Stan Design

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Hydraulic Jacks Truck Jacks

Portable Hydraulic Jacks: A Lifesaver for Roadside Truck Repairs

Your car breaks down on the roadside way off the highway with no sign of help within the vicinity. You will at least have to contact the tow truck service, but it will be hours before they can reach you. You have a flat tire. What do you do?

A portable hydraulic jack is what you need in your compartment to get a quick fix. Heavy-duty hydraulic jacks save you the time and effort of waiting for help in situations which can be quickly investigated.

Of course they cannot fix big breakdowns, but for a flat tire, or a quick oil fix (given you stock up on the fluid too), portable hydraulic jacks for trucks come in handy, packing powerful heavy-duty performance.

What are Portable Hydraulic Jacks?

Portable heavy duty truck jacks for trucks work based on the law of fluid mechanics. The law states that when there’s a change in pressure at any point in a confined, incompressible fluid, that change is transmitted throughout the entire fluid without any loss. 

Simply put, the law states that if you push or squeeze one part of a fluid, the effect propagates to all other parts of the fluid. To understand the workings of a portable hydraulic jack, let us look at its broad components: 

  • Hydraulic Oil 
  • Reservoir or buffer or oil tank, 
  • Main cylinder or ram, 
  • Release valve, 
  • Control valve, 
  • Check valve, 
  • Lifting arm or pad, 
  • Hydraulic pump with piston or plunger, and 
  • Pump lever or handle.  

The reservoir or buffer, or oil tank is the physical compartment of the portable hydraulic jack that holds the hydraulic liquid or pump oil together when it is not in use. The control valve stays in a closed position when the heavy-duty hydraulic jack is not in use to prevent the accidental flow of oil. 

The piston is responsible for lifting a heavy load or weight. It is usually mechanically activated by shifting the positions of the handle or pump lever attached to it. This movement builds up pressure in the hydraulic fluid contained inside the reservoir or buffer tank of the heavy-duty hydraulic jacks. 

When the handle or lever of the hydraulic pump with piston or plunger is mechanically lowered or raised, it activates force and builds up pressure in the adjoining compartment, i.e., the reservoir or buffer tank containing the hydraulic fluid or pump’s oil, inside portable hydraulic jacks. 

The pressure created allows the fluid to move through a check valve into the ram or main cylinder, which then pops out of the main body of the portable hydraulic jack creating the force required to lift the load. 

This applied pressure is what transfers the oil from the pump through the check valve and into the main cylinder or the ram, which extends out of the heavy-duty hydraulic jack body. Finally, the release valve relieves the built pressure for easy retraction and lowering of the ram with the load on it, creating the required lifting force and lifting the load. 

How Portable heavy duty truck jacks Help You? 

In the previous section we explained how a heavy-duty hydraulic jack works. As opposed to pneumatic jacks, since these hydraulic jacks function based on fluid power they can lift heavy loads smoothly in a few seconds to minutes. This is perhaps the biggest way in which heavy-duty hydraulic jacks help you, but we will discuss more values it adds to your life in this section. 

  1. Safety– Heavy-duty hydraulic jacks are best known for the all-encompassing safety that they provide to the personnel handling them. Because of the operating mechanism of hydraulic systems, which by principle require fewer moving parts as compared to their mechanical or electrical counterparts, they are less prone to malfunction. Many jack manufacturers, on top of this, introduce sophisticated safety measures like in-built automatic lock systems which engage at different lifting levels or heights, giving the user more control over the loading process.
  2. Durability– The unique selling point of hydraulic systems is their capacity to load, lift, suspend, and lower safely heavy and expensive loads. Hydraulic jacks for trucks are durable enough to do just that. Owing to powerful hydraulic cylinders and manufacturer-specific reliability features, they can deliver a smooth ride to customers. For instance, jacks made with high-grade steel body and the finest quality zinc plated components with high gloss powder coat paint accessories allow enhanced functionality that resist corrosion and deterioration.
  3. Portability– Jacks must be portable enough to fit into and be carried around in car compartments for emergency breakdowns. Stan Design Inc. portable hydraulic jacks provide just that value to you. Their compact design- only 7.5”-8.25” collapsed height- enables them to fit virtually any undercarriage of a vehicle with the lowest chassis profile. This small footprint reduces floor space and does not take up much room, allowing for a low-profile high adjustability functionality.
  4. Adaptability– This brings us to our last point. Portable hydraulic jacks for trucks are highly flexible, making them very convenient for regular use. Each Stan Design Inc. heavy-duty hydraulic jack for trucks comes fitted with special roller bearing wheels that allow for effortless rolling and maneuvering. They also have convenient pull handles that make it easy to position the jack under the vehicle without any hand pumping required. This eliminates the need for additional stands or chocks, although they are adapted to be used with jack stands for other jobs if the requirement arises.

About Stan Design Inc.

Stan Design Inc. is a jack manufacturing and design company that has been in the business for more than 25 years. They produce the highest-quality lifting solutions by fusing the science of manufacturing with the art of creative design. Their portable hydraulic jacks provide a secure way to raise, lower, and suspend your heavy vehicles for upkeep and repairs. 

Heavy-duty hydraulic jacks help customers in a variety of industries, including aircraft, automotive, bridges, cable tensioning, house moving, construction, general industrial, laboratory, locomotive, marine, mobile home, railroad, shipbuilding, shoring and stabilizing such as for tunnels and mines, tractors, and trailers. 

