Floor Jack

For those of us poor souls who are not fortunate enough to have a lift, what recommendations can someone give me for a good quality low profile jack. I have an old crappy Harbor Freight jack that was fine for the daily beaters, but it just won't work with the 328. Griot's has one for $400, which looks pretty nice. Any other recommendations? The Griot's jack seems pretty steep at 4 large. Is it really worth that, or are there equally good lower cost alternatives?

 

I just bought one at Sears for $30...low profile and seems to fit under my car as needed. I figure with Sear's warranty i can always exchange it as needed. They also have a nice racing jack but the load capacity is severely limited.

 

I have the older version of the Griot's $400 jack....it is really nice. The new one seems even better. Yeah, a lot of dough, but when you amortize all the years of use you will get out of it, the extra couple hundred dollars is nothing.

 

I mentioned going to Sears to my wife and she put the immediate halt on that idea. "You'll get a Crapsman and then I'll have to listen to you piss and moan about how Crapsman is crap until you finally just get what you really want." I hate it when she's right....sometimes.

 

BTW, I have heard folks using the $100 aluminum racing jacks from Costco, Shuck's, AutoZone, etc. They seem to work well according to the users...

 

Yea, I agree about Sears but because of their very liberal return policy I trade stuff that quits working or fails when I need to. Just traded a couple of screw drivers that were about 30 years old in on new ones...no questions asked. I figure for $30 bucks compared to the $400 mentioned above I have a jack and $370 bucks in my pocket!

ps: the Sears jack is better quality than the harbor freight by my comparison.

 

I have a sears craftsman aluminum 2 ton jack that has been great for several years. Low enough to fit under the 308 with no problems.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00950239000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Lift+Equipment&BV_SessionID=@@@@1391930876.1184349239@@@@&BV_EngineID=cclhaddlhflddhlcefecemldffidfno.0

Dom

 

Looks alot like this Costco unit:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11186866&search=JACK&Mo=23&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=0&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=JACK&Ntt=JACK&No=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
BT

 

Thanks for the inputs. I've seen those Torin jacks on Northern Tool's website. They also have some ultra low profile jacks as well.

 

Yeah, but the craftsman is 4000 lbs capacity. Also, red matches the ferrari better

Dom

 

True, the Costco one is rated for 3000#. And the red definitely looks good!
BT

 

Several others have used this low profile HF jack so I got one too. Works great and slides under most any car.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91039

 

I bought an aluminum (4000lbs.) jack at costco last week for 99 bucks. It's by far the best one I've owned.

 

I bought the Sears one. It's junk. It didn't last very long at all.

The hydraulic seals in the cylinder gave up the ghost. And all I own is Porsche's and Ferrari's.

I like this one.

www.atdtools.com

ATD-7325

Hal

 

Hal, that one does look nice, and even with shipping, appears to be about 2/3 the price of the Griot's I have. Seems longer which would give a bit more reach....but looks like it needs a rubber pad...but you can source those for $10. http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=3732

 

My Lincoln 2-ton has lifted many cars over the last few years, including the Mondial.
I saw the model in use at a local service station and was impressed.

 

I bought the aluminum race jack Harborfreight has for $100 (they have a bigger $140 version too). It is nicely built and does the job. It is low profile so I have no trouble lifting the car.

 

I have the same one. Decent quality. The pad is at 3" lowered and lifts to 15". This is the only one that would fit under my 308QV. $84.99 and rated for 3000 lbs.

Here's a selection of their aluminum units:

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=aluminum+jack&Submit=Go
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That's more like it. I don't have any faith in Sears, and my current Harbor Freight makes Sears look like Snap-On. Thanks for the lead.

 

Since you seem to be more quality conscious than price sensitive, I'd submit these are worth a look...best I've seen. Steve is a straight-up guy, too, well known in the German car community. No financial interest or affiliation, etc.

http://www.ultimategarage.com/ach-overview.html

 

Those look very nice from the Ultimate Garage. Here's the Griot's mentioned that started this thread:

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_3000&L2=L2_3030&SKU=77739

I have the original version, this new one looks even better...the lifting pad is flat, rather than dished on the older one....most of the other feathers are the same. The handle design changed slightly....

 

I have the Costco one for $99 and know problems at all but used only 5-6 times. Very large bulky design, looks and works well made, better than the comparably priced Sear's unit. One problem, though, which I expected. Not low profile enough to fit under the 328 so I drive up on a few 1x8's, then no problem. I assume the Sear's unit is the same. Harbor freight unit looks like a nice find, I want a second and may get that unit myself.

Jeff

 

I like the AC Jack because not only is it only about 3 inches high, it has a slender arm that remains low, rather than ramping upward like jack in the previous picture. This allows the jack to fit farther under the car if required.
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Say you want to jack up the rear of a 355; jack lifts at the rear jacking point which is approximately under the back end of the door - where do the jack stands go then since the jack is lifting from the jacking point? I heard on the 355 you don't want to lift from the rear subframe because it's not strong enough, is this true? What I did is lift the rear using two jacks, one at each side of the subframe which seems somewhat strong. BUT then my jack stands were too tall to fit under the jacking points. So my second question related to this thread, does anyone have 'short' jack stands?

Also I use the Craftsman race jack, works fine (4 yrs now).

 

I have the same HF aluminum jack. I take it to the track and it works just fine. Only difference is that I paid $79 for it. You have to watch their circulars for their "sale" price on various items. In the garage at home, I use a Sears Craftsman 3 ton jack when I'm not using my Snap-On scissor lift. I've had it for years and it's good quality.