pfbz

QUICK JACK BL-5000SLX 5,000-LB CAPACITY PORTABLE CAR LIFT

Cost: Costco has them for $1,099 shipped, they often go on sale at Costco for $999 shipped (what I paid). $1,365.00 direct from BendPack/QuickJack.

Use Case: My relatively low garage height would have been less than ideal for a traditional 2 or 4 post lift, plus I didn't want to loose the "space flexibility" of an installed lift. I have decent jacks and the excellent Esco flat-top jack stands, but wanted something that gave a bit more height and was quicker to get the car off the ground with

Early Impressions:

What's Hot:

• Much quicker to get all four off the ground than traditional jack and jackstands.
• Needs very little clearance. No problem at all with my H&R sprung 996 Turbo.
• Works really well with the lift points on a 911. I'm also using
• Stores in minimal space. The pump/power unit takes up minimal space, quick disconnects to lifting platforms. Lifting platforms can store flat or be hung on a wall.
• Decent working space under the car.
• Pretty flexible, I think i can lift every vehicle I have with it.
• Standard 110 power. 12V version also available.
• Portable, although I'm not sure I'll ever use that feature...
• BendPack owns QuickJack, so it's not some random Chinese company producing them.
• No worries about concrete slab thickness or ceiling height, No need to change out door tracks and opener for more clearance

What's Not:

• While they get good reviews for strength, to me the design of it does not ooze precision.
• Value? Not bad at the $999 Costco price, but not sure it's a great deal at $1,350.
• Customer Support. My initial experience with customer support for what should have been a quick and easy fix was very underwhelming... I ended up escalating the issue to their digital marketing folks and then got *instant* resolution. Evidently they have been selling lots of them and are understaffed and undertrained in customer support.
• Some assembly required. You need to attach all the hydraulic fittings to the pieces and hoses, buy ATF separately, run them up and down, bleed air from hydraulics, add air pressure to return assist cylinders, etc. Not a big deal, but it takes a bit of fiddling to get it all set up.
• Ultimately, you are still lying on the ground when working under the car. Not as convenient as a conventional lift.

acropora157

I have had one for a couple of years now. It works well and is a very safe alternative to floor jacks and jack stands. It’s excellent for changing your brakes or bleeding all four wheels at once. It gets used often for my track car , before and after each event. Highly recommended, especially at the lower price offered by Costco.

ipman

Very nice P. I am spoiled with my 2 post lift in my shop so this wouldn't be for me. However, I am a big advocate of safety and backup/double checks. Can you put some tall jack stands underneath if you were beneath it? For my lift, I use two 4K supports in the front and rear of the vehicle that work great. I also have some 3 ton and 6 ton Hein Werner's jack stands (US made) that I entrust. The 6 ton are considerably taller if the 3 tons are not enough. Just want you to be safe

venom51

They are wonderful for at home service work. They are also awesome for those of us that do our washes wheels off on occasion. Doesn't replace a good 2 post asymmetrical lift but if you don't have the space for one these beat the hell out of a pump jack and jack stands.

2fcknfst

Thanks for the review - if safety regarding failure is a concern, can you not use some 4x4s in strategic locations to make sure it won't fall on you...?

Looks good otherwise, I will be checking Costco.ca to see if we can get it in Canada;

Update, it is:

https://www.costco.ca/QuickJack-BL-5...100401764.html

$1350CDN, not bad. Look forward to more comments on usability.

venom51

They have a mechanical lock out. Unless you do something really dumb when initially lifting the car I don't see anyone getting hurt with these. Once they are on the locks they are no longer dependent on the hydraulic pressure for anything. Same as a 2 post lift. As long as you are careful when setting up for the lift and the mechanical locks are in good working order it is hard to get injured under one of those as well. Of course that is barring poor lift set up, bad concrete, failing hydraulics while lifting or trying to lift significantly more than the lift is rated to handle and other dumb things some human manage to do. Additional safety never hurts however.

2fcknfst

I noted that - in setting them up, are they running along the frame rails? Or, at the specific jack points?

venom51

They have 2 flat trays in which the rubber blocks gets placed to accommodate the many varied lifting points on different vehicle. Pads go under the jack points of the unibody then when lifting the mechanical lock outs pass over 2 potential set points. Once the cam passes over the lock point the lock bar drops down and when you stop lifting and reverse direction the bar locks against the stop. Getting the car down involves lifting enough to remove the pressure form the lock out back and flipping the release cam back over. If you can't hit the exact lift points on some vehicles they also offer a pinch weld block that allows for lifting on the pinch weld seem without damaging it. They really made a good effort at designing in enough flexibility to cover as many cars as they can.

On my truck they aren't long enough to hit the ideal lift points so I turn them across the width of the truck so that I can position solidly under the frame. Ok for general maintenance but I'd lift it with them and then throw jack stands under the suspension to do any real work under it.

2fcknfst

Very nice, I intend to investigate further - I may in fact be able to do better on price. Will advise.

Cheers,

r6vr6

I have had mine for a couple years. They work great and is about the only way I could get mine up off the ground in what I felt was a safe manner. With all the service I have done on them they have paid for themselves multiple times.

MexicoBlueTurboS

For those that use the back up jack stands - where do you place them being that the jack points are being used by the QJ?

ipman

I use the middle rear of the engine and underneath the front diff bracing. You may need to remove the undercarriage though.

JWILLI

I stuck a set of jack stands within the Quick jack itself. I figure that if the support bar failed, the Quickjack would collapse onto the jack stand and still maintain the car in the air, albeit an inch lower on one side. You can see the jack stand placement pointed to by the end of the fuel filler neck in this image.

I liked this placement because I had the full use of the underside of the car without wiggling around a set of secondary jack stands.

And to be fair, I had the car in the air for 10 months and wiggled it around quiet a bit wresting with the fuel tank and other maintenance items. It held up just fine. I am pretty confident in the Quickjack. I still won't be risking it though and will continue to place the jack stands where shown above.

pfbz

Not a bad idea for placement of a "safety" jackstand.... Though IMHO, at some point you have to either trust your lift or not.

I suspect that it is *far* more likely that human error would cause a tragedy than a failure of the quickjack itself when used properly.

eg:

• not having the safety bars properly engaged,
• not lifting to just beyond the safety bar detent and backing off a bit,
• not lifting from a secure lift point,
• not lifitng from a well balanced lift point
• using extra rubber blocks in an unsafe way,
• etc

If I have any complaint about the quick-jack, it is that it does allow carelessness to introduce risk. The safety bars out of the track is one example. I also know someone who had the car up for several days, the relief cap on the reservoir got tightened, and upon lowering, the pressure had nowhere to go and blew apart the fluid reservoir. Not catastrophic from an injury point of view, but one HELL of a mess!

Dock

Safety redundancy is a good thing.