Most people think that automotive floor jacks are all the same and when I first got into cars I probably would of agreed with them. They all had a similar shape and look. They all came in a few popular colors. They all even cost about the same. The thing was after I had purchased my first automotive floor jack I started to realize that even though it looked just like other floor jacks I had used it definitely didn’t work like them. Here are a few things to look at when picking out your first jack to make sure you get the best one possible.
- Material – You have two popular materials that I’d say 95% of all jacks are made from, steel and aluminum. Most cheaper jacks are made from steel because it’s a cheaper metal to get than aluminum. The downside to steel is that it’s a lot heavier and there for a smaller steel jack will weigh more than a much larger aluminum version. The downside to aluminum however is that because the metal costs more, aluminum floor jacks cost more. In my opinion they are worth the extra cost however.
- Pump To Travel Ratio – The what?! All automotive floor jacks aren’t created equal when it comes to how much the jack will rise based on one full pump. The more expensive the floor jack is, the more the arm will raise up with a single pump. This comes in handy more than you could possibly imagine. Instead of having to pump, pump, pump over and over just to get the jack to the bottom of the car you can pump once and it’s to the bottom of the car, another two or three pumps and a good automotive floor jack will already have a car or truck tire off the ground. This isn’t an advertised number however so it’s something you’ll have to test on each of the floor jacks you look at.
- Name Brand – This is a tough one for me because I own both a no name and a popular brand name of automotive floor jacks and mine both work great. I have quite a few friends that that while working in their garage with a cheaper jack have found them to leak over time and eventually fail much sooner than the name brand counterpart.
The only other big thing I’d look at is to make sure any of the automotive floor jacks you are looking at can actually jack up your car. The jacks are rated in tons of weight they can hold, most are between two and three tons which should be plenty for any standard car. Guys with a truck or larger vehicle though so check to see if their automotive floor jack is strong enough to raise and hold their vehicle.
You’re probably curious how I know so much about automotive floor jacks or maybe you’re just curious what floor jacks I actually own. If I was reading a site with a ton of information about anything I’d want to know where the writer got their expertise. Below is a quick list of the jacks I own and how they’ve worked out for me over the years.
- One Craftsman 3 Ton Jack – This is the main floor jack we use when we need just one. It’s extremely heavy, was fairly expensive, and works very well. If you are only going to get one automotive jack this is the one to buy. I even write a review about it in an earlier post.
- Two Harbor Freight 2 Ton Jacks – These guys were Christmas presents from my Dad and they are actually my favorite automotive floor jacks. They are only 2 ton jacks which are fine, but they are 100% aluminum which makes them so incredibly light it’s just amazing. They also are some of the lowest floor jacks I’ve ever used. For example my brother has a Honda Civic that is lowered just a bit, but the front bumper is extremely close to the group and this jack slides right under it without any problems at all. These jacks do have a downside however and that’s quality of the piston used on them. It’s in my experience that if you are careful using them they last a lot longer, but rough use will shorten the lifespan considerably and they will start to leak.
- Two Craftsman 2 Ton Jacks – These automotive floor jacks are pretty old and they both work very well even after 5 years of constant rough use. They have never leaked, not worked, or had a single problem. The problem with these automotive jacks is that the pump to lift ratio is really really really short. You pump multiple times and the jack only raises up 1 inch. It’s not a disadvantage as much as a point to let people know about. The quality of this floor jack is amazing though and both have been very reliable.
Five floor jacks may seem like a lot, but when you’ve got a garage that my Dad, brother and I all use quite often, having that many really is a nice thing to have. You’re probably wondering why we don’t just have 5 floor jacks that are all the exact same model, etc. The reason is each automotive floor jack has a distinct advantage that is unique to that jack and helpful when working on certain cars.
The more you get into working on cars the more you realize the advantage of owning multiple automotive floor jacks. In my case I actually own so many I’m a little embarrassed to say the exact number, but it’s close to 5 for sure. The funny thing is now that I’ve got that many there are times when having that extra automotive jack can really come in handy.
One perfect example is when I was swapping out a transmission on my Acura Integra race car last year. I used two automotive jacks to raise the car rather high up off the ground on both front/side jack points. At this point I could of slid jack stands under the car and set the car down on them, giving me both floor jacks back, but since I had the extra ones I didn’t have to worry about it. I still put the stands under there for safety, but then grabbed my extra floor jacks.
Now I can support the actual motor with one jack and a 2×4 of wood long enough to loosen all of the motor mounts and remove the ones attached to the transmission. That last open jack is perfect for sliding under the transmission as we removed it from the motor. Now instead of having to lug the transmission down to the floor, taking a chance of hurting ourselves or dropping the transmission and chipping the case, we could let the automotive floor jack take the weight and slowly lower the transmission to the floor, then tug on the jack to easily slide it from under the car.
I have some friends who don’t like doing it this way because they say it’s faster to just grab on to the transmission and pull it out, but when it comes to safety and doing things right, those extra floor jacks really did help. It’s important to note that not all of my automotive floor jacks are really high end expensive ones. The ones I used to let the transmission down for example was an extremely cheap 1 ton jack that I got for around $35 dollars.
I did spend quite a bit on 2 of the jacks I used though simply because when it comes down to being under the car, I want to make sure I’ve got a floor jack I can trust holding the car up. Same goes for the jack stands. I have two sets. One cheap set and one really nice steel set with large holding teeth so I know it can take the weight of even the heaviest trucks. So there you have my quick story on why I have way to many automotive floor jacks.