The lift height of Quickjack, in combination with a garage creeper is such a game changer. Working under the car is suddenly almost pleasant, and so is getting in and out of there.
Spent some quality time down there preparing to lower the front subframe of one of our Alfa 156's, wrestling with stuck bolts of various sizes. And actually looking forward to continue tomorrow.
First time under a car lifted by QuickJack today. What a baffling experience to be able to bend your knees while under the car! 😄 And, almost have to reach out while undoing bolts.
But now I'm wanting a garage creeper for more freedom of movement. I guess that's the next DIY project then...
Lunch turned into coffee, grocery shopping, dinner and more coffee, but finally we have a lift-off!
At least for a first-timer, positioning the frames and the pinch-weld pads just so proved to be a pretty fiddly operation. I'm sure experience will help with that, but this isn't a wheel shop style drive over and hit up -experience. Once set up though, the lift itself is fast and easy. And the height!
With jack stands I could previously get around 40cm clearance under the car. While you can work in that, it is pretty damn uncomfortable and claustrophobic. And at least for me, just too close quarters to even think about using something like an angle grinder.
With this I get about 60cm clearance, I could basically go under there on all fours now. That's pretty amazing. There are of course lifts that go higher, but the limiting factor here is the room height. With the hood open, the tip is now just 15cm from the ceiling.
Well that was a strange morning exercise - just spent couple of hours in the garage doing first time setup of a QuickJack portable car lift.
The setup begins by verifying all the listed parts are in the package. At first glance, it seemed like about half of the smaller pieces are missing! With blood pressure on the rise, begun walking through the setup to find all the missing bits. Turns out, there's nothing missing, they've just changed the packaging to ship with certain parts pre-assembled, but without updating the documentation to even hint at this. Less assembly required is nice as such, but it made for a rather confusing first time setup of an unknown device when you have to figure out which parts you need to do and which you need to skip.
And now back at the computer, looking at the downloadable version of the manual from this February, that seems to match the experience. So they've updated the docs but shipping old printed version. Doh.
Other than that, first impressions are quite good. This is no cheap Chinese clone, it has this air of premium to it, including extensive and detailed documentation and overall finish. Also looks and feels sturdy. Each frame weighs over 30kg so it's not something you just toss into the corner when done 😅
Next stop, try to actually lift a car with it. But first, lunch.
