MilesTeg

Hi,

Hoping for a recommendation of a floor jack that will work for both an 2018 F-150 and a 2013 Mustang (both stock height). I know I'll probably (?) need a low profile jack with a crimp weld adapter for the Mustang, but most low profile jacks I see only go about 20" high which I am not sure is high enough for the F-150.

I'd also like to hear some opinions on good, reliable brands (both for jacks and stands). Harbor Freight is a solid 'no' for me on things which will kill me if they fail, btw.

Anyone that can help me out here?

Thanks!

Jaryd21

Not sure about the Jack but I currently use craftsman stands and Jack for 07 gt and I agree a hard no with harbor freight Jack stands. Not that much help I guess just my input. Should add I have had my old jack for 5yrs and just gave it to a buddy who needed one and just bought a house, that was my excuse to get a new one lol bought the stands at Lowe's and the jack at a local auto parts dealer.

tbear853

I bought and use a low profile quick pump 3 ton for the '08 Mustang and my '07 f150 but I never use the pinch welds on it or other cars, I go for frame members, etc, Pinch weld jacking using OEM jack is strictly for emergency roadside tire changes in my book. I also have an older 3 ton regular jack and a couple of aluminum race jacks as well as bottle jacks & stands. If doing both with only the one, I'd use a 6x6x6 solid wooden block on top of my 3 ton low profile jack if needed under the F-150, but it works very good under front lower control arms under shocks toward the wheel end of LCA or under the rear shock lower mount.

houtex

Gonna have to say this, gonna have to ruffle some feathers, but oh well, things happen...

The pinch weld lift points on the cars are THE way to lift the cars. The OEM jack is the problem, not the pinch weld. Situations people find themselves in during emergency situations is the problem. Not the pinch weld.

The scissor jack they include with the car is indeed for emergency use, and is a regrettable thing to have to use in any emergency, to be sure. But the pinch weld itself is one of the, if not the, strongest parts of the car. You can lift the entire side of a Mustang, NASCAR style, by the pinch weld at *any* point and the car would be safe... as long as you have a safe jack to work with, the other side wheels are chocked, the ground is level and solid, no ice/wet under the tires, etc, ad nauseam... safety first and all that, or don't do it at all. Further, the lift points on the pinch weld are THE locations used to lift the car at a professional shop. It's also where I place jack stands when I have the car in the air, using the more-middle pinch weld location to actually lift the car in that NASCAR style I mentioned. I mean, before I'd lift the car at the lift point front or back and voila, like magic, the other tire on that side came up anyway. So now I just lift it at mid-front pinch weld and get them both anyway. The car nor me has suffered from doing this for years now. (Also, lifting at the lift points... where do you put the jacks now? So yeah...)

As compared to the frame rail type lift... on a smooth surface frame rail, potential slippage is a problem that I'm not willing to deal with if I have a pinch weld to use. No way. That said, the body on frame truck leaves much to be desired for safe jack points. The frame rails up front near the foot wells? Ugh. At least the axle tube lift is fairly safe-ish. Or if you're so inclined to ignore Ford's advice, pick it up by the differential, which I might do myself, if I can ensure slippage isn't a thing nor the cover being damaged. Up front? Ain't no good place IMO, but I'd have to deal with it best I can. And at the end of it... where do you put the stands if you're using the safe locations to jack it up with? I just love that...

Oh, I've lifted by frame rails and suspension mounts and such in the past... sure. One has to do what one has to do sometimes. I guarantee you I didn't lift very far before jackstands went in, and I 'inched' the thing up. Annoying. Better than the thing slipping though. But the pinch welds, if you can use them, is by far the absolute safest location to lift the car. More secure, more stable than any frame rail, and you are *minimally* under the car at any given time without a jack stand. Not using them... well, you do you, but I ain't gettin' near your work area until that lift is done, let's say.

Ok. Off my soap box. Except to say that this HF jack: https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...ack-64781.html
Is perfectly fine for the use of getting the Mustang or the F150 off the ground, not expensive, capable for 6000 pound lifts (which means it can pick up either vehicle at the center of gravity if you could figure out how to balance it(although the F150 is gettin' a little close at 5700 pounds)), is low profile, and has a 24" (2 foot) lift. I can't find that easily anywhere. I would not hesitate to use this thing, as I currently have the HF non-long reach version, and it works a treat. But I don't post this to say 'GET IT." I post it to say "it exists, therefore others should too" and you can do your searching. Me? I'm probably getting this. Although, to be honest, I'd rather have this version of that long reach...
https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...een-64785.html
Because... well, because...

