Anyone who works on automobiles at home needs a good floor jack in their garage.
Most of us don’t start out fixing cars in a garage with all the tools we need.
If you were lucky, your parents or a friend might have had one of the Best Floor Jack For Lifted Truck And Car, and you might have been able to use it to fix your car.
But when it seems like most projects require buying or borrowing a new specialized tool, a new, high-quality car jack might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
We struggled for years with cheap car jacks or the scissor jacks that come with most cars.
This was always the hardest part of getting a car off the ground. They are hard to use, slow, and sometimes dangerous.
When we finally got a real service jack, it became one of the best tools we’ve ever had. A floor jack is something you need if you want to work on your car.
These will make maintenance jobs like changing tires, brake pads and rotors, oil, and spark plugs go faster.
They are also essential for bigger jobs like suspension work.
Choosing the best floor jack depends on a lot of things, like how much it needs to lift, what it’s made of, how the pedal is shaped, and how tall or heavy it is.
Floor jacks are made to help you quickly lift your car, but be sure to use them in a safe way.
You should not only lift your car on flat, level ground, but you should also use jack stands and wheel chocks to keep the car steady.
Before you get under your car, you should always push and rock it by hand to make sure it won’t fall.
Also, these jacks can be used under a wide range of cars, trucks, and SUVs because they can hold different amounts of weight, are made of both aluminum and steel, and come in different sizes.
Some of them can even be used on ATVs, UTVs, and trailers.
But a good hydraulic floor jack that works quickly isn’t always the easiest thing to move. A bottle jack, an air jack, or a scissor jack may be more portable options.
Here are the floor jacks we think are the best based on our own experience, the features they have, how well they are made, and how good their customer service is.
Check out our Table of Contents for tips on how to use and stay safe with car jacks and other tools.
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Best Floor Jack For Lifted Truck And Car
1. Arcan 3-Ton Quick Rise Aluminum Floor Jack
The Arcan is the same 3 ton floor jack as at least five other brands, including the Sunex 6603ASJ and the JEGS 80077, which we use in The Auto Square Garage.
The only difference is the brand name. Big Red, Torin, and TCE also sell a jack that looks the same except for the way the back wheels are made.
Since you’re just getting the same thing in different colors, this is a great chance to get the best deal. The Arcan was much cheaper than the other two when we wrote this.
This is more than a simple hydraulic jack, and its three-ton capacity means it can lift heavier vehicles. One of the best Lifted Truck Jack.
It is made of aluminum, so it weighs about 15 to 20 pounds less than a three-ton steel car jack. This makes it easier to move around your garage.
The Arcan weighs 56 pounds and is 30 inches long, 13.5 inches wide, and 8 inches tall. If you can lift almost 60 pounds, the handles are big and easy to use.
If you can’t, the wheels roll easily. Different brands list different weights. Our identical JEGS was advertised as 58 pounds, but a digital scale only shows 54.8 pounds.
Maybe green paint is darker than yellow paint. Convenient to use, best DIY car lift.
It is made with two pump pistons that make it easy to raise the 4.5-inch rotating saddle quickly.
A reinforced lift arm adds to its strength, chassis torsion control, and durability. We’ve found that it takes about 10 full pumps to get the full 15.75-inch raise, from the lowest height of 3.5 inches to the highest height of 19.25 inches, when the load is on.
There is a rubber insert in the saddle, which isn’t very useful. There is also a foam handle bumper to protect your car if you accidentally bump into it.
The handles on the side make it easy to move the chair, and we haven’t found that they get in the way.
Our has done a great job, easily and reliably lifting our 4,200-pound Dodge Magnum RT and a diesel Kubota utility tractor.
When you buy it with Arcan branding instead of Sunex, you can save up to $100 and get the same jack in a cool green finish.
If you really want to save money, you can buy 300 of them at once from the original manufacturer, which also makes products for Husky, AC Delco, Performance Tool, Craftsman, and many other brands, for about $110 each. on top of that.
Pros: You can get a good jack for much less, it has a 15-3/4-inch lift, a large saddle with a pad, a long handle to get under cars, and a one-year warranty.
Cons: It’s big and weighs 56 pounds, but it’s not professional quality, and the aluminum wheels and casters get pitted easily.
