What are Jacks? How to Use Them?
In this day and age being independent is very important. Everyone must know most of the stuff to handle on their own and everyone is pretty much capable of it too. Why depend on another human being when you can handle yourself alright right?
Sewing shirt buttons to repairing old bikes; people do all kinds of stuff themselves now. But some things must be left to the professionals. What if in our confidence with the self-experimentation we just worsen things up?
Let’s take car repairs for an example you wouldn’t want to spend your weekend car ride picnic with the failed attempt of modifications, tweaks and repairs, right? Although, simple tasks like puncture repair can save you a lot of money and toughen you up in this up and rising world. What if you’re in a condition where your car gets punctured in the center of nowhere and you can’t call mechanic around here anywhere due to bad reception. You must be skilled enough to handle such situations with ease. And what a guy or girl will do if he/she doesn’t know their tools.
So here today you’ll learn about a core tool required for such petty repairs of your dear car.
Today’s discussion is about best floor jacks.
What Are Floor Jacks?
First, let’s see what is a floor jack? A floor jack is a mechanical device used to lift heavy loads (Heavy Duty Floor Jack). A floor jack is a jack used to lift up vehicles to perform repairs underneath it. Floor jacks get such importance in this line of work because you can turn any place into a mechanic shop by lifting you heavy cars with just this device and do wonders with this. It is mostly used for modifications by car hippies.
Warning: always work with caution when working with floor jacks. Heavy duty floor jack lift very heavy loads and can be dangerous if handled hastily and carelessly. For a safe working environment always keep in mind the proper way to use the floor jacks. Always remember there is a specified limit of each floor jack. You mustn’t exceed it at any costs because it could be dangerous and there can be chances of it losing all of the weight and dropping it on you and cause severe injuries while working.
How Does A Floor Jack Work?
Commonly known as the troll jacks or service jacks for their portability, they are used for lighter stuff comparatively ranging from 1-3 tons of weight. They are easy to use and store. They are generally designed to be lightweight and compact because they are mostly used in vehicles and must be easily carriable. There are mechanical floor jack, hydraulic floor jacks and electrical jacks.
Mechanical jacks work on the principle same as the screw their simple goal is to lift the object whereas their hydraulic floor jacks counterparts lift heavier stuff, are more powerful and work on the basic application of Pascal’s law of hydraulic pressure.
Uses, types, and Features:-
As mentioned above many times basic use of floor jacks is to live heavier stuff which normal human isn’t able to lift otherwise by himself. Various kinds of jacks are used for variable purposes like –
Floor Jacks (mechanical jacks)– They are used for lifting vehicles to change for spare tires, attend repairs underneath the cars basically. They don’t lift the whole car completely at once but a part of it is lifted so as the mechanic to slide underneath it and work on its maintenance.
Hydraulic Floor Jacks– They are stronger more powerful in terms of the amount of weight they can lift. They can list complete cars according to their limits and are used in certain car washes. Heavy duty floor jacks are also used in various kinds of elevators and cranes to lift heavy objects.
Electric Jack– Electric jacks are weakest of the lot. They are used in general household to lift lighter objects when compared to the other two and they are known as House Floor Jack. They can lift sofas to clean the floor beneath them. Some electric these days are powerful enough to slightly lift cars for tire exchange, so as to prevent a manual working load of the mechanic.
Buying a Floor Jack:-
While buying a Floor Jack attend to your needs accordingly. don’t buy heavier bigger jacks just so you can lift heavier stuff. They’re more difficult to operate and more dangerous to handle. Bottle jacks and whiskey jacks these days are used in quite a lot of households to uplift normal daily household objects as House Floor Jack, whereas floor jack the mechanical ones, of 1.5ton capacity are enough for most of the vehicles to lift for a tire change. Small Floor Jack is the best floor jacks for crawl spaces to slide underneath for repairing your vehicle or best low-profile floor jacks to lift vehicle enough for small changes like tire puncture repair.
You can even go for electrical floor jacks to prevent manual labor. But the best floor jacks for your truck would require more capacity of load it can handle because trucks are heavier and require more force to lift against gravity. The Truck floor jack to lift your truck must have the capacity of at least 3 tons (Floor Jacks 3 Ton) for the smaller ones and up to 12 tons for bigger, larger trucks. Study properly the maintenance, safety features and limit capacity of the floor jack before buying. Also, look for portability and size that fits most of your needs. You will need a Small Floor Jack to be able to keep in your vehicle in case of emergency tire exchange but strong enough so as to not risk your life and health while repairing.
