Floor jack cup - what the hell?

Floor jack cup - what the hell?

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Original Poster:

140 posts

97 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
Consider this a newbie question.

I have a cheapish floor jack very similar to this
http://cimg3.ibsrv.net/cimg/www.doityourself.com/6...

Is has a nasty cup type thing as the actual lifting point.

I’ve seen a lot of floor jacks [more expensive ones] which are just flat.

What is the purpose of the cup style?

I used it yesterday with a hockey puck on top, it worked ok but the puck din’t look right sitting on top of an uneven cup.

Please tell me this cup is for delivery purposes only or something like that.

r11co

6,244 posts

230 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
I think the idea is that a cup lessens the likelihood of the vehicle rolling off the jack.

I'm with you though - a rubber pad is a more effective 'brake' IMO. I have a similar jack and I have trimmed down the puck to fit inside the cup. I also have shaped rubber inserts that I have made myself that fit into the cup and locate on the jacking points of various cars (including a deep slotted one for jacking on sills and a block that fits BMWs).

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 18th January 12:47

Krikkit

26,529 posts

181 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
They're good if you're jacking a car up on a circular-section area, e.g. a differential casing, suspension arm etc, because they won't fall out of the cup. When using a trolley jack and getting towards the end of its reach, the horizontal forces to move the jack around are pretty significant.

If in doubt I use a block of wood/rubber on mine, but I prefer one with a claw per the OP for less stable components.

paintman

7,689 posts

190 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
Suggest you look on ebay & Machine Mart for pictures of trolley jacks & you'll see most have a cup shaped saddle.
Whilst it doesn't look ideal for jacking on completely flat surfaces, on curves & tubes etc it will stop the jack sliding around. If the top was completely flat there would be a high risk of slippage.
The cup on my big jack is easily removable by pulling an R-clip from the pin & lifting it off - I have a couple of specialised gearbox adapters that go in place - but I wouldn't consider using the flat top that's revealed.
Any number of puck-shaped rubbers or thick rubber sheet on ebay for under £5 delivered.

f1nn

2,693 posts

192 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
Slightly off topic, there are rubber "adaptors" available for many cars.

I know for the BMW E9x chassis range (and perhaps it's the same for all modern BMW's) there is a keyed rubber puck which slots into the box shaped jacking points on the sill, as I bought one and it works very well.

Riley Blue

20,965 posts

226 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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swisstoni

17,016 posts

279 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
f1nn said:
Slightly off topic, there are rubber "adaptors" available for many cars.

I know for the BMW E9x chassis range (and perhaps it's the same for all modern BMW's) there is a keyed rubber puck which slots into the box shaped jacking points on the sill, as I bought one and it works very well.
Good to know. I looked for something like this a few years ago and there wasn't much but overpriced hockey pucks.

Toyoda

1,557 posts

100 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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Riley Blue said:
The problem with all of those jackpads is that you will not find one that fits the mini cup on those mini jacks as in the OP. I used a guy on ebay called cav.mar1 who made a puck to fit one of these mini jacks. Got mine with a slit in it to fit on the sill jacking point.

shakotan

10,704 posts

196 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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The 'castellations' on the cup are to prevent the car from sliding off when jacked up on a pinch weld-style jacking point on a sill.

PositronicRay

27,034 posts

183 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
My car has rubber pads on the jacking points, cup trolley jacks work perfectly and nice and secure. I have 1/2 rubber ball that just fits the cup perfectly, just the job if I'm jacking on a cross member.

BigLion

1,497 posts

99 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
quotequote all
Toyoda said:
Riley Blue said:
The problem with all of those jackpads is that you will not find one that fits the mini cup on those mini jacks as in the OP. I used a guy on ebay called cav.mar1 who made a puck to fit one of these mini jacks. Got mine with a slit in it to fit on the sill jacking point.
Sometimes you just have to say puck it and look elsewhere...

Moviestar

72 posts

130 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
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Toyoda said:
Riley Blue said:
The problem with all of those jackpads is that you will not find one that fits the mini cup on those mini jacks as in the OP. I used a guy on ebay called cav.mar1 who made a puck to fit one of these mini jacks. Got mine with a slit in it to fit on the sill jacking point.
Hi all yep he made some for me as well only took a couple of days and there perfect:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/trolleyjackingpads

shakotan

10,704 posts

196 months

Saturday 7th July 2018
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Holy thread resurrection, Batman!