hi al, apologies if this has been posted in the wrong section, any how, about 6months ago i bought a machine mart trolley jack, if was about £65, when i changed my wheels about 3 months ago the jack wouldnt jack my car up,so i complained to machine mart and they took it back and said it was fine, anyhow i came to use it again today and the lock bolt as i call it snapped off.

so my problem is this, i need to change my haldex, i have used my older but not so high lifting older jack to jack my car up today, lifting it so far, then adding a bit of height by using axle stands and bits of wood etc. and what a pain it has been, so i need a new jack and i have £100 to spend, any recommendations but please not machine mart,

i have seen a company named sgs advertising a 3 ton jack, has anyone got one of these.

Yes I've got one . Like all the jacks in that price range it is Chinese. However it is a very substantial bit of kit. Check all of the different deals on the website as the same jack can appear on it's own or cheaper in bundles with axle stands ( excellent ) . I bought the standard 3 tonne heavy duty jack, with a pair of 6 tonne axle stands, I also got the rubber caps for the axle stands and a " puck" for the jack cup. The jack is fine , it lifts the Freelander easily , more than you will need to and does it quickly, it has twin hydraulic cylinders , the handle is padded so it wont bang bodywork, the valve is easy to use, controlled by rotating the handle . I used the jack on a Clio a couple of weeks ago , it almost launched it into space !

The axle stands are the ratchet type with a safety pin , very well made. I also bought some heavy duty rubber wheel chocks from them , again very nice bit of kit, especially after years of using the nearest brick  2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Ive also got an SGS 3ton. http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garage-equi...olley-jack

Not the quicklift one but its not slow! I'm fussy with tools & chose this as it seems solid well made. Recommended.
Make sure its well greased in all the right places, mine was a bit light on that. 1978 Laverda Jota. Stolen...
1980 Honda CBX1000 6cyl.
1978 Laverda Montjuic.
2010 Yamaha MT01.

Do people place to trolley jack at the jacking point of the car? If so do you use the cup things to stop the jacking point deforming under the weight?

Personally I use the cup with a big rubber puck inside . The " ridge" on the underbody that you would locate the LandRover scissor jack onto will press down into the hard rubber, but the edges of the steel cup won't touch the body . Very secure and still allows the jack to creep forwards.

Sometimes it's more convenient or necessary to jack a car up off something else like a suspension arm or a differential then the cup with its cut outs might make a more secure contact point.

Looks like I'll have mine out for the Suby in a week or two , back to front/ diagonal tyre swop every 6000 miles on the synchronised AWD.  2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I got one of these

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic25725.html 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

snappa wrote:

Do people place to trolley jack at the jacking point of the car? If so do you use the cup things to stop the jacking point deforming under the weight?

hi all, thanks for the input, I have gone for the sgs 3 ton garage jack and 2 of their ratchet axle stands.

i am going to sent the other one back to machine mart, its only 6 months old

MartynB wrote:

Personally I use the cup with a big rubber puck inside . The " ridge" on the underbody that you would locate the LandRover scissor jack onto will press down into the hard rubber, but the edges of the steel cup won't touch the body . Very secure and still allows the jack to creep forwards.

Sometimes it's more convenient or necessary to jack a car up off something else like a suspension arm or a differential then the cup with its cut outs might make a more secure contact point.

Looks like I'll have mine out for the Suby in a week or two , back to front/ diagonal tyre swop every 6000 miles on the synchronised AWD.

weekender wrote:

hi all, thanks for the input, I have gone for the sgs 3 ton garage jack and 2 of their ratchet axle stands.

i am going to sent the other one back to machine mart, its only 6 months old

weekender wrote:

MartynB wrote:

Personally I use the cup with a big rubber puck inside . The " ridge" on the underbody that you would locate the LandRover scissor jack onto will press down into the hard rubber, but the edges of the steel cup won't touch the body . Very secure and still allows the jack to creep forwards.

Sometimes it's more convenient or necessary to jack a car up off something else like a suspension arm or a differential then the cup with its cut outs might make a more secure contact point.

Looks like I'll have mine out for the Suby in a week or two , back to front/ diagonal tyre swop every 6000 miles on the synchronised AWD.

hi, what do you think of the subaru, do you tow with it

Hi No I don't tow with it. I am really impressed with it, I've had it nearly one year and 12000 trouble free miles. Last tank to tank was 42 mpg, very nicely specifiedSE Premium ( in fact they only sell one model now the SE Premium the SE was sold off at very good prices before Xmas ) . Drives like a car, the Lineartronic CVT with Eyesight and Adaptive cruise is brilliant . The Outback has 8" of under chassis clearance, an " Estate Car " in the true sense of the word which is why they end up with Horsey, Fishy, Shooty, Country types first service in two weeks so let's see what the cost of that is . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

hi all, new jack arrived today, it certainly looks the part, i know that its not strictly a fair comparison as the machine mart 3 ton jack cost about £50 ( currently £59.9 and the sgs one is £20 more inclusive of vat and delivery.

But the SGS jack is a much heavier and bushiness like model. have a look at the pictures.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Definitely an improvement  2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

hi, its a lot easier to lift the car with the new sgs jack, and with such a wide jack width, it feels safer and more stable,

the wheels are much bigger and the jack is about twice as wide as the one from machine mart.

I have had a look at my handbrake shoes today( not a pretty sight) its much easier to lift the car with the sgs jack.

Definitely worth the extra £20 - £30

I agree I had a 30 year old Halfords 2.5 tonne jack. Using the jacking point I could not get our Freelander 2 wheels off the floor , the car overcame the jack I also feel very safe with the axle stands , very robust things. I've become sensible as I get older, mainly because I want to continue getting older,when I think of some of the things we did as kids working on cars in the street, it makes me go cold! 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .