Air jacks........what do you know about them?

[Zack1978]

Hi everyone,
I am possibly interested in purchasing a quality air bag jack for vehicle maintenance and general repairs. I have a good quality floor jack but the air bag jacks seem like they play nice with rocker panels, etc. Does anyone have any real world experience with this style jack? If so, what are the pros and cons?
Does anyone have any recommendations on specific brands/models to look at?


Thank you

 

[JHZR2]

I’ve seen them, but I can’t imagine trusting them to do much underneath. Unless they have a locking backup mechanism, what happens upon a deflate? The locking mechanisms is what makes a lot of stuff big and heavy…

 

[ctechbob]

You don't trust them any more than any other jack. Jackstands are a must.

I've got a Vevor model. It is fast and lifts a good amount of weight, but it doesn't lift as far as I thought it would and I ended up building a small platform for it to sit on in order to lift the F150 for tire rotations.

The other thing is, I pulled it apart and greased the internals, which helps, but the machining is a bit rough, so when it goes up a bit crooked it will hang on the machining grooves, so it can hang up a bit going up and down.

Other than that, I guess it was worth the $70 I paid for it. Nice to have around as another tool.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

My friend got me one for Christmas 2 years ago. It is nice for the cars but like mentioned not high enough for all. For a stock '16 Renegade Trailhawk it won't get a wheel off the ground by the rocker panel. I don't recall if it was high enough in my Pilot by rocker. My other cars I often go on the control arms anyway so not an issue. Yes, always use Jackstands anyway.

Depending what you are doing it's an extra step also. I don't do that much and my compressor is not hardwired and not normally full. My little Kobalt 3 gallon compressor works fine for it and that is easy plug in, fast fill. I really don't have any air tools so less use for the compressors especially since Milwaukee M18 inflator came for Christmas.

 

[OX1]

The cheap one's flop over when fully inflated. So be careful with that.
They are great at getting under really low suspension components.