Flat tire Disaster in using the supplied jack

A hydralic jack will be of limited use when your car is running on rims. Treat yourself. Get an electric jack for $50. Also, get roadside assistance. I am not advocating this brand of jack, do your own research. Electric jacks are not expensive. I am going to buy one to rotate my tires.

http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Tools%C2%AE-Electric-Car-Jack/dp/B000Y343TC

 

Very interesting.

Where do you store it?

 

all,

Just a jacking anecdote about 2 non-Prius cars. I too have not had such great luck with manufacturer supplied jacks.

The first was with my long-gone '74 Peugeot diesel wagon (fairly heavy car). The jack was a scissor type & I used the supplied crank. It was very difficult & took a very long time to lift the car to get the flat off at the roadside. I had roadside assistance through my car insurance policy before, but my insurance canceled my policy for using it 3 times in 3 years (back in the early 70's when tires weren't as safe & there was much more nails, screws, & debris on the roadways). Anyway, it was almost as hard to bring the jack back down after the spare was installed. Upon looking closely at the threads of the rod the carrier moved on, I could see they were mangled beyond use again (& this was the FIRST time the OEM jack was ever used).

The location that Peugeot chose to store the jack was under the hood, attached to the right fender well. The small end (where the crank handle gets inserted) slid into a little cup down by the frame rail & the bigger base end was up high on the fender secured to a welded stud by a big heavy duty wing nut. My guess is that the grease that was on the threads dried out & hardened (but not before collecting a lot of dust & dirt that would likely swirl around down between the engine & fender well). At any rate, the jack was toast after one use & I had to buy a new one for big $$$$ (imported French parts). The new one came in a plastic bag all greased up liberally on the rod & carrier & it worked great the next time I needed to use it (not long after getting it), then I never had to use it again.

The second bad experience was with a bumper <(edited) jack (the kind that ratchets up & down a single solid bar). It was on my 1950 Buick Roadmaster with the big 320 C.I. straight 8, so that too was a very heavy car. The jack was the factory one with the big wide swiveling piece sculpted to the shape of the bumper with a lip at the bottom for the bumper to rest on. Being a bumper jack, you had to raise the car extremely high to lift up the suspension (hanging down on the springs from the frame) before the tire would clear the ground.

The flat was on the rear & I didn't have anything in the trunk except for the spare (& that was already out of the car--- so there was no unusual added weight on that end of the car), but as I raised the car the bumper began to bend. I had no choice but to let it bend more as I had to get the flat off & the spare on. I'd hate to think of the jacking effort & the amount of bending I would have experienced if the flat had been on the front where the big heavy straight 8 was. So now if I have to lift any part of this car for anything, a hydraulic jack gets used on the frame, rear axle, or front wishbones.

These modern scissor jacks usually work rather well if they are well lubed (as Wavey & Cacti suggest) & stored away from harmful dirt & grime or not stored for a long time for the grease to dry out (such is NOT the case with the OP's new 2010).

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
Edit reason was to chg "fender" to "bumper" (don't know where my head was).

 

Actually, I don't know. The original poster was going to buy a hydraulic jack and I offer this alternative. I don't plan on carrying one. However, I might buy one to keep in the garage. One tire rotation and it will pay for itself. They charge an arm and a leg at the dealer for tire rotations. Since I am using jack stands, I don't see the harm in jacking up the car with a small jack. The jack stand provides protection.

 

The bumper jacks bring back memories. I had a friend who got burglarized twice. He installed a whole bunch of locks on his door so he thought he was safe. Someone took a bumper jack and used it sideways, widening his door and burglarized it again.

