Quick Jack?

N234 said:
I like them a lot.

I did the well-known $10 caster mod so they are easier to roll around, because they're 100 lbs each. I'll be updating the casters to all-steel, because these nylon ones are wearing.

It takes about the same time to change a set of winter tires for one car.
Setup and clean up is a little longer than a floor jack but it's way faster to lift and I do it only once per car. HOWEVER, I do my car, my wife's car, and a couple friends bring beer and we do 4 or 5 cars in 3 hours.

Maybe all placebo, but it's faster to remove four tires and mount four tires than it is to remove and replace one tire four times. Especially if you do any hub cleaning, anti-seize, brake bleeds, etc.

I love that my oil changes are with a level car. I can look at all the brakes and suspension components while all 4 tires are off. During an oil change, I hang out under the car (*with safety glasses on*) and spot rusty bolts, leaky radiator hoses, loose heat shields, etc. The car is like 20 inches off the ground. It's great.

It also makes the neighbour across the street jealous, which is the #1 through #4 reason to get it.
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I got a set of those roller bearing wheels. Are the zip ties enough to keep them in place?

I'm sure that part of the reason mine are still in the boxes is because of this thread on GJ. Apparently has happened to others as well, but in the end it turned out to be combination of the QJ being on a low-friction surface, and the user not perfectly centering the lifting blocks. That said, my garage floor is like yours, and I was planning on putting grip tape on the underside of the lifts.

Quickjack Cautionary Tale

I just had a sobering experience with my Quickjack BL-5000SLX lifting my G37 sedan. This is only the fourth time I've had the car on the Quickjack. I got it all lined up with the lift points, then raised it until the lift blocks made first contact. Went around and checked all four lift points...
www.garagejournal.com www.garagejournal.com
 
I watched a YouTube video about this incident. The QJ shot outward into the wall. Very scary.

I'm never fully comfortable under a car, always ready to dive out of the way, even from the two-post at the mechanic.

It seems the cause is that the QJs weren't parallel. As the car rises towards the back of the equipment, they become wider apart. That is the only way I think a lateral force can be applied.

If anything needs to move laterally by half an inch to relieve that force, I would guess it's the block sitting on the QJ. The lowest coefficient of friction is where the hard rubber blocks and the glossy black paint of the QJ meet, so I feel that's where the compliance should happen.

I make sure the QJs are about parallel when the frame makes contact. Blocks on the centerline of QJ, pinch weld on the center of the block. Centerline so they are free to without left or right if needed.

It has seen about 20-something lifts since I got it 2 years ago. Sometimes I give it a firm shove or hip bump once it's up. No issues yet, hopefully none ever.


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Relax said:
I got a set of those roller bearing wheels. Are the zip ties enough to keep them in place?

I'm sure that part of the reason mine are still in the boxes is because of this thread on GJ. Apparently has happened to others as well, but in the end it turned out to be combination of the QJ being on a low-friction surface, and the user not perfectly centering the lifting blocks. That said, my garage floor is like yours, and I was planning on putting grip tape on the underside of the lifts.

Quickjack Cautionary Tale

I just had a sobering experience with my Quickjack BL-5000SLX lifting my G37 sedan. This is only the fourth time I've had the car on the Quickjack. I got it all lined up with the lift points, then raised it until the lift blocks made first contact. Went around and checked all four lift points...
www.garagejournal.com www.garagejournal.com
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in my youth a floor jack and 4 jack stands had me fully under the car. “That’s not going anywhere”… scary.
Now I will always stack rims or wood blocks under the frame as a safety catch. I still don’t like crawling under there.
A crushed skull is a bad day for you, and a bad day for the family member that finds you.
 
Wind Shear said:
in my youth a floor jack and 4 jack stands had me fully under the car. “That’s not going anywhere”… scary.
Now I will always stack rims or wood blocks under the frame as a safety catch. I still don’t like crawling under there.
A crushed skull is a bad day for you, and a bad day for the family member that finds you.
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Sadly, in my youth a friend's dad was found under his car in the driveway. I'm not sure if it was a jack or jackstand problem but he didn't make it.
 
For the longest time, I had a set of low profile ramps I made by diagonally cutting a 5ft piece of 3x6. That worked beautifully until my brother trashed it. Now I just use these:

They don't lift enough for you to crawl under, but enough to get a low-ish jack under for the front jack point.

@mimico_polak, service manual should have pictures/drawings of where the front/rear jack points are on your car.
 
High Flya said:
For the longest time, I had a set of low profile ramps I made by diagonally cutting a 5ft piece of 3x6. That worked beautifully until my brother trashed it. Now I just use these:

They don't lift enough for you to crawl under, but enough to get a low-ish jack under for the front jack point.

@mimico_polak, service manual should have pictures/drawings of where the front/rear jack points are on your car.
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Nice find. Pretty similar specs as my Trak-Jax, but for half the price.

The ghetto method I used to use was to just drive up on a couple of 2x4's.
 
