I'm looking for a small, light, but quality jack that I can take with me this year to auto-x/HPDEs for changing between race/street tires. Anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking to keep it as cheap as possible.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47246

 

If you're in the $200 price range, I would get the DK20. (I just ordered one actually).

http://www.asedeals.com/hydraulicjacks2.html

If you're not in the $200 price range, then I'd just get a $25 jack from WalMart or somewhere. Mine actually lasted about 3 years before dying.

 

The reason I mention the one from Harbour Freight is because it only weighs 37 lbs so you can bring it to events w/o killing your back and it's the only jack I know of that fit's under my car w/o the need of blocks to drive up on.

 

I scored one of these for Xmas... very nifty piece of aluminum and way lighter than a traditional steel jack

 

Lots of cool things for good prices on that link... mmmm nice MIG welders for $400....mmmm premium two post Hydraulic car lifts for $2,300...

I think we have a "Walmart" 3 ton jack (that or a "SAMS Club") and it's lasted forever thusfar.

 

Sears sells a jack for about $40 in a nice plastic case.

It is actually lighter than the harbor freight and other expensive aluminium jacks. It's also smaller. It does not go as low. It takes more pumps to jack the car up. But, with the money saved you can buy a Hoosier or 1 1/2 Kumhos.

Aluminium jacks are cool if you have to get the car up quickly and they offer more stability as they are wider but they really are not that great a deal when you think about it for a while. They take up lots of space when its time to move them.

 

Hrmmm, I don't know how much I agree. The harbor freight jack listed above is about the same weight as my Sears 80 pump floor jack in its case and if you put the Sears jack in the case, the room it takes up is the same as the aluminum jack (remember the arm breaks down in two pieces and is removed from the jack). The best part I've found about it is that it has a pretty big foot print both on the floor and on the pad - this I like for a lot of reasons but most of all it feels quite sturdy. You are correct though, it is not a great deal for use in your garage and it is bulkier to roll around than a 1.5 ton steel jack but if you are going to be using it on a lot of different surfaces and you want something that is sturdy, the $199 price tag is hard to beat.

Adam

 

I'll put my two 's up for the Harbor Freight jack. It's nicely made for a taiwanese jack (note the hydraulic (sp?) ram is taiwanese and the rest of the jack is made in the US). I had to bleed the air out of mine before it's first use, but they supply you with a nice little bleeder valve. It has a very low profile and a protective rubber plate cover. Not bad for $200.

As mentioned earlier in this post... the little Sears jack is a good buy for $40, plus the carrying case is nice. It spent several years in the back of my old autocross car before it finally died.

This new Harbor Freight jack should be a great replacement.

 

I just got a Harbor Freight unit as well.
The other benefit I found was that 6 pumps and the car is all the way up.

My 3 ton Craftsman jack takes about 20 pumps.

 

Here's another comparison between the Harbour Freight jack and any $40 jack.

$40 Jack:
1. Unload jack from car
2. Unload wodden blocks
3. Line up blocks and rive up on to them
4. Jack up car
5. Swap tires

Harbour Freight jack:
1. Unload Jack
2. Jack up car
3. Swap tires

I have done it both ways and I can tell you I'm never going back to using those stupid blocks.

 

I've got that one (or at least a version of it).

Pay special attention to the way the handle mechanism attaches to the piston shaft. On the $40 Sears jack I have, it clamps around a ridge in the end of the shaft...sort of like a circlip or a piston ring would. Problem is that with repeaded use, the clamp expands and eventually pops off. You then have to squeeze the hell out of it with some channellock pliers to clamp it correctly.

It'll pop out occasionally still, and every time it does, you round off the "ridge" on the piston. You'll end up with a useless jack in the end. I say stay away.

I replaced this with a 3 ton Sears shop jack and a little cheapie floor jack that I take to the track. Neither is very good. The 3 ton requires a surprising number of pumps...and doesn't quite have enough elevation to lift my big Suburban. The cheap one, the saddle height is absurdly high and I can't use it at all.

Spend the $200 on the HF jack. The extra money now will save you lots of frustration and even more trips across the paddock to borrow your friend's HF jack.

 

i will be stopping by harbor frieght soon to get that jack...man i wish i could find a 25% off coupon....

 

I have the cheapo Sears jack that comes with a case too. I think it was $29.99 on sale. It works great for my purposes 99% of the time. But the one thing I've found is that is does not work at all after a while when it's really cold out (say sub 40 deg F). When it's that cold out, I can just pump and pump and the arm does not raise at all. Then I take it indoors for a few minutes and let it warm up, I go back outside, and then it works great for a few minutes until it gets too cold again.... I don't know if other jacks have similar problems.

Andrew

 

You can try this company. I know the owners and they are reliable and trustworthy.

http://www.soloperformance.com/catalog_equipment.htm

 

Ive got that one too. God i hate that thing. Its waaay to heavy to carry with you on track days (yes i take that massive piece of crap with me on track days), it takes a million pumps to make comfortable clearence and my car is about a 1/4 inch too low for this jack so i have to jack it with the spare tire jack then slide this jack under my car. The only reason i got it was because it came with jack stands and a creaper for $100.