ARB Jack First Review, Leaky Christmas

[67cj5]

Yup. Kinda sad really. You could spread vertically with it with the jack in the upright position.....but yeah....

I don't really see many vehicles these days that can even be jacked on the perimeter really.

I'm pretty happy with my good ol' Toyota bottle jack these days. It's time to add a little top pad extension system. With a section of tubing the jack could be used on a bumper or rocker also without losing the ability to work under the vehicle.

Yeah I think your right, Somewhere I still have the one that came with my 1988 Toyota 70 Series, I love using the Hi-Lifts but the Toyota jack is the best all rounder, A couple of months ago I bought a 3-1/2 Ton Trolley/Floor Jack and on concrete the wheels get stuck in the Grain of the concrete and will not roll as you lift the Vehicle, 3X I had to reposition it under my Truck, It has great height and speed but I am not happy about using it on anything but a totally smooth floor.

 

[Metcalf]

Yeah I think your right, Somewhere I still have the one that came with my 1988 Toyota 70 Series, I love using the Hi-Lifts but the Toyota jack is the best all rounder, A couple of months ago I bought a 3-1/2 Ton Trolley/Floor Jack and on concrete the wheels get stuck in the Grain of the concrete and will not roll as you lift the Vehicle, 3X I had to reposition it under my Truck, It has great height and speed but I am not happy about using it on anything but a totally smooth floor.

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[jgaz]

I'm pretty happy with my good ol' Toyota bottle jack these days. It's time to add a little top pad extension system. With a section of tubing the jack could be used on a bumper or rocker also without losing the ability to work under the vehicle.

You could weld up or have welded something like my kit that I copied from Safe Jack.
Note: I’ve since modified my baseboard to securely hold the jack. This is an old pic.


Member on here, @LandCruiserPhil, sells an attachment for the Toyota jack that looks like a good value if someone were unable to fab up their own.

 

[Metcalf]

You could weld up or have welded something like my kit that I copied from Safe Jack.
Note: I’ve since modified my baseboard to securely hold the jack. This is an old pic.

Member on here, @LandCruiserPhil, sells an attachment for the Toyota jack that looks like a good value if someone were unable to fab up their own.

No problem welding here.

I'd like to add a connection between parts so they are not just held by gravity. I've used the jack to push sideways and spread loads now more than once.
It looks like the system just slips over the bottle jack top when extended? What keeps it from tipping sideways when the loads are a little off?
I'd like to use some DOM tubing that is a pretty snug fit between the parts to eliminate any 'racking' movement between the accessories if possible.

 

[jgaz]

No problem welding here.

I'd like to add a connection between parts so they are not just held by gravity. I've used the jack to push sideways and spread loads now more than once.
It looks like the system just slips over the bottle jack top when extended? What keeps it from tipping sideways when the loads are a little off?
I'd like to use some DOM tubing that is a pretty snug fit between the parts to eliminate any 'racking' movement between the accessories if possible.

The ID of the tubing is close to OD of the jack ram. The overlap of the attachment to the Ram helps keep things lined up. Yes, there is a bit of “slop” that can lead to some misalignment especially as I originally built the attachments.
Misalignment isn’t much of a problem between the attachments themselves as I machined the pieces to be a nice sliding fit.

The piece that really helps out the situation you're concerned about is a plastic collar that is sold by SafeJack. I added this collar after initial construction. The collar is a split piece of plastic that goes around the threads that screw out of the jack that allows some extension from the jack ram.
On my jack it gives a really nice sliding fit between it and my attachments.
SafeJack designed it with an O ring holding the halves together so the collar could be removed. My O ring didn’t last long. Since I never remove the collar I hold the halves together with a couple wraps of safety wire.

I’ll look for a picture since my kit isn’t home right now.

 

[jgaz]

Not much of a picture but you can just see the lower edge of the collar on the extended jack screw.

You can however see my improved baseboard and jack hold down. It still fits in my kit bag.

 

[jgaz]

@Metcalf, you asked about my system being held just by gravity.

This is a picture of my system clamped in a vise in the horizontal position.
The steel rule is clamped parallel with the jack cylinder.
It’s a bit difficult to tell from the picture, but there is less than 1/8” drop between the two gray painted collars when measured to the rule.


You can also see the safe jack plastic collar that i spoke of in an above post.
IMO it is essential if you plan to use the jack horizontally.
FYI: I have about .005” clearance between the ID and the OD of the parts I fabricated with about 1 1/8” over lap between the pieces. If I was doing this again now that I have the SafeJack collar I would probably increase the overlap to 2”.

I have used this system to push horizontally several times and it worked almost as well as the portapowers we had at work.