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Scissor Jack instead of farm jack?

roaniecowpony

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A very experienced Jeeper once told me long ago that a scissor jack was more handy and easier to use than a farm jack, most of the time. I'm considering carrying a large 24" scissor jack (in addition to the OEM jack), instead of a farm jack. There seem to be advantages and disadvantages. I bought a couple RV jacks rated for 7500 lbs each. They appear to be very well made compared to some I've seen. They will collapse to a very low profile and extend to 24" not counting any custom top pad and base. They are also very light and easier to stow compared to a farm jack.

Your comments are welcome..
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chevymitchell

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A very experienced Jeeper once told me long ago that a scissor jack was more handy and easier to use than a farm jack, most of the time. I'm considering carrying a large 24" scissor jack (in addition to the OEM jack), instead of a farm jack. There seem to be advantages and disadvantages. I bought a couple RV jacks rated for 7500 lbs each. They appear to be very well made compared to some I've seen. They will collapse to a very low profile and extend to 24" not counting any custom top pad and base. They are also very light and easier to stow compared to a farm jack.

Your comments are welcome..
Scissor jacks are only good for parking lot maintenance. You do not want to crawl under a Jeep to place it or use it in an actual on trail mishap. Unless you can get the scissor jack under the axle tube every time, it will be worthless. It'll never raise a vehicle past its suspension travel otherwise.

Each one of these jacks serve a specific purpose and shouldn't be compared to each other by function.
 

Sheepjeep

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i think it is good carry both, each has their advantages, disadvantages, and way to kill you

the scissor jacks are good if you are able to get yourself on flat level land need need to take a tire off to do something in that case it is a much safer alternative to a farm jack but its usefulness as a recovery device is pretty non existent. They are not super stable but done safe more trust worthy than a farm jack

a farm jack you can think more as a recovery tool that can raise your jeep, it is really useful say you are high centered on a rock or something and need to shift weight to get unstuck, they can be used as a regular jack in areas of very uneven terrain and are arguably the best jack there but they very unstable so you want to limit your use to just repair to clear the trail, their other jacking disadvantage is they jack off of the bumper or the body rather than the axles so the suspension will need to fully droop before the tires will lift and on a very flexy jeep you might find yourself running out of jack height so you might have to ratchet strap the axle to the frame before jacking up the jeep. Other use cases for the farm jack is you can use it as a come along winch, sucks to use but could be the best last resort you have. Another thing that gives them a bad name is the handle bar tends to be unpredictable with weight especially when dropping a load it can go into a auto drop state where the handle is flinging back and forth on its own and all you can do is step back and watch it go else you will have a few broken bones
 

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I don't do much/any trail offroading; mostly just around my property, but I'm curious... What would make a scissor jack bad where a farm jack is good in recovery situations?

I've never used a farm jack, but I've used the OEM scissor jacks a few times in various vehicles in the past during some moderate "recovery" - lifting a wheel a bit to get something under it for traction or to lift out of a high center situation.
 

Compression-Ignition

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I don't do much/any trail offroading; mostly just around my property, but I'm curious... What would make a scissor jack bad where a farm jack is good in recovery situations?

I've never used a farm jack, but I've used the OEM scissor jacks a few times in various vehicles in the past during some moderate "recovery" - lifting a wheel a bit to get something under it for traction or to lift out of a high center situation.
Scissor jack will put up with very little deflection. Not the lifting solution I would choose on a non-flat surface.
 

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Scissor jack will put up with very little deflection. Not the lifting solution I would choose on a non-flat surface.
I’m thinking bottle Jack at least. Plus you can just drive right off it if need be. Just pick it up and then be on your way.
 
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roaniecowpony

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Just to help baseline the discussion, I'll add some additional information about the scissor jacks under consideration.

The jacks are made in USA. They are massive compared to common scissor jacks that come with our jeeps and other vehicles and rated for 7500 lbs. The full travel is 24", the material is 1/8" formed steel to approximately 2" square beams, the threaded shaft is 5/8" acme thread with a ball bearing thrust bearing, the base is 9" x 4 1/2". This is a high quality piece.

I had originally intended to buy a 30" jack, but they did not state they were made in USA.

For reference, there are companies selling similar jacks that have added large area base plates and conformal top saddles. My intent is to fabricate a set of base plates and conformal top saddles.

