Good and bad with lifting kit

[isisalar]

Unable to stomach £72 per hour labour charges for relatively simple jobs I decided a jack and a pair of axle stands was needed, to do things like sphere changes etc. A quick search showed both items could be bought, together with various other related items, for about £50 as a lifting kit. As I had to go there anyway, and the extras seemed to be a good package, I got this one from GSF:-http://www.gsfcarparts.com/987aa1660 With the 10pc discount it was £53.
All the items seem to be of reasonable quality and perform as they should.
However, the jack is just tiny, almost like a miniature. It can just about manage to lift a wheel on the Xantia, on high, if on the jacking point, and on the underside hardly at all. The tool kit jack is more useful. Here's a picture of the little rascal in action, almost at full stretch and not lifting yet:-https://www.dropbox.com/s/q3w1ehpw3hbbr ... .27.31.jpg
The last time I bought a 2 ton jack it was the cheapest/smallest available, a reasonable size and worked well on my first Xantia so I didn't really give the size issue much thought.It was about twice the size of the new one. The cheapest one now available from the place I bought that one from, is the exact same one as in the kit, for £26. A bit of searching today shows that these miniatures are really all that's available in the various kits, or as a stand alone 2 ton jack, and that to get something suitable for an Xantia, size wise, something rated 3 tons plus is going to be necessary.
Hope this is helpful to anyone considering getting something similar.
How come jacks have got smaller? Cars certainly haven't.
I am getting a whiff of health and safety/EEC about this, can't put my finger on it though.
Can anyone suggest anything suitable?
Cheers
Paul

[Chlorate]

The Xantia weighs in at 1.6 tons, you wouldn't need a 3 ton jack unless you were trying to lift the entire weight of nearly two of them

I bought a similar 2 ton trolley jack from Halfrauds years ago, always found it to be ample for my needs..
Granted I don't usually bother trying to lift the car with the suspension up on high.
Unless the GSF one is smaller?

[Mandrake]

Xantia's aren't quite that lardy Chlorate

The V6 is the heaviest by far at 1496Kg, the Activa TCT is 1320Kg, and the HDi 110 exclusive is 1436Kg. Most of the lower spec models are around the 1300-1350Kg mark.

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Off the top of my head my trolley jack is a smallish 2 ton one from machine mart and it has no trouble jacking up the front of my V6 which as mentioned is the heaviest Xantia made. The problem I find with my jack though is that its "reach" from right down to right up could do with being a bit longer.

[Chlorate]

My mistake, within +/- 25% though

[Stickyfinger]

The problem I find with my jack though is that its "reach" from right down to right up could do with being a bit longer.

Axle stand and a big block of wood, 2 stage it, easier than a great big jack.

[isisalar]

This little baby won't even lift the car high enough to get it on to the first notch of the axle stands, it's just too small. What I was saying was it's the size/reach of the higher rated ones which makes them necessary, not the lifting capacity. There may well be suitable 2 tonners available but I haven't found one yet.
Cheers
Paul

[Northern_Mike]

Unless it's imperative the wheels come off, I use ramps every time. Much better. Jacking - I have a Halfords 2 tonne jack that cost me £19 years ago, some Halfords Axle stands and I use a block of wood on the jack to save sill/chassis scratches. Though, as I said, ramps every time for me. I picked mine up s/h off eBay for a tenner. They're ok for up to 205 tyres, I know that much..

[isisalar]

This is exactly what I'm saying, the £20 jacks 10-15 yrs ago were very useful now they're just toys and no more help than the tool kit jack.
Cheers
Paul

[Xaccers]

I rarely have to use jacks, normally I just put it on high, slip the axle stands under the jacking points and set her on low and there's plenty of space to work underneath.

[Northern_Mike]

I used to do that with the Xantias too Xac. I put the Activa on ramps to do the rear spheres though.

[addo]

I've one of the Arcan low profile four-wheeled trolley jacks in aluminium; best all-purpose jack I ever bought. The UK price appears to be £140.

Only gripe was the usual low quality rubber pad - a soft pine block sorted it.

[Stewart(oily)]

I used to struggle with the usual £20 trolley jacks, ramps, my timber block collection was second to none then A pleased client gave me a proper garage jack, heavy but it goes 18" straight up and can lift three tons, I was then in Machine mart where I saw a 2 tonne Hi Lift, that goes over a foot too, it does speed up jobs to be able to seriously send the front of a car up and allow room to work safely, these are always backed up with axle stands/blocks.
The £20 trolley jack does appear to have shrunk though.

[Peter.N.]

I bought a 30cwt Bradbury jack in the '60s which cost me about a weeks wages - but I still have it and it still works but it probably weighs nearly as much as it lifts. I bought a couple of 'modern' jacks about 10 years ago very cheaply compared with my original, they obviously are not as solid as the old ones but they have worked reasonably well for me - but, I am not lifting the car from the ground as I have a ramp constructed with two heavy pieces of timber, a bank with a retaining wall and a couple of oil drums. I built this about 40 years ago. As the ground is on a fairly steep slope I can drive straight onto the boards, these give me just the right working height for brakes, suspension etc and to work underneath I have a stool of the appropriate height to sit on. This system is not difficult to construct if you have the space and is worth its weight in gold.

Peter