Safe and Proper Floor Jack Use

[WDHewson]

Gentlemen:

I’ve been jacking my lightweight cars with a scissors jack for 30 years. A scissors jack lifts in a perfectly vertical line so it makes it logically easy to place the jack and lift the car.

But I just bought a small floor jack and realize that the lifting pad moves through a curve on the way up. This means that either the jack will crawl forward a few inches on its wheels or the car will pull back towards the jack handle. Or both will move. This all seems a little unpredictable and unsafe to me.

What is the best way to use these floor jacks?

Thanks guys.

Topic

[outdoorsman310]

my jack just moves forward. ive never seen the car moving towards the jack but i did chock the wheels

[W00DBar0n]

[quote=”outdoorsman310″ post=38081]my jack just moves forward. ive never seen the car moving towards the jack but i did chock the wheels[/quote]
Like this person said, chalk the wheels, or put the parking break on.
When you got it on the jacks, do a bump test. Just try to push the car a little to see if it comes off the jacks. If it doesn’t you did everything right, if it does… well it was most likely to fall at some point.

[WDHewson]

Thanks guys. I have determined that lifting the car rolls the jack in and lowering pushes the jack back about 5 inches.

This means that the jack’s wheels should really be able to roll on a clean smooth floor.

I guess it also means that the jack should not be elevated with blocks of wood under it but rather on the lifting pad.

More later……

[outdoorsman310]

ive even rolled my jack onto cardboard from the concrete with no problems. i was jacking on the hooks they use to hold the cars on trains. but i had the parking brake strongly set and chocked the rear wheels. then i lowered it onto jack stands.

[Author]

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