[SOLVED] Quickjack owners, do you have wobble MAX height?

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

UPDATE: Solved issue, check post #15

I've used my Quickjack 2 times now and I've noticed now that at max height, I have this wobble. I have a short video of it but hopefully you can see enough what I mean. If I put it to the lower height it's fine and nothing moves.

Looking online seems a bit of wobble is fine max height but I'm not sure there is not enough information. Anyone else have noticed this on theirs? I am thinking to much that maybe it can wobble past its tipping point, but then the other side will prevent the tipping right.

 

[moab11]

Is your floor flat under the frames? Looks like they are wobbling on the uneven floor.
Also, are they down on the locking bars? or still resting on the hydraulic cylinders?

Mine hardly budge even with my truck up at full height. Any movement I get, is from the stands to the frame of the truck, or the rubber blocks on cars.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Is your floor flat under the frames? Looks like they are wobbling on the uneven floor.
Also, are they down on the locking bars? or still resting on the hydraulic cylinders?

Mine hardly budge even with my truck up at full height. Any movement I get, is from the stands to the frame of the truck, or the rubber blocks on cars.

Ah thanks for your input. Yeah no, I don't believe the floor is 100% perfect flat since it has a center drain, so it has to curve a bit. They are on the locking bars. Didn't think the floor had that much effect.

I've tried reposition the car to be more center in the garage but no success.... this is so unfortunate... my floor prevents me from using it. Got this to stop playing with jack stands arghhh. Now it's kind of a waste lol.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Actually I thought of a maybe solution, if I put some cardboard under the inside corners of the Quickjack maybe that will level it out and prevent the frame base wobble.

 

[Doubled33]

Cardboard is compressive and not a good shim material.

Something more rigid would be better, but with that said not sure these are designed for shims under the base as they seem more conducive to full bearing.

I own a set and on a not level floor I don’t like getting under them at full height.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Cardboard is compressive and not a good shim material.

Something more rigid would be better, but with that said not sure these are designed for shims under the base as they seem more conducive to full bearing.

I own a set and on a not level floor I don’t like getting under them at full height.

What do you mean by that it is conducive VS full bearing?

Despite being compressive, I was thinking that it will compress to where it needs to be.

 

[Doubled33]

What do you mean by that it is conducive VS full bearing?

Despite being compressive, I was thinking that it will compress to where it needs to be.

IMO the jack is designed for the bottom runner to be flat on a surface for the full length of the support.

If you use a shim you will disrupt the full bearing and have bearing points only in certain locations.

Think of it this way. Take a straw and lay it flat on the counter. It is full bearing on the counter.

Now put a toothpick under the straw. It is not full bearing on the counter anymore and some weight will push the toothpick into the straw and cause some deformation. The same as a shim under your Jack although maybe not as bad.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

IMO the jack is designed for the bottom runner to be flat on a surface for the full length of the support.

If you use a shim you will disrupt the full bearing and have bearing points only in certain locations.

Think of it this way. Take a straw and lay it flat on the counter. It is full bearing on the counter.

Now put a toothpick under the straw. It is not full bearing on the counter anymore and some weight will push the toothpick into the straw and cause some deformation. The same as a shim under your Jack although maybe not as bad.

Ah ok, yeah you're not wrong. I was thinking to of having cardboard the whole lenght of one support instead.

But yeah I tried at corners and actually having cardboard on the outside corners seemed better than inside but it was still kinda wobbly and wasn't comfortable. I'm going to ask Quickjack and see if they have suggestion. I was also thinking of putting the thin plywood that came in the package and just use it under the whole jack but then I guess that's useless right?

Ahhh so frustrating got this as a chrismas gift and can't even use it potentially.

 

[johnre]

Mine have never done this, but my floor is very flat and not cracked.

The manufacturer says to use 3/4" plywood in a situation where you are on compacted dirt or asphalt. I would think that, within limits, that could also apply here:

Do I need a special floor for QuickJack?

Most residential or commercial concrete foundations are strong enough to support a QuickJack. If using on asphalt or compacted and dry dirt paddock areas use 3/4" plywood under each jack frame. A level floor with 2 degrees of slope is suggested fo...

help.quickjack.com

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Mine have never done this, but my floor is very flat and not cracked.

The manufacturer says to use 3/4" plywood in a situation where you are on compacted dirt, or asphalt. I would think that, within limits, that could also apply here:

Do I need a special floor for QuickJack?

Most residential or commercial concrete foundations are strong enough to support a QuickJack. If using on asphalt or compacted and dry dirt paddock areas use 3/4" plywood under each jack frame. A level floor with 2 degrees of slope is suggested fo...

help.quickjack.com

I saw that article but to me that seems more to avoid it sinking. Like for example if I put the plywood under both supports, wouldn't the jack still wobble but like just be higher?

But hey I'll still give it a shot tomorrow. I need to find a way to make these work I love them if they can be stable.

 

[Doubled33]

I saw that article but to me that seems more to avoid it sinking. Like for example if I put the plywood under both supports, wouldn't the jack still wobble but like just be higher?

But hey I'll still give it a shot tomorrow. I need to find a way to make these work I love them if they can be stable.

I would be willing to bet 3/4 plywood would solve the problem if your floor is reasonably flat. I would make the plywood a little larger than the base.

 

[M635_Guy]

I don't think mine wobbles anything close to that, or even really at all.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I would be willing to bet 3/4 plywood would solve the problem if your floor is reasonably flat. I would make the plywood a little larger than the base.

