Craftsman Jack + Stands

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heypete

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Sears has a sale going on where one can get a 2 1/4 ton floor jack and a pair of 2 1/4 ton stands for $40. Not a bad deal. Here's a link .

The jack and stands are both made in China (naturally, for that price) and the jack looks remarkably like my friend's no-name generic floor jack (almost identical construction, lowering screw in the same place, etc.). Each part comes with a 1 year warranty. Reviews on it seem to suggest that there may have been a few lemons, but it's decent for light-duty work (which is what I intend to use it for).

That said, I prefer having important tools (and a good jack and stand certain count, as I will be working under the car and counting on them to hold the vehicle) be made from a well-known manufacturer (as opposed to just carrying a label), preferably from the US, and have a lifetime warranty (lifetime warranty for non-commercial use is fine with me). Having readily-available spare parts is also excellent.

Anyone here use this particular Crafsman jack and stands? Any comments?

Any recommendations for a decent jack and stands meeting the criteria mentioned above, while being reasonably affordable?

I don't need a super-low floor jack, as I'll mostly be lifting a Toyota Camry and maybe a few small-or-medium sized SUVs (Toyota RAV4-sized), and these vehicles aren't terribly low-slung. A higher lift would always be nice, but so long as I can put stands under the car and fit comfortably under the vehicle, I'm happy.
 
It's not a bad deal if you need an inexpensive jack to use occasionally.
Don't let the name fool you. It probably is the same as your friend's no-name generic.
I'm on my second no-name jack in the last ten years, Last one was $14.99 on sale at AAP. It is functional.
Very simply put, you use it until it dies, throw it away and get a new one.
 
What exactly do you plan on doing under the car? Reason I ask is a jack designed to change tires vs. a jack for serious repair work is night and day. I have Sears a 2 1/4 ton floor jack that failed on the first use changing a flat tire on a van. It would lift the van then start lowering before I could safely put a stand under it. Good thing I still had the bottle jack in the back or I would have been screwed. If you plan on getting a jack to do work on the car spend the money and get a good jack rated at at least 3 tons.

My jack was a little over 1 year old, and still in the box in my van. I bought it just for changing a flat tire, I found out that rainy night the jack was NG.

I own a HD 3 ton floor jack that works great, and in 20 years it has never disappointed me. It is also a Sears Jack which probably cost me about $100 20 years ago.

I keep a 2 1/4 ton jack in 2 of my 3 vehicles to replace the lousy bottle jacks they came with. I hope they don't let me down like the other one did.
 
demar: Mostly just oil changes, maybe the occasional brake job, etc. No tearing engines out or anything. Probably use it a few times a year to change the oil in my car and the cars of a few friends who (for whatever reason) trust me to do the same with their cars.

The scissor jack in the trunk is compact and works well enough for the rare flat-changing, so I'll stick with that.

The Blitz "Rhino Ramp" ramps seem to fit the bill nicely, though: no moving parts to fail, made in the US, and seem plenty sturdy. No need to worry about maximum lift height either.

I might just get the ramps for all work that doesn't require taking the wheels off, which is likely to be most of the stuff I'm thinking of doing for the foreseeable future.
 
I've have a jack that looks like the one in your link for 30 years and it still works. Seriously doubt it was made in China, though? Aquired a better floor jack but still have the old one but was never 100% safe around it and always used a 12x20 wood beam as a back-up. Only added oil once. Despite it being small, it doesn't go low enough for cars like Camry or Corolla... so if that's an issue??
 
IMO Rhino ramps are awesome. I bought a set last year, and honestly they were one of the best investments ever for working under a vehicle when wheels don't have to come off. As I said I had a NIB Sears 2 1/4 ton floor jack fail on me. I prefer for doing brake jobs, front end work, shocks etc, my better made 3 ton floor jack and a good set of stands.

If you decide to use the 2 1/4 ton jack for pulling wheels, make sure as soon as the vehicle is up you can SAFELY place jack stands under the car. Fortunately mine was not holding the car up long enough to place a stand under the van. Had it leaked slowly I might have gotten hurt, or had the living daylights scared out of me while trying to place a safety stand under the van as it was slowly going back down. Merry Christmas!
 