Other jacks I've found are either less high, not low profile (which is handy on a Mustang), are bottle jacks (nope) or other not really what one should use for the job, and/or expensive and/or have to have hydraulic or pneumatics to make them work. But that said, I DO want to know about a similar one, so post it up if you find it! Not that it'll stop me from gettin that green thing, but hey, info is info. I ain't skeert. Been using HF stuff for a while and for my lil' home garage, it's perfectly fine so far...

Taking that frame rail concern in mind... couple that jack there with this thing:
https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...eam-64051.html
On that F150, I dare say, now you have a much safer lift to happen, right on the frame rails, two points of contact, higher lift capability overall with the pads screwed out, capable lift of 4000 pounds so the 3000 on one side will be fine... And guess what? Works *fantastic* on a pinch weld too! (Albeit you may have to lift the car once to get smaller jackstands under it first, but after that? Yep. I have proof! Works a treat.) Also the truck being secured (supposedly) on the other side's tires means it's gonna be stable as heck overall. The 2018 F150's ground clearance is listed at 9.4 inches, so with this jack at 24" lift, and the bar at max of 7 inches taller, that's 22" lift, almost the full two feet off the ground. Potentially, anyway. Couple of blocks under the jack, and voila, sky's the limit... well, to an extent, let's be reasonable. Buildings have roofs, after all...

Yep. Probably the way I'd go on all this. Although sure, if you're not inclined to use HF stuff, fine with me. Get some other brand that makes you happy, and that's all good! Plenty out there I'm sure... even if a quick search has left me wonderin'... most aren't that 'tall' a lift. But the concept is there for ya, this is how I'd be approaching it.

Hope that helps, and sorry to ruffle if I done so. Y'all have a good one.

/Also get a couple of chocks. Helpful lil' aminals. https://www.harborfreight.com/solid-...ock-96479.html Even HF ones are good, c'mon.

Glenn

Did you type all that Houtex?

Mustang Freak

I often think that myself!

SpectreH

Good thing about Houtex is his posts are actually informative and have been helpful to many of us. There used to be a gut on a Corvair website that would post long posts that had absolutely no useful information. It took us a while to learn that fact.

houtex

I have a 75 WPM ability, so... yes? Also, I have a VERY fast backspace ability, and then having a 1990's Model M bucklespring keyboard makes for a wonderful typing experience. Highly recommend!

I know, I get a lil' windy worded... sorrynotsorry.

tbear853

Nuttin ruffled here. Take care!

Mustang Freak

Absolutely no offense meant you are beyond helpful unlike myself! I just think wow does he spend a lot of time typing.

SDWElToro

I have a Harbor Freight (HF) floor jack and HF jack stands. No problems whatsoever.

MarvinN888

I understand what you're saying about HF stuff, but i would ask you to consider one, and only one floor jack from HF, and that's the yellow motor trader Daytona jack, only the yellow one, it's a copy of the SnapOn model, the others are not.

It's been pulled apart by various 'garage groups' and determined to be a solid copy of the SnapOn, mine has held up very well, fits under everything and jacks up high - it's also one of the very few items they sell that have a proper 3 year warranty, no questions asked.

Anyway, not sure what else i'd choose if i couldn't get that one, but i can say it's been very good to me for the past 4 years or so (yes i swapped it (with no issues) at 3 years so i got a new 3 year warranty)

houtex

Good to know!

The one I have seems to be quite good so far, though. Hasn't failed me yet, and I even got my other Black Jack Walmart one to work again! There's a cool trick where you just yank the dang thing up all the way, pump it a few times, then let it out read the updated procedure below and tada. Seems jacks do this from time to time, whatever. Both're solid now! In case that helps on this thread.

Dark Drop Top

Could you please elaborate on this method? I have the wal fart black jack too,which is working fine so far,but my other 2 similar jacks barely move at all now

houtex

Ok, so I misremembereded things like I do. It's a gift. I'll edit the above to indicate I'm silly.

I went to look this up and somehow finally remembered where I found it. The actual procedure is a lil' backwards from what I said, but it's right in the Hairy Freak manual for the low profile jack I used. I know, I know... instructions, who reads those...

Check it out:
And dang if it didn't fix that Black Jack. Not that I use it much after acquiring the 3 ton low profile, but I did have an occasion and it wasn't workin'. Now it does.

