QuickJack Questions/Limitations

[DerStig]

I have been considering getting a quickjack to work on my cars and as I was very close to pull the trigger, I discovered a nice little suprise in their user manual which basically states "NEVER RAISE A VEHICLE FROM A NET ZERO POSITION", meaning when you place the jack under the car, there has to be decent amount of space between the frame and the rubber blocks.

So....

I got in touch with their technicians and found out that they recommend 3" of travel before the jack makes contact with the car. Which really means, the thing doesnt actually have a 4" clearance (for the 7000 model), it really requires 7" or more, which makes it useless for anything including bmw 3 series. Forget working on an M3 or a Porsche or a Shelby. All those cars will have 5" or less. Very disappointing.

Anyways, I wanted to ask the owners of quickjack here whether they are aware of such requirement and whether they actually follow it.

Also, I would like to find out the "depth" of the metal area where blocks are inserted. In other words, I want to know whats the collapsed weight with the short and tall blocks. My estimate is short block sticks only 0.5-0.25 inches out and talk block is around 1.75", but I want to confirm. It would be great if someone can measure their 5000 or 7000 unit for this.

Another question is, does one need to own an air compressor to install this unit? Does it need to be a powerful one? How will I pump 50 psi of air?

My last gripe is about the 60" limitation. Entire fleet of european cars use similar jacking points and they are all above the 60" limit. All 5 series, 7 series, E class, S class, as well as X5, X6 etc all have 64" or so of jack point distance. What exactly were these guys thinking making the length only 60"? Now I need to worry about cutting steel tubes and making adapters these cars are not like american cars where the frame pinch welds are visible. Those points are usually covered with rocker panels or gas tanks which is why one must use the jack points.

 

[DerStig]

Bump

 

[Jinks]

I have the 5000 unit. The trays are 1.5" deep, & the blocks are 1.5" for the short & 3" for the tall blocks. I lift a Mazda MX-5 & a Volkswagen Eos. I use the tall blocks but seldom have 3" of clearance. You must have a small clearance simply to get the lift in place, but I've never had any problem lifting or lowering either vehicle.

In any shop setup a compressor is a good tool to have, but you can put 50 psi in the QuickJack with a good bicycle pump, so the choice is yours.

 

[DerStig]

I have the 5000 unit. The trays are 1.5" deep, & the blocks are 1.5" for the short & 3" for the tall blocks. I lift a Mazda MX-5 & a Volkswagen Eos. I use the tall blocks but seldom have 3" of clearance. You must have a small clearance simply to get the lift in place, but I've never had any problem lifting or lowering either vehicle.

In any shop setup a compressor is a good tool to have, but you can put 50 psi in the QuickJack with a good bicycle pump, so the choice is yours.

Thank you for your response. So the short block is not sticking out then if it has the same height as the depth of the tray. Thats great.

My car is 5 1/8" from the ground and I am planning to get the 7000 slx unit which means with the short block I have 1.5" and with the tall block, I will have barely any clearance. I m curious if thats okay or otherwise i will drive up on a few some wood blocks.

The other thing is the 60" limit. I guess I ll have to build some sort of an adapter from a steel rod/plate that slides on.

 

[Jinks]

Thank you for your response. So the short block is not sticking out then if it has the same height as the depth of the tray. Thats great.

My car is 5 1/8" from the ground and I am planning to get the 7000 slx unit which means with the short block I have 1.5" and with the tall block, I will have barely any clearance. I m curious if thats okay or otherwise i will drive up on a few some wood blocks.

The other thing is the 60" limit. I guess I ll have to build some sort of an adapter from a steel rod/plate that slides on.

Not sure about your specific car, but I usually find that there are more than one dedicated lifting point & it's seldom critical. One thing I would suggest you look into is the length of the lift in the completely lowered position. My MX-5 has between 72" & 75" between the tires. My lift has to be positioned very precisely to keep from rubbing the tires. The 7000 lb unit would allow me to also work on our SUV, but I doubt it would work with the shorter wheel base of the smaller cars.

 

[DerStig]

European cars have specific jack points and unfortunately there is always almost no way to lift the car as rest of the area on the side is covered by the plastic side skirt. If you lift from the skirt/rocker panel, you simply run the risk of ripping that plastic apart which obviously also pose risk of tipping as well. otherwise i would lift from the pinch weld and be done with it

 

[HalfMoon]

I have the 5000 model and I don't obey this rule.

I have had no problems with the lift and this is one of the very early models I received in March of 2015.

Among my cars, the lowest one I have a 2016 Z06/Z07 that also has dedicated jacking points. I lowered this one on LG spindles which gives me almost no gap between the smaller blocks and the jacking pucks for the OEM lift points. I actually have to tilt the lift lower in the front to get it under the pucks and the rear has about 1/16 of an inch gap.

 

[DerStig]

I have the 5000 model and I don't obey this rule.

I have had no problems with the lift and this is one of the very early models I received in March of 2015.

Among my cars, the lowest one I have a 2016 Z06/Z07 that also has dedicated jacking points. I lowered this one on LG spindles which gives me almost no gap between the smaller blocks and the jacking pucks for the OEM lift points. I actually have to tilt the lift lower in the front to get it under the pucks and the rear has about 1/16 of an inch gap.

Thanks this is good to hear.

Also I am planning to buy the 7000slx unit and the car I will be lifting which has the clearance concern only weighs 3700 lbs, almost half of the rated weight. I think it should be fine. And worst comes to worse, it takes literally 2 minutes to put a few 2x4s under the tires to get 1.5" more clearance.

My biggest concern is the jacking points on my M5. They are exactly 65" apart outer corner to outer corner. I think what I can try to do is to place the front pad right on the jack point and the rear one will be right before the jack point will be. Hopefully that will be okay.

The other option is to weld an adapter to extend but thats just too much work I think.

 

[nauqneyugn]

I have a 5000XL and work on an E39 on occasion. With the front pad right on the jack point, the rear pad is right before the jack as you mentioned. No issues doing this (yet).

 

[jsj123]

I have a Quickjack 5000 which I love. I also have a VW Eurovan with 78 inches between jacking points. I don't trust my welding skills enough to build an adapter that I would trust my life or vehicle to, but I would love to be able to lift the Eurovan. It would make basic maintenance much easier.

--Stephen

 

[Paycheck]

2 different homemade adapters can be found in this thread
http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239561&highlight=Quickjack