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2. Powerbuilt 2 Ton Extra Low Profile Floor Jack
Powerbuilt’s Xtra Low Profile Floor Jack is made for vehicles as low as 2.75 inches and can lift up to 15.5 inches. It can be used for lowered cars, sports cars, and classic cars.
It’s also a good choice if you have a unibody car and can’t get to the frame rails to set up jack stands.
Because it has a steel safety bar that slides under the lift arm and locks the jack in place when it is raised.
Even though the company says that the safety bar eliminates the need for jack stands, we would still use jack stands whenever we could get under our car.
The wide base and roller on this floor jack make it more stable, and the ball bearing swivel casters make it easy to move around your garage. Convenient to use, best DIY car lift.
A carry handle on the back of the jack lets you move it to storage when it’s not in use.
All-steel construction adds 58.7 pounds to the weight, and the design of the arms means you can’t get it very far under your car.
It takes up little space and is 13.4 by 24.7 by 7.75 inches. The seat is small and can’t be turned.
It has a rubber insert, but in any jack, they don’t last long. Users say they have trouble lowering slowly and smoothly.
We recommend bleeding all jacks before you use them for the first time or when you have problems.
Pros: It can hold up to two tons, has a minimum height of only 2.75 inches, has a lock bar for extra safety, and comes with a one-year warranty.
Cons
Cons: One handle can hold almost 60 pounds, but it’s not very deep and needs to be checked and bled before it can be used.
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3. Pro-Lift F-767 Grey Low Profile Floor Jack
Even if you don’t work on your car very often, this Pro-Lift jack is a big step up from a scissor jack. Tens of thousands of people like it, too.
It’s a low-profile car jack with a single cylinder and a lifting range of 3.5 to 14 inches. It can hold up to two tons. One of the best Lifted Truck Jack.
The company uses a patented bypass device to protect against over-pumping, and a built-in safety valve protects against overloading.
This means that it won’t lift if there’s too much weight on it, which can blow out seals and valves.
Both of these features make driving safer, but again, you should always use jack stands when you’re crawling under a car.
It’s easy to move because it only weighs 30 pounds, which is a lot less than most other hydraulic jacks, and it has a top handle made of molded plastic.
We’ve had lighter-duty car jacks with top handles like this before, and they’ve worked fine. It’s smaller than the big jacks and measures 17.91 by 5.32 by 8.47 inches.
It’s not as stable because it’s narrow, and it doesn’t raise as high as a dual-cylinder quick-lift jack.
However, it’s only 3.5 inches tall at its lowest point, so there’s not much it can’t get under. A small saddle measuring 2.25 inches can turn freely.
That’s not a very big area to support a car, but it fits into small factory jacking points that a garage jack might not.
The thing we don’t like most about the Pro-Lift F-767 is that it takes a lot of pumps to fully lift.
When we got it to the Auto Square Garage, we tried it out before bleeding, and it took 52 pumps to go all the way up. Our Jegs (Arcan/Sunex) double-cylinder jack needs seven.
We were glad to be able to show how important it is to bleed a new jack, but after doing the whole process four times, it still took 52 pumps.
Ours was also very low on fluid, so we had to buy a bottle of hydraulic jack oil and pour several ounces into the cylinder before there was enough to cover the top.
The rubber plug on the filler is tight and can only be taken out with a thin flathead screwdriver and a pair of pliers. We were afraid of ripping it.
There were no signs of leaks before or after filling, so it looks like it was underfilled from the factory, and we don’t expect to have to add more any time soon.
Even if you don’t work on your car very often, this Pro-Lift jack is a big step up from a scissor jack.
Tens of thousands of people like it, too. It’s a low-profile car jack with a single cylinder and a lifting range of 3.5 to 14 inches. It can hold up to two tons.
The company uses a patented bypass device to protect against over-pumping, and a built-in safety valve protects against overloading.
This means that it won’t lift if there’s too much weight on it, which can blow out seals and valves.
Both of these features make driving safer, but again, you should always use jack stands when you’re crawling under a car.
It’s easy to move because it only weighs 30 pounds, which is a lot less than most other hydraulic jacks, and it has a top handle made of molded plastic.
We’ve had lighter-duty car jacks with top handles like this before, and they’ve worked fine.
