We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Need to buy a trolly jack

Options
135

Comments

  • TrickyWicky
    TrickyWicky Posts: 4,025 Forumite
    edited 17 October 2012 at 3:55PM
    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    Been happily using a cheap (£19.95) 2 tonne one for the past 5 years or so
    ..
    I've also left cars supported one end on it for over 2 weeks at a time (obviously not working under them) without a problem.

    I know you say that you don't work under them but you're still asking for trouble. My neighbour did this to my jack for just 3-4 hours. The next day it wouldn't lift my car at all. The seals were completely knackered. Ok it was only 20 quid but it left me in a difficult situation that day.

    I had a mate years ago who also trusted his jack (like you) because it had never let him down and he'd done similar jobs like leaving his car on it for a day or two. One day it suddenly gave way while he had half his torso under the car. Lucky for him he had blocks there as backup which took the fall of the vehicle otherwise he'd be a dead man. What you need to remember is people still tempt fate. They think the jack is safe because its never let them down.. drop something through the engine bay by accident and decide to crawl under to grab it. Next thing you know their luck has run out and the jack gives way while under neath reaching for the thing they dropped. It's just too easy / tempting for people. That is why I NEVER leave a car supported by a jack and I would never boast about doing so either because it will encourage others to take risks.
    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    Honestly, for the avarage occasional use, you're more likely to have seals fail from inactivity (no machines like sitting idle!)

    In that case you're best buying them as soon as they come out of the factory then because you've no idea how long they've been sat around in most stockrooms.
    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    on a pro jack than have them fail from use on one of the cheapos and, if they do, you just buy another jack for cheaper than getting the good one resealed.

    You could go through 5 or more of the cheapies for the price of a better model, which you'll never use to its capacity. Even if they only last 5 years each that's 25 years to break even!

    Thing is with a pro jack, you can't tidy them away into a plastic carry case where you'll forget about it. You have to store it somewhere so you're more likely to see it and give it a couple of quick pumps every now and again (as I do) rather than leave it in its plastic carry case to rot.

    Now, by your logic.. my jack failed after 1.5 years. My big jack cost me £83 but we'll round it up to £85. My small jack cost me £20 and lasted just 1.5 years but we'll call it 2 for the sake of generosity.

    £85 / £20 = 4.25 cheap trolley jacks. 4.25 jacks * 2 years use = 8.5 years (possibly - if you're unlucky). I'm in my 5th or 6th year of driving. Assuming I done the decent thing and bought my big one when I passed my test, another 2 - 3 years and my big jack would be paid for in a shorter time than the 25_years_if_you're_lucky that you spoke of above. It will also last a lot longer because the build quality is so much better. If I'm realistic about it though, my big jack has already paid for itself just by the amount of jobs its allowed me to do and save money on.

    Additionally, if I were to be a motorist for another say 40 years and got through small jacks at a rate of 1 every 2 years, I'd be looking at a large bill to keep replacing them 40 years / 2 yr lifespan per jack = 20 jacks. 20 jacks * £20 (which will go up with inflation) = £400. £400 - £85 (my jack) = £315 saving. While I'm not going to say my jack will last 40 years, it's not uncommon for well built equipment to last a long time.
    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    It does surprise me how, on a moneysaving site, so much advice is aimed towards "over buying" for an OP's stated requirements!

    As stated, I've already saved money in reality because I've avoided a lot of garage jobs. You also mention that you've used your small jack for engine changes. I've done a few of those and bought a £200 engine crane for the job. To hire it from HSS would be £150 per weekend (plus deposit - just under £200 all in). I've done at least 6 engine out/in jobs now (so £1.2k for crane hire lets say). £1.2k - £200 = £1k saving. Plus I was able to do the jobs at my own pace should something go wrong without paying for extra hire.
  • colino
    colino Posts: 5,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Couple of points. Ramps are perfectly OK for oil changes, chassis work, etc. and an incredibly simple way to bypass their annoying, "bouncing away from the car" trick is to get two lengths of rope about 20 feet long, tie them to the bottom of each ramp then stretch the rope in a straight line outwards. You then drive your car over the ropes heading for the ramps and the weight of the back wheels on the rope stops the ramp springing away. Easy.
    Secondly hydraulic anythings need maintenance and while its easy to keep the ram polished, simply by shutting the jack to its lowest level for storage, sometimes they need purged of air either because it never has been bled or constant chucking around has disturbed the valve and let some air in. You then lower the jack to its lowest level, open up the filler, make sure its topped up, release the valve and do some "empty pumps" (no sniggering scotsbob) to get rid of the air and tighten up.
    Loads of jacks have been condemned, people saying the seals have gone, or the valves knackered for want of 5 minutes maintenance.
    Plus thirdly, don't lend out tools.
  • TrickyWicky
    TrickyWicky Posts: 4,025 Forumite
    edited 17 October 2012 at 6:36PM
    colino wrote: »
    Couple of points. Ramps are perfectly OK for oil changes, chassis work, etc. and an incredibly simple way to bypass their annoying, "bouncing away from the car" trick is to get two lengths of rope about 20 feet long, tie them to the bottom of each ramp then stretch the rope in a straight line outwards. You then drive your car over the ropes heading for the ramps and the weight of the back wheels on the rope stops the ramp springing away. Easy.