I use a compact 2ton floor jack , it lifts one wheel at a time for snow swapping. My youth was spent in an auto shop, don’t get under any car ever , not for a second , unless you have proper axel / frame stands .


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This is what I ended up buying to use in combination with my 2 ton floor jack:


Saves me the space of having to keep a quick jack while allowing to remove all 4 wheels once the car is lifted at all 4 corners

jackpointjackstands.com

Home - Jack Stand Support System - Jackpoint Jackstands LLC

Shop now at Jackpoint Jackstands LLC, home of the best and safest jack stand support system for your car. You wont be disappointed.
jackpointjackstands.com jackpointjackstands.com


Some guys from the Porsche rennlist forums like to use: RennStand - The RennStand Jack Stand - RennStand
But rennstands look a bit flimsy to me
 
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POWERMAN said:
This is what I ended up buying to use in combination with my 2 ton floor jack:


Saves me the space of having to keep a quick jack while allowing to remove all 4 wheels once the car is lifted at all 4 corners

jackpointjackstands.com

Home - Jack Stand Support System - Jackpoint Jackstands LLC

Shop now at Jackpoint Jackstands LLC, home of the best and safest jack stand support system for your car. You wont be disappointed.
jackpointjackstands.com jackpointjackstands.com


Some guys from the Porsche rennlist forums like to use: RennStand - The RennStand Jack Stand - RennStand
But rennstands look a bit flimsy to me
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ouch $800 a set (4), and that might be $U.S.
 
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mimico_polak said:
Looks to be a great product but for $800USD…

I’ll keep to my pauper ways.

Saw a Quick Jack for $900 a few weeks back but didn’t pull the trigger as I didn’t feel like driving to Sudbury for it.
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In the video with Leno, they were $300 a pair.
 
If you have an air compressor get one of the airbag jacks. Aside from the fact that it's lighter than anything out there, they raise faster than anything else, and they lift everything straight up. You can drive one end up onto ramps, and lift the other end without having to worry that the radius of hydraulic jacks is going to pull the car back down off the ramp. After having the airbag, a hydraulic jack is just obsolete.
 
Renboy said:
If you have an air compressor get one of the airbag jacks. Aside from the fact that it's lighter than anything out there, they raise faster than anything else, and they lift everything straight up. You can drive one end up onto ramps, and lift the other end without having to worry that the radius of hydraulic jacks is going to pull the car back down off the ramp. After having the airbag, a hydraulic jack is just obsolete.
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Don’t think I’ve ever even seen those before…
 
Renboy said:
If you have an air compressor get one of the airbag jacks. Aside from the fact that it's lighter than anything out there, they raise faster than anything else, and they lift everything straight up. You can drive one end up onto ramps, and lift the other end without having to worry that the radius of hydraulic jacks is going to pull the car back down off the ramp. After having the airbag, a hydraulic jack is just obsolete.
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If you position the casters in the proper direction and make sure there's no debris blocking the wheels, the jack should get drawn in rather than it pulling the car over. I sometimes push on my jack as I'm pumping the handle on my rough surfaced driveway if I think it needs help, but never a problem in the garage with a clean floor.

One of the issues I have with airbags is that they don't come in a low enough profile to fit under my car without needing it to be driven up on a ramp or 2x4's. So no benefit to me over what I already have, and in some ways worse since my low profile jack can fit under the sides even though I prefer not to jack from there. If I were to get a new jack, it would probably be a long reach low profile, but I really don't want anything that big taking up even more floor space in my garage.
 
Relax said:
If you position the casters in the proper direction and make sure there's no debris blocking the wheels, the jack should get drawn in rather than it pulling the car over. I sometimes push on my jack as I'm pumping the handle on my rough surfaced driveway if I think it needs help, but never a problem in the garage with a clean floor.

One of the issues I have with airbags is that they don't come in a low enough profile to fit under my car without needing it to be driven up on a ramp or 2x4's. So no benefit to me over what I already have, and in some ways worse since my low profile jack can fit under the sides even though I prefer not to jack from there. If I were to get a new jack, it would probably be a long reach low profile, but I really don't want anything that big taking up even more floor space in my garage.
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The problem is a dime will stop the casters on a hydraulic jack. Admittedly I've become a complete fanboy of the airbags. If it won't fit under a car, then I'll use the hydraulic jack to lift the side of the car high enough to get the airbag underneath. The other beauty is there's no need to have space for pumping the handle of the hydraulic jack.
 
Learned a lesson today. I now put jacks with pins under the side lift points on the car, while I'm jacking it from the middle. Fortunately, the Odyssey has two visible nipples where you can put a jack on the front and back. Anyways, the post that fits into the jack wasn't inserted properly, so it wouldn't turn to bleed air and let the car down. Mechanic neighbor came over and helped, and I've figured out what to do, in future situations. Main takeaway is to have backup jacks, so that when you're under the car fixing the main jack, it doesn't fall and crush you.
 
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