which costco jack

I am looking for a floor jack for working in m home garage about once a
month



they have a 1.5 ton Torin Aluminum Jack online for $109 shipped 14 3/4" lift
height



http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...lang=en-US&s=1



In the stores they have a ARCAN XL-35 3.5 ton for $99

21 3/8" high lift height, I think this is a heavy steel jack.



Which jack should I buy?



Anyone see the Aluminum jack in a SF bay area Costco?

In article >,
"Tube Audio" > wrote:

> I am looking for a floor jack for working in m home garage about once a
> month
>
>
>
> they have a 1.5 ton Torin Aluminum Jack online for $109 shipped 14 3/4" lift
> height
>
>
>
> http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...C&topnav=&brow
> se=&lang=en-US&s=1
>
>
>
> In the stores they have a ARCAN XL-35 3.5 ton for $99
>
> 21 3/8" high lift height, I think this is a heavy steel jack.
>
>
>
> Which jack should I buy?
>
>
>
> Anyone see the Aluminum jack in a SF bay area Costco?

Just because of my own personal bias, I'd most likely go after the
higher lift, steel unit. It seems that no matter what the project, I
always end up wanting "just a little bit more" jack than what I have on
hand.

I'm also partial to having more weight capacity than what's actually
needed, after witnessing someone stumble over the cord of the
trouble-light he was playing out, and catch himself against a truck that
was on a "guess-it-wasn't-quite-enough" floor jack - the jack literally
folded, the truck came down, and the guy ended up having to buy a new
transmission because when the truck fell onto the top of the tranny, the
jack-stand holding the tranny up punched through the pan and valve body,
and into the gearbox proper, tearing up a whole bunch of fairly
important stuff on the way through. (I must've told him half a dozen
times that he should have had the truck on the stands, and the tranny on
the jack, but would he listen? Hell no... Damn fool... Oddly enough, he
never again left a jack holding up a vehicle. Guess he learned his
lesson the hard way.)

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

> Just because of my own personal bias, I'd most likely go after the
> higher lift, steel unit.
> It seems that no matter what the project, I always end up wanting "just a little bit
> more" jack than what I have on hand.

Two tons more capacity, seven inches more lift, and ten bucks less
money at the same store -- hmm, what was the question again?

I don't quite grok the whole concept of the "aluminum racing jack"
that has become popular in recent years. For most people these are
rollaround garage equipment, not something to carry in the vehicle or
to lift by hand very often. If you're not on a pit crew and thus
don't care about split seconds in shoving a jack underneath a car, it
seems like an excellent problem to throw lots of steel at.


> [pratfall, thankfully with only machinery and pride injured]
> Oddly enough, he never again left a jack holding up a vehicle.

Well, that's the real lesson no matter how generous the rating.
Jacks are for raising vehicles; jack stands are for holding them.
(The solidly built kind of jackstands, not those things that are made
of spot welded sheet metal, which are fine until the day you discover
the hidden corrosion and learn the meaning of "avalanche failure."
Jack stands are another great place to throw a lot of metal at the
problem.) If my pink hide is going under the car, I also like to
shove a piece of railroad tie or big tree-trunk "cookie" or at least
the spare tire into some appropriate location.

The spare-tire trick is also good for roadside tire changing, which
you're usually doing without jackstands. Just in case, y'know, even
though you shouldn't be going under the car or inserting any body
parts into pinch points when doing that. Jacks do slip, and I like
being three dimensional.

Merry Christmas and many more of 'em through safe work practices,
--Joe