What You Should Know About an Automotive Floor Jack Before Buying It

Before buying an automotive floor jack, as with any other product you should know what it is used for and which particular type of the device you need. In general, an automotive floor jack is a tool, which should be in every garage, because it's unreplaceable for some car maintenance tasks. If you've bought a new car, you should have been provided with a automotive floor jack, suited specially for your car. But the thing is that such manufacturers' jacks may be lost or broken, or whatever and then you need to find a replacement for them.

And you should be careful, because your mistake may cost a lot of money and wasted nerves. In the most cases automotive floor jacks are used for changing tires, so they are designed to lift only a portion of a car, typically a corner. But if you need to check an undercarriage damage or do anything like that you will have to lift the whole side of the vehicle, so you'll have to use a more specialized jack with a larger capacity. As for the types of car jacks, there are four of them. Perhaps, there are some very specialized types, but these are major.

They are:

• Scissor jacks. Here the central screw mechanism is used for raising and lowering the jack. It can be driven by a specialized handle or just a tire removal tool.
• High-lifting jacks. These are used for larger vehicles, including trucks. They have a large base plate and are driven by a tall metal pole.
• Small hydraulic jacks. There are two types of them: whelled and non-wheeled. Both acts the same and are similar to scissor and high-lifting jacks.
• Large hydraulic floor jacks. You will need it, when you have to raise the entire front or end of your car.
  

Each and every automotive floor jack has safety features, which prevent accidental injuries to its owner. They have wide bases which stabilize the jack, they have special handles (or are designed in such a way, that you can use a tire removal tool to raise it up), and they have a stop point, so you're not able to extend it beyond its capabilities. I'm sure, that you know the benefits of car jacks, but let me explain them once more. It will help you a lot on the road in the emergency situation, when you have to change a tire.

Frankly, if you don't want to call for assistance and pay hefty fees, using an automotive jack is your only choice here. The same situation is with changing brake pads, belts and oil safely in your garage. Surely there are some precautions, because you work with a heavy and expensive vehicle, and any potential damage is huge (a broken car is the best option here).

So, you should be very careful:

• Place a jack on a level surface in an upright position.
• Put a jack under a car frame, not its body or any other not-so-firm part.
• Always use safety features.
• Read the manual carefully before using a jack.
• Apply the parking brake before lifting the car.
• Never leave your vehicle in a lifted position for a night (or any long periods of time without your supervision).

As for places, where you can buy an automotive floor jack, there's a lot of them at different online shops. Go and check there.