[Mr.NutCase]

i am looking to buy a jack in a few months, what should i look for?
is a 3 ton jack good?

[Nightfire]

Do you have a low sitting vehicle? If so, make sure you get one that slides under your car without a problem. The aluminum racing jacks are nice but unless you really like them a regular 3 ton jack should do. Just make sure you dont get walmart ones like me.






Mike

[Mr.NutCase]

which jack are better the ones that have gears, or the one with u-joints?
my car are not low,

[oldred]

Mr.Nut--Walker is a really good brand for one, although not cheap, they are very well built and will last for a long time. There are other good ones out there also and this is another place where a person's money is better spent on a quality tool rather than the bargain brands. For a home garage a 3 ton would work just fine.

[circletrack62]

dont get a racing jack!!! trust me they are great for racing because they only need a few pumps but i race and have used them they are very hard to pump. a regular jack will do fine. and always use jack stands.

[BigDawgsEatFirst]

yeah, i have mostly craftsman jacks.
they are cool
Jack stands are like 5 ton
Really beefy
That is some thing you want that is great quality
When you are under something you want to make sure it is safe on jack stands
have you jack under also as a extra backup.
Buy at least two stands (four if u can)
Two (floor jacks) is cool
One Bottle Jack (A-arm work)
Quick pump jacks are cool
Hell ,
a man can never have enough jacks around. LOL
Just ,never trust just a jack
Always put a jack stand under also..............like circletrack said
gears or u- joints jacks ,
just get good quality stands to support the weight after item is lifted.

[302 Z28]

I have one of the Harbor Freight aluminum racing jacks. It works great for my 2400lb street rod, but hard to pump when used on my full size Chevy pickup.

Vince

[poncho62]

I have had a Walker for 30 years, still works great.

Just recently bought a larger jack, that will lift to 30+ inches..........funny thing, jacks are cheaper (price wise) than they were 30 years ago.........that probably says something about the quality.

[Canadian Charlie]

If you think you will only be jacking up 2 tons get a 5 ton model, you never know what you will be doing in the future

[oldred]

Canadian Charlie hit the nail on the head--If you think a 2 ton will work you will soon find that a 3 ton is so much better that you should have bought a 5 ton

[66Caprice]

What everyone else said and...

If you want to use a Transmission Adaptor, make sure the floor jack lifting pad can be removed and has a 1 1/4" shaft. Most of the heavy duty adaptors are 1 1/4" but the 2 ton and smaller jacks usually have a smaller diameter shaft.

[BigDawgsEatFirst]

Originally Posted by 66Caprice

What everyone else said and...

If you want to use a Transmission Adaptor, make sure the floor jack lifting pad can be removed and has a 1 1/4" shaft. Most of the heavy duty adaptors are 1 1/4" but the 2 ton and smaller jacks usually have a smaller diameter shaft.

Amen to that.......good point

[el clarko]

i bought the 4,000 lb craftsman aluminum jack and am very pleased with it. two pumps brings it up to the chassis and then it pumps like a standard jack. bought it on sale for $179 and find that it was money well spent, considering i had been using a cheap offshore 2 ton piece for too long.

as for stands, the Goodyear Racing ones available at Sam's club are sweet. Very reasonably priced, durable, and have a nice chrome plating to them.

[Mr.NutCase]

i bought a Craftsman 3 ton floor jack for 50 dollars, last week

[TwistedTrbl]

Yeah I've had a Craftsman 3 ton for about 9yrs now. No problems with it and have done more the "average" DIYer with it. My dad bought one at the same time and his went out on him about 4yrs ago. Don't know how, he barely used it. Anyway thats what I was going ro suggest to you until I saw that you already bought one.