It’s smaller than the big jacks and measures 17.91 by 5.32 by 8.47 inches.
It’s not as stable because it’s narrow, and it doesn’t raise as high as a dual-cylinder quick-lift jack.
However, it’s only 3.5 inches tall at its lowest point, so there’s not much it can’t get under.
A small saddle measuring 2.25 inches can turn freely.
That’s not a very big area to support a car, but it fits into small factory jacking points that a garage jack might not.
The thing we don’t like most about the Pro-Lift F-767 is that it takes a lot of pumps to fully lift.
When we tried it out before bleeding, and it took 52 pumps to go all the way up.
Our Jegs (Arcan/Sunex) double-cylinder jack needs seven.
We were glad to be able to show how important it is to bleed a new jack, but after doing the whole process four times, it still took 52 pumps.
Ours was also very low on fluid, so we had to buy a bottle of hydraulic jack oil and pour several ounces into the cylinder before there was enough to cover the top.
The rubber plug on the filler is tight and can only be taken out with a thin flathead screwdriver and a pair of pliers. We were afraid of ripping it.
There were no signs of leaks before or after filling, so it looks like it was underfilled from the factory, and we don’t expect to have to add more any time soon.
Pros: Low 3.5-inch minimum clearance, two-year warranty, and very affordable.
Cons: Slow to lift, not very wide (only 10.5″ of lift), awful fill plug.
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4. AFF 4 Ton Heavy Duty Floor Jack
SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe can weigh almost 6,000 pounds, so if you want to work on one, you need a strong jack.
American Forge and Foundry makes a four-ton (4T) that works almost as well as a professional tool but costs less than a professional one. 4t floor jack. It’s also called jack for lifted truck.
Don’t throw it around because it weighs 105 pounds and is made of solid steel.
With heavy loads, the 14.33-inch width and 28.82-inch length give you more stability.
Larger vehicles need lift heights that are higher, and this one goes from 4.3 inches to 20.5 inches, for a total of 16.2 inches.
It has a rubber saddle that is pinned and padded. This is different from lighter jacks, which have metal saddles with rubber inserts, and it helps keep trucks and SUVs from slipping.
It has two hydraulic cylinders that make it easier and faster to lift, and the long handle can be taken apart to make it easier to store.
The company that made it sells a wide range of repair and replacement parts.
Pros: Built to last, rated for 8,000 pounds, and a great value for the money.
Cons: Too much for smaller cars and too heavy for most people to pick up
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5. Pro Eagle 3 Ton Kratos
If you go off-roading, you probably have a high-lift jack that can lift your car several feet. However, these aren’t very stable or easy to use in the garage.
The 3 ton Pro Eagle jack from Cooke gives you the ease of a hydraulic floor jack and the ability to lift up to 28 inches, which is at least a foot more than a regular service jack.
Because it can hold up to three tons, it can be used for more than just off-road vehicles. It would be perfect for UTVs, ATVs, trailers, and small tractors. It’s also called jack for lifted truck.
It’s also made to handle rough terrain, with big tires and strong axles.
It comes with an adjustable 8-inch lifting post, and if your frame is that high off the ground, you can add a 13-inch extension. One of the best Lifted Truck Jack.
It is made with sealed bearings that keep dust and water out, all-stainless fasteners, and sturdy side plates. Best floor jack
The chassis is made of only aluminum, so it only weighs 60 pounds, which is a veryștiible amount. 4t floor jack.
Without the extension, the minimum height is six inches, which is too high to fit under lower cars.
Large wheels give it a 34 x 15 x 10 inch footprint, which, along with its height, means it won’t fit in a tight corner.
Some models have standard side handles, while others have a grab handle. The way they are put together is the same, though.
There are a lot of extras you can buy, like mounts, pads, toolkits, and a 13-inch extension.
Pros: Good for all tall vehicles and trailers, rolls over rough surfaces, comes with a lot of accessories, and can lift the most with a hydraulic jack.
Cons: Very expensive, too tall for many cars, and takes up a lot of space.
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6. Daytona 1.5 Ton Professional Racing Series Aluminum Floor Jack
We have used really cheap floor jacks before, and they can turn a fun project into a nightmare.
Still, having one is better than not having one at all, but if you use it more than a few times a year, you should move up to the next level. Convenient to use, best DIY car lift.
