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      02-06-2009, 12:10 PM   #1
ktdw
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Best Hydraulic Jack for the track

I'm sure everyone has some opinions on this. I'm in the market for one, but haven't decided yet. I don't want to spend too much, but it's also important not to go cheap. (I would love to have gotten the AC Hydraulics jack if I was around for the $200 group buy a few years back)

What about racing jack vs. floor jack?
What size jack do we need for our cars?
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      02-06-2009, 12:32 PM   #2
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Race Jack

I have a normal steel jack, and have used it on my 135i, but it's a bit restrictive because it's min height is 120mm. I'm about to buy one of these which will be much better suited. The have a min height of 90mm which is perfect. They are made in Asia (where else) so they should be available world wide. This particular one is from Autobarn in Australia.
You will also need a block to fit in the jack point on the car. I use a piece of wood which seems to work fine.
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      02-09-2009, 12:05 PM   #3
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I've got a Craftsman aluminum low profile jack that I have been using for about 4-5 years now. It has held up excellent, and I have just had to bleed it and top off the fluid a couple times. It isnt very heavy and works great at the track on lowered cars. My favorite part about it, which I think most nicer jacks have is the one pump to get it up to the level of the jack pad.
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      02-09-2009, 01:00 PM   #4
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I had a $99 Costco special (made by Arcan?) which failed after about 2 years of very light duty. Only thing that may have contributed is that it stayed in a toolshed outside in various temperatures (but no precipitation).

When it failed, I tried bleeding, topping up etc. and finally contacted the manufacturer, only to be told in no uncertain terms that they don't sell the pump cylinder for those jacks. In other words, it became a giant paperweight.


From now on, I'll buy whatever alu jack I can find at Sears and - provided they don't go out of business - return for a new one each time it fails...
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      02-10-2009, 10:17 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drivrswntd View Post
I've got a Craftsman aluminum low profile jack that I have been using for about 4-5 years now.
Ditto on the Craftsman jack. I really like mine, it's easy to use and easy to transport.

Feff
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      02-12-2009, 10:35 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Feffman View Post
Ditto on the Craftsman jack. I really like mine, it's easy to use and easy to transport.
i also have the craftsman aluminum jack. i have enjoyed it, but have heard of a lot of failures. i use it, but am very careful to have jackstands in place, even if i'm just swapping wheels.
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      02-12-2009, 08:42 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adc View Post
I had a $99 Costco special (made by Arcan?) which failed after about 2 years of very light duty. Only thing that may have contributed is that it stayed in a toolshed outside in various temperatures (but no precipitation).

When it failed, I tried bleeding, topping up etc. and finally contacted the manufacturer, only to be told in no uncertain terms that they don't sell the pump cylinder for those jacks. In other words, it became a giant paperweight.


From now on, I'll buy whatever alu jack I can find at Sears and - provided they don't go out of business - return for a new one each time it fails...
for the alum jacks from costco, long as you keep the recipe, you can return it any time you like.
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      02-13-2009, 11:01 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ichiban View Post
for the alum jacks from costco, long as you keep the recipe, you can return it any time you like.
Truly? Well hot double-damn, if I had known that...

Maybe I'll go and buy another one after all... when it worked I liked it...
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      02-13-2009, 10:51 PM   #9
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yep - with costco you can always return, keep in mind with a craftsman there's only a 90 day warranty. Mine broke after about a year (pretty heavy use) during a clutch swap on a buddies s2000 it was holding the tranny overnight...
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      02-16-2009, 03:36 PM   #10
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I have this jack, for about a year now, seems to be doing the job fine. http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/detail.jsp?ID=67
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Last edited by JiveTurkey; 08-13-2009 at 01:54 PM..
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      02-17-2009, 07:24 PM   #11
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Go to www.ecstuning.com and look at their Swaben lightweight aluminum floor jack. It is small, light and looks really trick. Then also get a jack point adapter from them.
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      02-18-2009, 03:04 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldman View Post
I have a normal steel jack, and have used it on my 135i, but it's a bit restrictive because it's min height is 120mm. I'm about to buy one of these which will be much better suited. The have a min height of 90mm which is perfect. They are made in Asia (where else) so they should be available world wide. This particular one is from Autobarn in Australia.
You will also need a block to fit in the jack point on the car. I use a piece of wood which seems to work fine.
The jack I use is basically identical to that, except not for Autobarn.

Been using it for a few years with medium use with no hassles and minimal maintenance.
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      02-18-2009, 03:30 PM   #13
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go with the craftsman model. i had a harbor freight one that was trash. it failed in the first week, i got a warranty replacement, which also failed a couple months later. o sold the warranty replacement and bought the craftsman one. problem free since. obviously you should be careful/gentile with any jack, but above all else, stay away from the harbor freight ones!

one upside is that each time i got a warranty replacement, i got a new matching pair of jack stands, which unlike the jack, actually are pretty nice.
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      02-18-2009, 04:07 PM   #14
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the craftsman one only has a 1 year warranty.
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      02-25-2009, 10:11 AM   #15
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I'm kind of a floor jack fanatic and have tested dozens of floor jacks, even wrote an article a few years back about it. Few American companies are making floor jacks anymore with the quality of say, Lincoln. There are a lot of really crappy floor jacks out there, so beware.

