A couple of months ago, there was a discussion on using an electric jack, such as shown at http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Tools%C2%AE-Electric-Car-Jack/dp/B000Y343TC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1267066156&sr=8-1-spell The question was how good they were and how practical to use. One responder said he was getting one and would let us know, but I have seen no such response. Hoping that person sees this post and will let us know how it worked out.
Another easy approach is to use the stock sissor jack and buy a cheap rechargable drill from someplace like Harbor Freight. Set the drill up with socket extension(s) and a socket that fits the jack. Charge the drill and keep it with the jack. This makes quick work of jacking a car, and it is cheap. People with camping trailers that use sissor jacks at the corners do this to make leveling quick and easy.
That's got to be the height of laziness. Most people don't realize that it's easy to top up car tires with a hand floor pump, too. . _H*
Cheap OEM scissor jacks are hard to use on an uneven roadside surface, OK for the garage or driveway. The rechargeable drill idea (#2) is good in concept, but I find that such batteries do not hold a charge very long. Still want to hear evaluations of safe jacks for roadside use, electric and manual.
I have been using one of these for about 3 years now, lightweight, cheap, and works fine. This one is at Sears, I bought the same one a Wal-Mart for about the same price. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00950113000P?vName=Gifts&psid=SHOPZILLA01&sName=Fix-it+Father&cName=Father%27sDay&sid=IDx20070921x00003c
Has anyone tried something like this? Draper Inflatable Car Vehicle Air Bag Jack 3 Tonne at Care4car.com
The problem with a typical floor jack is if it's sitting on a rough surface, when the arm gets a ways up in the air it tries to pull sideways and if the jack's wheels don't roll farther in to compensate for that, the top pad is trying to pull sideways off whatever it's under. If that placement is a little dicey to begin with, it could slip off that point and land with the weight of the car on someplace more delicate that you didn't want to punch upward. . If someone made a jack with as wide/stable a base as a typical hydraulic floor jack, that extends *straight up* without any sideways bias, and is designed so you can still get it in next to a wheel to safely jack sprung parts of the suspension, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Well, as long as it's not one that needs shop air to make work, etc. . _H*
