I have always used the OEM screw jack when swapping summer/winter wheels. This is a pain and I want to pick up a hydraulic floor jack. My car is 2nd gen... Is it necessary to use a jack point adapter that "plugs" into the rectangular receptacle where the EOM jack head fits?
This is the one I have from Harbor Freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/floor-jacks/2-ton-lightweight-aluminum-racing-jack-with-rapid-pump-68051.html Mine is a little different design with a square head. However I never had to use an adapter for my MINI'S or any other car. The nice thing about this one is it can lift one entire side of a MINI in about 6 pumps. Great for tire/wheel changes or rotations.
^ That is a good jack. I have a Sears Craftsmen racing style jack & a racing style jack from Harbor Freight. Both work well, the Craftsman has a bit more reach to it. I find that I grab the Harbor Freight one 90% of the time. If you use the front jack point you can lift the entire side of the MINI up. No adapter is needed. Just make sure you are on the jack point.
Getting a low profile one is the way to go.... I have a standard sears craftsman jack...need to drive the car up onto a 2x6 to get the extra half inch of clearance to get the jack under the car... Have heard nothing but good stuff about the aluminum Harbor freight jack....just keep on eye for it to go on sale or use one of their 10 or 20% off any item coupon than pops up nearly weekly in their adds!!
since I work on a lot of my friends cars (i'm the one that has the air compressor, lol) i have a variety of jacks, but my go to one is this one from harbor freight: Floor Jack with Rapid Pump®, 2.5 Ton Heavy Duty Steel it's super low profile and fits under lowered s2000s with ease. I have the blue one as well, but that one is definitely sitting around collecting dust. I also have a pretty mobile one from craftsman that has a nice little carrying kit which I take to the track, but it's definitely not as fast and as convenient as the rapid pump one i listed. scissors jacks, scariest thing in the world, I watched a guy pitted next to us who almost got his leg chopped off when his scissor jack failed, fortunately he had the fortune of leaving his oz superleggera underneath his car which probably saved his leg/life. always always no matter what have a set of trusty jack stands and also rhino ramps!
The one I saw on there website was aluminum and a 1 1/2 ton and was around $99.00. That is the one I put on my wish list on there site.
BRG_Paul, I do not use the jack points unless I am only working on one wheel. I use a floor jack and a 2x4 cut to fit snug between the the OEM jack points. This way I can put my floor jack in the middle between the jack points and lift the whole side at one time. (NASCAR style) This also makes it very easy to put jack stands under the car on the OEM jack points. Any floor jack like the ones above or one from Sears will do the job. I have a 3 ton floor jack but you only need a 1 1/2 ton jack.
We've used that little blue jack from arbor Freight forever, both at home and at the track. Awesome for the money.
Wow...thanks for all of the recommendations. I ended up getting a 2 ton aluminum one from Harbor Freight and also a pair of jack stands. I jacked one wheel at a time. Dave I like the idea of using a 2x4 and doing one whole side at once. Next on my list..? An impact driver.... (For lug removal only of course). Thanks everyone!
Better yet.....jack up the car like I do, run the front tires up on the Rhino ramps, jack up the rear of the car at one of the lower shock mounts, place the jack stands appropriately, jack up the front under the center of the sub-frame, place front jack stands. Reason I do it this way is that I am able to get the height I want from the jack stands w/o the more severe angle of the car when lifted from a side. Less chance of a mishap with a jack stand folding over.
I use Dave's method, but if I'm going really high, I don't do it all at once--I do one side at lowest setting on the jackstand, then the other, go back to side one and raise it as much as I need, then do the other. This totally avoids any severe angles, and it adds literally 2 minutes at most. It's probably a wash for time between either method, I can get the car up where I need it pretty fast.
Glad to see so many fans of the Harbor Freight Jack, I picked up the low profile 1.5 ton a few weeks ago for like $79
For sure being able to jack one entire side and get to both wheels at once is a big plus. I guess I'll find out in April when the summer wheels go back on. BTW the response on this subject was thorough and fast. I literally posted the question and in one hour I had all the info I needed to make an informed choice at the parts store. A truly great resource.
Oh, and about harbor freight... There are ALWAYS coupons for the jack, look in the back of Car and Driver or motoring trend, or get the HF flyer. I've seen it as low as 49 bucks recently (it used to be even lower than that a couple of years ago), but now that they're using a different company, I usually see it for 59 bucks. The new 1.5 ton jack is even better than the old one--I have both--it's much sturdier, weighs a little more, and has a more robust spring.
Harbor Freight tools are great as long as you don't make a living with them. For good tools I am going to use a lot I use Snap-on, Mac, Matco and Sears.