You can get Daytona jacks in a number of different styles, like low profile and long reach, and in 1.5, 2, and 3 ton models, but if you’re just starting out, the basic 1.5 ton model is a good choice.
It lifts 10.75 inches, which isn’t a lot, from 3.5 inches to 14.25 inches, but it has a foam guard on the handle, lifting handles, and a solid rubber saddle, which are all features of more expensive jacks.
It is 20.4 inches long and 10.1 inches wide, which makes it both small and stable. One of the best Lifted Truck Jack.
It weighs 32.3 pounds, which is not too heavy and makes it easy to move around. It’s a lot of jack for the price, and it should hold up to regular, light-duty use.
Pros: It has a double cylinder for quick lifting, is made of aluminum, and has a good low clearance.
Cons: There isn’t much lift height, and 1.5 tons isn’t enough for bigger cars.
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7. Hein-Werner 4 Ton Long Chassis Service Jack
The USA-made, all-steel 4 ton Hein-Werner can’t be stepped up to anything else except for a garage lift. It’s also called jack for lifted truck.
This monster can lift from 5 to 25.75 inches and is 49 inches long, so it can fit under almost anything.
The heavy-duty chassis is part of the 219-pound weight that makes the car hug the garage floor.
It’s also 15 inches wide, which is important because it’s made to carry heavy things.
The HW93657 model has a sealed, dual-piston hydraulic cylinder that is protected from over-pumping and overloading on the inside.
The long handle has three positions for pumping, and instead of twisting to release, it has a knob that lets you control how far down it goes. 4t floor jack.
Four tons is enough to lift one end of the biggest passenger cars, a loaded trailer, a small dump truck or other commercial vehicles, or farm equipment like tractors.
Pros: 2 year warranty, professional quality, long reach, 4 ton rating
Cons: It’s big, heavy, and costly
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Everything You Need to Know About Floor Jacks
A car jack is an important tool for anyone who works on their own cars, and a good one can make a big difference in how you fix your car.
There are different kinds and sizes of floor jacks, and they can help with both big and small jobs.
You can put on a spare tire with the scissors jack that came with your car, but after the second or third time, you’ll wish you had a floor jack.
As soon as you start doing even simple maintenance, repairs, or upgrades, you’ll quickly find out that a scissor jack has its limits.
They only work on one part of the car and often get in the way when you’re changing the oil or brake pads.
Spending a few minutes turning one up and down quickly gets old and wastes time. A service jack is also much more stable.
With a narrow scissors jack, there isn’t much room for error, and if you’re not careful, your car can fall off.
The best hydraulic jacks are an investment, but when you think about how much you can save by not going to a mechanic or tire store for even a few oil changes or tire swaps, it’s easy to decide to buy one.
What is a Floor Jack?
A floor or service jack doesn’t lift straight up like a scissor, high-lift, or bottle jack. Instead, it uses an arm to spread the weight of your car across its frame and wheels.
This makes them more stable than the other kinds, but also gives them a bigger footprint. Leverage against the arm can make lifting much faster and easier.
It only takes five or ten pumps to lift more than a foot, but how easy or fast it is depends on the car jack you are using.
Most of the time, the more money you spend, the faster you get.
Because it has wheels, a long frame, and a handle, a hydraulic jack can be used not only under the side of a car, but also under a frame rail, differential, or other hard point.
If you are working on the suspension, you might need to jack up the car, put it on jack stands, and then use your floor jack to support the suspension.
There are also adaptors that can help support a transmission, but you probably wouldn’t want to use one often.
Most of the time, hydraulic car jacks make it easier, faster, and safer to lift your car.
Floor Jack Accessories
Along with any kind of car jack, you’ll need some accessories to make working under your car safer.
You should always use a floor jack with jack stands, which hold your car up while you work on it.
You should never go under a car that is only being held up by a floor jack, so jack stands are needed for all maintenance jobs.
You can raise a car with a floor jack, slide your jack stands under the car, and then lower the car onto the stands.
Some jack stands can be moved with a pin, but others can’t be moved at all.
What To Look For In a Floor Jack
When buying a floor jack, there are a few important things to think about.
First, what kind of car do you want to move? Different tools are needed to lift a sports car, a sedan, and an SUV.
