Trolley Jacks - What's hot and what's not?

[anonymous-user]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 26 March 2022 at 18:53

[brillomaster]

SGS do quality items.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/garage-equipment/t...

get some jack stands too.

[vikingaero]

brillomaster said:

get some jack stands too.

And always put the wheels you've taken off under the car too as a belt and braces.

I used a cheapo Halfords trolley jack (with a proper jack pad) because I only really do it a few times a year to clean the wheelarches and inside of the alloy wheels.

[pidsy]

Good few threads on this. The Arcan jack from Costco always gets positive reviews.
I’ve got one and it’s great.

[Scrump]

pidsy said:

Good few threads on this. The Arcan jack from Costco always gets positive reviews.
I’ve got one and it’s great.

The arcan aluminium one

[ahas]

If you're buying a trolley jack as a long-term investment get a low profile one and go for something well regarded.
Some of the cheaper ones need fluid more regularly.

Anyways, I've got a Sealey Premier 3ton low profile jack. One of the best things I've bought for my home garage.
Exceptionally study, quick lift and drop and with it being low profile I can get it under almost any car.
My 330ci and brothers 350z no problem. My previous jacks required the cars to be driven on a bit of wood to give the clearance to get under.

Buy decent jack pads, the one on mine split straight away. Not great but it is rubber vs metal.

[aizvara]

Not a trolley jack, but these are good: Quickjack. Still fairly portable. Takes up a bit more space than a trolley jack, but they can be stored on the wall or flat under the car.

[CrutyRammers]

It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive a jack you buy, you should never, ever, put yourself in a position where it failing will injure or kill you. Cheap jack plus stands is better than expensive jack and no stands. Don't buy an expensive jack thinking its therefore safe to crawl around under without stands.

Sealy ones are fine, and I used a cheap Halfords jobby for over 20 years. The expensive ones are just nicer to use.

[Rich1973]

CrutyRammers said:

It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive a jack you buy, you should never, ever, put yourself in a position where it failing will injure or kill you. Cheap jack plus stands is better than expensive jack and no stands. Don't buy an expensive jack thinking its therefore safe to crawl around under without stands.

Sealy ones are fine, and I used a cheap Halfords jobby for over 20 years. The expensive ones are just nicer to use.

This.

[Krikkit]

Yep, every word true.

I have the SGS aluminium job and it's excellent, one of the nice bits about a decent jack is the release valve - cheap jacks seem to just let the car fall in a huge bump as soon as you release the pressure, with this you can let it down half an inch no bother.

[Decky_Q]

I was given the halfords lifting kit as a gift, from day 1 if the included trolley jack isn't in a puddle of Jack oil it's because its run out of oil.

Also avoid axle stands with a ratchet mechanism, they are very convenient but when they wear and fail they do it spectacularly (see YouTube), the pin type arent as adjustable or convenient but preferable all the same.

[Krikkit]

Decky_Q said:

Also avoid axle stands with a ratchet mechanism, they are very convenient but when they wear and fail they do it spectacularly (see YouTube), the pin type arent as adjustable or convenient but preferable all the same.

Good point, even in good condition they're a liability if the weight moves around a bit - had one recently drop out when I was doing an engine-out as the weight was lifted off the rear briefly as it was coming out.

[DrDeAtH]

Another vote here for the Arcan. Mines the 3ton steel version. Lifts vans a Range Rovers easily

[Oldandslow]

+ ice hockey pucks.

[Chris32345]

ahas said:

If you're buying a trolley jack as a long-term investment get a low profile one and go for something well regarded.
Some of the cheaper ones need fluid more regularly.

Anyways, I've got a Sealey Premier 3ton low profile jack. One of the best things I've bought for my home garage.
Exceptionally study, quick lift and drop and with it being low profile I can get it under almost any car.
My 330ci and brothers 350z no problem. My previous jacks required the cars to be driven on a bit of wood to give the clearance to get under.

Buy decent jack pads, the one on mine split straight away. Not great but it is rubber vs metal.

No jack should ever need fluid especially not regularly ( at least in 10 years or so)


If it needs fluid it's leaking and shouldnt be used

[Chris32345]

Decky_Q said:

I was given the halfords lifting kit as a gift, from day 1 if the included trolley jack isn't in a puddle of Jack oil it's because its run out of oil.

Also avoid axle stands with a ratchet mechanism, they are very convenient but when they wear and fail they do it spectacularly (see YouTube), the pin type arent as adjustable or convenient but preferable all the same.

What?


Ratchet type axle stands do not wear very much unless your lifting them in and down all the time for no reason



Lift lift handle lift to correct height and out locking pin in place where are they going to wear?

If you getting any ammount of wear doing that they must be made form cheese

[ahas]

Chris32345 said:

No jack should ever need fluid especially not regularly ( at least in 10 years or so)


If it needs fluid it's leaking and shouldnt be used

Valid point, our old jacks which were probably not far off 10 years old did that. The jack never give a full or decent lift, was definitely low on hydraulic fluid.
But agree, no longer used and I have a shiny better one now.

[GreenV8S]

Chris32345 said:

Ratchet type axle stands do not wear very much unless your lifting them in and down all the time for no reason

There was a batch in the news a while back which had a manufacturing fault which resulted in the latches slipping. Maybe those problems blamed on wear were related to that.

[Big Rig]

Bought one of these from Halfords advanced range 2 weeks ago after lots of recommendations on here. Was £90 with a Halfords trade card (very easy to get). 2t, rapid pump and plastic coated wheels so rolls lovely on garage floor.
Was an utter joy to use today taking the rear beam off my car.


https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-workshop/axl...

[anonymous-user]

have an arcan aluminium low profile jack branded as pittsburgh, even that is not low profile enough to lift up my e91 from its central front jacking point so really get as low profile as you can.
Looking at the sgs site i would probably go for the 2.5t low profile TJ2.5LP jack