Floor jacks

[Russ]

I'm thinking about buying a decent floor jack. The alluminum ones seem pretty appealing. The question is this: Craftsman has a 3-ton one for roughly $200 and Wall-Mart carries one for around $70. Both are made in China. Would there be any noticeable difference in quality?
What about jackstands? Same issue: Craftsman vs. cheapie Wal-Mart/parts store kind.

 

[BeltwayBandit]

Russ, the link below points to a review of the Craftsman jack. The writer gives some reasons why he thought it was better than another aluminum jack. He convinced me about the Craftsman one and I'm saving my pennies.

Good luck.
Craftsman Jack Review

 

[T-Keith]

If you don't need the lightness of the aluminum jack, Sam's club has a very nice jack.

It's called a Michelin, but it made by another company. Universal joint on the release, wide lift pad with a rubber insert, Roller on the lift cylinder, quick lift feature, and it goes down lower than most jacks. All for arounf $60, or $80 with stands. If I didn't have a Jack already I'd buy it in a minute.

-T

 

[FL-400S]

My dad has a sears green and yellow floor jack that is over 30 years old and still works great. Well at least for the once a year that we use it. Im sure he never did any maintenance on it either.

 

[T-Keith]

Floor jack failures are rare for the amount most people use them. To me the most important things are ease of use and price. Most Craftsmen jack won't fit under my car. Jacks with universal joints instead of gears work much better, and the lift cyinder makes a big difference when jacking farther under the car. The cheap jack sold everywhere with the 1" lift pad, are unsafe and have no place in my shop. Not to mention they won't fit under my cars.

-T

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by T-Keith:
If you don't need the lightness of the aluminum jack, Sam's club has a very nice jack.

It's called a Michelin, but it made by another company. Universal joint on the release, wide lift pad with a rubber insert, Roller on the lift cylinder, quick lift feature, and it goes down lower than most jacks. All for arounf $60, or $80 with stands. If I didn't have a Jack already I'd buy it in a minute.

-T

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I bought one of these last winter and we've used it a lot since then. What a great jack for the $$. They didn't have the deal with the jackstands when I bought mine which is too bad becasue I could have used a couple more...

 

[1sttruck]

Last fall I bought a Craftsman 3000 lb highlift 'SUV' jack, with stands, on sale for something like $60. The jack isn't built as heavy duty as some of the others that were on sale, like on width, but the jack pad just fits on the front axle of the truck between the brakes and linkages. I have a 3/4 ton Dodge with a Cummins, and have a bit over 4000 lbs on the front axle and over 2000 lbs on the rear. .