A jack is a staple of any home garage. From brake jobs to tire rotations, without a good floor jack, you’ll have to rely on a professional shop to do those tasks.
That means if you plan to do many DIY projects on your car or truck, you’ll need to ensure you have a floor jack that can handle whatever vehicle you’re working on—and spoiler alert, a sports car will have different floor jack requirements than, say, a lifted off-roader.
Important! Never rely on the jack alone to support the vehicle. Always use a floor jack in tandem with a sturdy pair of quality jack stands.
Although it may seem straightforward at first glance, there are a few things to consider before buying the best floor jack for your shop, including the jack’s lifting capacity, lift pad height, and overall weight. So to help you through the buying process, the folks at Summit Racing created this in-depth tutorial video that’ll explain the key factors to know before selecting a good floor jack for your garage.
Whether you need a floor jack for your professional shop, home garage, or race trailer, check out the video below to make sure your new floor jack is up to the task.
Key Measurements to Know Before Buying a Floor Jack
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Jack Weight Capacity
This depends entirely on the vehicles in your garage. Floor jack weight ratings range anywhere from a half ton on the low end, to well over 20 tons.
To figure out how much weight your jack should be able to lift, we typically follow a “three-fourths rule” around our shop.
In other words, make sure your jack is rated for no less than three-quarters of your entire gross vehicle weight.
For many DIY’ers, a two- or three-ton jack is often a good choice for a home garage with a typical sedan, SUV, or light duty truck. But the only way to know for sure is to check the weight of your heaviest vehicle, and then choose a jack that’ll be able to handle 75 percent of that number.
Lift Height
Make sure to confirm how high you need the lift to raise your vehicle. As a general rule, you’ll need the jack to lift it high enough to allow you to slip a jackstand underneath and remove the wheel.
While most floor jacks will typically accommodate a standard passenger car, the taller ride height and larger tires of many popular trucks and SUVs mean that you should make absolutely sure that the jack you’re looking at has a high enough lift pad when it’s fully jacked up.
To do that, take a tape measure and check your ride height from the floor to the jacking point—then add around five inches more.
Remember, once you begin raising the vehicle, the wheel will sag, so make sure to account for suspension travel too. In our experience, adding around five inches from the floor-to-jacking point is enough for most typical cars or trucks with stock suspensions. The end result is usually about 20 inches.
To make absolutely sure, you can borrow a jack to check the amount of suspension travel you have or, if your vehicle came with an emergency scissor jack, you can lift your vehicle on a flat surface and take all the measurements you’ll need. Then you can simply check that measurement against a jack’s maximum lift height.
Floor Clearance & Low Profile Design
It’s easy to overlook the clearance you’ll need between the vehicle and the shop floor. After all, if you can’t fit a floor jack under the car, you sure as heck can’t lift it.
That’s why many jack manufacturers offer “Low Profile” floor jacks designed to slip underneath, say, a lowered performance car.
So again, take out a tape measure and check out how much space you have between your vehicle’s jacking points and the floor—and make sure to account for any clearance issues arising from a ground effects package or lower rocker molding.
Steel vs. Aluminum Jack Construction
When shopping for the best floor jack for your application, you’ll probably need to decide between a steel- or aluminum-bodied jack.
Since both materials have proven plenty durable enough to withstand the rigors of a professional shop, your choice essentially boils down to weight versus cost.
- An aluminum jack will be lighter and easier to maneuver around a crowded garage floor, and is certainly a lot more portable for mobile or trailer use, yet will likely cost you a bit more.
- A steel floor jack is a bit easier on the wallet, yet may be a bit more cumbersome to lug around the shop and position under your vehicle.
Again, both good options here, you’ll just have to calculate how much a jack’s overall weight will impact the way you work.
Jack Stands, Wheel Chocks & Jack Safety
We alluded to this earlier, but if you’ve never used a floor jack before, you should always use it with a set of wheel chocks and rigid jack stands to support the vehicle.
Here’s a quick primer:
- Put the vehicle in park or, for a manual, leave it in gear, then set the emergency brake.
- Place chocks behind the wheels on the opposite end of the vehicle you’re jacking.
- Use the jack to raise the vehicle to slightly above your desired lift height.
- Once it’s high enough, quickly slip a jack stand underneath the frame or subframe of the vehicle.
- When the jackstand is in place, slowly lower the vehicle back down onto the mounting pad of the jack stand.
- Let the jack relax.
We always give the vehicle a little shake-and-rock to make absolutely, positively sure it’s seated firmly on the jack stand before we start removing wheels and getting to work.
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For more details on floor jack shopping and floor jack safety, check out these two articles:
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