Minnesota Focus Owners Club

Allrighty, I thought I'd give my brothers a warning.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... +%26+Jacks

I have had this jack for a little over a year (funny it only has a 1 year warranty). Last night as I was trying to chase down my grinding bearings I pressed down on the jack handle and it didn't raise the car. I pulled it down and pulled it out and noticed a nice puddle under it. The lower ram is leaking and that is the end of this jack. You are better off buying a cheap jack that will last just as long or longer. Do not waste you money on a Craftman jack as I have heard other reports of them failing. This is a dangerous tool to have in your garage and if you have one make sure you always use jack stands.

Bottom line: One of these things is gonna kill someone eventually.

You don't crawl under the car without jackstands do you?

There's SO many crappy floor jacks out there it's scary.

I've got a 45-50 year old (belonged to my grandfather) Blue Point 3000 pound floor jack that just started leaking about a year ago, I'm going to take it to Hydraulic jack service and have it rebuilt and hopefully it'll be good for another 50 years

that's BS. it's a craftsman, don't it have the replacement warranty foir a lifetime? or is that just on tools now? but always use stands.

Like you guys always use jack stands. Changing a tire, do you use jack stands? I use them whenever I am under the car, don't get me wrong, but not when i am changing tires.

Be aware of the warranties on some Craftsman tools. The torque wrenches have a 1 year warranty. I actually prefer the $16 on sale specials from the local parts store since they too have a 1 year warranty and have a calibration sticker. I can buy 10 of those for the price of the equivalent Craftsman.

Seems Craftsman has really gone downhill. Used to be everything had a lifetime warranty and was actually built well. Not so much anymore.

That's the reason it failed you.....

Jacks are meant to put the car up, throw jack stands under, and pull it out. Not to hold the car up. That's just dangerous. The Jack my Dad has he got from his dad. All original, never failed. Just gotta use em correctly. So in the future, don't use the Jack to hold it up.

frankjt96 wrote:That's the reason it failed you.....

Jacks are meant to put the car up, throw jack stands under, and pull it out. Not to hold the car up. That's just dangerous. The Jack my Dad has he got from his dad. All original, never failed. Just gotta use em correctly. So in the future, don't use the Jack to hold it up.

Please read, i use jack stands all the time with the exception of when i do wheels. If any jack can't hold something up for 6 minutes they are junk. I started working on cars when i was 12 (i'm 37 now) and have never seen such a shoddy jack. Keep in mind this is a damn near $200 jack, not a cheapo one. I don't know anyone that always immediately throws jack stands under a car for everything.

Father in law uses them all the time without jack stands and he doesn't have the problems I had with this one. He does demolition derbies and the cars he is lifting are much heavier than a Focus and he was telling me how he abuses them with no such failures.

frankjt96 wrote:That's the reason it failed you.....

Jacks are meant to put the car up, throw jack stands under, and pull it out. Not to hold the car up. That's just dangerous. The Jack my Dad has he got from his dad. All original, never failed. Just gotta use em correctly. So in the future, don't use the Jack to hold it up.

That I don't agree with at all, the jack should have the ability to lift and hold it's capacity. Period.

That's what it's for, My old Blue point has lifted and held everything from my Focus to a '62 Chevy carryall to a '76 Eldorado to a '51 Dodge.

I don't work on the car with the jack only holding it up but I will say that I've supported one end or the other of all those for more than just long enough to get stands under the vehicle.

one thing to watch when buying craftsman tools at sears and many don't know this. theres craftsman and sears craftsman tools. the sears craftsman tools have a very short warranty while most of the craftsman are lifetime.
Look at your wrenches and stuff, they will either have craftsman stamped on it or sears craftsman, the latter being their lower line.

I'm told Crapsman "technical" type tools only have a 1 year warranty unless stated oyherwise. They also seem to change directives as to whether they repair-replace lifetime warrantied tools . Kyle and I have aluminum Big Red jacks and stands from Northern . We don't use the stands very much - damn near too pretty-almost show quality . We have a couple of sets of ratch style stands that we use all the time . I paid $15 extra for the 3 year warranty on the Big Reds . Needed the aluminum jacks to be able to lift these over lower cars we own . Still my favorite would be my 35 year old heavy duty $59 steel jack from Menards back when they carried good tools .This reminds me it still needs to be rebuilt as it does leak down ever so slowly . I like it because when working correctly it take many pumps to put it up and very controlable to lower to just the right heights .Great for lining things up - egines/tranys/diffs . Sucks taking it anywhere because it's sooo heavy and nasty to take the handle off .--Bob

o6designs wrote: Still my favorite would be my 35 year old heavy duty $59 steel jack from Menards back when they carried good tools .This reminds me it still needs to be rebuilt as it does leak down ever so slowly . I like it because when working correctly it take many pumps to put it up and very controlable to lower to just the right heights .Great for lining things up - egines/tranys/diffs . Sucks taking it anywhere because it's sooo heavy and nasty to take the handle off .--Bob

What's that tell you? Old heavy floor jacks last and last and last.

I hate hauling mine anywhere also as it weighs a good 50-60 pounds but to have a floor jack that was used VERY frequently for 50 years really speaks volumes about the quality of modern floor jacks.

Yeah, look at the weight of the POS that just broke on me: Wt. w/ handle is 101.32 lbs
I gotta haul that POS over to the father in laws to throw into one of is old derby cars for disposal.

I replaced that POS with this and paid the $20 for extended warranty.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... _200345429

The low profile portion of this thing goes really far back, has good reviews. We'll see.

Oh and the jack that failed on me is rated at 4 tons, that 8,000 pounds, I should be able to lift 2 Foci safely and still have more capacity left over.

I did say "Old heavy jacks".

FORDSVTPARTS wrote:I did say "Old heavy jacks".

I'm just saying, you'd think something that hefty would be able to hold up but they used 1/2 cent seal and the whole thing goes to shit.

now i have to load it in the truck for movement, back breaking labor i tell ya.

Yeah I got my dad a Craftsman (3 Ton I think) a few years ago and it leaks like crazy. We just keep adding fluid to get the job done, but his old one from Northern probably works better.

I want one of these: http://www.napaonline.com/NOLPPSE/%28S% ... 0006396327