Hello all …
I LOVE crawling under my car … but I HATE having to pump the jack handle.
I started surfing for an alternative and found these. Has anyone had any experience with these types
of jacks that can provide some feedback ? It almost looks too good to be true.
They, or a very similar version were quite popular in a lot of tyre shops here in UK a few years ago but they seem to have disappeared now from most of them, when I enquired at my local tyre place one time as to why they went back to using regular jacks they said they liked the air jacks a lot but they were ’ air hungry ’ and because they had about 10 of them constantly in use the compressor was running flat out nearly all day, the other thing they didn’t like was the air lines trailing all over the workshop floor but seeing as the air wrenches they used for wheel removal were also used for the jacks I was puzzled by that complaint ?
Non of the drawbacks they mentioned to me would be too much of a drawback for home use as long as you had a decent compressor.
I also came across another version in the late 70s when I was working in Saudi Arabia, this was a smaller version designed to be carried in the boot ( trunk) and came with an adaptor that looked like a spark plug.
To operate it you removed a spark plug from the engine and replaced it with this adaptor then ran the engine to use the compression to operate the jack. It’s only just come to mind and I’ve never seen anything similar since.
Making a nice bomb in the process😱
OK, answered my own question …
Although I love the theory and price of this jack apparently it has a design flaw (at least for what I want to use it for).
It seems that it works fine as long as it extents and retracts perfectly vertical. However after reading and watching numerous reviews it appears that if you try to jack up your car from the front or back the slight angle that develops as the car rises (which is compensated for on floor jacks by the wheels) makes this jack bind.
Bummer … I hate having to pump up my jack !
With 240 V portable hydraulic packs readily available I’m sure a guy of your capabilities could put something together Groove ? Not sure about the USA but in UK there are several companies fitting these portable packs to all sorts of devices ranging from small scissor action single platforms used to raise one side of your car, to double platforms that will lift the whole vehicle either under four wheels or under the chassis to leave the wheels free, and the same packs seem to be fitted on most types of new four post lifts. I’ve seen them used for powering chassis straightening rams as well. They are very adaptable.
