jack stands to make things safer and maybe allow you to raise the vehicle and then lower the lift for RWD ****** work.

This is what I can’t quite get done.

I have a one car garage with limited space. Jacking up my car that high would be 1) a little scary for me and 2) I don’t know that I have the room to do that safely.

I had the front of my car jacked up today, and it was unpleasant crawling under with the car inches above me. I didn’t have much room to work and while everything was technically safe, it was a little unnerving.

I’m not sure a QJ will give me the height I need. The HF is more and more appealing.

Thanks for the posts and opinions!