Recommend me a decent floor jack?
 

So I'm putting coilovers on, just for aesthetics, essentially. I need new shocks anyways, so why not. But, I imagine I'll probably need to adjust them a little to get the stance I am looking for.

My driveway is on a slope, but I have a 2-car garage I can get the car into and turn it at an angle - my garage has 2 smaller doors instead of one large one. :rolleyes:

I'm looking at some of the low-profile jacks at Harbor Freight and I like the price, but I am a little concerned about quality and durability. Now, I won't be using this a TON, I mean I'm not a pro mechanic. I can change oil, an alternator, a water pump, etc. But I'd like to be able to get under my car and learn a bit more, especially about the suspension. And this may open up some more opportunities for me to do a little of my own work.

So, looking at what is available on Harbor Freight's website, they all seem to be in the range of 3¼" or so, which I don't think will even fit under my car right now. I am slightly lowered on Swift Spec-R springs and I believe I am just under 3". I'd like to come down a bit more, which will make it harder. Are there any jacks out there (that aren't prohibitively expensive?) that will fit under 2½" or so? Because of having to pull my car into the garage and then turn it to fit kind of catty-corner or half-sideways, it makes it difficult to get lift blocks in position.

I'm open to ideas. And that lift system is kind of out of the question at the moment. lol

I have the older harbor freight 2.5 ton long reach low profile jack and love it. Drive the car up on a couple of 2x blocks and it can actually reach the front subframe jack point.

Not sure if the newer versions of this jack are similar or not...

The harbor freight jacks are all I buy. Great bang for the buck. Only thing is that a very small percentage will die shortly after purchase. I've bought 4 of them over the last 8 years. Only the very last one that I bought a month ago has failed.

Good to know the Harbor Freight ones are good.

I have the low profile HF Daytona Jack. It's outstanding.

I picked up a 3.5 ton low profile ARC floor jack from Northern Tool about 7 years ago on sale for around $100 IIRC. One of the two pistons stopped extending fully a couple of years ago but it just means a couple of a extra strokes for the same lift height. No issues with it under medium use over the years.

Last year I purchased the extended reach low profile HF Daytona jack on sale for ~$160. It is very nice and definitely of superior quality (hence the price difference). Totally worth it.

Hydraulic jacks are not very complicated machines and are easy to rebuild with no special tools (except maybe a small magnet to remove steel check balls). Rebuild kits are readily available for most jacks, even the older ones. You can save a lot of money by buying a used jack and rebuilding it. My "other" floor jack is one that a buddy gave me because it would leak down (he bought another jack and this was just taking up space). All I did was disassemble/clean/reassemble and I had a working jack.

An inner tube (or other heavy-duty air bag) might get you off the ground far enough to get a regular floor jack underneath the car.

Some short ramps might give you enough clearance.

I use these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's really good to know. I was afraid I would need longer ramps, how low do you sit? I was concerned if I lower mine much more, I would not be able to use short(ish) ramps.

Although a long ramp will help (less angle), it's the height that is most important. You need one short enough (vertically) that it will get under the body work but still provide enough lift to get your floor jack under the car. If you are real low, it may not be possible.

Fab up a set of test ramps with lumber to see if it will work.

Up to this point, I have used some MDF circles I cut out of a speaker box I made. I have 6 of them, 3/4" each, so I set them up in steps of 1 and 2 and it gets me about 1.5" up and can just barely get my current crappy jack under there. The problem is, slick garage floor and they tend to want to slip out from under, etc. It's a bit of a hassle to kind of jury-rig it like this, but I really should buy some ramps. Just gotta make sure they're short enough to be able to do this in my garage semi-sideways.

I have been using a Harbor Freight 2.5 ton low-profile floor jack and 4 Harbor Freight 2-ton jack stands for the past 5 years. Nothing has broken yet and everything was well worth the money.

I highly recommend buying those rubber jack stand adapters so you can place the jack stands over the pinch welds.

I'm at stock height =(

Are you talking about these things?

https://www.amazon.com/QUNSUN-Adapte...%2C155&sr=8-16

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1000_.jpg

There're a ton of those, they seem pretty basic, I'm not sure if any one type or another would be better. I didn't even know those existed, lol. Thanks for the tip!

Glue some rubber or other non-skid material to the bottom of your MDF.

Those are the exact ones I have. I am pretty sure they are a universal fit to most jack stands.

I use the old hockey puck method to protect the pinch welds and a Harbor freight low profile jack. I cut a slit in both hockey pucks works like a charm.

^^^^^

That's what I've been using for the past 8 years. The aluminum HF low-profile jack and some slotted hockey pucks. The HF jack has never failed me...

That's what i use to get my floor jack under it. I'm at stock height but could drop an inch or more before I hit them.

The front lift point is to far back for most low profile jacks to reach making it pointless. Low profile ramps and a good service jack are the way to go.

This is the floor jack i have. It's a bit more than you'll spend at HF but was worth it for piece of mind to me.

I also pick up this extender to get the car high enough to max out a set of esco jack stands.

QuickJack. Your life will never be the same.

Neither will your bank account....Lol. Nice, though, no doubt.

:rolleyes:

Yes, thanks. Already addressed that. Maybe someday when I have a bigger garage and a bigger budget and more work to do, etc.

I should add, I ordered one from Harbor Freight. I compared it to that Napa one above - the HF one is 3/4" lower collapsed, has longer reach, lifts 4" higher and is $40 cheaper, so... they've had great reviews everywhere I've looked.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I also ordered some ramps and the jack pad adapters for the pinch welds. I think I should be good. The advice here was very helpful.

You didnt buy HF jackstands did you? Those are deathtraps; I had one fail on me a year ago.

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No kidding?! What was the failure?
I use HF jackstands. Might need to upgrade.

Don't cheap out on brakes, jack stands, smoke alarms, guns, etc. Your life depends on 'em.

The metal bolt holding the locking cam sheared off. The Y part of the jackstand bottomed out. While the car was on four jackstands. And I was under the car. I'm unashamed to say I had to throw my shorts away after that incident.

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OH SNAP! Ive got a HF low profile jack, but I'm glad I didn't get my jackstands there after hearing that...... If under the titan or the subaru, I'm sure I'd be ok, but the Z or the S4.... Never make it....

No, I have a set of jackstands from... AutoZone, I think. I've been using them for years, and they seem to be fine.

I'm curious... did you document this sheared pin and share it with HF? Man, that sounds horrific!

As for mine, they have a pin that goes through the lift arm (I don't really know what you call these things) and I don't think are subject to the type of failure you are describing. The system I have is like this:

https://www.fleetfarm.com/images/pro...001564/l/1.jpg

The rods that go through are solid steel, probably a half inch thick or more. I have had my Tahoe up on them numerous times without issue. I will always be extremely careful under my Z, though.

Yeah... after that fail, I threw all 4 stands in another car, drove to HF, and tossed them on the counter in front of ab 20 customers. Said " I love yall, but I'm not losing my life to chitty Chinee metallurgy."

Yeah your system wont fail like mine. You have a straight pin system.

I do agree that anything could fail, though. I mean the welds or something on mine could break, too. It's always a risk climbing under a car. One of these days, I'd like to build a new home and put a full-on real lift in it. I've got a friend with a nice 2-post lift (we did all the suspension in my Tahoe on it), but he's about 45 minutes away. :shakes head: