What is a Car Jack
Car jack is a device for lifting heavy loads. It is an irreplaceable device for any car owner. A car jack can help you remove a punched wheel on a journey or pull your car out from the mud in no time. If you repair your car in the garage or home workshop, the car jack will help too. Car jacks are versatile in use and hence, a must have in any garage and luggage compartment.
If you are an inveterate automobilist loving to travel a lot, you should also consider cargo boxes and car covers reviews.
What Features to Compare
If you have a car, sooner or later you will need a car jack to make repairs. To choose the right car jack, you should consider several aspects.
Specifications
First of all, you need to consider specifications of a car jack. The most important parameter of any car jack is its lifting capacity. When you choose a car jack, you should keep in mind the weight of your car. For example, if the car weight is 2500 pounds, the lifting force of a car jack should be 3000-4000 pounds. If the weight of your car is bigger than the lifting capacity of the car jack, you may break the jack or damage the car and even got injured. The next thing to pay attention to is the minimum and maximum lift height. The minimum lift height (road clearance) is picked depending on the ride height (the distance between a car bottom and the ground). The lower the ride height is, the less the minimum lift height of car jack should be. The maximum lift height means the distance between the car bottom and ground when the car is lifted up to the top point.
Type
The type of car jack is another parameter that is quite important. Here you should highlight two features: the type of car jack itself and the type of drive. When you look at the structure and drive of car jack, you should remember about the place and the way of use. There are the Mechanical jacks are the most available and simple, but you have to apply a lot of efforts to lift your car with a mechanical jack. Mechanical jack will be helpful if you don’t use it frequently. Hydraulic car jacks allow you to lift big loads without major efforts and adjust the lifting height precisely. The only drawback of hydraulic jacks is that you have to transport them in a vertical position to prevent spilling of working fluid. All car jacks can be also classified by design:
- Scissor car jacks have the high lifting capacity and low clearance and can be transported in any position. These car jacks will be good for the owners of small cars with low ride height.
- Bottle car jacks have the high lifting capacity and small size and will fit the vehicles with big ride height.
- Floor rolling car jacks will be perfect for using in garages as they can be easily rolled under any part of the car. These jacks need flat and solid surface to provide steady positioning. So, rolling car jacks will be helpless on the soft ground.
- Rack car jacks are versatile and will be appropriate for owners of jeeps and small agricultural vehicles.
- Transmission car jacks are designed to perform specific tasks, in particular, replacement of transmission systems and other gears of vehicles. You just need to put a transmission jack under any component part, unscrew and take it out for further handling.
Dimensions
If you need the car jack for frequent use or transportation in a luggage compartment, you should pay attention to the dimensions. Compact and lightweight car jacks will be better for frequent transportation and the models with a wide base plate will be good for use in a single place and the weight will matter less.