Suggestions for a new floor jack needed.

[Ronnie]

The search for a floor jack is over. I decided to add the Torin 2.5 ton jack to my Amazon cart but didn't intend to buy it tonight. When I added it to my cart a message popped up saying I had a $25 dollar promotional credit for being a long time customer. I thought with that discount it was a good price and decided to take a chance on it being a good jack. If it will last half as long as my old Sears jack I will be happy. It should be here Saturday.

 

[Padgett]

That's grape.

[Ronnie]

Just got an update from Amazon saying the jack has been shipped and will arrive earlier than expected on Thursday instead of Saturday. I hope it's packaged better than the last to shipments I got from Amazon.

 

 

[Ronnie]

The jack arrived this morning. The box was a little roughed up but acceptable. I was able to carry the box into the garage with one arm by grabbing the plastic banding on the box. Not bad as far as weight goes. It would have required both arms and walking in a strain with my old jack.

 

When you do a comparison of the new jack and my old Sears jack it is easy to see the old jack is much beefier (and much heavier). Everything from the wheels and casters to the frame is much more heavy duty on the Sears jack. To the credit of the new jack it is much easier to move around and I really like how fast it goes up without a load. It goes sown about 1/2" lower and raises about 3/4" higher than my old jack. The new jack handle is about 9 inches longer than the old jack. I'm not sure I'm going to like that but I do like the padding around the bottom of the handle. The new jack has a large handle on each side to help with positioning the jack under the car. I like that and it would have really been handy on the old Sears jack. I was always worried about having to grab the frame of the old jack to move it and taking a chance of pinching a finger..

 

To get the old Sears jack all the way up took 16 full pumps of the handle. To get the new jack all the way up took 6 full pumps. I really like that. That is one of the reasons I bought it. I have not tried to lift a vehicle yet. I'm going to let the new jack sit overnight before bleeding the air out of it tomorrow. Bleeding out any air is recommended before using the jack.

 

[Padgett]

Glad it suits you.

[Ronnie]

Some final thoughts on the floor jack. I bled the air out of the jack per instructions and of course some oil got sprayed on my T-shirt in the process. The good news is the jack is light enough that I could lift it up to my work bench to bleed the air out without overexerting myself. I wouldn't even try that with my old Sears (Walker) jack for fear of hurting my bad back.  It just seems a lot more awkward to manhandle than the new jack. I guess it being 31 pounds heavier is the reason because both jacks are about the same dimensions.

 

After bleeding out the air the jack worked as described... but it wasn't exactly what I expected. 

 

It will pump all the way up with 6-7 pumps as described in the advertisement without a load on it. As soon as it starts raising the vehicle under load it goes into a different mode and jacks the vehicle up at about the same speed as my old jack. I'm guessing it uses the 2 pistons to raise it quickly and then shifts to one piston under load to lift the load easier. That is fine and not too unexpected. With my old jack it takes forever to get it raised up to where it contacts the bottom of the vehicle. This new jack solves that problem by going that distance quickly. I really like that.

 

The biggest complaint I had with the new jack right out of the box was the handle. It is 9" longer than the old jack's handle. That makes it awkward to use in tight spaces. I kept banging the handle into my toolbox when trying to jack up the front of my truck. That extra length isn't needed for leverage so I don't know why it's there. The handle comes in two short sections that snap together. Even with the top section removed I can jack up the front of my GMC pickup with only the bottom section. It just takes more effort pushing down on the handle.

 

After drilling one hole and about 5 minutes with a hacksaw the new jack handle is now the same length as the old jack's handle. I sawed off the bottom section of the handle to avoid removing the knurled portion on the top section. When the two pieces of the handle are snapped together you would never know the bottom section of the jack handle had been shortened. I may have killed any chance of getting it repaired under warranty if needed by shortening the handle but since it is made in China I think the chance of getting a warranty repair done is almost nonexistent anyway. All in all it seems like a good jack that suits my needs if it will just last a few years.

 

When I can catch some aluminum jack stands on sale I'm going to buy some of those to. As I get older I'm starting to like the light weight stuff that saves wear and tear on my body. 🙂

[Padgett]

Understand, besides the "Racing" jacks and the aunchient Hein-Warner also have a steel 3 ton (Walker ?) that I may need another jack to lift. To move over an obstruction usually have to lift the front and move halfway and then the back for the rest. Do not use much since sold the RV. Cars are mostly under 4k lbs. Have always liked small.

[Ronnie]

I would have paid extra money if I could have found a Walker but in my price range (about $200) all I could find were made in China. I consider Walker floor jacks to be the best but I don't know if they are still in business.

[Padgett]

Well mine is from the last century so do not know either.