Reply to "Floor jack and vehicle stands"

Chuck,

the floor jack must be low enough to fit under your Pantera when it is "collapsed", and the higher it raises your car when extended, the better, because the higher you lift the car, the easier it is to work under it. The really long floor jacks, capable of lifting the car quite high, are generally very expensive AND they are a pain to stash out of the way in the garage when they're not being used. Most floor jacks are also made of steel, and the bigger / heavier they are, the more of a bear it is to manouver them around the garage.

To lift any vehicle really high, requires doing it in steps, as you can only lift one corner (or side, or end) so much higher than the other before getting a jack under the other side of the car or stablility becomes a problem. Unless of course you have 2 highlift floor jacks and a helper, which enables you to lift both ends simultaneously.

I've given you my recommendation in the past, the aluminum stuff from Harbor Freight, 10 minutes down the 101 Fwy from your home. It's inexpensive, my Harbor Freight floor jack hasn't had any problems yet, and you can't wear out a jack stand. And the light weight is oh so welcome, it makes using the tools a pleasure, instead of a bear. I needed the low profile jack in order to fit underneath my car, the only problem is that its max lift is only about 16". I would love to have 30" lift, but I haven't found the "perect" 30" lift floor jack, "yet!".

Perfect means to me that it's made of aluminum, collapses low enough to fit under my lowered car, has a 30" net lift capability, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Whatever the max lift of your floor jack, it's nice to have jack stands that are approximately of the same max height, so you can take advantage of your jack. The higher the jack stands extend, the wider their base needs to be.

If you find something cool, let me know!

Your friend on the DTBB, George