3 ton Floor Jack

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, My floor jack in the garage is pretty well had it for year of use. I am looking decent 3 ton one to replace it. Any suggestions? TIA,

[micky]

If you have a garage, this probably doesnt' apply to you, but i"m sort of sorry I didn't buy -- well, they didnt' sell them then -- one that's about half as long as mine. It has a handle built in, painted red iirc It would be easy to carry compared to mine which is quite heavy.

Or you could get an aluminum one, also lighter but not smaller I think.

Or you could read t his.

BTW, I use mine when I change garbage disposals and when I needed to hold up my deck while I put in new leg 4x4s. It's a great tool for things like that, having nothing to do with a car. For the car, only to hold up he engine when I replaced motor mounts, which turned out to be a failure, because one wasn't really a replacement and the other I couldnt' loosen the old one.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Once I used jack to pull up the old fence post, I have decent compressor in the garage as well and do some works on family vehicles mostly big or small AWD type SUVs. One I was looking at was almost 100 pounds in weight. Looks like Al. ones cost bit more but much lighter. On the look out for one on sale.

[Stormin Mormon]

For quality, try Napa or some other auto parts place. For occasional use, Harbor Freight has sales often enough.

. Christ> Hi,

[Home Guy]

Why are you asking for recommendations for a specific brand, make or model of an item for which the availability will be regionally-variable?

Just go to princess auto or TSC and buy something that's on sale.

[Nate Nagel]

Hein-Werner, if money is no object.

If you have a low to the ground car, the last time I was at a NASCAR event the low profile aluminum jacks that I saw the pit crews using (that I could see branding on) were all Brunnhoelzl, don't know how long they last between rebuilds though.

Otherwise, scrounge garage sales for anything that looks old and quality.

Unfortunately, anything else is a crap shoot these days...

(I wanna go hug my 20 year old Sears floor jack now, I doubt anything at Sears will last as long these days.)

nate

[Nate Nagel]

OK so it looks like you are looking for one of the "racing" jacks

like I said in my previous post Brunnhoelzl is the original good one that will probably last... Made in USA, company based in Mooresville, NC (shocker!) so if it does crap out you can probably get them to send you a seal kit for it... just don't look at the price tag, it'll make your eyes water. Also, they do not list capacity on their web site, but keep in mind that the heaviest thing it's likely designed to lift is one end of a Sprint Cup car, so in a home garage, I would only lift one corner of a large car/SUV at a time, don't try to lift a whole end of anything really big.

If you're more of an occasional user, the knockoffs are all more or less similarly crap, and you could buy a Harbor Freight one every other year for 10 years and come out about even. (they're actually on sale right now for $180)

You pays your money and you takes your chances... but this is one instance where I might go against my natural aversion to cheap products that I know won't last and say that for most people the HF jack is a better buy.

nate

[Nate Nagel]

The question makes perfect sense to me, after a friend bought a "Michelin" branded 3 ton jack and it failed within a year. I'm assuming that Tony is trying to not have a similar experience.

Unfortunately, it seems like the only way to get a quality jack is to spend lots of money, or else find a good old one (Lincoln, Hein-Werner, etc.) and rebuild it yourself, as 99% of the jacks available in the US retail market are made in China.

nate

[Home Guy]

(insert arcane brands of jacks here)

Look.

I picked up a 3-ton garage floor jack from Princess Auto (roughly same as harbor freight) about 7 to 10 years ago. It was probably on sale for

1/2 off, which means I paid $75 to $100 for it.

It weighs 77 lbs, steel wheels, built like a tank.

Simple rule: Durability of a floor jack is directly proportional to it's weight.

Yes, mine was made in China.

If you use enough steel, even the chinese can make a durable floor jack.

[willshak]

[Pete C.]

Oddly enough, hydraulic bottle jacks (and items that utilize them) are some of the more reliable Chinese products. I don't recall having an issue with any of the many Chinese bottle jacks I have or similar items like the Port-o-Power clones.

[micky]

Here's a possibility:

Only $1880.

Or

That light, small, cheap one I told you about isn't being pushed anymore. I didn't find it online and I was in two autoparts stores yesterday, one that had it as the center of a display, and I didn't see it. Maybe it's off the market.

[DerbyDad03]

I bought a 3 ton floor jack off of Craigslist about 3 years ago. $50 well spent.

BTW...what does "pretty well had it" mean? I'm curious to know what to look out for. My jack looks beat, but the lift pad is secure, the hydraulics don't leak and the wheels all work fine. Why do you want to replace yours?

[micky]

Apparently it wasn't good.

No rust at all.

[Nate Nagel]

that's a transmission jack, you should be able to get a decent standard H-W floor jack for a lot less - $3-500 depending on capacity.

nate

[micky]

Ah. I thought it was a floor jack with transmission attachments (that could be removed for other uses.)

I want the one for $3.