Best Floor Jacks For 2021

If you’re going to do work on a car more involved than washing it or tossing out Starbucks cups, you’re going to need a floor jack. Even if you’re just changing a flat tire or swapping winter wheels for summer ones, you want something that’s safe and quick. Unlike the spindly little hand-cranked tire-changing jack that accompanies the car’s spare tire, and balances the car’s entire weight

Best Low-Profile, Long-Reach Floor Jack

Sunex 6602LP 2-Ton Low Rider Steel Service Jack

Why We Picked It

If you have a very low car, and want to reach the jacking point under the subframe to raise both front or rear wheels at the same time, you need a jack that has both a low profile anda long reach. The king of the hill of low-profile long-reach jacks is the AC Hydraulics DK13HLQ, but it sells for $625. The Sunex at one-third the price provides much of the same functionality at a more palatable price point.

Pros & Cons

Low 2.75-inch front profile
18-inch horizontal reach
24-inch maximum lift height

Heavy at 103 pounds
36 inches long, occupies a lot of floor space
Does not have integrated rubber pad

Best Truck Floor Jack

Blackhawk B6350 Black/Red Fast Lift Service Jack (3.5 Tons)

Sale

$199.99

(-$64.61) (32%)

Why We Picked It

Changing wheels on a truck or full-sized SUV is a pain, as their weight and ground clearance require the jack to have both extra lifting capacity and height. The Blackhawk B6350’s 7,000-pound rating and 24-inch lift height should be adequate for most personal vehicles.

Pros & Cons

3.5-ton (7,000 pound) lift capacity
24-inch maximum lift height
Well priced

Heavy at 85 pounds
Won’t fit under a low car
Still not enough if you own a commercial vehicle or motor home

Best Value Floor Jack

Pro-Lift F-767 2-Ton Low-Profile Floor Jack

Sale

$72.35

(-$3.97) (5%)

Why We Picked It

If all you need is an inexpensive occasional-use floor jack in the garage to pick up one wheel at a time, The Pro-Lift F-767 will work fine, and has the benefit of the front of the jack having a low profile, allowing it to slide beneath the jacking points on the side of low cars.

Pros & Cons

Low price
Low 3.5-inch profile
Even with low price, has bypass valve to prevent over-pumping

Maximum lift height is only 14 inches
Reach is short–may not lift two wheels off the ground simultaneously
Does not have integrated rubber pad

Best Lightweight Floor Jack

Torin Big Red T815016L 1.5-ton Low Profile Aluminium and Steel Racing Floor Jack

Sale

$175.96

(-$35.17) (20%)

Why We Picked It

For someone doing a long road trip in an old car or attending a car club track day where you’re going to change wheels and tires, or doing a long road trip in an old car, a lightweight aluminum floor jack is a must. Keep in mind that you’re trading off low weight against price and capacity. The Torin T815016L weights 34 pounds and costs not much more than $100. If you want more capacity, you can move up to the Arcan AL3JT, but it’s more than twice the price and weights 56 pounds.

Pros & Cons

Light 34-pound weight
Low 3.5-inch profile
Side handle for easy loading

1.5 ton (3,000 pound) lifting capacity is a little light
Reach may not be long enough for very low cars
No carrying case

Best On-The-Road Tire-Changing Floor Jack

Torin Big Red T820014S 1.5-Ton Trolley Service/Floor Jack with Case

Why We Picked It

Any floor jack is faster and safer than the tiny hand-cranked thing that came with your car. If all you’re looking for is compact light-weight jack in its own convenient plastic carrying case that can lift one wheel of your not-a-Ferrari-not-a-Hummer if you get a flat when you’re out of cell phone range from AAA, the Torin T820014S should work fine.

Pros & Cons

Very light 18-pound weight
Very low price
Carrying case for rattle-free trunk storage

1.5 ton (3,000 pound) lifting capacity is a little light
Small size and stance aren’t as stable as a full-sized floor jack
5.5-inch front profile may not fit beneath very low cars

Best Jack Stands

Torin T43004 6,000-Pound Stands

Sale

$62.69

(-$4.10) (7%)

Why We Picked It

This is a pair of jack stands, not floor jacks. (See the FAQs.) Once the car’s raised with a floor jack, support it with jack stands if you plan to work underneath. The Harbor Freight debacle—two kinds of jack stands recalled last year, then one of the recalls recalled—has people thinking about the highest-quality stands, not the cheapest. Torin jack stands are solidly built. For a big SUV, upgrade to the Torin T43004B 8,000-pound stands.

