Hey guys, looking for a jack eventually and I just wanted some opinions. My car is kind of low and will be getting lower sometime soon. Im not sure if I wanna go for a harbor freight and other offbrand ones for 70-something bucks and have it break, and at the same time I can't spend 150 for a craftsman one. I searched and there are some threads but nothing too extensive.

 

Craftsman jacks are really nice. Theyre quality and have an established name behind them unlike the U.S. General ones that Harbor freight and Costco sell. Get the $150 Craftsman or if you have the extra $50 get the aluminum Craftsman, thats a badass jack.

 

Thats a lot of money for me. And Im hardly a mechanic, Id probably use the thing once a month at most. It'd be for oil changes, exhaust, brake jobs, etc

 

Costco for about $70-$80. Never failed me

 

What brand is that, torin?

 

my brother has the craftsman one and it sucks. it leaks fluid and its heavy as hell.

 

Aluminum Michelin one kicks ***. We had one back in Highschool and a few buddies have it and I love it. Light, strong and nice and low. Used it to pick up my CRX after the wheels got jacked and it was left on the ashphault.

CRX Forum

 

harbor freight aluminum jack. $70-90 depends if they have a sale. used it for 4 years every single day at a shop that i co-owned. seals finally crapped out but we used it on everything including full sized trucks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxforum &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Aluminum Michelin one kicks ***. We had one back in Highschool and a few buddies have it and I love it. Light, strong and nice and low. Used it to pick up my CRX after the wheels got jacked and it was left on the ashphault.

CRX Forum</TD></TR></TABLE>

Where'd you get that one?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jeiden &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">harbor freight aluminum jack. $70-90 depends if they have a sale. used it for 4 years every single day at a shop that i co-owned. seals finally crapped out but we used it on everything including full sized trucks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmmm, sounds like its plenty for me

 

i have an old matco one, i love it but the seals went out so i need to get a new cylinder. i guess thats what i get for finding it in a junkyard for 35 bucks.

 

harbor freight aluminum jack here.
had it for two years, use it weekly and never had a problem with it. Plus lugging it up and down two flights of stairs isn't bad at all.

 

the $70 one from harbor freight is really small, its kinda weird. I have been using the $120 one from HF for 2 years now, with much success. I drained the fluid recently and refilled it with new jack fluid and it works great.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Overkill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What brand is that, torin?</TD></TR></TABLE>

the brand is arcan

 

I bought (about 14 months ago) the craftsman aluminum jack, the 3,000 lbs one I believe, it was 200 bucks when I bought it. I went to jack my car up the other day and the seals blew the f**k out of it. Piece of ****. I went back to see if it was still under warranty in ANY way shape or form (they only come with one year warranty) of course it was not. Now I'm sorry but if a company is going to make a 200 dollar jack, my personal opinion is that it should have a longer life than about a year and a half. And as far as questions go, the only time I jack up the car is when I change the oil, that is IT so it's not like I abused it. My 30 dollar Mack brand steel jack that I bought from Wal-Mart 2 years ago still works to this day. So that's just my experience, take it for what it is.

 

I work at sears so I grab all the deals when they come along. I ended up getting the 1.5 ton jack 2 weeks ago for $73 after discounts . It was in craftsman club for 89.99, 10% sale 7am-11am and 10% employee discount. Right now the jack is 89.99 on sale and you local sears should be having 10% off sales till 11am every saturday. It's a good jack but I havent had it for long. My buddy I wrench and work with has exchanged his 2 ton jack twice because he bent the lifting arms. just my 2cent

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jeiden &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">harbor freight aluminum jack. $70-90 depends if they have a sale. used it for 4 years every single day at a shop that i co-owned. seals finally crapped out but we used it on everything including full sized trucks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, paid $65 for mine on sale. Reasonably lightweight, for tossing into the trunk to take to autocrosses, and has no trouble lifting any given half of the car (both front tires, both driver's side, etc...).

 

i picked up two of the harbor freight $150 jacks and both of them didnt work(even after following the fluid instructions). I finally settled for a low profile craftsman one, handle is way smoother turning.

 

Harbor Freight. Beat the hell out of it all the time.

 

Looks like Im leaning towards harbor freight. Anyone ever mess with the torin jacks, we've got a ton of different ones at my job, I could get a nice discount off of em but I don't trust them.

 

after my harbor freight crapped out i pick'd up a torin 3-1/2 ton one and it works great. lifts my f250 diesel(heavy *** motor) and frontier with no problems so far, almost 2 years now. its low pro but its not aluminum and its heavy as f*ck. picked it up real cheap, dont know the exact price but i did use my pep-boys discount. we (techs) use torin jacks all day, everyday and most of the shop jacks are over 5 years old. i would pick up a harbor freight one if you're only going to use it on small cars just because its so light, but if you can get torins at a discount get that instead

 

Yea I work at pepboys so I can get 20% knocked off..

Im picking up a 3600 lb Mustang btw

 

Craftsman Aluminumumum (lol) racejack. Very nice and very light as well. $170

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bart2546 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">. My 30 dollar Mack brand steel jack that I bought from Wal-Mart 2 years ago still works to this day. So that's just my experience, take it for what it is. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hahaha hell yea me too. its just a pain in the *** because i have to get my car up on a honda jack then use that mack one. i wish they made one with the 17-18" lift in low profile

 

Yea that'd be nice. It's just sad that the craftsman one was 200 friggin dollars and the mack one was like 19.99 that came WITH jack stands. pisses me off. Anyone have any experience/know if it's easy to replace your own seals in the hydraulic chamber?

 

I'd like to know too