Trolley Jack question

[Fats25]

I have bought myself some winter wheels and tyres, and will soon be coming round to changing them. I do not possess a trolley jack, and was going to borrow one off of mate. However I like having tools in the garage (even if they are not used!), and taking a quick look at machine mart - can see they are not that expensive. Well worth the price of not going to go on the borrow.

The heaviest car I have is a Touareg.

From this link the weights are:

gross vehicle weight rating (lbs) 5,486 (I have translated as 2.5T)
curb weight (lbs) 5,086 (I have translated as 2.3T)

I warn you it is going to be a stupid question!

Would this suffice?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

My thinking is as I will only be lifting a corner at a time up it will never be the full car weight - so 2T will be ok. Or am I being stupid and I need to have the correct weighting for the trolley jack, based upon [b[total[/b] weight of car?

[StoatInACoat]

Always felt it's best to get the highest rated jack you can afford to be honest. I lift my Clio with a 2.5t jobbie.

I wouldn't buy the one in your link either. We have one and it's crap - works "most" of the time and drops the rest so really doesn't work at all.

[4key]

The weight is more than adequate, what is the lift like though? 4x4 is higher off of the ground than a normal car, so unless you are planning to place lumps of wood on the end that may not lift high enough.

[elliotff]

I would think it will be OK. I think the Jack would take more as it will be a recommended max lift weight....

But its up to you, all i can say is i would not want the car falling on me !

[Fats25]

StoatInACoat said:

Always felt it's best to get the highest rated jack you can afford to be honest. I lift my Clio with a 2.5t jobbie.

I wouldn't buy the one in your link either. We have one and it's crap - works "most" of the time and drops the rest so really doesn't work at all.

Can you recommend something? Ideally not much over the budget in the original link. approx £50 budget.

4key said:

The weight is more than adequate, what is the lift like though? 4x4 is higher off of the ground than a normal car, so unless you are planning to place lumps of wood on the end that may not lift high enough.

Good point....... Recommendations?!

[4key]

No idea, as im standing in a field posting from my phone

[kambites]

elliotff said:

... But its up to you, all i can say is i would not want the car falling on me !

You should NEVER be under a car supported solely by a jack anyway!

[Captain Muppet]

Fats25 said:

Touareg.

Some off road stuff has more combined ride height and suspension travel than the maximum lift height of a trolley jack.

So it's be worth using the jack that came with the car to measure how high you have to lift it to get a wheel off the ground (which might be tricky if the jacking point and a safe trolley jack point aren't very close).

ETA: too slow, someone had already posted this!

[DrDeAtH]

Take a look at the 3 tonne trolley jack in Costco. Bought one recently, and is a good bit of kit for the money.

[StoatInACoat]

Halfords appear to do a specific 4x4 one on their website and my decent one is a Halfords jobbie. Suprisingly good and has been abused for many years although I didn't pay anywhere near what they seem to be asking now.

Obviously you're not going to be supporting a car on it for any length of time but a sinking one is not exactly brilliant when you really need it to work.

[chazola]

Best cheap and cheerful jack I've used is the current Halfords 2 ton one, it's not quick lift so takes a few pumps to get up to height but goes pretty high, is well made and doesn't creep down at all- I've left mine supporting the whole rear of 2 tons of old Merc for a week (with a back up jack stands an inch or so under) and there was no loss in height. Should be more than fine for just changing wheels 1 corner at a time... you can always use a thick block of wood to increase the lift range.

[robinessex]

Ok, here goes. With a 4x4, lift height is the 'problem', 'cos they're higher than the average car at the lift point. High lift trolley jacks are avaliable to accomodate this. As for the weight capacity, the most you'll ever lift is half the vehicle weight, so 2T should be more than adequate. The important bit is SAFETY. NEVER get under/near a vehicle that isn't securely supported on fixed axle stands. As for StoatInACoats dodgy trolley jack, sounds as if the hydraulic shut off valve is leaking. I've always found Machine Mart good in the past at fixing faulty goods.

[kambites]

StoatInACoat said:

Halfords appear to do a specific 4x4 one on their website and my decent one is a Halfords jobbie.

Problem with that is whilst it may be good for SUVs, the minimum lifting height of 15cm would mean that you can't use it on many cars, which is hardly "future-proof", even if the OP doesn't want to lift a car at the moment.

[Fats25]

Thanks for the advice guys.

To be fair - I will not use for any reason other than changing wheels, I will not be doing other work. For safety, am happy to support with the factory jack in place as well, just as a backup.

I have two cars. One is a Touareg, the other a 123D (with runflats!) which I would not be changing the tyres on! However point taken - I won't have a 4x4 forever, and could really do with a "Jack of all trades" so I can use on any vehicles I get in future.

Get it?

[paintman]

I've got a couple of these: http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...
Had them for years & for wheel changing (on various cars plus my Range Rover Classic, boat trailer and Sprinter van)& other jobs where I don't need to use the full size one that lives in the garage they're absolutely fine. One lives in the RR boot & the other in the van, each with an axle stand. Much safer than the contraptions that the vehicle manufacturers supplied!

As already said, if you jack the vehicle up on its jacking points with the thing that comes with it you can then measure just how much lift is needed so you buy the right trolley jack.

[Mr-B]

I bought a Halfords 1.5 tonne one must be more than 20 years ago, haven't used it in years and needed to get the car up (BMW 3er ULW 1.6T with near perfect 50/50 weight distribution ) Stuck it under the rear axle and it lifted both rear wheels clean off the ground no problem.

[Tanguero]

Fats25 said:

Thanks for the advice guys.

To be fair - I will not use for any reason other than changing wheels, I will not be doing other work. For safety, am happy to support with the factory jack in place as well, just as a backup.

NO!! Use an axle stand to support it. I have a cousin who is now quadriplegic because he did exactly that and thought it would be safe. He was only changing a wheel too...

[Tanguero]

A lex said:

Tanguero said:

Fats25 said:

Thanks for the advice guys.

To be fair - I will not use for any reason other than changing wheels, I will not be doing other work. For safety, am happy to support with the factory jack in place as well, just as a backup.

NO!! Use an axle stand to support it. I have a cousin who is now quadriplegic because he did exactly that and thought it would be safe. He was only changing a wheel too...

How on earth did he manage that? Did he quickly go under the car to look at something at just the wrong moment or something?

Sounds terrible - I have scared myself once with a jack and cutting corners/time saving - never again.

He put his head under the wheel arch as the trolley jack folded to see what had happened. The standard jack went over and slewed the car onto him. The edge of the wheel arch broke his upper back.

Don't want to come across all "elfin safety" - but regardless of what you are doing - don't just use jacks to support a car.

Edited by Tanguero on Tuesday 23 October 14:43

[Tanguero]

A lex said:

Damn - nasty. That explains it

I could easily have crushed my right hand between the jack and the sill with my stupid antics - there wouldnt have been anyone else around for a good 6hrs to rescue me either. Stupid stupid stupid.

ETA. My cars are now always on stands with 2 jacks under tension as back up and often an alloy wheel under the sill too. Overkill

Same here! And a mobile in a pocket where there is a chance of getting to it!

[PaulKemp]

I had a V6 Galaxy weighed about 1800Kg and a 2 tonne jack struggled
If your going to lift the Toureg get a jack that can cope.
You can never have to much capacity just to little