Lightweight Jacks

After lugging my 94 pound floor jack to a rally-cross and around my yard all weekend playing "tire roulette", I decided I needed to "supplement" my heavy-as-berkeley car lifter with something more back-friendly.

I had an aluminum racing jack from the Fraught with Horribleness and it lasted about long enough for the stickers to start peeling off.  Not really enthusiastic to gamble on them again.  Am enthusiastic to see what else is out there. 

Who has recommendations (from experience) on a lightweight, low-ish profile, "racing" type portable jack, minimum 2 ton capacity?

Thanks in advance.

The Arcans seem to be pretty favorably thought of.  Curiously, comparing the 2 ton Arcan to the 2 ton Pittsburgh (HF) jack, not only do they appear almost identical, they're even the same color scheme.  But the Arcan weighs 10 lbs more. 

The HF daytona jacks, which are newish, are better than the old blue and silver house brand aluminum ones. 

I have been using the craptastical Pittsburgh Automotive JF jacks without issue for several years..........maybe I got the only two good ones?

I do need to upgrade as my son just picked up a Lexus LS 400 and I need a 2 ton jack

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

The HF daytona jacks, which are newish, are better than the old blue and silver house brand aluminum ones. 

I only see them on the HF website in steel, anyway. 

I use this one in my rebodied MG that has very little room inside. All alloy scissor jack that is well made and can lift 2000 lbs.

I originally bought it to be able to lift some stereo speakers (450 lb each and tall so one wouldn't want them to start going over) to install spikes.  Not cheap, but very good.

https://www.calcarcover.com/product/low-profile-billet-aluminum-jack/705

wspohn said:

I use this one in my rebodied MG that has very little room inside. All alloy scissor jack that is well made and can lift 2000 lbs.

I originally bought it to be able to lift some stereo speakers (450 lb each and tall so one wouldn't want them to start going over) to install spikes.  Not cheap, but very good.

https://www.calcarcover.com/product/low-profile-billet-aluminum-jack/705

 

 

I made my own version of this. I use it more than I'd like to at the junkyard. 

I have the blue and silver one from HF and it has lasted about ten years. It started to drip a tiny bit of oil once in a while, so I bought another as a back up about five years ago and it’s still in the box. I’m surprised at how good this has been for me. 

wspohn said:

I use this one in my rebodied MG that has very little room inside. All alloy scissor jack that is well made and can lift 2000 lbs.

I originally bought it to be able to lift some stereo speakers (450 lb each and tall so one wouldn't want them to start going over) to install spikes.  Not cheap, but very good.

I'm really curious about large 450lb speakers.  A full size klipschorn is about 200lbs.

On topic:  I have two of the HF aluminum jacks.  The older one is perfect, the new started leaking down soon after I bought it.  It's only useful for getting a car on a jack stand.

I cannot recommend the lightweight hf "racing jack".  My aluminum jack has had minimal use and is falling apart.  It has not really been abused and it still didn't keep up.

I think your >2 ton requirement pretty much forces this to some extent. But if you're going to be using it for things like rallycross and in your yard you're going to want the jack to have as large of a footprint as possible (ie not like the HF racing single roller narrow frame jacks). In my rallycross days I always used my HF steel 3 ton. The internet says it weighs around 70lbs but it honestly wasn't that difficult to carry around. Certainly not as painful as shelling out hundreds of dollars for a lightweight one that saw use maybe once a month. But it sounds like you might get enough use out of it to justify it.

Since we're all sharing our experiences, I've had a mixed bag. My first HF aluminum jack suffered an internal failure pretty quickly. Its replacement needed to be bled out of the box but has been bulletproof for like 5 years of semi-regular since, aside from occasionally needing the wheels lubed. I've had a HF steel jack for even longer and it's also been bulletproof aside from maybe needing to be bled once. If one of them died tomorrow I'd replace it with a HF low profile 3 ton the next time they're on sale without thinking much about it. Not sure I'd get another aluminum one, only because I don't have much of a need for it these days (the only reason I use it much at all now is because when I got the steel jack I wasn't smart enough to get the low profile version so it doesn't always fit under whatever I'm working on).