Here's some pix. The bottom of my HiLift is shown next to the base of the scissor jack.

Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_175258
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_175635
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_181412
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_181827
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
 

CJACKZ

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Just another perspective on the scissor jack.
We have had four travel trailers. My last TT was 32’ and had scissor jacks at each “corner”. Even though these carried a rating that would support the weight of the TT, there were warnings stating not to use these as a means to lift the TT but only to stabilize.

Even with all 4 of these scissor jacks down on cribbing (only 50% extended) the wobble of the TT was rather noticeable. If you go last 50%, these become extremely unstable. The only way I could remove the wobble was to use a bottle jack to take weight off the suspension and use rigid stands.

I used to have an 88 Toyota with 6” of lift sitting on 35’s when I was a good bit younger. I attempted once to use the factory scissor style jack to raise the truck to change a tire and the jack didn’t make it. Thankfully no one was hurt.

please don’t get me wrong... I have scissor, bottle, trolly and farm jack in my shop. Each has a purpose and are safe if used as intended. No matter which type you use, jack stands, cribbing, etc are worth their weight for piece of mind when you have crawl under a vehicle that is being supported by any type of jack. Just my .02
 

CJACKZ

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As another point, I have seen people fully extend camper scissor jacks to stabilize their camper only to find them mangled the next day. Not judging why the camper was moving that much. 😳
 

Zandcwhite

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Just to help baseline the discussion, I'll add some additional information about the scissor jacks under consideration.

The jacks are made in USA. They are massive compared to common scissor jacks that come with our jeeps and other vehicles and rated for 7500 lbs. The full travel is 24", the material is 1/8" formed steel to approximately 2" square beams, the threaded shaft is 5/8" acme thread with a ball bearing thrust bearing, the base is 9" x 4 1/2". This is a high quality piece.

I had originally intended to buy a 30" jack, but they did not state they were made in USA.

For reference, there are companies selling similar jacks that have added large area base plates and conformal top saddles. My intent is to fabricate a set of base plates and conformal top saddles.

Here's some pix. The bottom of my HiLift is shown next to the base of the scissor jack.

Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? 20210106_183044
Looking are your extended scissor jack picture (which others have noted is well past the point where they become torsionally unstable), it would barely reach the frame on flat ground. Put the jeep on uneven terrain and I just don't see it reaching enough to do much. You can't pull with it. The high lift is as much a recovery tool as it is a simple lifting means. The jeep already has a scissor jack, the taller scissor provides nothing extra aside from a little more reach. Nothing a scrap of 4x4 or 2 couldn't do with the stock jack.
 

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roaniecowpony

roaniecowpony

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For anyone that thinks I intend to get under a vehicle supported only by a jack, any jack, forget about it. No way. I watched a car fall when a jack failed when I was about 16 years old. I also saw a friend's car fall off of jack stands. Luckily, no one was hurt in either event.
 

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Simplejack

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Guess i will chime in fwiw, Option 3? I own this one and love it. Might be too 1 dimensional but I got no complaints.

Screenshot_20240128-205947_Edge.jpg
 

Mx5red

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I guess I don’t see the difference between bottle jacks, which people love to throw out as an option, and a good scissor jack. Both seem to have the same instability and limitations, scissor jacks can lift higher though not sure it’d be trustworthy at that max height.
I thought of using one like you posted instead of finding a leaking bottle jack when you need it for a recovery.
As I posted on the genworth thread, I use a spring perch with my home jack and I’d try to bolt that to the scissor jack.
Jeep Wrangler JL Scissor Jack instead of farm jack? IMG_0310
 

3TV

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Hey Charlie. I just saw this thread being brought to life. Thanks for letting me use your scissor Jack on the Rubicon last summer. I now also carry a good 4 ton bottle jack in my Jeep instead of just the stock scissor jack 🙄. You sure made changing my tire easier.

I did notice your scissor jack did sustain a significant torsional distortion while lifting a front corner of my 392, to the point that it was really hard to turn the screw for that last bit of lift needed. So, my question is, did the jack survive? When we screwed it back down has everything worked well after that? If I owe you a new jack just say so.

What are you using for a jack now anyway? Has the scissor jack remained your preferred trail jack?
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