Jacks

[griffiths_r]

Hi All

Just looking at getting a jack... as the original one is pretty useless!

I liked the look of the ones that were being used down at PI for the 6hr... they seemed to lift the car up a fair way (i have access to a small trolley jack, but there is no way it'd lift the car up far enough).

Any ideas? Brands? Costs?

Thanks

Rich

[alexwebster]

Trolley jacks are available from a variety of places. The bigger ones can be heavy, but you can get the alloy ones. I know that Jocaro were selling them... they were not cheap though but they are a lot lighter than the steel ones.

[e72phil]

Rich, the alloy ones are nice but expensive as Alex says. Why not just visit repco or supercheap and check out their smaller trolley jacks.

best to also invest in the fitting that goes in the side jack recepticle on the 911 and jack frm that point which lifts the whole side of the car. Make sure there is no rust around it though as this can get ugly if it bends or fails.

Also make sure you use a piece of soft wood or rubber if you sue a trolley jack under one of the corners of temain floor pan and always locate the jack under a rigid edge of the corner so as not to buckle the floor pan.

[griffiths_r]

Alex/Phil

Thanks. Think I will go to repco and see what cheap versions they have... if it has castors I am not too worried on how much it weighs. More worried about how high it lifts...? Alex how high do your jacks go? 50cm seems like a good estimate of what I'd like... but not seeing much from my google searches unless i look for "truck" jacks...

Cheers

Rich

[Andrew Vidler]

Rich,
I had the big black trolley jack at PI, weighs a tonne but hi-lifting and also low when depressed so you can get under a low spot if required. I got it for the whole sum of $99 at East Coast Auto on North Road about 3 months ago. I looked at the alloys one but at around $600-800 couldnt really justify for the odd weekend job.

I also cut a small piece of timber (45mm x 140mm x 140mm structural pine) and put a groove in it, which now fits nicely under and across the jacking point on the car, spreads the weight and doesn't put all that leverage pressure on the jacking point. Also allows higher jacking. I also routered out the other side so that the piece of wood fits well & tight on the round jacking head plate on the jack (if that makes sense). All works great!

AV

[alexwebster]

cannot remember how high it goes, but you would be lucky to get 50cm, although they would be close. I little bit of 4x2 or something similar get it up the extra that you need!!

[Paul W]

Rich like you I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the stock factory jack, which now resides in the shed. In the car I have a scissor jack that I use in conjunction with a plate, which goes into the standard jack fitting on the car. At home I use a trolley jack and jack stands.

[Terminator]

Rich thats your head and chest your fooling with "DO NOT" buy a cheap one spend the money for quality it may just save your life and buy the 4 jack stands at the same time!!!!

[griffiths_r]

Clyde
yep you're right on that score! was always my intention to get the jack stands - my father has told me enough stories of people being trapped/killed under cars etc to use stands, chock the wheels etc... and NEVER rely on the jack (when physically under the car)...

Thanks for the advice guys - will go to repco on the weekend and have a look at what they have...

Cheers

Rich

[griffiths_r]

OK, so I don't do anything quickly...

Thought I would finished off this thread. I have managed to acquire an aluminium jack off ebay. I had a look at a few steel jacks and was really not impressed that I couldn't lift the damn things (most weighed in excess of 50kgs!!!!).

There seems to be a huge range of aluminium jacks out there. Some reasonably priced, some definitely not... The jack I bought is manufactured in China (aren't they all?) for an engineering company called SPI. The jack is also rebadged and sold by other companies (not sure which though - but seems like a very common practice). The jacks starting price was $225 (which is what I paid), but they have gone as high as $400... not a lot for an alum jack really... It has a huge lifting range, quite a good lifting capacity (sufficient excess capacity to allow for accidents and miscalculations), and it also has a large footprint (which will hopefully make it harder for it to fall over when under load)...

The specs are:
Safe Working Load: 2,000kgs
Weight: 24kgs
Lifting range: 95mm - 546mm (!!!!)
Dimensions: 710mm x 310mm x 152mm

Here are some photos. You can also see the cast iron jack stands in the back ground which should hold a couple of tons each... so we won't be relying on the jacks quality, although the jack it seems pretty well made...

Cheers

Rich

[CamBiscuit]

Ahhhh happiness is a new (porsche related) tool...!!