My "Floor Jack Tech Article" has had millions of hits: http://www.vorshlag.com/tech_jacks1.php



The Craftsman jacks are Crap, Man. I've owned 3 of them and I really liked them when new, but they all died within 6-12 months. Hydraulics go out completely. Bleh. I bought two of them for $99 when new, and wouldn't waste my money on them again. There aren't any replacement seal kits to fix them, either, because they are overseas junk that Sears just slaps their name on. They look pretty, though!



The Chinese aluminum "race" jacks are pretty bad, but that's pretty much the only choice for a lightweight race jack anymore. I've had several of the Harbor Freight jobbers and one of them broke (the saddle) and the car fell off the jack, crushing the oilpan. I had some choice things to say, and luckily it didn't crush my head like a grape. Still, there aren't better choices until you want to spend $600-700+ on the US built versions they originally copied. The hydraulics don't last forever so think of these as 2-3 year disposibles, as with everything from HF. The ~35 pound version is a back saver when lugging it around the track. DON'T buy the little itty bitty 27 pound version - its a scaled down version of their popular 3000 pound jack and I've seen these sh!t their parts out and cars fall off of them. The 35 pound version is only "tens of dollars" more costly and significantly bigger and stronger.



The AC Hydraulics (DK20, DK13HLQ) jacks are uber nice but uber expensive. The Euro exchange rate makes these cost $400-600+ USD nowadays. I've used them and they are SECOND TO NONE. If you have to have the nicest jack in the pits, get an AC Hydraulics. Not lightweight, though, so its more of a shop model.



There's a Chinese clone of the DK13HLQ (Omega 29023) but I haven't heard any good things about it. It looks super low profile and costs around $200, but it looks cheap.



We have had excellent luck with the American Foundry and Forge jacks, including a Matco branded 3 ton unit and the AFF 200T. The 200T is their ultra low profile, high lift, fast hydraulic shop jack model. Its the only one I recommend anymore. About $200 and solid as a rock after years of use. I want to buy another... always need more than one jack.
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      03-13-2009, 06:37 PM   #16
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Hey Terry,


In the post you say Craftsmans are crap but in your article you say they, the one I happen to own, are great.

Signed, Confused

BTW, Your plates on my E92 are as solid as ever.
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      03-17-2009, 02:31 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jbass524 View Post
Hey Terry,


In the post you say Craftsmans are crap but in your article you say they, the one I happen to own, are great.

Signed, Confused

BTW, Your plates on my E92 are as solid as ever.
Yea, the article is a bit out of date... the Craftsman jacks did function well for the first 6-12 months, then both of them died and lost all pressure. I need to go and update the article...

Glad you like the plates.
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      03-17-2009, 03:59 PM   #18
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Curious... by "plates" do you mean some sort of jacking plate? If so, is there more info available? Id love some info on a device to make jacking easy and damage difficult.

Thanks!
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      03-17-2009, 05:32 PM   #19
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I believe he is talking about caster/camber plates, I could be wrong. Vorshlag does make some awesome plates. If you are talking about jackpad damage this might be for you.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1070446
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      08-07-2009, 01:55 PM   #20
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Awesome bought that jackpad. Ecs is where I got a Lot of stuff for my tt
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      09-17-2009, 03:03 PM   #21
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Hello everyone. Just registered and I'm sorry that I don't own a 1 Series, yet. However, this is a great thread that just about each and everyone of us should be interested in.
Just having had my Costco aluminum racing jack fail on me (threads in the aluminum housing stripped out), I'm very interested in the AFF-200T model. My interest is based off the "Floor Jack Shootout" article from Vorshlag Motorsports. Great article by the way. I've come to the conclusion that the aluminum jack, no matter who you buy it from, is a 3-5 year, disposable item. I don't want to have to spend $100+ for a jack only to replace it 3 years later. Plus, I won't be able to fix/repair it since the company doesn't sell spare parts. The floor jack is the workhorse of the garage.
That's what makes the AFF-200T so nice. You get an exploded view of the jack assembly showing each part that they replace. On top of that, it's made in the US. Granted, it weighs 99 lb. However, this jack will only be for the garage. When I go to the track, I'll borrow an aluminum jack from a friend.
Anyway, one of the issues with this jack is the price and during my search through the internet, I came across several sites that sold it, but then added on a hefty shifting fee of $75+, resulting in a price of $260+. I happened to check Summit Racing, and they have the AFF-200T jack, using their PN (SUM-G1020) with a much lower shipping fee. In fact, I contacted AFF and they confirmed its their jack. They said the only difference is the Summit Racing jack (PN SUM-G1020) has a 2-part handle for shipping purposes. The AFF jack (PN AFF-200T) is a single piece jack. This results in the lowest overall price (jack cost+shipping+tax= $238) of any of the internets sites visited.
I hope this helps those out interested in the AFF-200T.

Richard
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      10-20-2009, 10:45 AM   #22
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I have a craftsman aluminum jack going on for 4+ years now and it still works great :dunno:
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