 

I've never had good luck with factory vehicle jacks. They're flimsy and usually are designed for one use

For the Prius, I had a small hydraulic trolley jack. I also had a couple of 1/2 inch plate steel support, each 12x12. Total extra weight: 45 lbs

If you ever have to jack up a car on a soft shoulder, or a gravel road, you will understand why you need a firm base. Otherwise the jack just sinks out of sight

For other vehicles, like my FJ, I have a heavy duty hydraulic bottle jack. With either jack, I've never had to use them to change my own tire, but they came in very handy to rescue a stranded motorist who couldn't jack up their own vehicle to change the flat

One note regarding hydraulic jacks you intend to keep in the vehicle: the oil that is supplied with them is rather heavy, which is fine for a hot climate. If you are in a cold climate, you'll want a much thinner oil

Otherwise, in extremely cold temps, the jack won't even work. You'll want an N-15 to an N-32 as the heaviest

http://www.imperialoil.ca/Canada-English/Files/Products_Lubes/IOCAENINDESUnivis_n.pdf

oil. A very thin hydraulic oil might cause foaming in very hot ambient temps after extended use, but that won't happen just by jacking up an axle. At the other end, you absolutely want the thinner oil

I personally refilled all my portable hydraulic jacks with Esso Univis N-15

 

And all these years I've been thinking I was the only one in America that bought one of those dogs.

That and the '83 Volvo Turbo wagon were the two worst cars I've ever owned.

 

Hey, aapoppa,

Yeah, you're right about being a dog. The car had NO power steering & it took 70 seconds to go from 0 to 60 MPH. If you took it into a tire shop to repair a flat or just get new tires, they wanted to throw you out because the rim wouldn't fit on their tire de-mounting machine (it only had a small 3/4" square hole in the center of the rim for the cage nut that held on the single-bolt wheel cover), so they had to break it down by hand the old-fashioned way like they did in the 40's & 50's (& it required inner tubes to boot). Not only that, but you couldn't do a spin balance on them either (because again, the rim wasn't standard & wouldn't fit on the balance machine either), but you could half-way bubble balance them (wasn't it only 3 lug nuts too?). A few years later they came out with a standard-type rim with a big center hole because of all the complaints.

Remember the reverse mounted turn signal & headlight stalks? Your turn signal was on the right side of the steering wheel (& if you pulled it upwards toward your face, that would honk the horn), but that wasn't as bad or dangerous as the headlight stalk operation on the left side of the steering wheel [where most other car makers put the turn signal stalk (except for on my 1950 Buick---it's a tiny stalk placed on the right next to the big transmission shifter)]. In the Peugeot's square-pattern headlight stalk operation, from its off or neutral position, if you just flick the stalk forward towards the windshield or dash, that was your blink for a passing signal. To put on your parking lights from the off position, you just lifted the stalk towards your face. Then to turn your headlights on, from the already "up towards your face" position, you then pushed the stalk forward towards the dash or windshield again [& high beam was a push down towards the floor from your (up to the face then forward to the dash) "headlights on" position]. So in the dark if you had just your headlights on (NO high beams), & wanted to make a left turn & automatically flicked your left-mounted turn signal stalk (actually the headlight stalk on the Peugeot) rearward away from the dash (or counter-clockwise the same way you'd be turning the steering wheel for the turn), you would turn off your headlights & be in a dangerous situation until you realized what you had just done.

How about the big black plastic "beer keg" under the hood to store(?) vacuum for the power brakes because there isn't any available in the intake manifold (like there would be in a gasoline car) & the piddly belt-driven vacuum pump can't supply enough for immediate use.

Also (in the shades of the Prius headlight leveling sensor), did you have a wagon that had the brake proportioning valve that more evenly distributed the braking to both front & rear axles if the cargo area of the wagon was heavily loaded & the valve attached between the axle & the body opened more (the sedans did not have that valve)? A wagon with no load in the rear could create a hazardous situation by that valve hardly allowing any braking at all on the rear axle and during a hard non-straight stop the rear end could break loose & swing around. You should have seen the difficulty I had getting that car through the DMV inspection. The inspection lane had 4 diamond skid plates (one for each wheel) with clear tubes & red hydraulic fluid to visibly measure & indicate how much braking force was being applied to each wheel. I would say that I went through 4 times with about 95% of the force on the front wheels & only about 5% or less on the rears (car was empty). The inspector flunked me & told me to go straight to a brake specialist shop to get some major repairs done because the car was unsafe. I told him it was a brand new car (but from another state---that's why the mandatory inspection) & that's the way the car was designed to operate. He said "no way, get it fixed, & no more baloney". I said I'd meet him in his office with the owner's manual, & after he read about the proportioning valve there he passed the car. He admitted he'd never heard of such a thing before & apologized for giving me such a hard time.