I have two of the blue/silver HF 2.5 ton aluminum jacks.  One is used regularly, the other infrequently.  Both have been very dependable.

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

wspohn said:

I use this one in my rebodied MG that has very little room inside. All alloy scissor jack that is well made and can lift 2000 lbs.

I originally bought it to be able to lift some stereo speakers (450 lb each and tall so one wouldn't want them to start going over) to install spikes.  Not cheap, but very good.

I'm really curious about large 450lb speakers.  A full size klipschorn is about 200lbs.

https://gizmodo.com/horn-subwoofer-takes-up-crazy-mans-entire-basement-5025867

dps214 said:

I think your >2 ton requirement pretty much forces this to some extent. But if you're going to be using it for things like rallycross and in your yard you're going to want the jack to have as large of a footprint as possible (ie not like the HF racing single roller narrow frame jacks). In my rallycross days I always used my HF steel 3 ton. The internet says it weighs around 70lbs but it honestly wasn't that difficult to carry around. Certainly not as painful as shelling out hundreds of dollars for a lightweight one that saw use maybe once a month. But it sounds like you might get enough use out of it to justify it.

Since we're all sharing our experiences, I've had a mixed bag. My first HF aluminum jack suffered an internal failure pretty quickly. Its replacement needed to be bled out of the box but has been bulletproof for like 5 years of semi-regular since, aside from occasionally needing the wheels lubed. I've had a HF steel jack for even longer and it's also been bulletproof aside from maybe needing to be bled once. If one of them died tomorrow I'd replace it with a HF low profile 3 ton the next time they're on sale without thinking much about it. Not sure I'd get another aluminum one, only because I don't have much of a need for it these days (the only reason I use it much at all now is because when I got the steel jack I wasn't smart enough to get the low profile version so it doesn't always fit under whatever I'm working on).

Good summary.  Yes, a wider footprint is helpful.  Just last night I was jacking up a car in the yard and noticed it get "tippy", had to lower it and try a different tactic.  My current "jack of all trades" is the low-profile HF steel 3 ton jack.  I think it weighs around 85 lbs (94 in the first post might have been a slight exaggeration).  Would a ~50 lb jack make much difference in portability?  I think so. 

The HF 3 ton low profile I've had for a couple of years, and use it weekly.  It does have one annoying problem- there's two little cylinders that get pumped by the handle....I believe  one of them is the "fast pump" that raises the jack up to the bottom of the car, and the other is the "hard pump" which actually lifts the car.  The "hard pump" cylinder occasionally sticks, so that the jack will raise up to the car but then not have enough butt to lift anything.  To dislodge the stuck cylinder, I have to pry it out with a screwdriver or tap on it with a hammer or wrench or something (usually whatever's handy at the moment).  And then the jack works fine. 

As for the 2 ton minimum requirement, our LeMons car weighs in about 2 tons, and while I realize a jack is never lifting the whole weight of the car, I prefer to have a bit of a factor of safety in my tools. 

Im on my 3rd hf small aluminum jack over the past 10 years or so. For me they always start sticking the main pumping piston so that it doesnt pop back up unless i pry on it with a screwdriver. It's possible i could avoid this with fastidious maintenance, and probably repairable if i wanted to modify the design. But, for $59 so far my solution has been to buy a new one every few years. Once i built my little shop 2 or 3 years ago i find im barely using the aluminum jack other than to pull/change tires on cars that don't run. Ive used em for racing but sadly i am averaging 1-2 races a year at this point so that's a fringe case for me.

