I was in Walmart tonight and I happened to mozy over to the automotive section. I came across the aisle with the floor jacks in it when I realized that I need a jack for my '07 Screw because I refuse to use the scissor jack that came with the truck. I don't trust it!

So I start looking at bottle jacks because their smaller and easier to store and transport. I came across 3 jacks that range in lifting weight anywhere from 6-20 tons. Perfect, thats plenty for my truck. Here's the kicker, their maximum lift height is anywhere from 16 to 18 inches. That seemed kind of low to me, so I didn't buy any because I wanted to think about it. I went back to my truck to determine how high these jacks would be and I don't think that 16 inches would even touch the frame let alone give me enough lift get a tire off the ground if I needed to change it.

Does anybody have any suggestions? What are you guys carrying?

 

Get a Hi-Lift and some accessories and u should be good.

 

I have a craftsman floor jack with 21" of lift and it takes almost all of it to get the wheels of the ground. I don't think 16 will be enough. Why don't you take the factory scissor jack extend it all the way up and see how high it is, this should give you idea of what type of bottle jack you need.

 

Lift the lower a-arm or axel...not the frame and you should be fine.

 

carry some wood blocks, some 6x6 cut into 12" length, and the other stuff mentioned

 

x 2, that's what I do and I have a lift and 35's....works great. And I use the stock jack.

I raise it up, then put jacks under the frame.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, however, I'm trying to stay away from a floor jack because it's bulky and it takes up too much room. I have one of those at home when I'm working in the safety of my driveway. I want something I can throw in my under the rear seat storage box. Same story with carrying wooden blocks, hence the reasons I was looking at bottle jacks to begin with. A Hi-Lift is wayyyyyyy out of the question.

C'mon guys, there's got to be a way....

Your trying to tell me you guys use those piece of sh@t scissor jacks on the side of the road to change a tire. The one's that takes 25 minutes to crank up? Not too mention always seems like its gonna bend or fall over.

 

I thought it said in the owners manual specifically NOT to do that. Somebody also mentioned it in another thread I saw. Something to do with the a-arm being made of aluminum and not capable of handling such a load. Not sure of the story on the rear axle... I may be wrong but thats what I thought I heard.

 

buy a small bottle jack and instead of putting it under the frame, put it under thr rear axle or the front a-arm. works every time for me.

 

can't handle the load. it handles it everyday you drive it.

 

The bottom a-arm is carrying no load whatsoever, except downward force (from the spring). The upper is where it is carrying the weight of the vehicle. The lower a -arms are aluminum.
As far as jacking, I use a regular craftsman floor jack and have no problem jacking up the front from the frame. It has used most of the travel to get the front tire off the ground, but works well.

 

I told ya I might be wrong... thanks!

So how much of a lift would I need to get the job done? I guess thats the bottom line now.. the 6 ton jack had a max of 18 1/4 inches, is that suffice?

 

You could look into the exhaust air jacks.

I know someone one here has one but i'm not sure if they've had to use it.

 

I use my floor jack. I have a tool box.

Sure, it takes a lot of space, it's heavy. But the one day I need a tire change, it's worth it.

 

ive lifted either on the lower control arm, rcd sub frame, rear pumpkin, and all are said to not be good places and i use a hydraulic floor jack, cause thing is, there is no way to lift the rear of the truck (if your lifted 6") with many floor jacks, mine is for trucks and it wont lift that high safely, for the front i always press the jack into a piece of wood (4x4) and then onto the LCA, i bridge the wood, so that it contacts 3 points rather than have a jack pressure just 1 small point, move a 4x4x12ish piece of wood and you will see where it will be level and contact alot of LCA.

thats great for the front but on the back you sill have to jack by the axle where the leaf pack attaches, that is actually a good spot, just hard to get a floor jack in that tight space hence jacking by the pumpkin and then using jackstands.

i um "borrowed" a humvee scissor jack from my unit, it is way more durable, and lifts way higher with a decent base, i use that for emergencies im sure they can be bought or something similar... but i keep wood in the truck to make a better base, and to place between jack and truck and both serve to add stable height, keeping the jack from maxing out... forget under seat, its gotta go in the bed