Shite scissor jacks

[sierraman]

Whats the best and worst car for the manufacturer supplied scissor jack. I'll put my two pennath in first with the farm jack type shite you used to get with the older ford sierra. It was nail bightingly unstable.

[eddyramrod]

Not really a scissor jack, but the OEM A-frame jack supplied with my Austin A40 was actually rather good.  IIRC Lada jacks were pretty good too.  Lada gave you a lot of tools as standard, because you might be somewhere remote.  Like Barrow...

[brickwall]

The piece of crap that comes with small Rovers and Fords and Vauxhalls etc

[MrDuke]

Not really a scissor jack, but the OEM A-frame jack supplied with my Austin A40 was actually rather good.  IIRC Lada jacks were pretty good too.  Lada gave you a lot of tools as standard, because you might be somewhere remote.  Like Barrow...

 

 

The (excellent) Riva jacks weren't scissor-types - you had to locate the top in a piece of sill-mounted box-section, then it extended vertically using a threaded bar. Great because there was much less danger of the car slipping or the jack toppling, less great because you couldn't use them on any other cars once the Riva had expired.

[Angrydicky]

Eddy, those BMC jacks are good, the only problem with them is that the sills are rarely strong enough to take them! I've used them twice and each time the sill has bowed in the middle. Then again my cars are usually quite ropey.

[HMC]

merc w124s and other similar era mercs come with a nicely constucted weighty thing. pop off the jacking point cover, and assuming theres something still inside to slot it in to, your away!

[eddyramrod]

Eddy, those BMC jacks are good, the only problem with them is that the sills are rarely strong enough to take them! I've used them twice and each time the sill has bowed in the middle. Then again my cars are usually quite ropey.

My sills had been in Cyprus all their life...   Strongest sills I've ever seen on a BMC car!

[Station]

1990's Vauxhall jacks are OK - but the handle is the reason why I have RSI, and why I have a bigger bicep that the other arm (honest).

Recent Ford Transit jacks are ACE - a couple of turns and the car is nearly on it's side.

In my experience I've found using any jack is the worst part of changing a tyre on the outer side in the hard shoulder in the pissing rain at rush hour.

[Micrashed]

The MicraShed scissor jack is quite good, its currently supporting a tonne and a half of Bailey Pageant caravan whilst I have the offside tyre replaced.

 

The downside is if I get a flat between now and New Year, Im fucked.

[Pillock]

Not a scissor but the stock Beetle jack is awful, one of them stand jacks with a three inch lifter sticking out.

 

It might have worked when new but on a car with the faintest hint of rust it just serves to make crunching sounds. I got mine all the way to the top, tyre still on the deck but now with a drivers door that won't open as the whole heater channel and running board was fucked.

[vulgalour]

Agreed in the BMC/BL jacks being ace, I've got them with the Princess, obviously, and if I had two more I could lift a whole car off the floor.  You can do the same with the SD1 which has a slightly better designed jack still.

 

The best presumably proper scissor jack I've encountered comes with the Lexus LS400, along with some very nice quality tools.  The jack feels pretty solid for one of those diamond shaped jobbies even when you're using it under a big heavy car like the Lexus and the handle is quite comfortable too.

 

Worst has to be the one on the Mk2 Polo I had.  Fits to the ridge where the sill is spotwelded to the body, is tricky to line up and even once you've got it going you usually skin your knuckles on the road as you're winding and the foot has a habit of skidding across tarmac no matter what you do, prompted the car to fall off the jack.  Bloody useless, really.

[stuboy]

learnt never to push all way in as when winding down it gouged the door

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-124-125-ORIGINAL-CAR-JACK-/131042644217?nma=true&si=PF2lYDnQ80jgNAP82xdeCWOEY5w%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[stuboy]

we got pug partner at work and enjoy scrapping knuckles on the ground with the jack..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Peugeot-206-Jack-672566-/171166257881

[CortinaDave]

The stock jack with my ZT is unspeakably terrible.

 

I used to like the old ford jacks that slotted into pre made jacking points under the car

 

The jacks themselves worked well, shame the jacking points rotted off the car by five years old rendering them utterly useless.

[Richard]

The best OEM jack I've ever used was on the HC Viva. It went under the suspension arm so you had less weight to lift, and it was only a couple of turns to get the wheel off the ground. It was a particularly useful feature on a 70s car because it saved crushing the sill.

[Squire_Dawson]

The best by far has got to be the 'Jackall' system used on the more expensive Austins of the mid 1930s/40s. A built in hydraulic jack at each corner, I understand. I've no experience of them but I read that the whole car could be jacked up with them automatically.

[Spiny Norman]

With the Citroen CX you got a bottle jack type thing and all you did was raise the suspension up to the highest setting, wind out the jack and place it by the required wheel (nice and easy because you weren't lifting the car) then drop the suspension and that wheel would rise up of the ground.

