Recommend a good but inexpensive jack
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,114
From: Ontario, Canada
Recommend a good but inexpensive jack
Hi all,
Right now I have a meager 2 ton jack from Costco which used to be adequate when I owned Maxima and Honda Accord. But now I have a Quest and Honda Pilot and this puny little jack is always maxed out.
Time to move onto a 3+ ton jack, but I would like to be able to still put it under sedans, so a purely SUV jack is not the option I would like to buy.
Tips welcome!
Right now I have a meager 2 ton jack from Costco which used to be adequate when I owned Maxima and Honda Accord. But now I have a Quest and Honda Pilot and this puny little jack is always maxed out.
Time to move onto a 3+ ton jack, but I would like to be able to still put it under sedans, so a purely SUV jack is not the option I would like to buy.
Tips welcome!
When I needed to upgrade to a more heavy duty jack, I found out that when you move into the 3 ton category the term inexpensive kind of goes out the window. Stay away from any jack that is aluminum or calls itself a racing jack. Those priced are crazy high.
The best price I could find was for a 3 ton Pittsburgh brand jack at Harbor Freight that cost around $85. However I cheaped out and bought a 2.5 ton jack from Sears for $59 that was on sale.
I reasoned that since the Lexus I bought weighed just over 4000 lbs (2 tons), jacking up just one corner of the beast would probably be no more than half, maybe less, than the total weight
The best price I could find was for a 3 ton Pittsburgh brand jack at Harbor Freight that cost around $85. However I cheaped out and bought a 2.5 ton jack from Sears for $59 that was on sale.
I reasoned that since the Lexus I bought weighed just over 4000 lbs (2 tons), jacking up just one corner of the beast would probably be no more than half, maybe less, than the total weight
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 3,037
From: Central AR
There is a coupon on the HF home page for the 3 ton for $89.99. I've been using the older "orange" version of this for about 7 years now without issue.
It sure is handy to have two floor jacks when doing independent suspension work. So I would keep the 2 ton.
https://www.harborfreight.com/
It sure is handy to have two floor jacks when doing independent suspension work. So I would keep the 2 ton.
https://www.harborfreight.com/
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,114
From: Ontario, Canada
How many strokes for 1' of lift? I am so tired of pumping the 2 ton jack, but read reviews on Amazon that even some 3 ton "SUV" jacks require lots of pumping too. My old mechanic had a jack which would lift about 1' in 2 strokes and I am envious now, but realizing that one would probably cost a fortune.