Oh Great here we go again.

I've got one of those cheapie floor jacks that has served me well for 20 plus years. Don't remember just where I bought it, but it looks just like the ones H/F is still selling. Last summer the yoke that operated the piston broke and I thought of buying a new one but called H/F instead, few days later new yoke was in the mail N/C and 10 minutes of fixing I'm back in business.

One tip Be sure you use quality Jack Stands, very important.

I'll go along with demarpaint regarding Rhine Ramps, just awesome as he says.

PS NEVER EVER, EVER craw under a vehicle with just a jack, even if its, I'm just going to whatever. Not worth it.
 
Last edited:
Well, the question is...are the Craftsman jackstands decent? They seem to be fairly solid steel ones, but who knows with the cheap stuff these days. I'd really hate to find out the hard way. If they are decent, well, for the price, it's hard to argue with a pair of stands and a jack.

If not, or if one's unsure, what floor jack and stands would one recommend? I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for quality, so long as it's understood that I'm not a professional, and so paying a brazillion dollars for Snap-On tools or something is a bit out of my range.

I think I may just go for the ramps for now. Seems to be easy, safe, and with no moving parts. The fact that they're US-made is also a perk.
 
It has been a while since I've shopped for a jack or jack stands. I own a 3 ton Craftsman floor jack along with 4 sets of jack stands, 2 pair are Craftsman and are excellant quality.

If you are not in a hurry watch the Sears ads, they run the bigger jacks and a good quality pair of jack stands anywhere from $89.99 to about $119.99, well worth the money IMO. It is not something you are going to be tossing in the trunk to change flats. But if you have a garage, and do a lot of work on cars like I do it will be well worth it.

Do not buy the cheap jack stands with the metal pin that goes into a hole that is held with a chain.

I sent you a PM with a link. HTH
 
Take a good hard look at the thickness of the metal the stands are made of, but even then.

I'll second that remark about the stands with the pin.
 
Originally Posted By: heypete
That said, I prefer having important tools (and a good jack and stand certain count, as I will be working under the car and counting on them to hold the vehicle) be made from a well-known manufacturer (as opposed to just carrying a label), preferably from the US, and have a lifetime warranty (lifetime warranty for non-commercial use is fine with me). Having readily-available spare parts is also excellent.

Any recommendations for a decent jack and stands meeting the criteria mentioned above, while being reasonably affordable?


US Jack
Milwaukee Hydraulic
Hein-Werner Many options but might find some cheaper elsewhere. I have the 3-ton version.
Norco Jack Stands These are the stands that I have.
 
If you can wait, they have their heavy duty 3 ton jack on sale once in a while for $60. Or $100 with heavy jack stands.

I bought a different brand cheapo jack like once and was never happy with it. The 3 ton jack is WELL worth the price.
 
The floor jack market has gone down the toilet in recent years, like so many other products now manufactured overseas. The person that says " I have a 20 year old Sears/Harbor Freight/whatever cheap jack that works fine" doesn't realize that the quality has really nose-dived in the past few years. Heck, I have a 30 year old U.S. made Tractor Supply jack still in operation at work.

Google Craftsman floor jack failure/leak/complaints or whatever and there are tons of stories about how they start leaking after very little use. Yea, there are success stories out there too.

So, either you pay out the nose or you gamble that you get a good cheap one. Sears Craftsman no longer has the quality reputation it once enjoyed. It's a shame.

I have read that Asian made Omega jacks (Same parent company as Hein Werner) are good...emphasize "read", meaning I don't know. their prices are more reasonable:
http://www.jackxchange.com/products/21020.cfm
 
Originally Posted By: jcwit
And a VERY COOL price for the DIY'er.


What do you mean by VERY COOL? thetoolwarehouse.net shows that 2-ton jack as $343.50 whereas jackxchange shows the same jack for $289.95.
 
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