Just wondering what everyone is using out there for an aluminum race jack. I've gone through two the past few years. One was off the Matco truck (not Matco) another was from sears. Both keep on blowing out the seals and pissing hydraulic oil.. My old steel one is great, i've had it for about 7 years now, but its a real PITA moving it around due to weight.

thanks

 

How much are you spending on these "aluminum race jacks"? I can tell you that if it is not around $600-$800, you are always gonna have problems. especially if it is being used often....you can try something like this
http://www.irvansmith.com/scart/race...num-p-611.html or this
http://www.pitstopusa.com/detail.aspx?ID=19477
and these are alot cheaper but I am unsure of what you are really getting, they claim to be better with double sealed hydros
http://www.asedeals.com/aluminum_jack.html

or can you just switch to smaller jack for when your at the track.... thats what I did, and dont forget jackstands, if your under it

 

nicer jacks are rebuildable as well, cheap jacks are throw aways

 

we have two hf aluminum jacks, have had them both for 5 or 6 years now, one is used continuously at our repair shop and one is just kept in the garage at home for small jobs/thrown in the trailer for races. both still have max lift in about 5 pumps, do not leak at all

 

Like this ?

 

man your lucky with those HF jacks, Ive seen 2 blow out seals and I have seen a craftsman do it as well.....I let my buddies buy them first, and then decided to go a different route after seeing the problems they had

 

the craftsman aluminum jacks are very crappy. that was our first one that we had. it would leak and leak and leak. so we got the harbor freight ones and have not had one problem. i think the one pictured is their "expensiver" model. we got the 60-80 dollar one that takes 5 pumps, not three pumps.

 

Technically a "race" jack is one that has a very low pump/lift ratio... i.e. just a few pumps to lift the car. You can get a three pumper and might have to weigh at least 200lbs just to use it... not practical for a shop, but great for the big dude on your pit crew.

Some of the best Al jacks are made by Brunnhoelzl

All the other ones mentioned are crap in comparison.

I have the Harbor Freight, but haven't had it long enough to gripe.

 

mine always break at the universal joint. out of about 5 i have only had one jack with failed seals, the others ended up with snapped u-joints

that includes h-f, craftsman and one other brand of cheapy jacks

 

i bought mine at Autozone and its still good....had for about a year...$100

 

thats crazy. i have used my aluminum jack to change the ball joints and put a leveling kit on my 1ton ford powerstroke.

 

Yea, but doesn't it make you queasy when you feel the handle flex when lifting anything heavier then a honda?

 

haha, yeah, im not saying i recommend it....and i do put jackstands under the truck.

 

yea so i got the one from autozone for like 90 bucks. turns out its made by harbor freight, who sells them for like 70. not only that but the warning label on the jack has a typ-o on it, its says warnig hahaha. besides that its been working well. had it in the back of one of my cars for the past year or so

 

haha, ill have to check my warnig labels. i dont have anything bad to say about hf tools, even their drill bits if used with some wd40 and not forced will last a long time.

 

I purchased one of the almuminum racing jacks from HF about 5 years ago and still using it to this day, but I haven't come across any of the issues posted above.

 

My Harbor freight one started leaking recently, after about 3 years