Floor jack grease

[joel96]

Pretty sure I'm buying a JEGS 80006 floor jack. I'd like to buy everything at once (and also plug the floor jack topic, since it keeps dying), grease, grease gun, jack, chocks, etc..
The online instructions say to apply grease about once a month, or as needed, and to use general purpose grease. One YT'er recommended Coastal Marine grease. I think any grease with waterproofing and low-temperature performance would be best (from what I've read so far, aluminium and Calcium Sulfonate are what I should look for). The weather can't be trusted to not go below -23 C in the next week; it's going to be stored in a garage eventually, which means temperature exposure in a non-insulated environment.
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/80006/10002/-1

Hydraulic fluid isn't important, since if it's leaking, it's going to be because of an external leak and will require servicing that can't be done by the end user (according to the manual, anyway). "Use Chevron Hydraulic Oil AW ISO 32 or its equivalent Unocal Unax AW 150."

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/tech_pdfs_new/Grease_brochure.pdf
Sounds like Calcium-complex would be best, maybe? Thoughts?

 

[anonobomber]

Unless you're jacking up 300 cars a day you could probably go years between greasing and it isn't going to care what grease you put in there so anything you pick is going to be fine.

 

[joel96]

Um, okay, well, if any old grease would work fine, I'd just as soon go with what is reviewed most highly in the general grease category.

I was going to ask about this (since it's low temperature, calcium sulfate, and water-resistant), but it sounds like I won't need it ($19.71 a cartridge).
http://www.amazon.com/Opti-Lube-Severe-S...mplex+cartridge

That said, I'd like to stay away from a non-certified product as a starting point.
https://www.nlgi.org/certifications/product/listing-of-certified-products/
The highest rated certified cartridge is Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease. It's $12.99. I don't like the lack of low-temperature operability at a minimum of 10F, though. Worst case scenario is being stuck in three feet of ice with some repair that has to be done outside for some unforseen purpose and a jack that is squeaky...wait, maybe the temperature thing isn't that big a deal...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000LDJ3XQ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

One problem is that I don't know what the jack's original grease is, and I don't want to mix greases. For example, Redline's 80422 CV-2 has zero reviews below 4 stars; but would it cause incompatibility with the original grease?
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Line-80422-CV-...7659&sr=1-3

 

[user52165]

Grease? I've had my Hein Werner 2 ton jack at least 25 years and never greased it. And some folks say I am OCD about maintenance.

 

[oilboy123]

I'm pretty OCD. My newer Lincoln jack I've had for about 20 years. I have greased it probably about 10 times.

 

[46Harry]

I bought my floor jack from my Mac tool dealer sometime in the late 80's. I grease it a couple of times per year with whatever is in my grease gun. Most people never service their floor jacks and they still work after a couple of decades. Use a good quality multi purpose grease a couple of times per year and the jack will last for many years.

 

[joel96]

What does "good quality" mean? I've been asking which grease to get, and listed several options and a link to an article that has a chart of grease material compositions. What brand and product of MP grease are you recommending, 46Harry? Right now my top pick is Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease.

 

[dlundblad]

The Supertech light duty farm/ automotive will work fine.

 

[46Harry]

Mobil 1 is a top quality grease, don't worry about using it. What I meant by good quality is use a grease that has an NLGI #2 extreme pressure rating which covers many of the greases supplied by the major refiners. Any multi purpose grease suitable for lubricating automotive suspensions and wheel bearings is good for use in floor jacks.

 

[mlatour]

Like the majority of floor jacks, the hydraulics will fail before any pivot points ever wear out.

 

[joel96]

Sounds like I'm going to put off buying Mobil 1 synthetic grease and the Legacy L1325 grease gun until it's been about six to twelve months after purchase, or until I notice a reduction in smoothness of operation or increase in scraping noise.

 

[Leo99]

I have a $35 floor jack that's about 20 years old. Never greased it. Never did anything to it. Works just fine.

 

[Leo99]

What other tools do you have? You don't want to blow your budget on a jack and stands. Two tools I got recently and highly recommend are a Sears C3 cordless impact wrench and an AutoZone clone of a Snap-on flex head ratchet.

 

[joel96]

I'm not buying a twenty year old jack, I'm buying a new one from a selection of what is available now. But that's what I'm hearing repeatedly--greasing is for commercial garages, not consumers (generally).

I have zero car tools. I don't have a budget; I have a price range, which is intermediate; in other words, I'm trying to get non-entry level junk, and not racing equipment. $300-350 for a jack and stands is reasonable if they're good. I'm going into purchasing with the mindset of finding out what is good and what isn't, rather than trying to set things to a budget and buying poorly built and designed products that won't give a good return on the investment. If spending the amount of the purchase price of the car is what it takes to get it fixed and maintained, I don't really have much of a choice. If I'm spending $90 a year on a new jack, isn't going to be as good of an investment compared to buying a $260 jack like JEGS' 3 ton aluminum one.

 

[Leo99]

I'm not trying to sell you my old jack. I'm pointing out that I've gotten 20 years of service from it and you don't need to spend a lot to get a serviceable jack and stands. My entry level junk has served me well.

I'll keep an eye out for your upcoming posts in the tool section.

 

[totegoat]

I use Chevron EP-2 grease.

 

[Oro_O]

I am eyeballing that jack in your original post and at the same trime looking at the 2.5 ton Arcan unit on the other side of the garage. They are 100% identical and appear to have come off the same Chinese assembly line. Except the Arcan is $99 everyday at Costco...

Harbor Freight also sells the same unit under a different re-brand name and sometimes on sale for even less.

 

[Silverado12]

alum jack

Save your money. BTW I had a bad experience from Jegs. Summit Racing is better to order from.

 

[Silverado12]

even cheaper alum jack

This is really all you need unless you're lifting something very heavy. I have a 1 1/2 ton for my pickup truck and car and it's about 15 years old. It was 20 bucks at the parts store at the time and is basically "entry level junk".

 

[Silverado12]

my jack


This is basically what I have been using for the past 15 years, except mine isn't even this nice. It still works like it did when new, and I use it quite a bit. I can totally understand the need to get an aluminum jack, though.