How to use a floor jack?
A floor jack is most commonly used to lift one corner of the car or truck from the ground and crawl under it slightly for repairing. Take proper safety measures and wear proper safety kit while working for the first-time use gloves to protect your hands from scraping while pumping. And sturdy footwear to stand firmly on the ground with friction and prevent injuries by slipping. Inspect the area below and the floor jack before working to prevent any accidents from happening. Check the jack’s lifting weight capacity and remove additional weight and passengers from the vehicle. Here is a step by step guide to how to do so-
Step 1 –
Park your car in an even surface preferably on asphalt or concrete properly for better grip and stability of the vehicle while lifting the car. Also, check for ongoing traffic because the repair might take some time and it would cause the other drivers’ difficulty if you stopped your car in between and started repairing it on the spot.
Step 2 –
Then put bricks or pieces of wood in front of each tire that does not need to be lifted, so as to prevent the car from sliding off. They are also called wheel chocks. Shake your car and check if it’s stable and not just moving easily without a large amount of force to prevent any mishaps while performing the following steps.
Step 3 –
Mark the jack points as different cars have different jack points search the car manuals for their proper location they must be easily identifiable. Usually, these points are on the edge. Don’t worry if you don’t have the manual you can always check on the internet for tutorials and find the right points near your tires to life the car. People more often than not skip this part and increase the chances of an accident when the jack is wrongly placed and isn’t sturdy enough to balance.
Step 4 –
Slide the floor jack slowly under the area to be lifted from the ground and position it firmly so that it doesn’t fall or slide while the car is up. The saddle of the jack must be directly in contact with the car frame. Don’t proceed to the next step before taking all the safety measures and checking the slightest details. The whole car can fall on you so take proper safety measures.
Step 5 –
Mark the lift point and start pumping the handle slowly and cautiously if it’s a mechanical floor jack or rotates the handle if it’s of the other type. Lift the car to a limited height required don’t take it to the maximum height if unnecessary it could damage the jack and the car can just fall off. If the jack is misplaced by mistake you can always redo the whole process safely again.
Step 6 –
Attend to the repairs and slowly jack the jack down by rotating the handle in the opposite direction as before and when reached the bottom remove it and your repairs are successful.
FAQ About Floor Jacks:
Do I need a Best 3 Ton Floor jack?
Buy the floor jacks according to your needs. Most cars require 1-2 ton floor jacks only, but some heavy SUV’s and mini trucks require best 3 ton floor jack to 10 ton floor jack according to their weight standards. But the best part is, 3 ton aluminum floor jack is standard for all the small vehicles.
Which is a best Truck Floor Jack? 6 Ton Floor Jack vs 10 Ton Floor Jack vs 5 Ton Floor Jack?
If you are planning to buy Truck Floor Jack, then at first check the size of your truck, then decide about below sizes:-
- 4 ton floor jack
- 5 ton floor jack
- 6 ton floor jack
- 10 ton floor jack
What is the best floor jack?
It depends on your needs, on your vehicle’s weight, on your capabilities. Some people prefer manual while some prefer electric jacks. Furthermore, there are steel jacks and aluminum floor jacks with different limitations and uses.
Steel Jack vs Aluminum Floor Jack. What should I buy?
We all know steel is more durable than aluminum and has higher density, that means when you compare both of them of the same dimensions the steel one would be heavier but with similar capabilities. This may be a problem for some users because the prefer portability. But on the other hand, steel jacks are stronger so they have higher weight lifting limitations and are certainly more durable and reliable Another reason to prefer aluminum over steel is that aluminum floor jack doesn’t corrode and it can be dyed hence offer a larger range of color selection. But don’t think aluminum to be any weaker.
There are different grades of aluminum study and buy accordingly. You may think that steel jacks must be cheaper because steel is cheaper than aluminum but that’s not the case here. They might have similar pricing but it’s up to you what do you prefer portability or durability?
Which Car Floor Jack should i buy?
Best Floor Jacks come with quality and durability, but you should always check your requirement of Car Floor Jack.
Most of the SUV requires high lift floor jack, but for sedans you can buy low profile floor jack. We have updated a list below:-
For Small Cars (low profile floor jack):-
- 1 Ton Floor Jack
- 2 Ton Floor Jack
- 2.5 Ton Floor Jack
For SUV Cars (High Lift Floor Jack):-
- 2 Ton Floor Jack
- 2.5 Ton Floor Jack
- 3 Ton Floor Jack
- 3.5 Ton Floor Jack
- 4 ton floor jack