Contents
– Car Floor Jack: Safety Element
– Constitution of the Car Floor Jack
– Car Floor Jack: Selection Criteria
– Placement of the Floor Jack Under Your Vehicle
The car floor jack is present in any serious workshop. It is also strongly recommended for the enlightened amateur in car mechanics. Among other things, for safety reasons. Let’s take a look.
Car Floor Jack: Safety Element
Not only does the jack allow you to stabilize an immobilized vehicle without its wheels, for example, but it is also an indispensable complement to the various lifting tools (hydraulic jacks, pneumatic jacks, workshop cranes, etc.).
Indeed, the first safety rules that are taught to apprentice mechanics are:
– Always secure a jack lift with a jack stand (in fact, the jack stand can fail and cause the vehicle to fall and crush the operator).
– Always double up on lifting and support equipment because even if the probability is low, a jack stand can collapse and fail…
Please note: if you work with a jack, leave the jack under the vehicle for the duration of the operation or use a second jack.
Construction of the Car Jack
The car jack is composed of:
– a body made up of 3 or 4 metal legs, either welded or made of thick stamped sheet metal;
– a central tube sliding in the body, either drilled at regular intervals to adjust its height with a pin or equipped with a rack (once adjusted, it locks itself with the vehicle’s weight).
In the shape of a dish or disc, the upper part of the jack is in contact with the underside of the vehicle.
Car Floor Jacks: Selection Criteria
Your choice must be the most reasonable, according to your needs:
– Quality of the car stanchion: this is the most important point, no compromise, the stanchion must be robust, it must weigh a certain weight (~ 6 kg), synonymous with thick sheet metal.
– Lifting capacity: for a passenger vehicle, it is advisable to use a stanchion with a maximum load of 3 tons, which leaves a substantial safety margin.
– Rack and pinion jacks: the efficiency of the 2 types of rack and pinion jacks is equivalent. However, the rack and pinion jacks are easier to use and quicker to install.
– The financial aspect: in this field of lifting capacity, you’ll find lots of quality car floor jacks in the range of $40 to $80 on the Internet or in stores of spare parts.
Placement of the Floor Jack Under Your Vehicle
Here are some tips for the integrity of the operator and the vehicle:
– The surface support is paramount:
◦ the surface must be flat;
◦ the type of hard ground (cemented – tarred) because the floor jack must not sink in, or the vehicle will fall.
– The positioning of the stanchions under the vehicle must be done with care:
◦ they must be placed in the location intended for lifting the vehicle or in places likely not to deform the body (side rails – cradle …) ;
◦ they must not be out of balance and rest on all their feet.
– When maneuvering with a jack to position a jack stand, avoid interposing your hand between the jack stand and the floor, mainly if the operation is performed with 2 operators.
You will notice that the keyword of this article is “safety”. Indeed, the intervention under a vehicle is not harmless and presents great dangers.
By now, this post should have convinced you to get your car floor jack to work safely in your garage. Remember to share and comment below.