Need a new floor jack

[clark123456]

The Arcan at Northern Tool gets great reviews.

That's the one I have.  HF crap gave out pretty fast for me...other people have better experience than me and YMMV.

How did it give out? Just leaks down or did something actually break?

wouldn't stay pumped up...something I'm sure happens with age.

- Torg

It's just an o-ring that seals it up. I think it's a pretty generic size as well

I still have it...I'll see if I can fix it.

- Torg

[Mortalis5509]

Mike - what did you end up with? 

Looking to pick up a lightweight aluminum to store in the trailer rather than the 'oh jeezus this is heavy' steel jack that I keep loading/unloading.  The rest of the tools aren't really that big of a deal to load/unload but getting that jack on/off the trailer flat out sucks.  Using Clark's to change the trailer tire was a much nicer ordeal than when I had to use the steel jack the day after.  Looking at the Arcan or Powerzone 3T on amazon.  Was thinking about going to a 1.5T or 2T jack since really, I would never  be jacking up a total of 3T - the vehicle is 3T but I'm only jacking up 1/4-1/3 of it, even if doing a trailer tire with the Jeep on it.  I'm not really looking to spend Craftsman money, but, and no offense to those that have them, not buying anything else from Harbor Freight after the last 3 things I bought there either didn't work at all or broke after a couple uses.

Harbor Freight AL jacks. I have had a 3 ton for 3 years with no issues. They go on sale often. Ruffstuff even makes a thing that the smaller ones sit on to use for offroading. That way the wheels won't sink and all. If the offroad world makes something for them, worth considering imo. 

[Mortalis5509]

Mike - what did you end up with? 

Looking to pick up a lightweight aluminum to store in the trailer rather than the 'oh jeezus this is heavy' steel jack that I keep loading/unloading.  The rest of the tools aren't really that big of a deal to load/unload but getting that jack on/off the trailer flat out sucks.  Using Clark's to change the trailer tire was a much nicer ordeal than when I had to use the steel jack the day after.  Looking at the Arcan or Powerzone 3T on amazon.  Was thinking about going to a 1.5T or 2T jack since really, I would never  be jacking up a total of 3T - the vehicle is 3T but I'm only jacking up 1/4-1/3 of it, even if doing a trailer tire with the Jeep on it.  I'm not really looking to spend Craftsman money, but, and no offense to those that have them, not buying anything else from Harbor Freight after the last 3 things I bought there either didn't work at all or broke after a couple uses.

Harbor Freight AL jacks. I have had a 3 ton for 3 years with no issues. They go on sale often. Ruffstuff even makes a thing that the smaller ones sit on to use for offroading. That way the wheels won't sink and all. If the offroad world makes something for them, worth considering imo. 

Not happening.

What's wrong with them?

[jc79]

Since you're going HF look for a coupon.














(Yes, this is just to stir the pot)

[clark123456]

I got my Arcan at Northern Tool on 41.  Sometimes they send coupons, too. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[tcdawg]

Mike - what did you end up with? 

Looking to pick up a lightweight aluminum to store in the trailer rather than the 'oh jeezus this is heavy' steel jack that I keep loading/unloading.  The rest of the tools aren't really that big of a deal to load/unload but getting that jack on/off the trailer flat out sucks.  Using Clark's to change the trailer tire was a much nicer ordeal than when I had to use the steel jack the day after.  Looking at the Arcan or Powerzone 3T on amazon.  Was thinking about going to a 1.5T or 2T jack since really, I would never  be jacking up a total of 3T - the vehicle is 3T but I'm only jacking up 1/4-1/3 of it, even if doing a trailer tire with the Jeep on it.  I'm not really looking to spend Craftsman money, but, and no offense to those that have them, not buying anything else from Harbor Freight after the last 3 things I bought there either didn't work at all or broke after a couple uses.

1. Interested in a lighter floor jack for my tool box as well and have looked a little.  1.5 ton is the size I was thinking.

