Floor jack question

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 21, 2004
Messages
29,514
Location
Near the beach in Delaware
On a floor jack is the jack itself suppose to roll a little during lifting? Since the saddle does not go straight up like a bottle jack does.

I am seldom on a concrete floor and often the thing being jacked moves slightly.

Maybe I need to use a bottle jack more often outside.

Normally the floor jack is on some 2x6 scraps if its outside.
 
Last edited:
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira
 
Yes it should.

Say you make a 45° angle with the jack just before it makes contact with the vehicle. As the jack goes up, the angle increases. This will cause the adjacent side (the base with the wheels) to be pushed back to adjust for the constantly changing force from the vehicle.

If you use a floor jack on gravel, but stop just as the wheel comes off the ground, you'll be fine. If you have to get it a certain height to clear some stands, I would use a bottle jack or try to find a concrete pad.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira


I just bought another bottle today. Just works better in my dirt driveway. A small 3 or 4 ton, and now a taller 12 ton--need that extra extension to lift my truck. [The 3 ton was at its max extension, all of 5" of range--just barely enough.]
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: Kira
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira


I just bought another bottle today. Just works better in my dirt driveway. A small 3 or 4 ton, and now a taller 12 ton--need that extra extension to lift my truck. [The 3 ton was at its max extension, all of 5" of range--just barely enough.]


A supply of pressure treated 2x6 scraps helps also. While I would not go 10 high, 3 to 4 will be fine.
 
To those of you that use a bottle jack, do you use anything between the lifting pad and the frame? I don't particularity care for how small the diameter is on them.
 
I think it matters what your jacking. If the surface is flat (like a truck frame) you can toss a 2x4 between the jack and frame. If you have pinch welds you need something to accept the pinch weld. Maybe a pinch weld adapter (one you buy) or a 4x4 with a slot cut in it for the pinch weld.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I think it matters what your jacking. If the surface is flat (like a truck frame) you can toss a 2x4 between the jack and frame. If you have pinch welds you need something to accept the pinch weld. Maybe a pinch weld adapter (one you buy) or a 4x4 with a slot cut in it for the pinch weld.


A pack of hockey pucks and a cutting disc and you can make pinch weld adapters for your whole neighborhood.
 
I use a hockey puck without a slot cut in it on my floor jack for the pinch welds on our vehicles and it works fine.

All you're really trying to do is spread the force more evenly on the pinch weld and keep the jack's metal saddle from damaging it. You don't really need a slot in the hockey puck for that.
 
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
I use a hockey puck without a slot cut in it on my floor jack for the pinch welds on our vehicles and it works fine.

All you're really trying to do is spread the force more evenly on the pinch weld and keep the jack's metal saddle from damaging it. You don't really need a slot in the hockey puck for that.


The real idea is to jack the car up using the body on either side of the pinch weld. That is what the factory jack does, and it is the most stable and least damaging way to jack a vehicle.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
I use a hockey puck without a slot cut in it on my floor jack for the pinch welds on our vehicles and it works fine.

All you're really trying to do is spread the force more evenly on the pinch weld and keep the jack's metal saddle from damaging it. You don't really need a slot in the hockey puck for that.




The real idea is to jack the car up using the body on either side of the pinch weld. That is what the factory jack does, and it is the most stable and least damaging way to jack a vehicle.


When I looked closely at the Subaru jack they only contact the inside section of the body by the pinch weld, not the pinch weld itself or outside section.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW

The real idea is to jack the car up using the body on either side of the pinch weld. That is what the factory jack does, and it is the most stable and least damaging way to jack a vehicle.

On vehicles I've owned in recent years, the factory jack does not lift on the body on either side of the pinch weld, it lifts on a pinch weld itself. And, the pinch weld in that area is reinforced for the purposes of lifting the vehicle.

So, it may depend on the application. On my vehicles, cutting a slot in the hockey puck would not really be a benefit.
 
Would nice nice if things were consistent. You can be sure an Indy shop will use their 4 pad lift on the pinch weld and not have any adapter.

Pinch welds get bent by lifting however sometimes.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira


Show me a bottle Jack that fits easily under the Jack point of a modern sedan, please!

Bottle jacks are too tall for many applications...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Kira
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira


Show me a bottle Jack that fits easily under the Jack point of a modern sedan, please!

Bottle jacks are too tall for many applications...


Found out this weekend that my small 3 ton bottle would not go under my camry--not with a flat anyhow. If I dug down, sure. Luckily I had my small floor jack handy, really didn't want to deal with the scissors jack.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Kira
You got it! Jacks move a bit (sometimes quite a lot) so waddaya gotta do?

YOU MUST EXERCISE CAUTION WHENEVER YOU EMPLOY A JACK (Jane Safety here...)

Ironically, given the toil of dragging a floor jack to many an outside location, I'm surprised I don't use a bottle jack more often. Kira


Show me a bottle Jack that fits easily under the Jack point of a modern sedan, please!

Bottle jacks are too tall for many applications...


Found out this weekend that my small 3 ton bottle would not go under my camry--not with a flat anyhow. If I dug down, sure. Luckily I had my small floor jack handy, really didn't want to deal with the scissors jack.
Gee whiz Supton, use your Yankee ingenuity. To gain height run the car up on a couple pieces of 2x what evers. I use wood to pad when I use bottle jacks. or lifting the car at its jack points. I had a little Taiwanese floor jack that I ran on plywood. After 25 yrs of abuse, it wore out. So I splurged on a 3 ton from HF. Wotta beast. So I use the 2 ton and 4 ton bottles more..
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
Gee whiz Supton, use your Yankee ingenuity. To gain height run the car up on a couple pieces of 2x what evers. I use wood to pad when I use bottle jacks. or lifting the car at its jack points. I had a little Taiwanese floor jack that I ran on plywood. After 25 yrs of abuse, it wore out. So I splurged on a 3 ton from HF. Wotta beast. So I use the 2 ton and 4 ton bottles more..
grin2.gif



Wrong direction. Bottle jack too tall--I'd have to dig a hole, or drive the flat tire onto blocks of wood--at the time, I was trying to not kill the dead-flat tire. Needed a low profile jack for this one occasion--every other time I've had four fully inflated tires, and the bottle jack was fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top