CarTalk.com Best of Deals Car Reviews Repair Shops Cars A-Z Radio Show

I finally found a use for my car jack

General Discussion
#1

Those OEM scissor jacks aren’t worth much in my book. I have a Michelin hydraulic jack at home that beats the OEM jack hands down. I’ve never even opened the jack door in the trunk. Until today. Our sink garbage disposal started leaking this last week. I noticed a puddle of water on the floor in front of the sink this morning. Upon investigation, the garbage disposal was leaking through the body. I used the scissor jack on 2 bricks to hold the old one up while I detached the quick disconnect, and the lowered it. After mating the new one to the discharge pipe, I used the jack to push the new one into place and reconnect the quick attach fitting. Can O’ Corn!

For those of you that just can’t stand the suspense, I replaced a 14-year old Insinkerator Badger 1 with an Insinkerator Evolution Compact unit. I get more than twice the power, 2 stage grinding instead of 1, and it is much quieter than the old Badger 1 unit. Mrs JT was skeptical; it cost more than twice the price of a replacement Badger 1. But the old unit was galvanized steel, and the new one is stainless. I want more years of service in my dotage (not now - 20 years from now!). I had no support at home though. Every Dead President ran screaming from the room when I told Mrs JT what the cost to upgrade was. They never mess with her. But in the end, she said that we don’t buy top-of-the-line, but mid range. And that’s just what the Evolution Compact is. I think Tim Taylor would approve. Just Barely.

#2

I still miss my hydraulic bumper jack I tossed a few decades ago. I used a bottle jack to level the sagging 1918 built in cupboards, 8 ’ across, 1/2" dip in the middle, and put in a support, car jacks are not just for cars!

#3

I remember my dad using the bumper jack from his 1949 Dodge to stretch clothes lines. I used a tripod jack with a chain to pull up fence posts.

#4

I’d bet it cost less to put the Evolution in yourself than to hire a plumber to install another Badger.

Remind your wife what was saved by being handy.

#5

I’ve been handy for so long that it’s expected that I’ll repair it. I don’t think that’ll fly. But thanks for the suggestion, circuitsmith.

#6

I had to replace mine about 10 years ago and can’t remember what model Insinkerator it was. I do remember trying to hold it up in place though while connecting it. I do think its important to get the stainless cutters though and seems like the motor seals are what goes out on the things. I’ll put the jack idea in the back of my mind. My BIL uses one on his big fan in the shop to adjust the V belt with. Never would have thought of that but he is pretty mechanically inclined.

#7

All of the uses mentioned for automotive jacks are certainly good ones. Too bad that current automotive jacks are a curse and a deathtrap as far as changing a tire goes… :frowning:

#8

Our deceased heavy mechanic used to make dual wheel dollies out of them,a bit of explanation-if you had bearing or seal trouble on anything with floating axles and dual wheels it saved considerable time and effort to pull the hub, brake drum and wheels as a unit,rather then break them down-Kevin

#9

Our house was built in 1979 and had the smallest model of the Insinkerator. I upgraded it to a larger model that would still fit the plumbing layout. In 2005 we redid the kitchen and we installed the biggest, meanest model, the 440, I believe, requiring all new piping. Hopefully that one will last as long as we live here.

#10

I bought a little 2-ton floor jack in a case and tossed it in the back of our Odyssey. I blew a tire once and found the scissors jack in there to be useless! Gas-powered compressor and impact wrench takes too much space, though;-)

#11

Funny how things designed for job “A”, suck at job “A”, but can be redesigned for job “B”…

#12

Just to remind us that older is sometimes better, my early model Saab had designated ares to jack the car up. There was a pin welded to the lifting platform which inserted in the car body making a much more secure lift. Guess with the tires they gave you back then, there was a definite need.

#13

@dagosa, I think it was just another example of how Saab designs added a lot of cost to their cars. A great feature, but since no one else was doing it, this feature became a cost premium that they would never recover.

#14

Most of the foreign cars had those lifting sockets or pins. I’m pretty sure my 60 Morris Minor had them and I know my 59 Bug did. You’d lift the whole side of the car up at one time which worked nice for rotating tires. Can’t remember what kind of jacks they were but probably some kind of screw jack.

#15
Our sink garbage disposal started leaking this last week. I noticed a puddle of water on the floor in front of the sink this morning. Upon investigation, the garbage disposal was leaking through the body. I used the scissor jack on 2 bricks to hold the old one up while I detached the quick disconnect, and the lowered it.

That’s funny… because I used my truck jack to do the exact same thing. You have to hold the disposal while at the same time turn the ring that holds in in place. That disposal weighs about 20lbs. My jack is a small hydraulic jack. And the ONLY time I’ve used it is when I had a flat on my commute to work…and when I replaced the garbage disposal.