RE: Re: That's a lot of lifting!

From: Kenneth Eng (keng@novadigm.com)
Date: Thu Aug 30 2001 - 09:33:26 EDT


Andy,

This saddle base fits perfectly in my Craftsman 3-1/2 ton floor jack.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36004
The bottom of this base has a pin that goes into the hole that is currently
in the jack's saddle cup.

You may try and bolt a metal block to this to build an extension similar to
what Kyle did.

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Kyle Kozubal [mailto:grndak4x4@home.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 10:44 PM
To: dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET
Subject: DML: Re: That's a lot of lifting!

> I picked up a floor jack this weekend to make my life easier. Went to
> Sears and got the Craftsman "SUV high lift" jack, 3 tons at 21 inches of
> lift height. I knew I needed something taller than the standard-issue
> 3-ton (or smaller) jacks since those only reach to 17" or less and on
> the ground, my framerail in the back is 14 1/2 inches off the ground. 2
> 1/2 inches of lift definitely was not going to cut it.
>
> Tried the thing out just now, and discovered that to get 1/2 to 3/4
> inches clearance under the tire right rear, I had to take the jack up to
> 19 1/2 inches!
>
> That makes it (ballpark) 4 1/2 inches of suspension & tire compression
> on a standard-issue GenIII 4x4 wearing BFG A/T 31s. So, uh, Bernd, what
> do YOU use to lift your truck? You don't have a full lift in your
> garage, do you?

Andy,
I have a set of normal ole 5ton car ramps, which I rarely use. I really only
use these for 'inspecting under the front end/rear end. I have a pair of
cheap 3 ton jack stands which raise to 20.5" and a set of good Lincoln 6ton
jack stands which raise to a nice 30". I have two floor jacks: a Craftsman
2ton floor jack which raises to the 19.5" yours does. I also have a nice
Lincoln 3 1/2 ton floor jack which raises to a nice a tall 26". I have found
that sometimes this height even isnt enough, especially when working on
friend's 2000 Dodge Ram Quad Cab 4x4. I took the Lincoln floor jack to a
local fabricating shop and had them make what I call an 'extension cup'.
This cup slips down over the floor jack's lifting cap and almost locks in
over the raised lips on the cap. They made the cap from 3/4" thick plate on
the outside perimeter and they doubled up 1/2" thick steel plate for the top
portion and the bottom portion(thus making it 1" thick on top/bottom). It
allows for another 7" of lifting height capability. I leave it in the corner
of the garage and whenever I need it, I just slide it over and it works
great. I cost me $45 to have them make it. It weighs about 25 pounds, as it
is built extremely solid. This might be a route you may want to consider if
you need to raise something taller than what your jack can do.
Kyle
93 Dakota 4x4 V6



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