    Thats not a bad tip actually but again still unfeasable if you're in an automatic unless your right foot is faster than a lightening bolt :D
    colino wrote: »
    Plus thirdly, don't lend out tools.

    I don't anymore. My neighbours used the engine crane once and tried to abuse that too. They use none of my tools now - not even my jump leads :cool:

    As for the trolley jack seals, mine was totally screwed. The handle wouldn't even go down unless I practically stood on it - you could feel something had gone wrong inside and was blocking it. The 2Ts are ok as long as you don't abuse them but if you do you're inviting trouble. The larger pro 3T jacks are far superior but I still wouldn't abuse one of those either (unless its undoing a hub nut with a breaker bar that you're jacking up lol).
  • spratley
    spratley Posts: 125 Forumite
    I think LIDL have a trolley jack on special offer from Thursday (tomorrow) at £20. I bought one a few years back & it's been fine...
  • Halfords do a Professional Range and offer the 4x4 version of their trolley jack from time to time at a discount - bought one and it really is good quality, with the discount it cost around £50 - usually around £100+ - lifts my BMW X5 with ease. But ensure you use axle stands at the very least as well whatever jack you use!!
  • mikey72
    mikey72 Posts: 14,680 Forumite
    My budget jack has had cars on it for weeks on end, and it's still ok.
    If I ever take a wheel off, I always put it under the car while I work on it, even if I don't intend to go under the car.
    I've also driven off ramps, and also fired just one out of the two down the drive.
  • rxbren
    rxbren Posts: 413 Forumite
    got a halfords one and a sealey one both ok but not great they will each lift over 2t- they easily lift my transit tipper
    when i need to get a new one ill get the big proper one much higher lifting capibility, due to the size a lot more stable (theres a reason tyre fitters all over the country use them) and also has a lower lifting plate so when i need to jack my car up i dont have to use a scissor jack first to get the jack under

    stay away from clarke, silverline or any other generic crap that is cheap
    halfords pro range is guaranteed for life (well the tools are)
  • Weird_Nev
    Weird_Nev Posts: 1,383 Forumite
    I've happily used a £20 halfords trolley jack for all manner of occasional work over the last 5 years, including full suspension rebuilds (car on axle stands obviously), numerous wheel swaps, general maintenance. Still going strong.

    A £150 jack is overkill for occasional home use. Find a decent little jack on offer, and get a few years use out of it. If you find you're doing brake pads for the whole street, or you get into off roading and need to jack your Discovery up twice weekly, perhaps then it's time to shell out on a really pricey jack, but not before.
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I use a small 20+ year old Draper trolley jack. It used to be my dads. Apart from needing oil its been fine. Conveniently I have the instructions in a cupboard next to me which includes a trouble shooting guide. Most problems seem repairable by bleeding, adding oil or replacing seals.
    To support the engine when replacing the timing belt a scissor jack will be fine.
  • Joe_Horner
    Joe_Horner Posts: 4,895 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    answers to my previous post

    Fair comments, Tricky, but I'd suggest that you were unlucky with the one your neighbour broke. Are you sure he didn't abuse it in other ways while he had it?

    I haven't got a problem with leaving a car (wheels attached) on a jack but I'm afraid I've given up on adding the proviso of "never go under the car without stands" when discussing them.

    That's such obvious common sense, and has been mentioned probably half a dozen times on this thread alone, so if anyone goes ahead and does it anyway the only way you're going to stop them is by physically being there and dragging them away from the car when they try to! Or leave Darwin to do his job ;)

    Incidentally, one overlooked advantage of the cheap ones is that they'll fit quite nicely in the boot, where they're about a million times better for wheel changing than whatever the car came with :)
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.3K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.