Ok, so my old lady's mom is gettin me a floor jack for Christmas. I've used em plenty from shops I've worked at and what not, but never payed attention to any name brands or specs. So here's my question. What's ya'll's general opinions on what brands to lean towards or stay away from, and things you thought of AFTER you bought yours that you wished you'd have thought of before. Also, I don't want to take advantage of here kindness so I don't want to tell her to go get me one of them $1500 jacks pit crews use. As always thanks for anybody's help.

 

Stay away from Craftsman.....they are junk. They farmed them out and they don't have a warranty...well maybe a year. I've had 3 blow the seals in just under a year and I don't use them everyday.

 

I appreciate that. Cuz I was thinkin about Sears. Any suggestions on who to go with?

 

I got a 3-ton from Harbor Freight now and it has been fine for the $60 I paid for it. Funny how it looks EXACTLY like the crapsman...I mean exactly...except for the orange paint on the HF piece. When this one dies I am just going to go get one from Napa....

 

Generally, all that store brand crap comes from the same place these days - China. I'm not saying that the other tool guys don't either it's just they actually control the process better.

There is nothing wrong with the stuff that HF or Princess Auto sells, except the price is cheaper. Sometimes you get what you pay for, other times its nothing more than the name.

 

Princess Auto Sells? Is that a Canadian auto parts chain?

 

Yeah....They are a Canadian Company. Summit and Jeg's have some decent looking jacks on their site as well.....I think a good jack from a parts store like Napa is going to be better than one of the cheapo chi-com pieces from Sears. You might be able to get a deal from a guy on parts truck too

 

You don't want to take advantage of your mother-in-law?


I'd like a big aluminum floor jack. I have a three or four ton "Big Red" jack somebody gave me for Christmas a while ago, good jack but it weighs 80 pounds or so.

 

Princess Auto rocks. I've spent lots of money there and the product is basically no name stuff for the most part but it all works fairly well. I wouldn't buy wood or metal blade cutting tools or chisels there because the quality of the temper might be suspect but for just about anything else you can't go wrong.

 

I picked up a set of these things from the local farm store some months back and they rock. These things are great, take a little gettin used to but once you got the hang of em they work great. Powerbuilt Model Detail