OV9

SGS just sent a mail with some black-Friday deals and there are loads of bottle jacks on offer. 2 tonnes. 8 tonnes. Whatever.

With their (relatively) tiny contact points (at car and floor ends) they have always given me the absolute willies. Not many items manage to be scarier than spring compressors....

Will not purchase.

They also take forever to jack up a car on the few occasions I’ve had the misfortune to use them.

I have my grandads old bottle jack off a ww2 willys jeep, complete with wooden spreader foot.

Only ever used it to jack up a lawnmower

Get a proper Defender/ Discovery one.



Depending on what you Jack it onto I find them great and take up much less space. Out of the 4 cars though it only works on the Defender, so aslong as you have solid axles you’re golden It’s a twin cylinder so lifts double the jacks height.

Dave!

I couldn't get a bottle jack under the Puma.

Which is a Fiesta in a dress.

Bottle jacks are shite, basically.

A friend of mine uses these for his E-Class estate, and seems like the best use of bottle jacks. Gets the car up nice and high.

Hmmm - the point of ramps is they elevate in complete safety. Whereas lifting it another 10cm on a bottle jack and sticking your head underneath.....

I remember watching something with Guy Martin in it (probably TT closer to the edge) and he had a lorry jacked up on several bottle jacks.

I imagine if they're positioned correctly and your not disproportionately having it up, they're perfectly safe. That said, they're not for me either!

mik wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:45 pm Hmmm - the point of ramps is they elevate in complete safety. Whereas lifting it another 10cm on a bottle jack and sticking your head underneath.....

I 1/4 own a set of those with some local chaps. There are pins to go in where you jack it up, and you’d need both sides to fail at once for it to go really bad.

Pretty handy for getting a lot of space underneath at one end.

JonMad wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:55 pm
I 1/4 own a set of those with some local chaps. There are pins to go in where you jack it up,

Ah OK - this makes far more sense then. I take back my comments.

mik wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:45 pm Hmmm - the point of ramps is they elevate in complete safety.

TBH, I'm more scared for ramps than I am of a decent load-spread bottle jack.

The damage caused when a wheel spins and you fire one across the garage can be quite spectacular.

I'm with you on the unguarded threaded-bar-type spring compressors though - bloody death traps!