Was checking prices on floor jacks and I noticed they have bottle jacks for way less money than the roll around lever-style floor jacks.

A 4 ton hydraulic bottle jack is $20 where as a 4 ton floor jack is close to $150. And you can service the bottle jack easily. There are ports to add oil and bleed it.

How many times will I be doing brakes and this little bottle jack will store inside my van (no jack when I got it) to boot.

Comments?

 

A bottle jack will be adequate for this purpose, but certainly not the best tool for the job in my opinion. There are a lot of things you simply can't do with one, and therefore if you plan on working on your van in the future you would be well suited to a good floor jack.

I paid around $100 for my Torin Black Jack at Wal Mart and it has treated me well. I think it has a three ton capacity, why would you need a four-ton jack? Mine lifted the 5,000 lb front axle of my F350 just fine and is capable of lifting up to 19"

I also have a 4-ton bottle jack, and the one time I had to use it because my floor jack was out of commission really made me appreciate my floor jack!

 

I have a 12 ton bottle jack in my van for emergencies, used to use it with cribbing when working on my 4x4's, same jack was paired with 2 more to secure a beam in a 2 story house, jacking it up to relevel the floor, I see no problems with them, but have a jack stand set to back it up in case it leaks off, and for gods sake, block the wheels.

 

a bottle jack is inconvenient in that you have to crawl under the truck to set it in place and jack it up, while a floor jack can easily be positioned from outside. they are also much better for low cars where there isn't room to place a bottle jack.
but a bottle jack has a much greater weight capacity for the price and size, and lifts straight up, whereas floor jacks tend to pull sideways when used on uneven ground.
as you know, neither jack is recommended for putting you under the vehicle, as a hydraulic failure can leave you crushed, so a good set of jackstands is recommended for any work that requires you to get under the vehicle. or safer yet is a broad stack of wood blocks under the axle(s) or tires. notice that if you have an entire axle in the air using a bottle jack, the vehicle will most likely fall sideways off the jack, but this is less common with a floor jack. i've had the pleasure of telling bystanders that things really are ok after they hear a car fall off the jack, so i'm speaking from experience here.

 

Reason I mentioned jack stand and cribbing, stacking wood is extremely hazardous unless done a certain way, 2 flat sided 4x4's one way, then 2 more crossways on top similar to how you stack the ends of a rick of wood, I've seen it under houses being moved and houseboats on land. My bottle jack, the handle locks on the bleeder, makes it useful in pushing it under the vehicle, more important than anything, chock the wheels, be certain the jack is on a solid, flat surface, it's contacting a flat, solid section of the frame or axle, and you have a jack stand to slide under the frame just in case the jack fails. I say solid surface because the jack can sink in the ground and go kiltered (be it bottle or floor jack), dropping the vehicle, or the surface of the vehicle the jack contacts could give, causing it to drop.

 

Scooter the cheaper bottle jacks are great for the price and what they do, of course they're not the service type of floor jack you mention. In the end if your budget alone dictates what you'll buy there's little to be said against the $20 4 ton bottle jacks.

Frequency of use and how often I want to crawl under my van had me scouring Craig's List for a nice USA made floor jack in lightly used condition. Eventually found one for $160, nearly new Mac Tools item part of a promotion running at some point in time.

Since my "home shop" is a sloping driveway I can't do a lot of lifting and supporting with jack stands but with the floor jack's ability to roll as the tongue raises is invaluable to me. Bottle jacks or my very heavy duty hand cranked scissor jack absolutely need the vehicle to be on a hard flat surface, level and locked against rolling. Regardless what you're doing underneath these are NOT safe if support doesn't replace them once the vehicle is lifted high enough for the job. Cheaper is attractive but for me safety trumps cheap every day, without hesitation.

There's some good info and hands-on experience talking here so far. Take some time to think of your real need for any sort of jack will be apart from one you'll carry for changing flats on the road. If you're not frequently working on something maybe you don't need much more than the $20 4 ton bottle jack AND of course suitable jack stands. Don't go cheap on the stands though---buy them as if your life depends on them!

 

I went for the 12 ton bottle jack at HF last evening. It had a much larger base plate and was only $10 more.

I purchased a set of 6 ton jack stands and when I got home I realized they were too tall for my needs. Collapsed they were 15+ inches.

The frame rail of the E-350 is about 12+ inches and since I only want to raise it enough to get the wheels off I need jack stands in the 13+ range.

Their 3 ton jack stands fit this at 12 to 16".

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-h...nds-38846.html

Are these strong enough to do one wheel at a time?

BTW: Thanks for mentioning the chocks. I forgot to get them but will go back tonight.

 

scooters, allow me to correct you on your stand needs, you appear to be measuring frame height with the wheels on the ground, and it requires a good bit more height to have the wheels dangling on the fully-extended suspension, as will need to be the case if you're supporting the frame.
the thing that scares me about small jackstands is that their small footprint is very prone to having them fall over. i would only use them if the wheel on the other end of that axle is still firmly holding to the ground. the way around this problem is to take them home and weld a large steel plate to the bottom. say the 3-ton jobs have a 6" footprint (i haven't checked), but if yes, take a piece of 1/4" plate steel cut to about 10" square and weld it on the bottom. not its more stable and suitable for use on softer ground

 

Suspension will droop a foot or more, I jack stand axles not the frame.

 

 

[QUOTE=I paid around $100 for my Torin Black Jack at Wal Mart and it has treated me well. I think it has a three ton capacity, why would you need a four-ton jack? Mine lifted the 5,000 lb front axle of my F350 just fine and is capable of lifting up to 19"
[/QUOTE]
For one reason the extra capacity only costs a few dollars more and another would be that the piston area in the ram is greater making the job easier to perform.

 

Different tool, different job. Right tool for every job. Lifting at frame rails, suspension points, axles, unibody pinch welds.......all different depending on the vehicle.

 

A 3 1/2 ton floor jack sold at Walmart won't budge my E350 unloaded, I'd not trust the 3 ton stands, there is no such thing as overkill when your life is on the line, a friend was paralyzed after heavy equipment fell on him. I worked a job where a guy used the factory jack for his 80 model Ford Ranger to jack beams under a house to shim them.

 

2014 Ford E-350 Super Duty/Gross vehicle weight rating
8,800 to 9,500 lbs

Assuming you have a similar weight rating on your van, you will need something better than a 3.5 ton floor jack from Wally World.

I would consider a 6 ton bottle jack with SafeJack accessories.

 

That sounds like using the wrong tool for the job.

Try the UniJack. It may work for you. It worked really well for me.