Your heavy-duty truck jacks are your truck’s best friends. So, just like best friends they need regular check-ins, too!
Whether you and your bestie share common interests like yoga or heavy metal as the foundation of your friendship, you know its maintenance requires validation and continued compatibility.
Likewise, the continued, long-term service of your beloved truck is based on timely truck jack upgrades and using the right lifting tools for trucks. That is why we have prepared this exhaustive list of must-have accessories to get the most out of your heavy-duty truck jack.
Before we proceed, though, we would like to paint a brief picture of how two of the most popular types of heavy-duty truck jacks- pneumatic and hydraulic- work, so you can choose the right lifting tools for trucks.
Truck Jack Upgrades – 8 Must-Have Accessories
- Jack Stand – They are essential floor jack accessories that provide support for the tools during use. They work as stabilizers in the lifting, suspension and lowering process. By ensuring that the jack stays in place while lifting heavy weights off the ground, they provide safety and security to the vehicle being lifted and the personnel involved in lifting it, successfully.
- Rubber Pad – Better known as lifting pads, foam or rubber pads provide a system of cushioning to the vehicle being lifted by the jack. This ensures that there are no scratches, dents or other types of harm inflicted by the jack on the vehicle. If not for these cushioning rubber pads, vehicle injuries can turn out to be very expensive for the owner.
- Rear Mount Air Kit – These allow for the connection or an air line to the rear of the jack for use on lifts with centrally located air outlets. The air suspension systems of automobiles absorb shocks, from kinetic energy occurring from road bumps, so that the vehicle drives as safely and smoothly as possible.
- Lifting Saddle – V-shaped lifting saddles that are 4” and 7” tall. These saddles provide a balanced jacking point which keeps your vehicle as stable and safe as possible while being loaded onto a jack for lifting. This high-quality steel lifting tool for trucks guarantees proper contact that ensures zero chance of slipping.
- Top Beam Extension – These are spare parts used for supporting vehicle jacks. The lower and upper parts of the jacks can be supported by jacking beams separately. Top beam car jack extensions extend up to a certain height on each side of the jack for wider pick-up points. The 7” zinc-plated top beam extension Model TJ12750 by Stan Design Inc. allows smooth and firm running of the jack.
- Transmission Adapter – Scorpion Jack accessory TJ12790 is a transmission adapter that is ideal for installing or removing large or heavy constituent transmission parts of your vehicle. The TJ12790 prevents damage to the transmission and ensures proper support, making the job safer and more efficient.
- Differential or Pumpkin Adapter – Scorpion Jack accessory TJ12770 is a differential adapter or pumpkin adapter that gets its name from the pumpkin-shaped differential located in the rear axle of a truck. The TJ12770 cradles the pumpkin-shaped differential of your truck on the banjo housing, allowing you to lift the rear end of your truck with ease and full stability.
- Car Jack Adapter – Last but not least, car jack adapters are our final feature on the list of the 8 must-have heavy-duty truck jack accessories. These lifting tools for trucks come in a variety of sizes and can be used on all types of jacks. They are used by attaching to jack bodies and enhancing their extension to reach the desired lifting heights.
How hydraulics work for heavy-duty Truck jacks?
You must have seen a syringe at work. When you push the plunger at the wide bottom of the syringe inside, the liquid it holds forces itself to escape through the narrow top opening. Hydraulics run this process in reverse to produce lower speed but more force.
Hydraulic heavy-duty truck jacks work following the law of fluid mechanics, or Blaise Pascal’s principle. Put simply, getting compressed liquids to move to generate power is what hydraulics really are all about.
When incompressible liquids within a body- in this case, say the hydraulic fluid within the hydraulic system- is worked on by a certain amount of force or pressure from one end, it gets moved along the direction of said force to cause movement.
The reservoir or buffer tank in a hydraulic system holds the hydraulic fluid or pump oil. When the handle or lever of the pump with piston or plunger is mechanically lowered or raised, it builds up pressure in the adjoining reservoir.
This applied pressure is transferred from the pump through a check valve and into the main cylinder or the ram, which extends out of the hydraulic jack body creating the required lifting force and lifting the load.
This movement is used to lift heavy loads using hydraulic heavy-duty truck jacks. From syringes to car brakes, water pistols to heavy-duty truck jacks, hydraulics are a common application in a variety of tools and industries.
How pneumatics work for heavy-duty Truck jacks?
Much like the hydraulic method of operation in heavy-duty truck jacks, pneumatic heavy-duty truck jacks work to lift and lower heavy loads, except, using compressed gas, instead of liquid.
The compressor in pneumatic systems compress the air and the actuator uses the compressed air to lift, move, or hold an object. A pipe or circuit of pipes get air from the compressor to the actuator.
The operating valve switches air on or off and reverses its direction to lower the lifted loads. Finally, the reservoir stores the compressed air under pressure, ready to deliver near-instant force as soon as the operating valve is opened.
Pneumatic jacks are devices used to load, lift, suspend and lower heavy weights like trucks, buses, sports utility vehicles, or other types of cars, for repairs and maintenance, among other items.
From fun bouncy castles to pneumatic tube transportation, automobile airbag air brakes, or robotic cow milking machines, compressed air can be used in various machine arrangements for applications in a wide range of industries.