Joemac8

I have a 67 L79 and want to do some of my own work. To this end, I am going to buy a floor jack and jack stands. Sears has some on sale but $59 for a jack and stands seems pretty cheap.

I really don't want to risk a $60K car on a $30 Jack. Any suggestions on the right floor jack and jack stands?

Grey Ghost

I would look for an aluminum one, low profile, and that takes few strokes to get the car into the air. I'm sure Sears has them, along with others.

BarryK

I was in the exact position asking the same thing last Aug having never worked on cars before than but having decided to work on my own.

one thing you don't want to go cheap on is a jack and jack stands! Believe me, this are items that your life can depend on, literally but at the same time I didn't see the need to get too carried away and start buying a $700 commercial jack!

I found a nice Sears Aluminum 4-ton low-profile jack and than 4 of the Sears 6-ton jackstands. It only takes about 1.5 or 2 strokes to bring the saddle of the jack to the frame of the car and than I can lift the car to the extent of the jacks lift height with only a few more strokes.
The 6-ton Jackstands may be a bit of overkill considering the weight of a C2 but I liked the fact that they were larger with a larger footprint than the 1.5, 2, and 3.5 ton stands so I figured they would be a bit more stable. Plus they were only about $5 or $10 more per set than the 3.5 ton model so it seemed to be a no-brainer to me.

I got this jack
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...Lift+Equipment

and these jackstands
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...Lift+Equipment

so far I've been happy with both units and have used them a lot since on both my '65 and my '78.

The ONLY issue I have is that the jack only raises up enough to lift the car to the second highest setting on the jackstands, mostly I think because the 6-ton stands stand taller than the 3.5 ton models. I'm only "losing" one click of height availablity on the stands because of this but in either case I get plenty of height to get under the cars on my creeper to work on them.

mikem350

If you work on other "hot rod" cars that are really low, then the minimum jack height becomes more important. The newer "racing" aluminum jacks fulfill this reqirement.

They have a wide roller wheels that are more stable too. Better on asphalt driveways!

Cmacsvette

Just a suggestion, but I would stay with an American made jack. The reason why, the off shore jacks are disposable jacks and it doesn't matter how sweet they look. The rams (seals) can not be rebuilt at least all the ones I'm aware of. The last time I looked at a jack at Sears or most auto parts stores, if it says Taiwan or China, you have a ram that is disposable. Some guys get a fair amount of years out of them, but when you talk to the people in the real world of hydraulics and who rebuild rams for a living, they are a minority.

Ausco is American made along with few others. These jacks are pasted down from generation to generation. That should give you a clue to how well built they are and can be rebuilt. For example, stop by a Goodyear or Firestone tire store or whatever and most likely you will see American made jacks rolling the floors.
You don't need to spend 700 bucks and up for these. Normally, if you go to a hydraulic shop, they will have used American jacks for sale. You can't go wrong. I paid 375 for my used Ausco 7 yrs ago. Just food for thought.
Craig

Olustee bus

I had a Michelin jack I got from Sam's that I liked. I believe it was a 3 1/2 ton. However, it is very heavy. At the time, I paid $70. I felt very comfortable lifting one side of my vette or even the front end.

I did blow a seal in it and it began to leak. I never put oil back in but I used it a few times since.

I blew the seal in it while I was jacking up a main beam in my house that had broken. I was trying to lift the whole house. I had some serious cribbage (support) under the house so all was ok. I now use 20 ton jacks to do such work.

67L36Driver

Find a Walker 1 1/4 ton road service jack. I've had two, one was my grandfather's. Removable handle, weigh about 80#. They were the prototype for the NASCAR jack. Will get under the frame of a car even though its sitting on the wheel rims. You can get a rebulilt cylinder on an exchange basis. I think Blackhawk owns them now. The 'new' one I bought cost $120 back in '74.

CALPILOT

If you go with Sears, go with BarryK's items. I have the jackstands, but I bought the steel jack. It's real nice, but I wish I had bought the aluminum one.

ctjackster

I have the same jack as Barry bought, have had it for awhile now, and it is a very nice unit - gives good height too when fully raised, which also makes it useful for my Avalanche which has offroad suspension and sits on oversize tires. As for jackstands, as you can tell I use them for more than just my C2, so I too have heavy duty jackstands - why not, I am under the friggin car or truck, and that's not a place to cheap out.

I happen to live not too far from Sears, and since their equipment is good (and their tolls carry a lifetime gaurantee) I tend to get my basic stuff there.

I would also suggest Jackstand pads for the saddles, and one for the jackpad, Jegs & Summit carry those -no need to gouge the frame on the C2

Grey Ghost

I use jackstands. But, I have always been afraid to raise them any higher than there base setting. Maybe it was a cheapo set that I was using one time..wasn't locked...or something...the car fell (I wasn't under it) and jambed the shaft of the stand into the frame of the stand. Like I said, maybe it wasn't some how locked and just collapsed. Scared the crap out of me and I said I would never jack one up so high to have to extend the jackstand.

Don't you run a risk of warping the frame by jacking one too high using a floor jack ? You know, jacking one corner way up and then moving to another, etc...

my58

I purchased the same stands as Barry however I went with a jack like

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...al=TOOL&cs=ALT

The problem with the aluminum one is the saddle (round top) is not removable. I like being able to remove the round saddle plate and be able to install other types of holders. One example is a door lifting attachment sold by eastwoods that allows the jack to cradle a door and lifts it into position when you are attempting to install and align it.

magicv8

I have been using two $30 jacks to put the car in the air for 20 years, no problems, no blown seals. I gave the original pair away about 5 years ago and bought a pair with a little longer reach. I have bolted 4x6inch rubber pads on 6inch long 4x4 wood in place of the little steel saddles to get a good grip, higher lift, and no scratches on the frame. With 2 jacks you can raise and lower the front, back, or side evenly - using the jacking points indicated in the owners manual.

Jackstands are another issue. I use Delco jackstands that allow 19 inch clearance - which is as high as I can go and use a floor transmission jack for trans and diff R&R.

chris ritchie

Yeah, you should be afraid when you're under a car. In similar situations, my philosophy is to use redundancy to save you. "If you don't know how to tie knots, tie lots of them." Don't believe what you use to get the car up, the jack, is critical. But the jackstands are. Use 6 ton ones. They're much beafier than the 3 ton ones and only a few dollars more. They also go up higher. Use extra ones. I use 6 of them - 2 as extras under the side frame rails. That's in addition to 2 under the rear axle, and 2 under the front suspension. I also use a milk crate with wooden blocks under the front and cinder blocks under the rear axle as backups. One time when I left the front wheels on, I put ramps under them. Can't have too many.

Grey Ghost

That makes good sense ! I was only using 2 at the time and didn't think about backups.

ctjackster

Funny how you learn best from f-ups - as for jackstands, I learned the hard way to only use them on concrete, or on a 3/4" plywood "pad" if using them on asphalt (memories still remain of my dad's new two-tone Gran Prix rolling over onto its brake rotors while I was rotating the tires on that side for him, the jackstands having dug into the warm asphalt driveway )

Glad I wasn't under there.