Pros & Cons

Solid construction, rated at 6,000 pounds
Base comes off for storage
Sold as a pair, get two pair if you want the entire car off the ground

Not cheap
Some users say chain holding support pin is too short
Floor jack must be able to raise car 10-3/4 inches, minimum height of these jack stands

Methodology

Wheel-mounted floor jacks use a hydraulic cylinder to lift a hinged section of the jack, which in turn lifts part of the car. They have largely replaced old-school “bottle jacks” where the hydraulic cylinder directly lifted the car, as bottle jacks rarely fit beneath modern passenger cars. Bottle jacks still can, however, be a cost-effective choice on trucks. When lifting any vehicle, safety is paramount. As such, it is essential to have jack stands on which the vehicle can be safely set down for work underneath.

All jacks selected included a bypass valve to prevent over-pumping. Other selection criteria included cost, user ratings, lift capacity, front profile, lifting height, reach, jack weight, and appropriateness for the different vehicle categories of passenger car, sports car, and truck. The jacks selected ranged in cost from about $50 to about $230. Commercial-grade products used by professional garages were excluded due to high cost and, for many, high weight.

How do I choose a floor jack?

The weight of your vehicle is the primary factor choosing a floor jack (occasionally called a shop jack). To safely jack up a truck, you need a truck jack. Next is how low your car is. To put both front or rear wheels on a very low car in the air, you need a low-profile long-reach jack. Both of those types of jacks are big and heavy; you won’t be bringing them on road trips or to the race track.  [ninja_tables id="278770"]

How does the jack weight rating relate to the weight of the car?

The weight rating of the jack is its total lifting capacity. The jack’s footprint also factors into its stability. Even though any decent jack will have a bypass valve, you don’t want to push them to their limit. There are two ways to look at this: Lifting one wheel (33% rule): The load on the jack is somewhere between a quarter and a third of the vehicle weight. Let’s assume one-third. One-third the weight of a 6,500-pound, or 3.25-ton, large SUV is 1.08 tons, so by this measure, a 1.5-ton aluminum floor jack or even the little trunk-portable 1.5-ton Torin T820014S should be able to lift one wheel without exceeding its capacity. However, that’s misleading because it doesn’t take into account vehicle height and jack stability. Lifting both front or both back wheels (75% rule): To lift the front or back end and get two wheels off the ground, use a jack rated to at least three-quarters, or 75%, of the vehicle’s weight. By that measure, a 6,500-pound, 3.25-ton large SUV would need a jack rated to at least 2.4 tons. Since floor jacks are typically rated in half-ton increments, you’d want to buy at least a 2.5-ton jack.

How do I jack up my car?

Consult your owner’s manual to be certain, but nearly every modern car has jacking points with plastic pads near the inboard fender corners for each wheel. If your owner’s manual doesn’t show them in sufficient detail, search online for a good photograph. If the lifting saddle of your floor jack does not have an integrated rubber pad, be certain to put one there (hockey pucks work great), and that it is touching the jack point and only the jack point. The last thing you want to do is pinch a brake or fuel line or tear a hole in the floor. To set a car on jack stands for repair work, however, you need to lift it by a central point on the front or rear subframe instead. To reach those points on a low car, you may need a low-profile, long-reach jack.

How do I relate a jack’s “low profile” measurement to the ground clearance of my car? Are they the same?

They’re related, but not the same. Ground clearance is the tallest object a car can drive over without scraping the underside. A jack’s profile is the height of the nose of the jack off the ground at its lowest setting. You need that profile to be low enough so you can roll the jack under wherever you’re jacking up your car. If you’re jacking up one wheel, the nose of the jack has to fit beneath the jacking point. If the car has a flat tire, that jacking point will be lower, and you’re not going to know what that measurement actually is until the tire is flat. Worse is if the car has a low front air dam (spoiler) and you want to reach a jacking point under the front subframe so you can raise both front wheels at once. This is why you may need a jack that’s not only low-profile, but long-reach as well.

Is it safe working under a car supported by only a floor jack?

NO! Alwaysset the car down on properly-rated jack stands before putting any part of your body under it. Many people will change wheels with a car only supported by a jack, but small inclines and soft asphalt can make a car topple off a jack. It is always safer to set the car on stands, and leave the floor jack in place as a backup. Put chocks under wheels not being lifted. The best solution for lifting the car is a hydraulic scissors jack, one type of car lift, that slides under the car and lifts the car and all four wheels. They cost $1,000-$3,500. See Best Car Lifts For 2021.

Are aluminum floor jacks worth it?

If you want a lightweight jack for travel or for ease of moving around the garage, yes. Aluminum is one-third the weight of steel, but steel is simply stronger, and cheaper. If you have a heavy vehicle like a truck, or need a low-rise long-reach jack, you’re going to have to buy a steel jack.

Do I need to buy anything else?

Best Floor Jacks For 2022

Methodology