I really like that lopro plate jack that wspohn posted but id need it to be about twice the size to be useful. I don't work on many things that 6" of lift will get off the ground unless Im picking up on a control arm. I do keep a few oem scissor jacks around for odd jobs but don't like using them unless i have to because of the narrow footing.

I have a aluminum 1.5 ton HF jack I have it used for years for small stuff and junkyard and it has been great. Got 2 more I have used at work and they work wonderful also. 

You can buy skid plates for Jack's also to keep them from sinking if your on a loose or muddy surface. 

I got 2 brand new big reds at work that leaked first use, 4 more warranty Jack's later I got 2 that leak off. They are getting returned this week. 

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

The HF daytona jacks, which are newish, are better than the old blue and silver house brand aluminum ones. 

I'm going on 20 years with my blue and silver Daytona Jack.  Just used it yesterday to raise cabinets in my wife's sewing room.  Still my favorite jack. 

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

wspohn said:

I use this one in my rebodied MG that has very little room inside. All alloy scissor jack that is well made and can lift 2000 lbs.

I originally bought it to be able to lift some stereo speakers (450 lb each and tall so one wouldn't want them to start going over) to install spikes.  Not cheap, but very good.

I'm really curious about large 450lb speakers.  A full size klipschorn is about 200lbs.

 

Made of a solid synthetic material and heavy as Hell. Shipping weight in heavy custom wood cases) was 1100 lbs.

The current generation of Harbor Freight aluminum jacks are excellent. We had seals leak and blow out on the old HF 1 ton and 2 ton designs, but since they switched to the 1.5 and 2.5 ton designs they've been very reliable. I'm going on 10 years with my HF 1.5 ton.

If I had to choose a non-HF brand for an aluminum jack, I would get one of Summit Racing's jacks. They seem to have the same rock-solid hydraulics and the arm has that nice swooping profile that makes it easier to get under low cars.

I have a 3.5 ton Torrin that's more than half of my body weight.

I started autocross a couple of years ago, and was changing tires twice for every event. I keep a row of sandbags across the driveway (coastal county in Florida), so I have to lift my jack to get it from the garage to the driveway.

I very quickly bought a 2 ton harbor freight aluminum racing jack. By comparison, I think the one and a half ton with the single low profile roller across the front is a lot lighter duty then the difference in the ratings would belie. 

I haven't used it much. It will lift the car four times for each event (I just lift the Miata in the middle and put a pair of jack stands under it, so it's only used twice for each tire change). At the most, I've run about 70 events, and raised the cars a few times for service or inspection, so maybe 300 uses.

Holding up great so far

In reply to volvoclearinghouse (Forum Supporter) :

Just to be clear, I wasn't questioning your 2 ton requirement, just saying that that requirement probably ruled out any of the super small footprint jacks anyway.

I recently bought an Arcan 2 ton aluminum jack off Amazon. It was about $200 and lifts to 19". I was contemplating the HF one but it only lifts 15" high. 
This replaced a Craftsman jack that I bought at sears 12 years ago and is now a bit tired. I would have considered another craftsman but I'm still annoyed at them for making unreliable ratchets and loosing my last good one when I brought it in for repair. 

It should probably be noted that since this is a jack for rally cross use, you may or may not have pavement available when you jack the car up.  You'll need something under the jack to let it slide when jacking on softer (grass) surfaces.  Personally, I've used one of the aluminum HF jacks and a piece of wood, and it's been fine for tire changing.  

That scissor jack looks pretty cool, but I don't think it's got enough lift to get my wheels off the ground.  

I just realized that the one that I endorsed above was the 1.5 ton version. Sorry.

Very relevant to my interests I was just looking at these today and I think the hive just convinced me to buy the 1.5 ton HF jack. I abused the crap out of my last jack a billion years ago and never considered maintenance on it. A) what can you do to ensure long life of rarely used jack? B) Is it true you cannot turn jack over or hang vertically without messing up the jack? If so how would you know if it got messed up and turned over during shipping?