One last memory : if you also had a wagon, did you ever fold down the rear seat & put all that available length to good use by putting a twin size mattress in there to sleep on? I did because those longitudinal hard rubber strips were just too uncomfortable for my back.

Any of these things bring back any more memories to you?

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Hey, aapoppa,

Me, again. Even though I did kind of like that Peugeot diesel wagon (in spite of its quirks mentioned above), I had to stop driving it when I was looking at some pretty high$$ repair/maintenance items that were going to be needed (though looking back now, they really wouldn't have been all that expensive compared to replacing it).

Long before, the dealer had sent out the front brakes to be turned at a local shop (they refused to tell me who). These were not just easily removable rotors like we're used to today, but they were a one piece cast unit including the hub & the wheel bearing races. When they were done & the dealer gave the car back to me, they just said to me that they couldn't be turned again & that they would feel real funny for quite some time so be really careful & allow plenty of EXTRA margin for stopping but not to worry too much about it.

As I look back on it now, I think the vendor shop had a lot of trouble mounting the rotor/hub combination for turning & turned them out of face (or just plain forgot to indicate them before turning), because every time I applied the brakes the front end would shudder & the steering wheel would oscillate quite a bit. A phone call to the service dept just got a "Be patient & they will wear in" comment from them. I wasn't a mechanically astute car person at that time, so by the time I brought it back in to see why they weren't wearing in better (& found the dealer agreeing that the rotor/hub combos were indeed turned wrong/badly), too much time had elapsed & the dealer said the vendor shop wouldn't be able to do anything for me (especially since they couldn't be turned again & it would mean they would have to replace them at about $300-$400 apiece for each rotor/hub).

Since the vendor shop wasn't going to bite the bullet for their mistake (they would probably claim that I overheated the rotors & they warped---but they were that way when I drove it off the lot immediately after the turning), & the dealer didn't want to be left holding the bag (for the vendor's mistake) for that expense either (although they should have fought for me against the vendor), that left me looking a high expense (with labor on top of that).

Not only that, but my rocker panels on both sides were rusted through & those cost about $300 apiece (plus labor & painting), & as explained by the service manager, once they rusted through, the rust traveled internally right up the pillars between the front & rear doors (B pillar??) so that they would have to be cut out & replaced at about $400 apiece (plus labor & painting). So you can see in a way that I was looking at some big $$$ (over $1,000 per side PLUS the brake rotor/hubs) to keep driving that car.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Join AAA! It's a great investment at times like the one you describe.

 

If you're somewhere in BFE and the nearest AAA service truck is 3 hours away, that doesn't help much

 

I had totally forgotten about ever owning a Peugeot until I read your post.

I don't recall any major problems with it but I do recall the only mechanic at the dealer that could work on it was surly and rude. I believe I replaced it with the '83 Volvo GL Turbo and I could bore you to death with the unpleasant memories I have of that car.

Just found this quote in Wikipedia.

"In 1980, the Peugeot 504 received the worst score ever in the NHTSA crash test in the US."

Fileeugeot 504 Break 1978.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_504[/ame]

 

I'm guessing they never tested the Isetta.

I just mounted my four winter tires. The jack worked fine as usual.

PA P

 

Anyone else have experience with the electric jacks? Look like something I might like to try. Found 3 on Amazon, all apperently the same except for branding.

 

The jack is pretty bad...assuming its the same jack as in our G2. I can't remember the last time I changed a tire though before this last time...probably not a huge thing to be worried about.

 

the compact ford jack that i kept from my expedition is incredible, very easy to operate, has lifting power, a stable base, and compacts to a very small footprint. almost worth ebay'ing if anyone is looking for a better than stock jack