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Hydraulic Jacks

Eco-Friendly Jacks: Environmental Benefits of Hydraulic Cylinders

Application of Hydraulic Power in Hydraulic Jacks

Before we begin to delineate the application of hydraulics in hydraulic jacks, let us start with a basic definition of what a hydraulic jack is. These are eco-friendly jacks as they are increasingly designed to work with bio-degradable hydraulic fluids.

Traditionally, the hydraulic jack industry has thrived on oil-based fluids and energy and these jacks have been used to load, lift, suspend and lower heavy-duty vehicles for the purpose of maintaining and servicing them.

A hydraulic jack consists of:

  • Reservoir or buffer tank
  • Pump with piston or plunger
  • Pump lever or handle
  • Check valve 
  • Main cylinder or ram 
  • Release valve 
  • Handle 

 

The piston is responsible for lifting the heavy load or weight. It is usually mechanically activated by shifting the positions of the handle or pump lever attached to it. This movement builds up pressure in the hydraulic fluid contained inside the reservoir or buffer tank. 

The pressure created allows the fluid to move through a check valve into the ram or main cylinder, which then pops out of the main body of the hydraulic jack creating the force required to lift the load. Finally, the release valve relieves the built pressure for easy retraction and lowering of the ram with the load on it. 

 

History and Function of Hydraulic Systems 

Simply put, hydraulics is the technological application of liquids for the generation, control, and transmission of power by the use of pressure. It derives its theoretical foundation from the principle of fluid mechanics, advanced by the research of hydrostatics by Blaise Pascal who formulated Pascal’s law. 

The use of hydraulic power can be traced back to as early as the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations around the 6th millennium BC. The ancient Persian and Chinese empires, along with the Greco-Roman worlds led its advancement to the modern era. 

From the 17th century onwards, its modern-day application research was pioneered by the likes of Benedetto Castelli, Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, Daniel Bernoulli, Joseph Bramah, apart from of course Blaise Pascal.

The basic principle of hydraulic systems is applied to hydraulic jacks, typically through hydraulic cylinders moving pistons, where mechanical movement is produced by contained, pumped liquid.

For better understanding of its function, hydraulic systems can be considered the liquid counterpart of pneumatic systems. Both systems use pressurized fluid power, but hydraulics use liquids rather than gases, unlike pneumatics.

Hydraulic systems are capable of significant pressures- up to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi)- due to liquids’ incompressibility, enabling more significant power transfer with increased efficiency as energy is not lost to compression. 

 

Modern-day Need for Eco-Friendly Jacks

The recent and rightful attention being directed towards the environmental impact of industries and the need for sustainability has driven the transformation of the automotive jack industry. Although the need to adopt eco-friendly jacks remains appreciated by few.

The industry is experiencing a shift toward implementation of recyclable and lightweight materials in manufacturing and using hydraulic jacks, say for instance, but it is slow. These initiatives aim to decrease emissions, minimize waste and meet rising demands to address environmental concerns head on.

The other key drivers of this transformation in hydraulic jacks are promoting energy efficiency and renewability, advancement in sealing technology, eco-friendly and bio-degradable hydraulic fluids, and the integration of IoT (Internet of Things) and smart technologies in hydraulic systems.

The conscious move to a safer and cleaner future requires non-bio accumulative and minimally toxic materials in every industry, while acknowledging the segment-wise need for change. Seeking innovative ways to reduce environmental footprint is one such practice.

 

Environmental Benefits of Hydraulic Systems

There are several benefits of making the move to eco-friendly jacks from an industrial perspective, some of which are compliance with changing regulations, cost savings, reduced environmental footprint, and a boost to brand reputation.

Of them, the environmental benefits of hydraulic systems remain distinctly important on the grounds of preservation of nature and its natural resources. Let us start with the manufacturing and design of these eco-friendly jacks. Advanced sealing technologies are ways of being energy efficient in the automotive jack industry.

They implement longer-lasting seals that perform better under high pressure and extreme temperatures. These improvements not only enhance system reliability by helping prevent leaks, but also contribute to sustainability by minimizing the loss of hydraulic fluid, and consequently reducing maintenance needs and fluid consumption, ultimately, contributing to the potential for environmental conservation.

Another aspect of this change is driven by the implementation of recycling of materials and using these recycled materials in the manufacturing of eco-friendly jacks and their components- from pumps, valves, cylinders, to other hydraulic parts. These materials are not only recyclable but also lightweight and biodegradable.

The increasing usage of aluminum, advanced polymers, and composites to produce hydraulic parts reduces the environmental impact, supporting a circular economy, and minimizing waste. These materials reduce the overall weight of the system, improving fluid efficiency in the hydraulic cylinders.

Finally, and perhaps the most revolutionizing innovation in the hydraulic jack industry has been the move toward adopting renewable and biodegradable hydraulic fluids. Unlike traditional mineral oil-based fluids, these sustainable fluids, typically made from vegetable oils or synthetic esters, offering excellent lubricity and thermal stability, are designed to break down naturally while minimizing ecological footprints.

There are four basic types of eco-friendly hydraulic fluids- HETG fluids (hydraulic environmental triglyceride), HEES fluids (hydraulic environmental ester synthetic), HEPG fluids (hydraulic environmental poly glycol), and HEPR fluids (hydraulic environmental polyalphaolefin and related).

Sealing technology like fluorocarbon seals give the best result when used with these eco-friendly hydraulic fluids. A variety of regulatory policies, specifications and labelling schemes exist to assess the eco-friendliness of hydraulic fluids across the world, like- European Eco-label, Blue Angel Eco-label, Swedish Standard SS 15 54 34 Category V, Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, and the USDA BioPreferred® Product Label.