Excellent points about safety. Here’s an article that talks about it more:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/a-pitchers-death-and-grease-monkey-safety/?ref=automobiles
I took a look at those jacks this evening (currently collecting dust here) and yes, they’re Hecho en China, go figure.
An error was made on my part. They’re not 2 and 3 ton jacks but a ton and a half and 2 ton. Same lousy design.
On the 1 and 1/2 ton, the side plates are solid 1/4" thick aluminum as is the scissor plates. On the 2 ton, they’ve increased these measurements to a whopping 3/8".
When raising a vehicle (even one corner) with either jack you can actually see the jack twist and flex around. What happens when the weight of one corner leaves the ground one of the rear pivoting casters near the handle will actually leave the floor depending on which way the jack flexes.
It will pull a caster off the floor by about 1/2" on one side.
It’s kind of surprising to me that these jacks have not gotten someone hurt or killed and Sears sued to oblivion. Maybe someone has been hurt and I just don’t know about it. ???
Tester has a good point about alum “Racing Jacks”. He is spot on about Nascar teams using different jacks for pit stops and service. I have a $90 21 lb racing jack from Costco. It has to be used on smooth surfaces with the jack at 90 degrees to the load stably center itself. I blew the o-ring on it trying to lift a Maxima. I will not use it for anything but swapping tires on my 2100lb Miata. Its lightweight is good for loading and transporting to the track.
All these consumers “racing jacks” are not the real deal. Real racing jacks are big bucks, I have seen pro models as high as $1000. You get what you pay for. I don’t skimp on my racing safety equipment. I neglected to keep that in mind with jacks!
I need to upgrade: http://www.asedeals.com/aluminum_jack.html
Maybe I'm the cheapskate of the crowd . . . but I do it like this. I bought a stout jack from the local salvage yard (still in the bag, never used) from a wreck. I use this to jack up the vehicle. We live in the woods and I cut wood to use in our fireplace and woodstove. I cut about five "stumps" (about 10 inch round stump-like blocks of wood) that look like a chopping block. I cut them in various sizes and slip them under the vehicle whenever I jack them up, then dial down the jack 'till it meets the wood. I usually use oak or cherry, never had a problem. Bear in mind that my heaviest vehicle is my old Accord, which isn't all that heavy anyway. My old Dodge pickup allows me to crawl underneath easily without jacks, but if I'm working on brakes or something I'm using both a jackstand and a piece of wood. Never once a slip or fall, the vehicle sits squarely on the wood and doesn't move. But careful is the watchword. I've seen (as many of you have) many close calls and several actual accidents, and I understand that machines and tools have no conscience. RocketmanEven a hydraulic shop lift is not 100% safe…This is so true, I have seen this also but not to the extent you are referring to.
Everybody needs to remember that a hydraulic shop lift is nothing more than a large hydraulic jack and when the vehicle is lifted to working height it needs to lowered onto the safeties.
One would think that if Sears is going to put both the Sears and Craftsman name on their jacks and market them to the public as floor jacks (they’re NOT marketed as racing jacks) they would be suitable for more than lifting a go-kart.
Just for hoots, I took that 1.5 ton today and lifted one corner of a car of moderate weight. (about 3600 pounds)
Concrete floor, smooth and level, and one can see both side plates flex which then allows the car to wobble.
My point being that these jacks are not safe for even something as simple as a tire change. Too much twisting metal and that idiotic roller design in the front is the cause. Read the reviews of these jacks on the Sears site. Bad.
Unfortunately, the Craftsman name is becoming corrupted in my opinion. A number of Craftsman branded items are becoming nothing more than cheap imported Chinese junk.
Last year my son bought me a new fairly high dollar Craftsman VOM for a birthday gift. While I did not really need it, a nice gesture nonetheless.
Six months later I decided to take it out of the package and noticed the LCD display is foggy and unreadable. Close examination showed this “fog” was on the inside, not the outside of the display.
Took it back and the tool dept. manager claimed I “must have spilled something on it”. Not. Look again, buddy.
After bringing in outside help they admitted it was on the inside and even though the unit had just been unpackaged would not replace it. Out of the 90 day, so tough luck.
A new Sears Craftsman drill, also Hecho en China, dropped dead after 4 months. Again, tough luck.
Another disentegrating brand name is Black and Decker which apparently is becoming Chinese junk also.
I have back in the States a sun roof I think you call it over my car parking place. At the front, the concrete drops several inches. I park with the tires back a ways, and by tossing a tarp on the dirt ahead of the concrete, I can reach under and pull-replace the oil and transmission drain plugs on my 2002 Sienna. So, I do not have to dink with raising the car at all. That makes me very happy
Here in Mexico, my wife’s cousin needs what we used to call pipe wrenches, big ones. The only ones for sale here are made in China, and the teeth quickly snap off. I went to Home Depot and got big ones, made with US steel. Cost me around $60 or so for each one. I told him to keep them oiled and they will last longer than he does.
The same goes for my mother’s 2002 Sienna. I can change the oil and oil filter without jacking up the vehicle, but if I do that, then I have to skip the inspection phase of the oil change, where I check the CV boots, shocks/struts, springs, look for leaks, etc. One of the reasons I do my own oil changes is so I can do a thorough inspection to find problems early. If all I wanted was new oil and a filter, I would just pay someone to do the oil change.
I change my dodge caravan without a jack too. I have changed my Mitsu Galant, Corolla and 92 Camry all without jacking the car. Only the 1st change has required a bit of lift with a jack to locate everything. After that I can do it by crawling and feeling and no I am not small by any means. Now on my '05 Camry the oil filter is tucked back there and very difficult to get to even with a good lift.
More? Wheel blocks would be fine. As Whitey said, place ramps under the vehicle, for good measure. And, if you took a tire off, put it, too, under the car. Kitchen sink…?
Suggest reporting these devices to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Might be able to hel;p someone avoid injury. Here’s a link: http://www.cpsc.gov/about/contact.html
Unfortunately the next person to be injured will not be a reader of these posts.
I would only add that my son who purchased these jacks is not very mechanically inclined. Change the oil or a belt, replace brake pads, etc. is about it.
He bought the 1.5 ton to simply raise the car up a bit to access the oil drain plug as the car sits very low.
Months went by (after the 90 day return) and he discovered the jack was shaky.
Thinking that he possibly bought too small a jack he went and bought the larger brother which was better, but still no cigar.
While visiting some months after that we walked out into the garage and the minute I saw that Mickey Mouse narrow roller on the front, not to mention the flimsy side plates, I told him they were accidents waiting to happen.
One would have thought that somewhere during the design, manufacturing, and marketing process that one person would have raised their hand and pointed out the obvious.
If these are supposed to be “racing jacks only” then there is no way in the world I want to be anywhere near even a lightweight racing car as a member of the pit crew.
Along the same lines, one should also avoid those stamped steel jackstands. Those light duty ones with the round tube supports. They’re just as flimsy and flexible as the Sears jacks.
While watching Top Gear last night the boys were assembling a kit car and it was perched on stamped steel jackstands. At one point, over she goes and slams to the floor. During one shot one could get a quick glimpse of 4 heavy duty cast jack stands parked against the wall in the background.
Mayby it was for the best that Tech got fired- not that he deserved it but think of if something serious, or even fatal happened and all along what he had been saying for months fell on deaf ears - no pun intended. Obviously, management had no concern for the safety of their employees. Sadly, few businesses do. Its good to hear the guy was ok, though