On offer at B&Q

[santadawes]

On offer at B&Q i got this for under £15
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A 2ton jack, 2 axel stands 2 wheel chocks and a carrying case. was £30.

[brian]

A BARGAIN ?

[phurn]

I have a weekend job at b&q, I was looking at those, the quality is pretty awful ... just your standard cheap bit of kit, I quite like good quality tools anyway but I really don't think id be happy underneath a car being held up by bargain basement equipment, but that's just me.

[Budgie]

they may "look" shabby but surely they should at least be up to some safety standard eitherwise B&Q are treading on very dodgy health and safety grounds ,i can see the CE stamp on the label,gotta mean something?

[phurn]

its the same dodgy chinese manufacturer that makes everyones home brand products, and trust me the amount of it we have back broken is more than enough to put you off... they really are quite flimsy too

but as i said each to thier own, i jsut happen to be strangly fussybout tools, especially ones that could seriously harm me if they went wrong.

[rayofleamington]

If you only plan to use it once in a blue moon, then it may be fine - I only ever bought one cheap trolley jack, and found it was a waste of money as the seals packed up very quickly. It annoyed me so much I kept top scissor jacks for donkeys years after that.
Additional to that, you are better off with a high lift trolley jack for classic cars.
The guy across the road from me had one of the cheap 2t ones - he tried to work on his 4x4 but the jack didn't get the wheel off the ground - I fetched mine. ;-)

Mine is only 1.5 tonne rated but is VERY solid and hasn't leaked a drop in the 2 years I've had it (and is probably well over 10 years old).

[polo2k]

I have a similar jack to that, however its my second one.
There is a forum called garage journal, they have loads of posts about rebuilding these kind of jacks.

My "Go to" jack is a 2 tonne 500mm lift one, I plan to replace it with something a bit newer at some point. The massive lift is a god send, for example, you can jack a minor using the front cross member till its high enough to get axle stands under both chassis legs (near the bulkhead). This saves a load of effort every time you lift the car.

[Budgie]

well,i went out and bought the last one at my local branch even though i bought a high lift one last year on sale for £25 instead of £45, fom machine mart only used it once and it came in a cardboard box. the b&q one for £14.98 ,it,s no money and it has the relevant european safety standard registration no,s so it,l do as a spare/assisting jack and a bonus i got two choks and a pair of axle stands in a nice plastic carry case with a years garrentee so i,ll use it well during the next twelve months and keep my receipt handy

[polo2k]

well,i went out and bought the last one at my local branch even though i bought a high lift one last year on sale for £25 instead of £45, fom machine mart only used it once and it came in a cardboard box. the b&q one for £14.98 ,it,s no money and it has the relevant european safety standard registration no,s so it,l do as a spare/assisting jack and a bonus i got two choks and a pair of axle stands in a nice plastic carry case with a years garrentee so i,ll use it well during the next twelve months and keep my receipt handy

Sounds like a plan!

I wander if the carry case would fit under the shelf in the boot, that would be a great addition!

The standards are good peace of mine, they're the only reason I havn't bought that fancy racing jack at Machine Mart!

[Ben93]

I have a weekend job at b&q, I was looking at those, the quality is pretty awful ... just your standard cheap bit of kit, I quite like good quality tools anyway but I really don't think id be happy underneath a car being held up by bargain basement equipment, but that's just me.

I also work at B&Q on the weekends and would not for any amount of money get under a car being held up by those things, although i suppose they are cheep and cheerful and could be handy

[phurn]

There's two of us that suffer then eh? What department you on?

[Budgie]

defo won,t fit under the boot floor it,s too deep but handy for the garage btw i,ve had many an expensive tool break on me over the years and as an engineer by trade i,ve used my fair share from ratchets to spanners to verineer calipers

[xpress]

I'm looking for a lots of lift, how many mm off the floor would axle stands under the chassis leg give? More than ramps? I want to sand and repaint chassis. I have a ten tonne bottle Jack a Clarke trolley Jack and car ramps and axle stands just going to measure them

[rayofleamington]

'Expensive' tools seem to be more of a gamble than they used to be, but I've not had any nasty surprises - unlike when using the cheap stuff. Stuff like BETA and snap-on etc.. is pretty hard to beat, apart from the price!

What is important is a good design and good manufacture quality. I have to say that my 40-year-old Whitworth spanners seem to be as good as the premium brand spanners you can buy now.

I buy a mix of quality, depending on what I'm going to do with them - e.g. electrical screwdrivers I'll buy mid-price as the cheap ones will break under torque and there's no point me having a premium ones as I'm forever loosing them and buying more.

[ASL642]

MachineMart do a range of good high lift trolley jacks and axle stands. Bit more money but last and are well built.

[Ben93]

There's two of us that suffer then eh? What department you on?

Im on the front end at the store in weston-super-mare how about you?

[Budgie]

i cleaned and waxoiled my minor last year with the machine mart trolley jack i mentioned but only raised the car enough for the wheels to be free from the floor slipped a standard pair of axle stands underneath and was able to do 3/4 of the car before haveing to lower the front and raise the rear to finish off[i was flat on my back,but went ok and took me just two hours including doing the four wings]

[d_harris]

There's two of us that suffer then eh? What department you on?

Im on the front end at the store in weston-super-mare how about you?

I used to be on the Paint Desk at Brighton and Showrooms in Hedge End.... Did some work at Fareham and Hastings too (I ended up tell my boss at Hedge End where he could shove the job - that was in 2006)

[cmea]

I wonder if it is a CE mark or if it is the Japanese / Chinese mark that is slightly different! they get around the trademark / copyright issues because their "CE" mark has slightly different spacing and a small difference in the lettering. If it is theJapanese / Chinese mark then it is my understanding that you would not have a case to claim against if it broke however badly injured you were and however unfit for purpose it was

[Budgie]

as a trading standards officer with my local authority i can assure you that with the ce mark and registration no,s it HAS to be fit for purpose to carry the said reg. no,s and ce mark any manufacturer/importer/seller is legally bound by the ce mark and no,s which is the european equivelant of the british standard kite mark.