This is the part where we cover personal posteriors, which really goes for any of my posts except the ones where I'm absolutely right of course... and you can guess which those are, but anyway here it is: PLEASE NOTE that this is NOT, repeat, NOT legal or any other kind of advice whereupon if'n you trusted it and got yo'self in trouble I ain't about to be blamed for you messin' things up, got it? It's just some words I found that workeded for me gooder. Cool? Cool. Carry on.

If it doesn't work right off, you might need to do the bleeding or filling as needed, or the thing is shot on the seals and a rebuild/replace is in order. Which is what I thought was gonna be needed for that Black Jack. So yeah. Try it, can't hurt!

/I also had the ram of my brand dang new engine hoist that I used once and wound up not needing after all but still glad to have it because motorcycle will use it for front wheel stuff and then one day I'll yank an engine with it... um, not work. Yeah, that's the sentence... anyway that I fixed by just shoving the thing directly up to max, then seeing where it landed, and repeating until it was fully up and holding. Worked great after that, didn't lose position, I checked. Apparently had to balance the fluid or something...?

//Also note: DO NOT store your jacks in any position except 'down'/'released', and if you bump them up/engaged, release them so they're 'off'.
///Also also note: Same vein, DO NOT store your spin handle torque wrenches at a non-0 setting. 0 torque, lest you change how the wrench works and it doesn't anymore.
////Just figured I'd stick a fourth because slashies are cool. - 11th Doctor.

Dark Drop Top

Appreciate all that good info houtex,and I always love your entertaining way with words

For a second or 2,I was like,hairy freak,huh?Then it hit me,oh,harbor freight

Folks often mention having similar trouble understanding me cause I kinda make up my own words to make it funnier,like taco smell instead of bell for instance,and wal fart instead of mart.When I go to the gym I call it planet fatness instead of fitness

Any whooo,I didn't know jacks could be raised just by lifting them by hand,at least not with the valve closed anyway.

I knew about the torque wrench,cause I read directions too and I always put my jacks all the way down when I'm done with them,but I had no idea you're supposed to also leave the valve released while storing,or did I misunderstand that part?I always make sure to close the valve after putting them down so they're ready for action next time.I was always afraid if I left the valve open,it'd get air in it and I'd have,well...the same problem I already have with 2 out of 3 of my jacks,where they only have an inch of movement

So far the blackjack is fine,but other than it,every jack I've owned didn't last long at all before they lost almost all of their range

houtex

See, thing is if I put the actual name of companies in there, I feel I'm endorsin' and I ain't. I don't wanna get in trouble with the mods/owners for promotin' and I ain't sponsored so (inclined plane sprialing around a central shaft with a top that will let you twist it into wood and fasten things) 'em until I get mah money/products.

Sorry to confuse, I'll use closer words in the future.

Far as valve released or not... eh. I've never had any issue with it on, but I suspect that having it released ensures jack won't accidentally pump up and cause strain. Similar to the torque wrenches. That said, if you flop 'em down, store them, don't touch, same situation. I'm sure that keeping it closed is some kind of problem, but again, so far...

I also don't jam them closed, so there's that maybe...?

I'll probably learn that I'm stupid and wind up replacing/rebuilding it for my ignorance on that but until then... works, not worryin' about it so much...

Dark Drop Top

They also make those spiral things for twisting into sheet metal I didn't think about getting in trouble for mentioning specific companies good point

Maybe I should look at the directions for the good ol' blackjack.I'm interested now to see if it mentions any procedure like that.Usually I read directions for everything before using it,but with a jack,I figured...what's to know about how to use a jack?

Dark Drop Top

Read the directions to the black jack,and they do give a similar procedure to bleed it.I tried both methods several times,but now my old beat up jack actually has even less range

Turns out I also had it waaay overfilled according to the directions,so maybe that put too much pressure on the seals and made them leak

Think I'll try it on the other jack today.Don't have anything to lose on it,as it only raises about an inch now

Dark Drop Top

Tried it on the really bad jack today.Once again I used both the method my directions called for,and what houtex related,a bunch of times each,and once again,no dice.But this one was also way overfilled

Looks like I should've read the directions on how to fill them years ago I filled them to the brim with the jack sitting as normal,but the directions say to do it while it's standing straight up,handle side towards the floor,oops

That explains why I couldn't find the jack oil,cause I must've used up the whole bottle to severely overfill both of them