Arthur Del Mundo

I do not work for Kragen nor have any affiliation with them. I was driving on my way to work and heard that they were selling Aluminum Racing Jacks at Kragen Auto Parts for $149 on sale. I might go to Kragen's today and check hem out for myself and see what brand they are and the quality. If anyone else has seen these or has one from Kragen, please let me know as the price sounds really good on this. I don't know how long this sale will last as well.

Alan C2S

Purchased an aluminum racing jack at Harbor Freight in Ft. Worth, Texas
last month for the same price. Jack is just over 3in. and works fine on my car with the PSS9's.

Arthur Del Mundo

Kragen's is a Auto Parts chain store. They are all over the place in the Bay Area. Howver I do not know if they have locations outside of the area to my knowledge. But it's great you can go into a store and buy something and actually look at it and feel it and not pay shipping as well. Plus if you decide not to keep it, probably less of a hassle to return it back to the store as well. But I will try to check it out after work today.

STLPCA

Art
As you know, there have been several old threads discussing the cut rate aluminum "racing jacks" from Harbor & others (you've posted to some of them). As I recall, some posters reported problems with stability, quality & longevity. Not surprising since the "name" jacks cost 3-4x more. Although not always true, this seems to be a product where you get what you pay for. Considering the potential damage to car/person if a jack fails, it's not a place to cut corners, IMO. Try a search for more.

914und993

These jacks commonly fail by developing seal leaks first, and a catastrophic failure is probably uncommon.

If you could easily get a suppy of replacement seals to rebuild the inexpensive jack when it begins to leak, it could be well worth the money. BUT, that is a big "If". I have one of the Harbor Freight versions, and it is still working well. I was unable to find a source of replacement seals for the jack, so when it begins to leak, its probably headed fro the trash bin.

Chip

Randy M '96 Silver 993

I bought the $150 Kragen jack and as far as I can tell, it is pretty good. It is not a Professional Grade, but for a DIY Garage jack, it performs very well.

Mark in Baltimore

At the Schattenbaum DE last weekend, I was looking at a guy's Harbor Freight jack, having never seen it it before, and was impressed by the look of it. We also discussed the jack's seal failure problem, which, strangely enough, reared its head a few hours after our conversation.

Ben in Plano, TX

I have a $150 beautiful aluminum paper weight from Harbor Freight if anyone is interested.....

In this case it appears you do get what you pay for.

Mike J

What exactly goes wrong with these jacks? Is it the main cylinder seal, or the pump seal or? It seems a waste to throw out the jack because the seal is blown...can it be fabricated??

Ben in Plano, TX

Mike,

I assume it is a seal failure of some sort. I've bled the thing a dozen times to no avail.

In my case it will lift the pad up when pumped but once I stop pumping the jack handle it drops right back down. If there is any load on the pad it won't lift at all.

I've decided that it's not worth my time/effort to find the parts, take the thing apart, hope I get it fixed, and then lift my car with a ??? jack.

So I'm using my very heavy but reliable Craftsman floor jack for the moment.....

Arthur Del Mundo

OK just checked out the jack they had on sale at Kragen Auto Parts. I haven't bought it yet as I want to see what your opinions are on this company. It is made by Powerbuilt tools. It is rated at 3000 lbs. and weighs 34 lbs. Here is a link to Kragen's website on the jack.

http://www.partsamerica.com/PartDeta...egoryCode=3397

max911

the Harbor Freight jack and the Powerbuilt jack at Kragen look like the same jack to me. Although they could have differently sourced hydraulic cylinders. Probably just different stickers








max

Martin S.

I have the Kragen jack...it came with a one (1) year warranty. It works fine, and, it fits in the trunk of my 993 on the way to the track. The handle breaks dwon into two pieces.

Ted Brewer

In the latest Craftsman catalog, which just arrived at my door, there is a $199 aluminum "race" jack with a 3 1/4" minimum height. It is red and a little heavy at about 43 pounds. Anyone know anything about these?

Ted

Pete Lech

The Kragen jack is $139. here in Kalifornia this week.