2.  Also intrested in knowing just how heavy your steel one is for YOU to say it's "oh jeezus this is heavy"?

[clark123456]

Mike - what did you end up with? 

Looking to pick up a lightweight aluminum to store in the trailer rather than the 'oh jeezus this is heavy' steel jack that I keep loading/unloading.  The rest of the tools aren't really that big of a deal to load/unload but getting that jack on/off the trailer flat out sucks.  Using Clark's to change the trailer tire was a much nicer ordeal than when I had to use the steel jack the day after.  Looking at the Arcan or Powerzone 3T on amazon.  Was thinking about going to a 1.5T or 2T jack since really, I would never  be jacking up a total of 3T - the vehicle is 3T but I'm only jacking up 1/4-1/3 of it, even if doing a trailer tire with the Jeep on it.  I'm not really looking to spend Craftsman money, but, and no offense to those that have them, not buying anything else from Harbor Freight after the last 3 things I bought there either didn't work at all or broke after a couple uses.

1. Interested in a lighter floor jack for my tool box as well and have looked a little.  1.5 ton is the size I was thinking.

2.  Also intrested in knowing just how heavy your steel one is for YOU to say it's "oh jeezus this is heavy"?

Exactly!!! it must be a full vehicle lift to make Don state that.

[jd30005]

Looks like Northern Tool has an Arcan 2 ton all aluminum on sale right now.


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200345428_200345428

[Mortalis5509]

Looks like Northern Tool has an Arcan 2 ton all aluminum on sale right now.


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200345428_200345428

Looks nice, but looks like a rebox HF jack. Don won't like that.

[clark123456]

Looks like Northern Tool has an Arcan 2 ton all aluminum on sale right now.


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200345428_200345428

Looks nice, but looks like a rebox HF jack. Don won't like that.

I think that is the one I have. 

[Mortalis5509]

I was making a joke out of it.

What makes the one NT carry any better than HF or amazon for that matter? Real question.

[Mortalis5509]

I was making a joke out of it.

What makes the one NT carry any better than HF or amazon for that matter? Real question.

brand experience as I stated in my original question.

I haven't bought a lot from NT but what I have still works.
I haven't bought a lot from HF and what I have broke after a few times or never worked at all.
I have bought a lot a lot from Amazon and what I have still works, what has broken they swapped our or returned with little fuss.

What makes Poison Spyder or MetalCloak better than Rugged Ridge or Smittybuilt?  You can argue merits of each product all day long but a generalization can be made from group experience.  While I have wine taste on a beer budget, I choose to buy things I have confidence in rather than the cheapest I can find.  I don't/won't buy a Kia becuase of this for example.  They've come a long way from where they started so my mind may change on that but in correlation, I am not aware of a mass change of mind on Harbor Freight.  You don't hear - wow they used to suck but now they're really stepping up their game.  There are a percentage of folks that their products work fine for whether it's a different level of use or they're just lucky.  I'm just not willing to gamble that I am not in that percentage since I have lost 100% of the time so far with HF.  For example, you mentioned skids by Ruffstuff, the first thing they say on their page - "Harbor Freight jacks do not have the tightest of tolerances, some ob-longing of bolt holes or sanding of areas of the skid may be needed for some jacks to bolt up properly"  I don't know about you, but something that my life could depend on, should not be known for having loose tolerances, jack stand or not.

I get that. Most of it is made in China or a similar country. Why you use jack stands. In the end, there is little difference in most things. I gave my feedback. If it was bad I would have said so. 3 years no problems. I buy expensive stuff where it counts. One of the reason I have a unfinished rig still.

Hyundai / Kai is one hell of a car. For the money I don't know what rivals it. She bought the car new, I changed tires and brakes at a little over 80k from factory. She had 116k with no issues. Changed the transmission fluid, oil, plugs, and air filter. No issues. Oil analysis had it going 9 - 10k on oil changes.