Trolley Jack recommendations

[85Carrera]

My SGS trolley jack has just failed as I was jacking up the Triumph, which was not a pleasant experience. Fortunately, no damage appears to have been done to the car.

Which means I am looking for a new one. Needs to be low profile to get under a Caterham.

Be grateful for any suggestions.

[Roon205]

Interesting you say this my low profile 3 tonne jack failed recently the seal blew and left its contents on my garage floor. Only 14 months old and only ever lifted a sub 800 kilo car for weekend tinkering.

Customer service was shocking. Basically oh well seals fail well sell you a new one or a new jack... sorry but we don’t care our product has failed prematurely.

As for a new one. Couple of friends have draper units and they’ve not seen a problem and don’t break the bank.

[eltax91]

Get down to CostCo and buy their Arcan racing jack. Low entry, well made, I’m very impressed with mine.

[ChevronB19]

Used a Clarke low entry aluminium race jack for years, both at circuits and in the garage, giving it heavy abuse, never let me down (ha).

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-ctj1250ab-1...

[p4cks]

How timely! My SGS one fked last weekend too (after maybe 8-10 uses) so I’m also in the market for a new one, not from SGS I hasten to add.

[HazzaCrawf]

Before I opened this thread I was about to suggest the SGS jack that I have. Never mind

I also now don’t want to use it in case it now fails like everyone else’s!

[Oilchange]

Bloke I knew had an ally jack, fell to bits at Silverstone, I literally had to do up all the bolts holding it together before he used it or the car would have come down on the brake discs mid wheel change if he'd even got that far. Bloody health hazard!
I've got a cheap steel jack from Halfords (I think) decade old and still perfectly serviceable.

[GreenV8S]

Oilchange said:

the car would have come down on the brake discs mid wheel change if he'd even got that far.

You would have let him work on a car that was only supported by a hydraulic jack?

A hydraulic jack is a tool for lifting the car onto stands, not for supporting it while you work on it.

[eltax91]

GreenV8S said:

Oilchange said:

the car would have come down on the brake discs mid wheel change if he'd even got that far.

You would have let him work on a car that was only supported by a hydraulic jack?

A hydraulic jack is a tool for lifting the car onto stands, not for supporting it while you work on it.

Doesn’t sound like he was under it. More doing a wheel change. Perhaps for more track favourable tyres.

Let’s be honest, for speed at a track event whonis using axle stands? I taken it you carry one everywhere you go so you don’t have to use your scissor jack to change a flat?

[alabbasi]

I bought 2 arcan jacks from Costco. One is all steel red and the other one is steel aluminum hybrid. I think that they also sell them in the UK. Great jacks for the price.

https://www.costco.co.uk/Tyres-Automotive/Automoti...

I've owned the one above since about 2010 and it's been a good jack that's lifted just about everything that I own which is mostly very heavy without breaking a sweat.

Edited by alabbasi on Sunday 4th August 15:05

[normalbloke]

This, end of. Had mine for 5 years, and regularly gets used under the lower stuff in my life.

[Oilchange]

GreenV8S said:

You would have let him work on a car that was only supported by a hydraulic jack?

A hydraulic jack is a tool for lifting the car onto stands, not for supporting it while you work on it.

Er, no I don't think I would have ‘let’ him but then I’m not responsible for everyone else in the paddock, thanks.
I just happened to spot his jack was falling to bits.

Above looks like a solid bit of kit, for some reason I don’t trust the aluminium stuff...

Edited by Oilchange on Sunday 4th August 17:23

[GreenV8S]

Oilchange said:

Er, no I don't think I would have ‘let’ him but then I’m not responsible for everyone else in the paddock, thanks.

The way you worded the post I quoted, you "literally had to" to stop it collapsing on him. My point is that doing up the bolts did not make the jack safe.

[Oilchange]

GreenV8S said:

The way you worded the post I quoted, you "literally had to" to stop it collapsing on him. My point is that doing up the bolts did not make the jack safe.

No, look I saw literally all the bolts loose. So i did them up before he used it. Not that i saw him use it, I just expected he would having brought a spare set of wheels..
Anyway, tried to be a good samaritan so ...

[normalbloke]

Oilchange said:

GreenV8S said:

You would have let him work on a car that was only supported by a hydraulic jack?

A hydraulic jack is a tool for lifting the car onto stands, not for supporting it while you work on it.

Er, no I don't think I would have ‘let’ him but then I’m not responsible for everyone else in the paddock, thanks.
I just happened to spot his jack was falling to bits.

Above looks like a solid bit of kit, for some reason I don’t trust the aluminium stuff...

Edited by Oilchange on Sunday 4th August 17:23

It is. I’ve certainly taken the biscuit with it over the years. I’ve been down the road of Ali jacks back in my Caterham days, if you plan to replace them every year and throw the old one in the bin, then great.

[Coilspring]

Never had any issues with the sgs garage jacks. Used daily, on everything including big vans.

I buy 1every year, never had reason to complain.

[85Carrera]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Obviously, I won’t be going anywhere near SGS again but the green Sealey one looks like a good option.

[illmonkey]

85Carrera said:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Obviously, I won’t be going anywhere near SGS again but the green Sealey one looks like a good option.

I’ve got one, after going through several cheaper halford ones and it’s a good unit. I’ve only used it once on a E60 touring, and it was great.

I’d started a similar topic previously, and it was either that or SGS that was recommended, as here I got bad feedback for the SGS, so went Sealey.

ETA: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by illmonkey on Sunday 4th August 21:34

[Faust66]

ChevronB19 said:

Used a Clarke low entry aluminium race jack for years, both at circuits and in the garage, giving it heavy abuse, never let me down (ha).

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-ctj1250ab-1...

Had one of these for a few years - excellent bit of kit and I'd really recommend them.

[Welshbeef]

alabbasi said:

I bought 2 arcan jacks from Costco. One is all steel red and the other one is steel aluminum hybrid. I think that they also sell them in the UK. Great jacks for the price.

https://www.costco.co.uk/Tyres-Automotive/Automoti...

I've owned the one above since about 2010 and it's been a good jack that's lifted just about everything that I own which is mostly very heavy without breaking a sweat.

Edited by alabbasi on Sunday 4th August 15:05

I’ve one of these too has over a decade it’s great.