Hydraulic jack

I lie the floor (Also called Trolly) jacks. 5000 pounds is 2 1/2 tons and you will likely never need to lift all of it. 2 Ton is a very common size and should work great.. Also way easier if the Truck has a flat trust me.. I keep on in my towed's trunk.. (Along with a bit of lumber there is not enough clearance on the towed for the jack so I jack it up a bit. Block it and reposition and then do the job).

I bought a hand operated hydraulic remote pump, and plumbed it into my hydraulic jack. It works very well, and it is nice to be able to kneel beside our mh rather lay under it, while jacking it up.

Dusty

I bought a hand operated hydraulic remote pump, and plumbed it into my hydraulic jack. It works very well, and it is nice to be able to kneel beside our mh rather lay under it, while jacking it up.

Dusty

wa8yxm wrote:
I lie the floor (Also called Trolly) jacks. 5000 pounds is 2 1/2 tons and you will likely never need to lift all of it. 2 Ton is a very common size and should work great.. Also way easier if the Truck has a flat trust me.. I keep on in my towed's trunk.. (Along with a bit of lumber there is not enough clearance on the towed for the jack so I jack it up a bit. Block it and reposition and then do the job).

The problem with a floor jack is often when you need to change a tire you are missing a important part of safe operation, the smooth hard floor. As the lift plate goes up, it travels a arc in relation to the trolley. On a floor, as the load goes up, the jack moves under the load. But on a rough or soft surface, the lift plate must slide on the load, and it falls.
When shopping for jack, think about will it fit under the lift point when tire is flat. Will it lift far enough to get the spare on? Sure, you can pull the flat on a ramp.
IMHO, one thing everybody that drives should do is pick a nice day and change a tire on their vehicle and trailer. Learn what you need to do to jack it up. What wrench fits the lugs. Can you turn it, or do you need a longer handle? Does the wrench fit the nuts that hold the spare? Think about it. Do you want to go to school at night, in the rain, with traffic wizzing past?
BTW, I have a bunch of hydraulic jacks. But I only carry the one that came with pickup. Plenty capacity, plenty of stroke. But I will pull flat on block, so can spin jack up, only need handle for short lift. As soon as flat tire is off block, remove wheel and block, am high enough to put tire back on.

That's interesting, the info about floor jacks. I've seen what you are talking about but never figured out what the problem was.

One tool everyone should carry is one of these Gorilla wrench, which will remove those lug nuts that the tire shop overtightened with their impact wrench.

agesilaus wrote:
That's interesting, the info about floor jacks. I've seen what you are talking about but never figured out what the problem was.

One tool everyone should carry is one of these Gorilla wrench, which will remove those lug nuts that the tire shop overtightened with their impact wrench.

Well, the "tire shop overtightened" is not a issue for me. If I can't watch them put wheels on my ship, they only get my business once, and I loosen and torque the nuts myself. If I watch, and they do not torque, they don't get paid.
I carry long breaker bar in each of my vehicles. And I use 6 pt deepwell impact socket of the correct size for the nuts (Northern tool, to keep my sets together, I buy cheap impact sockets one at time) Under DW's car, and our pickup, I have painted marks to show where to put the jack. I would hope somebody would help her, but with tools she has available in trunk and between the ears my 65+ YO wife can change tire on her car, or the pickup.

I like the jack MDK linked in the second post. It has a nice wide top for stability. The one that came with our class C had a top the size of a dollar coin. I welded a better top on but am a bit worried my weld might break.