So I found the plywoods that came with the packaging. They are a bit larger than the base so that works, but they are much thinner than I thought lol, they're 1/4 inch thick. But there are 2 per box so I could stack them but I'm still not at 3/4inch.

But yeah I'm hoping it works. I never had issues like these with 4 stands so I'm sure the curvature of my floor is reasonably flat.

 

[mike93lx]

Mine is rock solid

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Hey everyone just wanted to update, I tried another lift this time with the 1/4inch plywoods and that did it! The Quickjack is much more stable now and takes much more force to make it move, and the movement it now has is not so much wobble at the base but more so at the top and in the armature, which is fine. Here's a video below that shows a little bit. I'm pretty comfortable going under the car now, and of course with jack stands as backup and even maybe the wheels.

Happy camper now

 

[M635_Guy]

I had two different cars up on my QuickJack today . The thing is very stable. There's nothing I'd call wobble - it moves if you do a shake test, but...

I'd recommend you send those videos to the folks at QJ.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I had two different cars up on my QuickJack today . The thing is very stable. There's nothing I'd call wobble - it moves if you do a shake test, but...

I'd recommend you send those videos to the folks at QJ.

Thanks yeah I am in contact with QJ atm. I'm working on my car for real today raised it up again and the wobble is somewhat back.... I guess MondayI just perfectly centered in my garage?. I also glued 2x 1/4 plywoods together and using that now, maybe the thicker wood causes issue? I dunno man.... but with jack stands and a jack as safety I feel safe enough to carry out my work.

Can I ask you a favor though, QJ mentioned maybe the welds under causes the issue. Can you check your Quickjack if you have these welds underneath that protrude like in my picture in the link below? These are the welds for the locking bar tray where it rides.

https://imgur.com/20FMrOx

 

[FORtheDURATION]

What did Quickjacks say about your solution? I just got a set of Quickjacks and have an issue where the center of my concrete garage floor is split and the quickjacks sit right over and perpendicular to the split. The split itself is the high point so at least part of the quickjacks' base doesn't make solid contact with the floor. I'm not using it like this, but I'm searching for a solution so I can safely use it. Ideally I'd like to find a way to keep the quickjacks in place over the split and add some sort of mat or shim to level it out and safely bear/distribute the weight of the vehicle. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Chipm]

I would guess those welds are causing the rocking. My quickjacks have probably 3,000-3,500 cycles on them on all kinds of floors, including some uneven terrain. Usually they are rock solid with a car on them. Occasionally you'll get a setup where one end or the other has a little wobble back-and-forth but it is easy to tell that it is from an uneven floor. Here is a photo of mine, the welds are flush.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

What did Quickjacks say about your solution? I just got a set of Quickjacks and have an issue where the center of my concrete garage floor is split and the quickjacks sit right over and perpendicular to the split. The split itself is the high point so at least part of the quickjacks' base doesn't make solid contact with the floor. I'm not using it like this, but I'm searching for a solution so I can safely use it. Ideally I'd like to find a way to keep the quickjacks in place over the split and add some sort of mat or shim to level it out and safely bear/distribute the weight of the vehicle. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Oh wow I forgot about my post here I found out from Google. I want to say that my "solution" isn't always perfect, I find that it still wobbles slightly more than I'd want but I still use it. But I haven't really had a job where I had to bang on stuff yet so... I can only assume it's because my garage floor kinda curves into the middle on itself and it is what it is. I have to be perfectly centered so that I get no movement at all.

Only thing I can think of trying for you is maybe try wood pices like me but yeah. The lady on the phone didn't seem to really know what to say after we troubleshooted over email, they were wanting me to maybe replace my frames but ehh I dunno at that point they said the underneath looked fine visually though, even for the welds.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I would guess those welds are causing the rocking. My quickjacks have probably 3,000-3,500 cycles on them on all kinds of floors, including some uneven terrain. Usually they are rock solid with a car on them. Occasionally you'll get a setup where one end or the other has a little wobble back-and-forth but it is easy to tell that it is from an uneven floor. Here is a photo of mine, the welds are flush.

Mine will probably end up like this, I'm going to ditch my ziptied wheels I was worried for rust but it seems like it's not that big of a deal, you can always sand and paint over... maybe it'l even out the wobble more over time.

 

[Caa311]

Make sure they are parallel to each other! My f150 fell off of them. They get in a bind and slide out. I wouldn't use them on those plastic tile floors either. Definitely shake the car after lifting.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Make sure they are parallel to each other! My f150 fell off of them. They get in a bind and slide out. I wouldn't use them on those plastic tile floors either. Definitely shake the car after lifting.

Did your F150 fall while you were raising it or once locked in place it kicked out? That's crazy. I always make sure they are parralel for sure, sometimes I'm worried slightly off but looked solid.

Hopefully all was well no much damage!?

 

[Caa311]

Right after I raised it. I was between the truck and the wall and it fell away from me luckily.

 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Just wanted to update my thread. I've changed cars and got a 2024 Volkswagen Golf R and I can use the Quickjack without my plywood and the car is much more stable now. Same thing when I lifted my friend's Mustang.

I guess something to do with the geometry or maybe the plastic jacking points on the BMW were flimsy and making it wobble more?

Anyway happy and I can confidently use the Quickjack now.

 

[moab11]

glad to hear you are enjoying the lift now