Jacks (1 Viewer)

[CharlieS]

I hope I got this right from my search - a 3 ton jack will work for my 80?

Hopefully. There seemed to be some disagreement on how much it had to be.

I think I just got a great deal at Sears. I am in the craftsman club, which is no big deal (free to join), but they have unadvertised deals for club members only. Anyone can join it for free. I just picked up a 3 ton jack, pair of jack stands, fender protector, creeper seat, lug wrench, jumper cable, package deal for $89.99. The normal price is $149.99. If you're looking for a jack, and 3 ton is indeed enough, I think that this is a great deal.

Can anyone confirm, just for my sanity, that 3 ton is enough?

Charlie
(newbie)

 

[NorCalDoug]

Bigger is better.
I have a pair of the Sears 3-ton jack stands that came as a package deal with my floor jack. I've used it without reservations. I've been eying a couple 6-ton stands I saw at a major national membership warehouse store the other day.

 

[alia176]

Do yourself a favor, get a floor jack that uses the handle twisting to raise/lower. This way, you won't have to continuously move the handle from one to another while working. This can be a major annoyance!

 

[CharlieS]

Do yourself a favor, get a floor jack that uses the handle twisting to raise/lower. This way, you won't have to continuously move the handle from one to another while working. This can be a major annoyance!

I believe this one does. All of the other craftsman jacks I've owned in the past do. The handle turns clockwise to lock it into lift mode and then turns anti-clockwise/counter-clockwise to release the lift. The same handle pumps up and down to generate the lift.

The only one I've owned that worked differently was a cheap off brand that had a T shaped nipple off the side that locked it into lift mode and released the pressure, and the handle had to be removed from that part and placed in another fitting to pump it up. In fact, in operation, it is more like the bottle jack that raises and lowers my engine lift.

I haven't opened the box on this 3 ton one, it is still in the back of the cruiser, but I am fairly certain this is one where the entire operation is in the handle.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[e9999]

I have a heavy duty 3.5 tons. Seems plenty strong but needs a fair number of strokes to get to the top.
I found the smoothness of the release to be critical. If it's too hard you overshoot and the truck falls suddenly. I drilled a hole through the handle of mine and insert a bar so I have better leverage and can open the release only a tiny bit at a time.
I use 12 ton jack stands, however, for safety's sake. I would NOT use 3 ton jacks on this truck. These are too close weightwise IMO but perhaps more importantly they usually have a very small base and so are much less stable than the big guys...

 

[NorCalDoug]

Might I suggest keeping the 3-ton stands and using them on the trail -- they're small enough to pack in a tub and better than nothing...

Get the larger jack stands and use them at home for routine maintenance.

 

[CharlieS]

Great idea.

I'll have to locate some of the big mutha's for working on the pig. 12 ton! Holy smokes batman, those things must be monstrous.

I've now got three sets of perfectly useless jack stands. 1 ton, 2 ton and 3 ton. About all they're good for now is working on the wifes saab. Oh well.

Charlie

 

[Lochsa]

I have that exact craftsman jack package, and the handle does indeed do all the jacking and releasing. Also, I have used the 3 ton jack stands with no troubles, but a heavier duty set is certainly not going to hurt anything. Just saying I have had the 80 up on them without issue. 12 ton seems like a bit of overkill, since that is what, 4 times the total weight of the truck? They must be huge. Seems like they would get in the way. Just my .02, I could be totally wrong...

 

[e9999]

remember that most jacks are rated for the pair.
So 12 ton jacks mean 6 tons each = 12000 lbs each = 2 trucks each, a decent safety factor, but again I think it all goes back to stability. If the base is too small, they may start to tilt and then you concentrate stresses on one or 2 legs and they go fast... They could just fall -together with the truck- The forces involved can be very large, you could easily have a stand be propelled at high speed.
I would guess that the 12 tons are about 2x as big around as my 3 tons. Not gigantic by any means.
What it boils down to, is that everytime I go under the truck with these stands on, I think these were the best $100 I could possibly spend on this truck...

 

[Lochsa]

point taken. I agree that safety is first and I certainly don't want to have the truck on my head anytime in the near future...

 

[Rookie2]

My rig slid off the floor jack and feel about an inch onto a pair of 3 ton jack stands that were in place under the frame rails just behind the front wheel wells. I'm sure they were supporting well over half the load of the vehicle, plus the impact load, and they were fine. I wouldn't be afraid to use them, but then again I did heed the advice here and spill the 25 bucks for some 6 ton ones. 12 tons is just showing off .

 

[alia176]

Before you tear into that Craftsman box, you may want to check out the floor jack from Costco. It's 3.5 ton rated and has a very low profile for getting under normal cars. It also has the fast rising feature and overall a very beefy jack. Just some food for thought. I bought this unit for $80.

 

[Desertdave]

In my opinion, you can't have too many tools, and floor jacks and jack stands are in that category, for sure.

I started out with a set similar to what you have. As I was able, I added to the collection. Now have 3 sets of stands and 3 floor jacks. Sometimes I still use the originals, when the others are in use, or the space is limited, etc. The small jack stands work great for supporting an axle housing during teardown and re-paint, for example.

One reason I have a set of 6 ton jack stands is because of their height. If I need to support a rig by the frame, in order to replace springs, for example, even those stands aren't really high enough for the job. I usually have to remove the tires to get the axle low enough, with the frame on the highest setting. Stuff like this comes up as you go to lifts and big tires.

 

[hj60]

12 ton seems like a bit of overkill, since that is what, 4 times the total weight of the truck? They must be huge. Seems like they would get in the way. Just my .02, I could be totally wrong...

I use these on anything from our Camrys all the way up to class 5 dump truck. They can get in the way if you don't plan right.

 

[phlyfish]

I have a 6 ton floor jack from harborfreight w/ 6 ton jack stands. I paid 18.00 for the pair and 39 for the jack. Both are great and have no complaints.

 

[spressomon]

The 12-ton jack stands at Harbor Freight have the highest lift height of any (any in the somewhat affordable range anyway) jack stand at 30.5"...