For example, think about how high the vehicle is off the ground. A bottle jack won’t fit under all cars, but it might be perfect for a truck that has been lifted.
On the other hand, a floor jack would be perfect for a sports car because many of them are low and can slide right under them.
Weight is another important thing to think about. Usually, jacks are rated based on how much weight they can lift and hold.
So, if you have a bigger, heavier car, you need a jack that can support more weight.
Most jacks can support between 1.5 and 3 tons, which is enough to hold up most cars. A 4 ton jack may be needed for larger vehicles like full-size pickups and SUVs.
It’s also important to know that the jack won’t be able to hold the whole weight of the car, but the closer it is to the engine, the more work it will have to do.
One last thing to think about when looking at jacks is what they are made of and how well they are made.
Jacks with more metal parts, nice, even paint jobs, and fancier materials show off their construction and are likely to last longer than ones with sloppy paint jobs and plastic parts.
This thing is going to raise your car off the ground, so it should feel strong and sturdy, not cheap and like a toy.
How do Floor Jacks Work?
Floor jacks can be powered either by hydraulics or by a motor.
Most of the time, these are smaller, lighter, and easier to store jacks, but they can’t lift as much and can take a bit of muscle to use.
Mechanical Jacks
Jacks can be used in a number of different ways. Old service jacks, like the kind you might have used in a garage before World War II, usually have a long handle and a ratchet bar.
When you push down on the handle, it moves forward one or two notches, which raises the jack. No one makes a new ratcheting floor jack as far as we know.
They were often over four feet long and very heavy.
But you can make a high-lift jack from the same idea if you turn it on its side. Off-roaders have to deal with lifted vehicles with big tires and rough terrain where they might have to jack in while in a hole.
These are standard equipment for all off-roaders and can lift 48 inches or more.
Most mechanical or manual jacks, like the scissor jack that comes with almost every car, use something called a lead screw.
This is the same idea that Archimedes was experimenting with 2,400 years ago, which he got from an Egyptian way to move water that was used around 2500 B.C.E.
The force you put into a shaft with threads is multiplied by a ring or collar. This is called mechanical advantage.
The downside is that you have to turn a lot but don’t lift as much, but they can be very light and small for how much they can carry.
There are many variations on this theme, such as ultra-low profile jacks that go as low as 1″ and many different kinds of bottle jacks.
Most electric jacks are just screw jacks with an electric motor added to them. This makes the process go much faster.
A third type of mechanical jack is more specialized. It has a rotating handle that turns a gear box, which lifts a toothed post.
They are very slow and have a small range, but they can lift up to 50,000 pounds, which is about the same as a bottle jack, and there is no chance that the hydraulics will fail.
The slow raising and controlled lowering can be helpful for tasks that need to be very precise.
Hydraulic Jacks
If you buy a jack, you are probably already using hydraulics, whether you know it or not.
Even though electric steering and brakes are becoming more common, almost every car on the road has hydraulic brakes, hydraulic steering, and often other hydraulic systems as well.
All hydraulics work the same way, whether they are in a jack, a car, an excavator, or a Boeing: Put pressure on a cylinder full of fluid, and then send that fluid somewhere to do work.
Hydraulic jacks work with a light oil that you pump to make it pressurized.
Because the oil can’t be compressed very much, it has to go somewhere.
It goes through a one-way check or ball valve into another cylinder and piston, which forces the jack up.
Then, you open a release or bypass valve to let the fluid back out.
There may also be a tank called an accumulator that holds hydraulic fluid that is under pressure.
Even though bottle jacks look a little different, they work the same way.
The main difference is that a floor jack builds up pressure before the lifting arm moves, while a bottle jack raises the lifting cylinder as you pump.
The Benefits of a Floor Jack
Floor jacks can be used on many different types and sizes of vehicle bodies and can fit in most garages and work areas.
They aren’t as easy to carry around as other types of jacks, but they are safe and reliable.
Also, they are easy to use. They are easy to move around a car because they have wheels or casters.
This makes it easy to put them under a jack point.
Then, they can quickly lift a car with a level and hydraulics.
When you’re done with your work, it’s easy and safe to lower the vehicle.
You can also use these jacks to support parts of the suspension or, with an adapter, to lift a transmission.
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