Not sure what category to put this into, btu thought that I would seek out some advice from others. So I have bought a Hrbor Freight racing jack and I have owned it for about two years and the thing just totally blew a gasket. It broke completley and wont even work now. I am curious to find out what other manufacturers people are using for the racign jacks. When I refer to racing jacks I am refering to jacks that are low profile meant to handle lowered cars, minimal pumps on the handle till at full lift, and they are usually made of lightweight alluminium. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

i picked up a AC DELCO aluminum racing jack from murrays auto for 99 dollars. anodized red, it has handles and is decently light.

the good : light weight

the bad: max weight of 1.5 tons (3,000 lbs)

the jack works good for the mini, as the whole cars weights 2600 and you will never lift an entire car on a single jack (dumb...) jacks a whole one side at a time perfectly so far.

99 bucks cant beat it!

 

People who are serious about tracking and racing seem to use the Sears Aluminum jack. I use this myself and it's very good, though mine seems to need priming too often.
These other generic jacks that are sold discounted just don't last and will end up breaking just when you need it the most.

 

one Al one from Harbor Freight. $79. Can be found on sale for $69. It's good, but many have replaced some of the fasteners (that's the part the craps out). I also have a heavy futher-mucker that I've had for a long, long time. It is a real pain to move around and I wouldn't want to lift it, but it will raise things higher. The Al one is fine for the Mini, but my MDX needs more lift than that. It's also nice to have two around every now and then...

Matt

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91039
Heck! It's on sale now!

Here's the Sears unit...
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes
But it's on sale now too!

 

I have one of these jacks... mine works great.. Did you check the fluid under the tray?
Mine was low when new... I added some and haven't had a problem..

 

I agree with both Gregg, and Mike,
However my issue is the height that the jack extends to. I really wanted a jack that did about 20" because I wanted ti high enough to be able to crawl under the car without having to assist the jack with blocks of 2x4 wood so that I could get it higher. Is the height on the Sears jack plenty or could you use more?
Thanks

 

I have the Craftsman jack that's already been mentioned, and I noticed at MOTD that Chad (Detroittuned) had the same one, though much more well-worn than mine. It lifts to around 18.5" (lifting the car around 13"), which is more than enough for my purposes (changing wheels).

I know a lot of people like that Harbor Freight jack (I expect kenchan will be chiming in here soon ), but I like my tools to last for many years, and I just didn't trust it. I lug the Craftsman one (50+ lbs) down from the fourth floor (and back up) to use it.

Parenthetically,
Chris

 

I have the aluminum Sears jack that I normally just use in the garage. It is well-made and I used to haul it out to AX and DE weekends but found a fairly lightweight aluminum Torin jack at Northern Tool for less than $90 that now makes the trip. Its a 1.5 ton jack and lifts the car (front jack point) more than enough to change both tires on that side at a time. Having the second jack also works out well when I need to get all four wheels off of the ground to work on the brakes.