How to buy the best floor jack for your garage

How to buy the best floor jack for your garage

A floor jack is an essential tool for anyone who works on vehicles, whether you’re a professional mechanic or a DIY enthusiast. Choosing the right floor jack can make your tasks easier, safer, and more efficient. This guide will walk you through the important factors to consider when purchasing a floor jack, helping you make an informed decision.

Don’t buy the cheapest floor jack

If you go into this looking for the cheapest floor jack,

Cheap floor jack with a small saddle, low lift, short wheelbase, and small width

you’ll be mighty unhappy. Cheap floor jacks look nice and will lift your car high enough to change a tire, but they’re not very good for doing car maintenance or repairs. Plus, they don’t last very long. They don’t hold up, and when they fail, the first sign is a leak and failure to lift your vehicle to the jack’s maximum height

First, the jack must fit under your vehicle

Car lift points are located behind the rocker panel on cars. That means the jack must have low enough clearance to fit under your rocker panel before you can even start to raise the vehicle. If you’ll be working mainly on cars, look for a low-profile jack. That’s usually listed as “minimum height.” Measure the clearance from the ground to the lift point on your car and buy a jack that will fit that clearance. Minimum heights are not as critical on SUVs, CUVs, and light trucks.

The jack must lift your vehicle high enough to make the repair

What good is a jack that won’t raise your vehicle high enough for you to perform the repair? The cheaper jacks only raise a vehicle by about 14”, while more expensive jacks can raise the vehicle as high as 24”. That’s high enough to remove a transmission.

A jack with a rapid pump is easier to use

Rapid or dual pump raises the jack platform much faster and with fewer handle pumps until it contacts the lift point. For example, a jack with a rapid pump feature may rise from floor level to the lift point with only one or two pumps, while a jack without that feature may require a dozen pumps.

A larger jack saddle is much easier to place and is more secure

Small 2” saddles are much more difficult to place than a larger 4” platform.

Get the largest weight capacity you might need

The price difference between a 2.5-ton and a 3-ton jack is negligible. Don’t risk your safety by buying a floor jack that can’t handle the weight of any vehicle you anticipate working on in the future.

A wider wheelbase provides more stability

A wide wheelbase is more critical if you’re working on asphalt or gravel, than on concrete. The cheap floor jacks can easily tip over on those surfaces while you’re raising the vehicle.

The jack material is an important consideration

Aluminum floor jacks are the easiest to carry and maneuver but cost the most. If you have don’t anticipate having to carry the floor jack, weight isn’t as important. So a steel or even cast iron floor jack would be an ok choice.

©, 2020 Rick Muscoplat