Technical bumper jacks who uses them?

Just like a lot of others on here, I use them for most anything some time or another. Just not lifting up cars anymore.

 

That’s a name of a race car or a
That’s a county song
Lol

 

Yep...use them for everything. Have a couple I have welded plates in place of the hook. Easiest thing to lift an empty trailer to change a tire or adjust brakes. Have used them to level sheds. And a host of other stuff. Always keep them around. Not my idea though. And old guy at work, "Pappy" clued me in. He is gone now...but think about him every time I use one.

 

Some of them go for good money on that auction site.

I don't think I have a complete set left. I do have many plates or bases though because I used to save those to use as wheel chocks and just scrapped the rest out until I found out what they sell for as a complete set. Wished I would have saved those for the restorers with those original rims, radios and don't forget original air cleaners that got replaced by those chromies. Boy, if I would have collected more of that stuff.

 

I'm 72 and when I was young and crazy back in the early 60's and did not have a lot of money, I would use bumper jacks a lot for changing tires and even crawling under the car and putting a new clutch in, oil changes, diffs, you get the what I'm taking about. As I got older and thinking about just using those damn jacks its a miracle I didn't get squished to death!

 

I suppose the old adage of young and dumb is a term the more fortunate members of the grey beard society can throw around having survived our youthful transgressions with using bumper jacks,concrete blocks and anything a arms reach to get a car up of the ground.

My personal experience came one Saturday morning in my girlfriends front yard,I had the drivers side of my 63 1/2 Falcon Sprint dangling on a bumper jack to replace a bad wheel cylinder and I did have the presence of mind to use a brick to chock the front wheel.

In all my youthful exuberance I neglected several common sense issues,the ground on which the small foot print of the bumper jack was standing wasn't the most ideal surface for a bumper jack.

I had remover the wheel and tire,the brake drum was removed and I had just finished removing the brake shoes,I was sitting with my legs under the car facing the backing plate when my future father-in-law grabbed me by the arm and jerked it almost out of the socket before I knew what had happened the car was on the ground and had barely missed my foot.

The jack had sunk into the soft ground and rolled to the right just enough to tilt and fall,I was fortunate that Clyde had just pulled in the driveway and he noticed the car was already leaning toward me.

Had he not showed up when he did I am sure I would have be hurt badly, I was totally oblivious to my intimate danger. HRP

 

Hi-Lift Jack my wife bought me 40 years ago-indispensible. Only way to get my tractor tires off the ground to put on chains, pull posts, stretch barbed wire. Like all dangerous tools, one needs to think it out before starting the project and then being super careful about what you forgot to consider. Properly lubed, mine always ratchets down as long as the load is on it.

 

Many of us grey beards can relate to that experience in the 60’s. Young and bullet proof vs Older and wiser. Bumper jacks have been around forever. They have their limitations. To try to work underneath a car lifted only with a bumper jack,and I did it too,invites the possibility of serious injuries or worse. “Do not try this anymore.”

 

I’m 57 and could say I did. Fast forward to now and I can say never will again.

 

There was a time when it was just what we had. Is crawling under a car, supported by a bumper jack: "Traditional"?

 

My '63 Rambler had one but I carried a screw jack. They will mark up the bumper as I recall. Long ago my friend was lifting his '64 ford, watched as the jack lifted and carved its way through the rotten bumper. Saw other bumpers come off lifting with bumper jacks in the rust belt.

 

Those tripod style jacks with the worm gear were pretty safe as long as you had a good place to jack from, some bumpers just weren't that stable though. Some had a chain that went under the car to attach to the rear end or around the frame rail. Haven't seen one in years.

I had a flat hybrid I guess you'd call it, a GM jack that the ratchet bar laid on the ground. and it pushed up on a scissor mechanism. It was fairly stable for what it was, but like any scissor jack, the footprint was too narrow so it was easy to flip over with a load raised on it.

I prefer the bottle style with the long drive handle like comes in pickups. At least if it falls while you're jacking, you are farther away from the vehicle.

 

When GM came out with the what I call the "Lay Down" jack gathered as many as I could.
Had almost a dozen at one time and now down to one left... gave away to friends and such.. There tough to find now..



I know it was pushing it to the limits .. but when working in the junk yards I have lifted 2 full size cars stacked with one of these..

OH HELL YEH IT WAS SPOOKY !

 

will keep my eye out for one of those. might work, might not

 

... This is what I carry in my car ... They work great for changing a tire on a low hot rod ...

 

The wife and I use them whenever it's convenient, like when there is a flat tire on the car. The ratchet needs to be taken care of, like kept clean and lubed, and the mast needs to fit the base. Level ground, wheel chocks and a roughly 18"x18" square piece of 1/2" plywood make the operation go by smoothly. The correct jack placed in the correct spot on the bumper helps also. As far as working on the car goes (other than tire changes), I don't get under the car when it is held up by any jack, except to place jack stands or other supports under it.

 

I carry a floor jack always. At night and raining I am not going to screw around.

 

Buddies and I have used their major flaw to bail us out of being stuck in mud and snow many times. Jack up, push over off the jack, then repeat until we could get traction and underway again.. Usually needed a bigger "shoe" under the "foot" to keep it from sinking, borrowing a rock off a stone wall, piece(s) of deadwood, broken side door board near a tobacco barn, whatever was handy and worked.

Ed

 

That is what I was calling a hybrid. They are hard to find anymore, don't have a clue what happened to mine. Grew legs I guess....

 

my main problem is getting back tire off car. i have to raise the body up. not the rearend. i agree they are dangerous. just looking for ideas on a x frame car .

 

The last thing I'd do is use a bumper jack. In the first place can't afford to mar up my rechromed bumpers and do not have a death wish.

 

Yes and potentially eternal

 

I'm 72 and I remember my Dad teaching me how to use these diabolical engineering marvels. Loosening the lug nuts before jacking up the car was the first rule.
I've had them fall, been smacked by the handle when it didn't catch, slip off the bumper and who knows what as far as close calls.
He had one, either the 57 Chevy or 59 Plym, that would automatically ratchet itself down if it was started down on the right notch. Scary, but fast!

 

Glad you put those reasons in the proper order!

 

I'm surprised that, having thought to carry the jack, you didn't think to carry along something for a "shoe".

 

I've jacked many a car and truck with the old farm and country stand by the Jack All.

A 48" Jack all was a standard tool on farms and acreages when I was growing up.

 

Good way to check if the body shop put all the bolts back thru the frame. Oh shit!


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I haven't used a bumper jack for decades.

 

Same as the Hi-Lift jack above. Mine cost $28 in 1974.

 

I used a bumper jack once on an OT 71 Olds, ONCE!

PS, bonus points for naming the film. LOL.