 

No sweat and far less chance of the car moving off the jack.

[Guest Tony Hayers]

As noted the setup on the Sierra is pretty crap, especially after the sill has been crudely plated from rot and the notch for the jack has been covered over. Ask me how I know this, go on ask me!

 

I also recall that the Scorpio (94>) my old man briefly owned had a bloody awful setup.  Just Googled, it did. A sodding ratchet affair shared with the Crown Vics & Lincolns I believe.

[dollywobbler]

The best by far has got to be the 'Jackall' system used on the more expensive Austins of the mid 1930s/40s. A built in hydraulic jack at each corner, I understand. I've no experience of them but I read that the whole car could be jacked up with them automatically.

 

The best built-in jack story I know is the Austin test driver who got caught out by a suspicious supervisor. This chap was lifting the car on the jacks, running it in gear to clock the miles up, then heading off to enjoy a little recreation time with a lady friend...

[Pete-M]

SD1 jacking setup is cool. Those square section tubes under the bumper are there for the Jack.

 

Focus jack is shit. Wobbly and not very good at all. The old Ford setup someone else mentioned with the hole for the jack was the one.

[STUNO]

Best jack I ever used was on a 1965 ish Chrysler. It just hooked under the bumper and was easy to jack up. to let down you just flicked a lever and it "walked" itself down the

jack pole.

[overrun]

90's Nissan jacks were shite. The usual scissor style, but the P11 Primera had one without a hinged handle attached.

Meaning you had to feed the handle/centre cap tool in and out until the car was at a suitable enough height to be able to complete a full revolution.

[Stanky]

Thanks for answering that question overrun, I have a mid-90s almera and the whole time I've owned it I assumed a previous owner had nicked the proper handle and left me with some random bent bit of metal to use instead! It takes at least 3 times longer than it should to elevate/lower the car when jacking it up because of the inability to complete full revolutions unless the car is at least 2/3rds of the way 'up'. Completely retarded bit of design, but good to know that was engineered in by Nissan and not the work of some twat of a previous owner.

[beko1987]

The ford jack in the puma was shit. Hit thefloor turning it up until the car was quite high, and I remember changing the wheel in a muddy field entrance and the fucker sunk down when the sheel was off. My trousers were almostas brownas my knees were.

 

Best jack I've seen is on a mates old 3 series, pop the cap off the sill, slide the jack in and wind up/down. He bought 3 more from ebay so he can keep the car high and level without axle stands!

[overrun]

Best jack I've seen is on a mates old 3 series, pop the cap off the sill, slide the jack in and wind up/down. He bought 3 more from ebay so he can keep the car high and level without axle stands!

Good jacks, no doubt. I wouldn't trust them to replace axle stands, though.

Sounds like you mate has already had a car on the head...

[beko1987]

We put the wheels under the chassis, haven't died yet!

 

Mainly used it when all 4 of his tyres needed replacing, raised the whole car up as if it was ona tiny ramp, off with the wheels, lowered down onto a brick under each suitable under place, wheels into my (Puma) then, off to the part worn place, back home, up goes the car, on goes the wheels

 

We did much the same when replacing the gearbox but we did have stands for that as the front jacks got in the way of my elbow...

[overrun]

I am often under the car when it is on my six or so year old Arcan jack. I also haven't died yet.

And I have had that thing fully apart.

[Micrashed]

Thanks for answering that question overrun, I have a mid-90s almera and the whole time I've owned it I assumed a previous owner had nicked the proper handle and left me with some random bent bit of metal to use instead! It takes at least 3 times longer than it should to elevate/lower the car when jacking it up because of the inability to complete full revolutions unless the car is at least 2/3rds of the way 'up'. Completely retarded bit of design, but good to know that was engineered in by Nissan and not the work of some twat of a previous owner.

Assuming the Micra jack is the same  - place the hooked bit of the wheel trim removal tool into the jack windy up bit and then using the other hand as a pivot wind the handle in a kind of elliptical fashion. They work well, if a bit of a faff. As I say - mine is currently supporting the caravan.

[overrun]

Assuming the Micra jack is the same  - place the hooked bit of the wheel trim removal tool into the jack windy up bit and then using the other hand as a pivot wind the handle in a kind of elliptical fashion. They work well, if a bit of a faff. As I say - mine is currently supporting the caravan.

They are all the same, yeah. The problem is once it starts taking the weight of the car, you have no choice but to do as Stanky and me have said.

 

Definitley the shittest jack design I have ever owned. I forgave Nissan though as they are usually far superior in every other area.

[wackywacerwill]

Just wrote out a long post and lost it with inferior 'puting skills.

 

This covers most of it mind.