Until I was in need of a home floor jack due to having a flat tire quite honestly I didn’t know very much about them. I had always used the jack that came with the car. And as you probably know those jacks aren’t very good and can be difficult to figure out how to use.


Fortunately, I have a very nice neighbor who enjoys working on old cars and when he saw that I had a flat tire rolled over his low profile floor jack. It was amazing to me how easily and quickly we were able to jack the car up, change the tire and have it back down again.

That got my attention and caused me to begin to do a bit of looking around and study to find out more about lightweight aluminum floor jacks. These hydraulic floor jacks truly do take the work out of changing a flat tire. And of course that is not the only thing that they are used for but can make it very easy and safe to lift most any car or truck to check for underbody damage or even to do repairs underneath the vehicle.

For most people purchasing a good basic quality floor jack will likely last them for a long time without any need of replacement or repair. A cheap floor jack may not hold up as well and there could be mechanical problems including a leaking floor jack. Like with a lawn mower most people will probably simply throw the old floor jack away and purchase a new one.

If you are a more serious car mechanic or you work on cars a good bit you may purchase a better quality floor jack and decide it is worth repairing. Most floor jack repairs are fairly simple and there are websites that provide floor jack replacement parts as well as what the manufacturer may offer.

While aluminum hydraulic floor jacks can be much safer to use than a standard carjack you still must use them properly. Any floor jack that you purchase will come with safety precautions which should be read and fouled closely. For instance, each floor jack is built to lift a maximum height and weight. You should be sure that you have the proper jack for the job you are doing. If not you can damage the jack itself or even hurt yourself.

Also whatever kind of jack you’re using when lifting a weight the jack should be on a flat level surface. You might also want to place a board underneath the jack if that would help prevent any slipping.

Again like with a lawn mower, some very basic maintenance is needed to keep your hydraulic jack operating as it should and helping it to last a long time. Using the manufacturers specified type of oil you just want to make sure that the jack has the proper level of oil at all times.

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Filed under: Aluminum Floor Jack

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