Safe automotive uses for bottle jacks?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
16,184
Location
Indiana
Are there any safe automotive uses for bottle jacks?

I could see them being nice for something with a solid axle where the vehicle would be lifted straight up with no flex in the suspension, but you'd also want something that would allow the axle tube to nest in place over the jack.
 
I got a small bottle o jack behind the seat in my truck, and a bigger one that I keep around the house. I might occasionally crawl into a bottle, but I never crawl under one.
whistle.gif
 
My F150 stock jack is a bottle style. It fits under the front and rear axles or knuckles. It's nice, if your suspension can take it, because you aren't unloading the spring in that corner so it goes faster with less effort.
 
I like them for tire changes better than the junky little screw jack that often comes with a vehicle.
 
If you look at any consumer grade floor jack you'll see that they use a bottle jack to do the lifting. It just happens that the housing and the geometry are designed for it.

So a plain vertical bottle jack incurs no different loading characteristics but does lack a proper head for cradling a pinch weld or an axle. I'm sure you can find bottle jack heads that accommodate various needs.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
If you look at any consumer grade floor jack you'll see that they use a bottle jack to do the lifting. It just happens that the housing and the geometry are designed for it.

So a plain vertical bottle jack incurs no different loading characteristics but does lack a proper head for cradling a pinch weld or an axle. I'm sure you can find bottle jack heads that accommodate various needs.


My biggest concern would be the bottle jack not being able to roll like a traditional rolling jack.

With a trolley jack, the jack rolls back with the center of gravity as the lifting arm's angle increases.
 
The wheeled floor jack moves in an arc as it goes up, thus the need roll. The bottle jack goes straight up and down and does not need to roll. The huge foot print and wheels of the floor jack does make it much safer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top