Need a new floor jack
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New User
Joined: Aug 2004
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Need a new floor jack
I currently have a small portable sears floor jack and it works fine but i want something bigger like more in the range of 3000 pounds. My question is what kind to buy and from where thanks for the advice
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2002
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From: Midwest
Some people will probably argue with me, but I bought mine from Sam's club over 10 years ago and am still using it almost daily. Best 70 bucks I think I ever spent. Of course I always use jack stands before crawling under any vehicle.
T. Roberts
UFD Local 1147
T. Roberts
UFD Local 1147
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From: fremont ohio
i just bought one at lowes actually, i never even knew they had em. Ours finally bit the dust after years and years of use. The new one is a Kobalt, I'm trying to think of what it can lift (I'm at school so i cant go check), but it ran abt 50 bucks. I've used it a couple times and it lifts pretty well. However, if you have a lifted truck, or a bigger truck at all, I'd find something else, I have a stock F150 and it barely lifted it off it's tires. I had to block up the jack to raise it enough to get stands under it. It's got like 16" of lift.
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2002
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From: Southern California
Floor Jack
My 1.5 ton Sears floor jack that is 25 years old was getting a little tired. Now I'm not a Pep Boys fan by any means but, I bought a Torin 3 ton floor jack from them for $50...they now have them with a $10 rebate from Torin (which is assembled in Long Beach, Ca). It is a very stable jack, single piston type which picks up my F150 or the Wifes 4500 lb car with no problem. They also make a twin piston 3.5 ton jack which PB sells for $69. The twin unit is much easier to use but the single piston works fine for me......First time in my life I ever recommended anything from PB.
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 767
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From: Franklin, GA
I was in Sears this past weekend and they had their ton and a half floor jack with two jack stands, a fender cover, cheezy wheel chocks, and roll around seat for less than $100. It was all Craftsman (not the "Champion" brand).
Tuned
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 483
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My bud bought one from Northern or Harb frt, a long reach 5 ton rated for about 230$, maybe a little less. Its really nice and he works on a lot of pickups. Its a China junker but it works well for work in this range. I doubt a home shop would ever wear it out. I think he is on about the second one in 10 yrs,, but he uses it several times a day 24/7
Last edited by Sberry27; Sep 30, 2004 at 10:47 PM.
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New User
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Aberdeen, WA
Got Mine at Costco
A good deal at $70. I've seen the same model in use at the garage that services the company cars.
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Cross-Country
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 64
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From: VA
Just got a 3 ton Craftsman
Sears just ran a one day sale - 3 ton jack and a pair of jack stands for $60. Couldn't pass that one up. Lift's the entire front of my lifted F-250 off the ground great. Keep your eyes open, they'll be running similar sales again soon with the holidays coming up... 
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 327
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From: Midwest
I second the Sams Jack. They sell it as a Michelin jack sometimes, and sometimes not; either way, it is the same jack. It works pretty darn well. They used to sell a version with a foot pedal for quick raising, which was also a nice jack. The newer jack has a 2 stage pump so it raises up with no resistance quickly on the high volume side, and then switches to the high-pressure pressure side when you start meeting resistance.
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2002
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From: Southwest VA
I bought the Kobalt one at lowes.. goes up to 19 13/16" like it paid bout 90 for it. relatively easily plus it's wide and don't have to worry about it flexing at all. thing's prob 70 lbs at least. And it rolls on grass relatively easily (yes am not blessed with a real driveway or garage, but it works) have no problems getting under my truck or escort. plus got MORE stands with it. (4 pair now)
Last edited by Violjohn78; Oct 9, 2004 at 08:00 PM.
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From: fremont ohio
I must have the smaller sibling of your Kobalt. Mine's only about 25-30 pounds. But I do like their stands, I bought a pair of those too (came seperate). It does roll nice in grass tho, not too bad in stone either, I too have no real driveway.
Elder User
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: SE, Michigan
In our garage we have a 3 1/2 ton craftsman floor jack. It came with two 3 1/2 jack stands. Its a really nice floor jack, it lifts to the frame in one pump of the handle. Plus it has a really big dish so you get a large contact spot on the frame. I carry a small 2 1/4 ton floor jack behind my seat in my 95 F150, which is soo much better than those scissor or and bottle jacks when changing a tire along side the road.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2004
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I have a couple of consumer jacks and I'm about ready to drop the coin for a more commercial version.
First jack was a $70 2.25t model from Pep Boys purchased back in '90. A few years ago, the seal blew out so and I didn't feel it was worth fixing, so I bought a 2.5t jack from Sears. Isn't bad and I still have it, but it's too tall to fit under the other-half's BMW M3 and MINI Cooper S, so I bought one of those aluminum 1.5t jacks from Sam's for $130 (over a year ago - can be found cheaper now). Not a bad jack, but it stuggles with lifting each end of our recently purchased Volvo P1800.
My biggest concern is not how well the jack lifts the car, but how controlled the valve is when lowering it. With the race-jack, the valve is a bit too "on-off" if you know what I mean. This makes it tough to lower the car a bit at a time to check stand placement.
First jack was a $70 2.25t model from Pep Boys purchased back in '90. A few years ago, the seal blew out so and I didn't feel it was worth fixing, so I bought a 2.5t jack from Sears. Isn't bad and I still have it, but it's too tall to fit under the other-half's BMW M3 and MINI Cooper S, so I bought one of those aluminum 1.5t jacks from Sam's for $130 (over a year ago - can be found cheaper now). Not a bad jack, but it stuggles with lifting each end of our recently purchased Volvo P1800.
My biggest concern is not how well the jack lifts the car, but how controlled the valve is when lowering it. With the race-jack, the valve is a bit too "on-off" if you know what I mean. This makes it tough to lower the car a bit at a time to check stand placement.
Last edited by Ian F; Oct 11, 2004 at 06:48 AM.