ARB Jack PSA

[kcjaz]

While out getting to Moab, I went to go and use my ARB jack and the pivot pin on the handle was missing rendering the jack useless. I carry the jack on my spare tire swing out. I guess it just vibrated loose. I cut a piece of wire off a nearby fence (excess, off of a twist) and it did the trick but jeeze. Luckily I was just showing the jack to a buddy and didn’t really need it. I had previously also broke the cam lever on the lift arm. It’s plastic and you can easily over tighten it. Don’t go gorilla on it or it breaks.

I contacted ARB as the jack was still in warranty. Rather than sending me the parts, they sent me whole new jack. That’s cool.

So, on the new one, I have removed the pin that went AWOL and put it back with blue loctite. I also removed the 3 3mm cap screws on the top cover and reinstalled with blue loctite. If you carry this jack on your swing out, I suggest use loctite and/or carry a bolt or some wire.

 

[gasman4u]

Thanks for the heads up. Hats off to ARB for this amazing example of customer service going above and beyond!

 

[kong24680]

I have this same jack and love using it, but the quality is absolutely s***. I’m on my second one now, and I’ve already had multiple parts fall off or break.

 

[prharper]

Wow Jason, good for you! I also had one of those levers break off mine and they sent me a new lever. Their customer service is good. Sorry to hear others have had this problem.

 

[linuxgod]

if you decide to throw the old jack out…

 

[kcjaz]

if you decide to throw the old jack out…

It’s a little odd. I made two separate warranty claims. The first was for the cam lever that broke and the second was for the pin. It appears that ARB just sent me a whole new Jack for the first claim before they processed the second. For the second they responded saying they would send me another Jack but wanted me to ship them the broken one and that they would send a prepaid label. I told them I already had the replacement. If they send me the prepaid label to send it back I’ll do so, but it would be all right if they didn’t and I ended up with two of these things.

 

[linuxgod]

ARB's warranty service is interesting. They sent me a replacement rear BP51 and said because mine had been installed by Slee they'd cross-ship and I could send the bad one back after installing the new one. But they've yet to provide me a return label or instructions, so for the moment the other is in my garage. If my other rear goes out I'll probably send the current one off to be rebuilt...

 

[kcjaz]

So I’ve been using my original ARB Jack as a shop Jack because ARB has never sent me the return shipping label. It’s pretty handy, especially to jack up the rear to pull a tire. During the install of my new King shocks and the rear the Jack lost his ability to lift anything and hold its position. You can kinda jack up the vehicle, but it won’t hold the position. You can actually push down it with just your body weight and it’ll go down. There is an air bleeding procedure which I’ve done but it seems to either have a lot of air in it or seal or something inside is bad. The air bleed procedure doesn’t help though I do hair air releasing. Bummer. I still have the other one mounted to my truck, but I think the moral of the story is if you rely on one of these things you need to constantly be checking it. While they did me right by sending me a new one, quality of this thing is disappointing given its rather high price tag. In contrast to have a small craftsman floor jack that I bought in 1985. It still works.

 

[kong24680]

I’m now on my 3rd ARB hydraulic jack. They were very good about sending me another replacement, but I’m gonna replace this with a pro-eagle

 

[Fisher23]

How are you folks caring the ARB jack?

I have been oputting mine in the 1045 drawer but I would rather put it out side on some mount.
Used it several times -- without issues so far.

What is this mount?

 

[Artie]

So I’ve been using my original ARB Jack as a shop Jack because ARB has never sent me the return shipping label. It’s pretty handy, especially to jack up the rear to pull a tire. During the install of my new King shocks and the rear the Jack lost his ability to lift anything and hold its position. You can kinda jack up the vehicle, but it won’t hold the position. You can actually push down it with just your body weight and it’ll go down. There is an air bleeding procedure which I’ve done but it seems to either have a lot of air in it or seal or something inside is bad. The air bleed procedure doesn’t help though I do hair air releasing. Bummer. I still have the other one mounted to my truck, but I think the moral of the story is if you rely on one of these things you need to constantly be checking it. While they did me right by sending me a new one, quality of this thing is disappointing given its rather high price tag. In contrast to have a small craftsman floor jack that I bought in 1985. It still works.

Were there any indications before it quit working? I carry one of these as well, it stores vertically in my Dissent cabinet and is only pulled out a few times a year. One thing it does is that when lifting weight it occasionally makes a very slight but audible high pitched squeal. It’s done this since new so I’ve never worried about it but hearing about these failures on this thread it definitely has me thinking.

