Trolley Jack for General Servicing?

[sailaholic]

Guran eBay was by far the cheapest way to get a low profile jack when I looked and shipping rates were very reasonable. The ability to start low and go high quickly was worth it.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Okibi]

Autopro have one an ok one on sale for $250 but a better one at $300, looks low enough to get under our cars.

[geofiz]

I picked up an omega low lift from Malz - around $250, lifts from 50 mm - to around 600mm. The thing to watch out for is the height further back from the lifting pad. You need to have around 80 mm clearance with a reach if around 600 mm to clear the front lip.

[Locutus]

there is a very nice looking low profile, quick lift alloy jack at costco for $160 or $180.

[Okibi]

No costco on this side of the planet. Harbour freight use to have some great ones cheap but you'd need to find a US freight forwarder.

[Caffeine]

there is a very nice looking low profile, quick lift alloy jack at costco for $160 or $180.

I bought one of them, unloaded it's 5 pumps to go from fully lowered to fully extended. More obviously when loaded but still dramatically quicker than the cheapie $49 one posted before (I upgraded from a similar jack)

The costco one weighs less, goes lower and higher, faster, and you also can lower it by just twisting the handle, rather than pulling the handle out and using it to activate the release valve like on my previous jack.

Here's a video of mine, jacking up my MX5. It's currently uploading to youtube...

[OurCognitiveSurplus]

I use my Costco jack to jack from the middle of the car (the diff or the bit behind the oil pan). If you jack from the side like that, where do you put the stand? Wouldn't the jack be in the way of where the stand should go?

[sailaholic]

Costco jack is the same as the eBay ones from what I can see.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Caffeine]

I use my Costco jack to jack from the middle of the car (the diff or the bit behind the oil pan). If you jack from the side like that, where do you put the stand? Wouldn't the jack be in the way of where the stand should go?

When I'm working on the wheels (or in this case, adjusting the underbody brace to clear the exhaust) I put the stands just inboard of the lower suspension mounts, that way the car is supported but the stands don't get in the way of my garage creeper ($25 from costco, also a good buy) so I can move around and access the areas I'm trying to work on easily.

[Lokiel]

This is all you need ...

Basic hydraulic trolley jack (1400kg) - $49 at Supercheap


Two pairs of car stands (1200kg) - $35 x 2 = $70 at Supercheap
Don't be tempted to work under your car without using car stands to support it.


I've no affiliation with Supercheap, and you'll possibly find better or cheaper options elsewhere. Just using these as an example.

[Kikuchi]

Seems the one you bought looks like the alcan one, which my friend uses. I also use it as well, however my car being lowered and a front lip, i need to run the fronts onto planks of wood, and then turn the steering full lock so I can get the jack under the engine subframe, and jack it up through the wheel well. For the rears I use the diff to jack it up, and that jack works fine from the rears. The main problem I have with this jack is that, although the jacking point on it is low, the pivot point is actually pretty tall, so I can't clear the body of my car, and therefore it doesn't go in that far under the car (for the front, without using my method of jacking through the wheel well).

Also, you can never go wrong with a set of jack stands. I never do anything underneath my car without it.

[Lokiel]

This is all you need ...

Basic hydraulic trolley jack (1400kg) - $49 at Supercheap

:

Something went wrong with that earlier post so I'll try again:

I have 2 of these jack's Guran, the first one was too small, I had to use too many blocks of wood to allow me to raise it high enough for the rear jack stands which got dangerous when jacking, so I bought the next size up too. I now have a 3rd jack larger, different brand, that is long and low to fit under the car easier and makes jacking easier.

What I found with the 2 SuperCheap brand jacks was that every time I needed to use them, I had to add more hydraulic jack fluid first because they wouldn't hold the car up, the arms just kept coming down until I topped up the fluid.

With my 3rd jack, I haven't had this problem and according to the manual, I shouldn't need to for quite a while (the manual quotes something like 300-500 lifts, don't remember the exact figure but it was a lot).

Do you have this problem with your SuperCheap jacks? Mine don't leak either so I have no idea why I need to top them up and I use the same fluid in the last jack too.

I've got SuperCheap stands too, both the pin versions suggested by Guran and the screw versions. I like the screw versions more because they're easier to "fine-tune" to a specific height - I can go as high as the jack allows me with the screw versions, with the pin-lock versions I can't reach the same height and it's nice to have as much space under the car as possible when working under it where you need to fit stuff like frame rails, Wideband O2 sensors, exhausts, etc.


Also, don't forget to buy some hydraulic jack fluid too, the SCA kits I know don't include it.

[hks_kansei]

To my knowledge you shouldn't need to be topping up the jack fluid at all.


My trolley jack cost me $30, it apparently meets Australian Standards, has no brand name, and was made in china somewhere.
I've had it for about 6 years now, it's been left in the rain, it's been left in a hot car, it's rolled around in the boot.


And yet, it still lifts happily, doesn't creep, and I've never had to top up the fluid.



If you needed to add fluid each time I'd think there's something wrong with them that should be covered by whatever warranty they had.

[snshami]

Probably one of the most important features is having a long enough lifting arm so you can raise the car enough. Most jacks dont lift the car high enough

[snshami]

there is a very nice looking low profile, quick lift alloy jack at costco for $160 or $180.

I bought one of them, unloaded it's 5 pumps to go from fully lowered to fully extended. More obviously when loaded but still dramatically quicker than the cheapie $49 one posted before (I upgraded from a similar jack)

The costco one weighs less, goes lower and higher, faster, and you also can lower it by just twisting the handle, rather than pulling the handle out and using it to activate the release valve like on my previous jack.

Here's a video of mine, jacking up my MX5. It's currently uploading to youtube...

Thats apparently the wrong place to lift from. You risk damage to the chassis rails. The correct lifting points are the diff and the front cross member.