Types of Jacks - Which one do you prefer?

[Frederic]

26 minutes ago, Javier M said:

I've used them in the past while off-roading in rocks. They are useful as long as you have the right surface and your car has the correct Jack points. But they are super dangerous we had to make sure nobody came close the car since they could easily be tipped on the side and the use of Jack stands is a must.

 

I agree with you. There's times where I had to dig because the floor jack won't even fit when recovering vehicles with a pop out, I can only imagine having a bottle Jack would make things even worse. Specially for low clearance vehicles like xterras, pajeros, Pathfinders etc. Pretty much anything that is not a Jeep.

I can remember one year ago a Pathfinder had a popout in a very difficult angle in the middle of a ditch, I took us more than an hour to fix the pop out and recover the vehicle out of the ditch I'm sure @Emmanuel remembers this. 

That was our friend @G.huz that got stuck in a ditch. I was there too. We had fun that day  

[DP1011]

On 2/21/2019 at 3:28 PM, Gaurav said:

Brilliant article and sharing the real knowledge @Javier M, wish I can give 100 likes for this contribution.

The only thing I like to add with my little experience for people to decide which is the best jack for offroad use is the one that covers the maximum surface area on the ground as in offroad - be it sand or rock you will never find a perfect ground like Tarmac.

So for that reason, even fanciest scissor or bottle jack is out of the league. I have seen the bottle and scissor jack losing balance after few seconds and dropping the car down much before the repair work starts.

Best is the floor jack, stable, reliable and safe to operate under any load or position. While getting floor jack you also need a stable wooden board to place the jack to even increase the surface area (only for sand).

To avoid the cons mention for a floor jack, instead of buying 3-4 ton humongous jack you can get 2 tons jack but with a swivel neck and it lost around 150-200 dhs only from DM. 2 ton size is not huge and plus good enough to lift any ONE side of the vehicle as in 4 ton Hummer H2 any one side will not weight more than 1-1.5 ton. So using 2 ton is practically enough as we only need to work on one wheel at a time.

I have used Pentax 1.5 ton floor jack for good 6-8 years and then upgraded to JZX floor jack 2 years back. They almost last forever if you are placing them properly and not in rush in some weird angle that will bend them slightly and loose its lifting strength.

Exhaust jack, I have seen leaking after some time as underbody of the car is extremely hot in summer or stone or rock can easily puncture them too plus they are expensive compared to the floor jack.

 

http://www.gulf-jzxtools.com/sysadmin/upimages/201512415414296738.jpg

@PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke Luke, Thought I get your attention to this, whilst I found the jack we used today very handy, and compact, BUT I and @Looper both found it not very stable compared to floor jack, so u need to be Extra careful if at all u continue to use it, but making sure stable and hard flat surfacw with wooden board...perhaps, as its not  best to use bottle jack:)

[Luke K P]

19 hours ago, DP1011 said:

@PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke Luke, Thought I get your attention to this, whilst I found the jack we used today very handy, and compact, BUT I and @Looper both found it not very stable compared to floor jack, so u need to be Extra careful if at all u continue to use it, but making sure stable and hard flat surfacw with wooden board...perhaps, as its not  best to use bottle jack:)

Thanks @DP1011
yeah did see the jack move a little yesterday when trying to pop that tyre back on, would not have take much to give it a push over. Looks like i'll have to get a tall floor jack from amazon ......   
 

[Luke K P]

i suppose removing the wheels from this would make it less stable even if it is on a board?
not so keen on the rolling wheels on it

[Frederic]

14 minutes ago, PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke said:

i suppose removing the wheels from this would make it less stable even if it is on a board?
not so keen on the rolling wheels on it

You need the wheels as it widens the footprint. Once installed on a wooden board it won’t move.

[DP1011]

18 hours ago, PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke said:

i suppose removing the wheels from this would make it less stable even if it is on a board?
not so keen on the rolling wheels on it

IF you have plans to buy one, pls wait till July 11-12, amazon prime members sale will deftly be  cheaper than today . if already bought, just return it...haha, and While 2 ton would do the job, my pick would be 2.5-3T...

[Looper]

Whatever you buy - get a good quality product. I had bought one from Amazon and it lasted for 5-6 lifts. Now it lies in some dumpster. I have since bought a Yato 2 ton jack from Speedex which comes in a plastic box and it is also as large as other 2.5 ton jack. it’s still in the plastic box with un-torne original wrapping. Let’s see how long it lasts like that.

[Luke K P]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:21 PM, Looper said:

Whatever you buy - get a good quality product. I had bought one from Amazon and it lasted for 5-6 lifts. Now it lies in some dumpster. I have since bought a Yato 2 ton jack from Speedex which comes in a plastic box and it is also as large as other 2.5 ton jack. it’s still in the plastic box with un-torne original wrapping. Let’s see how long it lasts like that.

@Looper @DP1011

Prime day arrived. I got a big 4T floor Jack and a couple of 3T stands with flat bases as a backup for when pushing those tyres back on.

Thanks for the tips. 👍👍

[DP1011]

1 hour ago, PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke said:

@Looper @DP1011

Prime day arrived. I got a big 4T floor Jack and a couple of 3T stands with flat bases as a backup for when pushing those tyres back on.

Thanks for the tips. 👍👍

and @PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke if you dont have kinetic rope, there is an amazing deal too, provided you have ADCB card !  The cheapest I have ever seen this in last 2 years

[Luke K P]

1 minute ago, DP1011 said:

and @PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke if you dont have kinetic rope, there is an amazing deal too, provided you have ADCB card !  The cheapest I have ever seen this in last 2 years

ah that is good price.

ive already got a rope.. had to get dragged out many times before mate