I had one of the Autopart store cheapie 2 ton Larin jacks since around 2001-ish, always worked pretty well, sorta. Light, pretty small, easy to carry. Though wasn't tall enough to even get the rear tires far enough off the ground on my kitcar to change them in one shot: chock, jack, place stand, drop jack, place cribbing under jack, lift again, place stand again, work. And it never really had a long enough body to get past the overhang to the A-arms on a Bird. But whatever, it was better than a bottle jack, and so much better than the pathetic stock jacks.
Then like a week ago I was having brake problems, and the jack wouldn't lift. . Topped up fluid, went through bleed stuff, nothing. Great, I need it and the valving is messed up and needs a rebuild! Chocked tires, pulled the stock jack, got her up, thought the height/base ratio on the scissor jack looked awfully unstable, placed a stand like always, take tire off, scissor jack slowly starts tilting, I back away farther from car as it very slowly falls off the stock jack, catches the stand and slides the stand back about an inch before everything catches and stabilizes. Wow.
Wonder what engineer designed that jack? Lifts multiple thousand pounds to like 20", base is like 2"x6". :toilet: :asshole:
Today I went to *cough*autozone*mumble* with my dad and picked up the new wheel cyl I need, and a new bigger hydraulic floorjack with double the weight rating, same dump height and a higher throw. :D Now if only it would stop raining so I could go fix my car already... And has anybody had the cable for the self-adjuster try to stretch/frey or unfasten itself from the tab which ratchets the star? (9" rear drum)
One last thing. Just wondering, is anybody here actually crazy/stupid enough to do any kind of *work* on a car using the stock scissor-jack?!
:bricks1:
I use a 2 ton floor jack. I think I used the stock jack maybe once.
I had to use that jack for lifting until I got a new one, but I used jack stands once it was up. I am guessing you were asking if anyone ever used that as their sole support for the car while they worked underneath it? I sure hope not.
when there was nothing else I used the sissor jack, but I wouldnt let the car rest on the jack, I backed it off to the stand or whatever I had acting as the stand. Uesd the sissor jack until it bent sideways like a crescent.
i've used scissor jacks to support cars i'm working on before :slap: when they start falling (they always do) you just gotta grab the car and push it in the opposite direction, find its balance point, and keep working. Yes very stupid thing to do but you gotta make do with what you have. Had a couple close calls but it keeps you on your toes :grinno: Although I almost got crushed by my 1986 tc when I tried flipping it over with a jack-all I learned something thats good to know, A logging truck can flip a car over much easier than a jack can! and people will complain when you leave a car flipped on its lid beside the road for a weekend :rolleyes:
I used the scissor jack for a while. Never went under it without something else hodling it up tho. Now I got a Craftsman Pro. 3 1/2ton quick lift :ies:
:rolleyes: I have multipul scissor jacks, there fine if you have one for every corner, and dont lean on the car while it jacked up :screwy: lately I have just been using them the get the car in the air for the jack stands
To remove the tab thing on the parking break either buy the tool for that job, or find a helper.
with two people: take a pair of electrical pliars and grab the spring (near the ball end) and pull back from the lever. DO NOT squeeze tight enough to damage or even cut the cable in the spring. Have the other guy grab the ball on the end with vise grips and pull. Once the ball is not seated in the lever, pull the cable up to dissengage it from the tab on the lever. (all the while you are holding the spring back).
i have a pile of them in a literal sence in my back yard and thats where they stay.soon as i get a car the first things to go are the dummy spare and scissor jacks
Sweet! I'll buy a set off of you.
I just recently went to wal-mart and bought what seemed like a decent quality 3-ton, quick lift floor jack. Felt spongy so I went through the air purge steps and still, when you lifted it with no load on it, it would start to sink back down when i reached the absolute top. It might need bled out better or it could be that it's low on fluid... I'm not sure. But for the $70 I paid I am not impressed.
I got my jack and stands from Sears for $75. Regular price was $150. It's a 3 1/2ton Professional Series. Had to return the first one cause it sprung a leak.
I gave my scissor jack to someone to use and it never came back. Oh well.
I bought a 60 dollar autozone jack, and it was such py quality. the paint kept it from turning the handle and you couldn't turn the valve. And i have jack stands that will lift a semi. I made them outta 3 inch thick pipe. Took a really big vise to bend that metal but i did, and they go like 3 ft high. And it's very impressive because of the silver and blue paint.