I also carry a hydraulic bottle jack from safe jack but doggone if I didn’t have an issue with it this trip. I may start carrying the OEM instead just because it will work regardless.

 

[John McVicker]

@Artie just out of curiosity what issues are you having with your SafeJack?

I also have one & would be interested in knowing.

 

[Artie]

@Artie just out of curiosity what issues are you having with your SafeJack?

I also have one & would be interested in knowing.

I just learned you can’t trust that rubber plug that holds the hydraulic oil in. If you carry it in the ammo can it came with you have to make sure that plug is facing up. Last time I had mine out I stuffed it all back in that can and it must not have been facing up. Oil leaked out and it won’t lift now. I’ll source some oil in the next town we stop in but I think I will carry some extra from now on. There’s some attachments the jack came with I don’t use so I think I’ll take them out to make space for the extra oil.

Storing that jack with that plug facing up means it’s sitting on the pumping mechanism, this seems counterintuitive given the nature of the bumpy driving we do on trails.

 

[John McVicker]

@Artie Thanks & good to know about that plug.

I believe yours should be easy enough to repair. I can’t remember where exactly but I have purchased some used bottle jacks at garage sales that had leaky plugs. Somewhere, maybe on the www or in Home Depot etc I found similar plugs for sale & have repaired several jacks.

New plugs & a bottle of hydraulic oil & you can be good again.

 

[Artie]

@Artie Thanks & good to know about that plug.

I believe yours should be easy enough to repair. I can’t remember where exactly but I have purchased some used bottle jacks at garage sales that had leaky plugs. Somewhere, maybe on the www or in Home Depot etc I found similar plugs for sale & have repaired several jacks.

New plugs & a bottle of hydraulic oil & you can be good again.

That plug is still extremely supple and was very hard to remove and reinstall… that seal seemed very tight. I’m assuming it was the weak point but it’s possible it leaked from the top. I’ll refill and keep an eye on it and report back with any leaks. That jack is great with all those neat attachments but that OEM mechanical jack will probably never fail.

 

[kcjaz]

Were there any indications before it quit working? I carry one of these as well, it stores vertically in my Dissent cabinet and is only pulled out a few times a year. One thing it does is that when lifting weight it occasionally makes a very slight but audible high pitched squeal. It’s done this since new so I’ve never worried about it but hearing about these failures on this thread it definitely has me thinking.

I also carry a hydraulic bottle jack from safe jack but doggone if I didn’t have an issue with it this trip. I may start carrying the OEM instead just because it will work regardless.

No prior warning. I do hear the squeak sometimes I don’t think it’s related but who knows. It worked fine until I was lifting the truck. To be fair I didn’t end up with both wheels on one side up in the air so I was probably right at its working limit but it’s a working limit. It should be able to take that with ease. It lifted it to a point and just stopped moving as I would I would pump. Then it wouldn’t hold the load. It would just slow slowly lower as if I was depressing the lowering button.

 

[kcjaz]

How are you folks caring the ARB jack?

I have been oputting mine in the 1045 drawer but I would rather put it out side on some mount.
Used it several times -- without issues so far.

What is this mount?


View attachment 4166226

It’s Slee’s mount for their bumper. I modified it to fit my dissent bumper.

 

[Artie]

No prior warning. I do hear the squeak sometimes I don’t think it’s related but who knows. It worked fine until I was lifting the truck. To be fair I didn’t end up with both wheels on one side up in the air so I was probably right at its working limit but it’s a working limit. It should be able to take that with ease. It lifted it to a point and just stopped moving as I would I would pump. Then it wouldn’t hold the load. It would just slow slowly lower as if I was depressing the lowering button.

You lifting from the sliders?

ARB manual says working limit 4400lbs, that’s like half my trucks weight. I prefer this thing over a hi lift mainly because I don’t have much experience with the hi lift and have heard all the tell about how it takes pleasure with death and dismemberment.

 

[kcjaz]

You lifting from the sliders?

For a front tire, yes. Not ideal. For the rear, I use a high lift tire strap. I should probably also use the tire strap in front too. Just need to lift it higher so the tire can be removed when the frame is on the jack stand.

I need to enlarge the front bumper lift point holes so I can use them with the ARB.