Stan Design

Tag: truck maintenance

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Jacks Truck Jacks

Where to place the jack when changing the rear tire of a truck?

How many times have you found yourself stranded in the middle of the road with a punctured rear tire?

Car and truck owners have to deal with this situation many times during road trips. What helps in such situations is a robust jack.

Depending on your vehicle type, you might be needing any of the following jack types:

  • Scissor jack: These simple but robust tools will work with any car or light vehicle. They are simple machines that turn rotational motion into upward thrust. But be careful not to use scissor jacks with heavy vehicles. They are not made for lifting trucks.
  • Truck jack: Truck jacks come in a lot of varieties, the most common being the hydraulic floor jack. The floor jack is a device that uses hydraulic fluid to amplify the force applied to the jack’s handlebar and raise heavy vehicles like trucks efficiently with minimum effort. The bottle jack is a variation of the floor jack with a stubbier profile and less footprint.
  • Bridge jack: These tools are used exclusively in inspection pits as installations and are capable of lifting mammoth-sized vehicles in no time. Bridge jacks are smooth and highly efficient and allow for controlled lifting. With bridge jacks, safety is the name of the game!
  • Rolling jacks: Like bridge jacks, rolling jacks work as installations but with vehicle lifts instead of inspection pits. If you have a 2-post or 4-post lift in your garage, you need a rolling jack to facilitate undercarriage repair.

So, what if you find yourself stranded in the middle of the road with a damaged rear tire on your truck? It’s time to change the tire.

Here’s the list of the things you’ll be needing to go about the job:

  1. A robust truck jack with a lift capacity exceeding your truck’s weight.
  1. Best if you have a pair of safety gloves.
  1. Protection for your eyes.
  1. A grease cutter can help with the muck on the lug nuts.
  1. A wrench to loosen the lug nuts.
  1. Spare tire – do we have to tell you to carry one always?

Going about the business

Step 1: Choose a level surface free of debris or snow. Never attempt a tire change on a slope. It is dangerous!

Step 2: Ensure that the parking brake is on. A good practice is to engage the truck’s gearbox to eliminate any possibility of rolling. Carrying wheel chocks is also a good idea. Always apply chocks on the wheel diagonally opposite to the one you are working on.

Step 3: Place the truck jack under the designated lift point nearest to the damaged tire. If you are unsure about the lift points, consult the owner’s manual. Lift points are hardened areas on the subframe that can withstand the thrust from the jack’s ram.

In case you have taken your truck to a workshop with an inspection pit or lift, the technician servicing your vehicle will probably use a bridge jack. In that case, they’ll place adapters on the bridge jack’s lifting arms to match your vehicle and lift it across the axle.

Having jack stands in your inventory is a brilliant idea. Jack stands share the load on a truck jack and help increase the latter’s lifespan.

Step 4: Before you attempt to lift your truck, loosen the lug nuts slightly. Next, give the jack a few pumps on the handlebar and your truck will be up and ready for a tire change. Loosen the nuts all the way and remove the wheel to replace the tire.

Step 5: Once you have put the wheel back on, tighten the nuts and lower the truck slowly. Now, you are ready to hit the road!

What is a Good Truck Jack?

First-time buyers often don’t know what to look for in a quality truck jack. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Lift capacity: The lift capacity of a truck jack tells you how much weight it can lift without malfunctioning. Always buy a jack with a lift capacity exceeding your vehicle’s weight. This will prolong the life of your tool.
  • Lift height: For trucks and offroad vehicles, you need jacks with enough lift height to compensate for the vehicle’s high ground clearance. It’s no use buying a jack that can’t lift your truck high enough for easy access to the undercarriage.
  • Quality and durability: Quality should be your top priority when buying a truck jack because only high-quality components can ensure safety. A hardened steel frame, zinc-plated components, and precision engineering – these are the things to look for in a truck jack. And never forget to buy your tools from an experienced manufacturer with high-quality products in their stable!

Summing it up

The purpose of a truck jack is not limited to changing tires. A vehicle’s undercarriage is the region that takes the maximum amount of beating during its lifespan. And what do you need for easy access to your truck’s undercarriage? A high-quality truck jack!

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Categories
Hydraulic Jacks Jacks Truck Jacks

What Kind of Jack Do I Need To Lift A Loaded Truck

Truck jacks come in as many varieties and brands as trucks. No questions about that! There’s not a DIY enthusiast’s garage or workshop in the whole of North America that doesn’t have a hydraulic floor jack or bottle jack to lift cars and trucks for undercarriage repair. These cool tools make lifting heavy vehicles look easy with their hydraulic systems.

Workshops with service pits employ pit jacks and rolling bridge jacks to further reduce downtime for truck fleets. Let’s just say, cars and trucks can stay on the roads for years because of the jacks.

What kind of jack do you need to lift a loaded truck? And, what’s the best floor jack for trucks? If these questions are bothering you so much that you still can’t decide on the right tool for your ride, this blog is for you.

Like we said, there are all sorts of truck jacks on the market. But there are some key parameters that need to be considered before buying one. Here’s a look at them:

  1. Weight capacity: This rating tells you how much weight a jack can lift safely without stressing its components. If you are planning to lift loaded trucks, your truck jack better has a weight capacity exceeding the maximum weight you plan to lift. Else, it can buckle and fracture causing serious damage to the vehicle and the operator.
  2. Lift height: What’s the ground clearance of your vehicle? If it’s a lifted truck or an offroad vehicle, it will have a high ground clearance. Consider how high a particular truck jack can lift before buying. This decision can make all the difference if you are stuck in a rut on rugged terrain.
  3. Durable components: A lot of things can go wrong when tools and equipment come under stress. Truck jacks are regularly exposed to a lot of stress over prolonged periods. So, it only makes sense to buy jacks made of materials that have high tensile strength like different types of steel. Moist regions and the wet season need your tools to be coated with corrosion-resistant materials for durability. Consider these factors before buying your tool.
  4. Safety measures: No matter how good a jack is, it’s only a tool and is susceptible to failure after prolonged use. Make sure you use jack stands alongside your truck jack in case of loaded trucks or military vehicles. They reduce the stress on the jack, prolonging its life in the process. Also, go for jacks with built-in safety mechanisms like stage locks, extra-long handlebars, and remote controls to keep yourself safe during the lifting operation.

Now that we have addressed the elephants in the room, let’s explore a few jack types.

  1. Hydraulic Floor Jacks Serving the automotive sector since the advent of cars, the floor jack has been a trusted partner of car and garage owners worldwide. Heavy duty floor jacks operate on the principles of hydraulics in which pressure applied on the handlebar is multiplied many times at the lifting end via a hydraulic fluid stored in a watertight cylinder. The piston at the lifting end applies force on the lift points of the vehicle and raises it high enough for undercarriage maintenance. Precision-engineered heavy duty floor jacks like the Scorpion MJ25 can lift loaded trucks as heavy as a whopping 25,000 lbs. with ease to a height of 36”! The MJ25 and the TJ series also use compressed air pressure to assist the hydraulic system in the lifting process, making it easier for the equipment to deal with bulky vehicles. These jacks also feature a class-leading three-stage locking mechanism for added safety.
  2. Scissor Jacks It’s more of an honorable mention since we are talking about jacks. Scissor jacks use a smart mechanical system to convert rotational motion into upward thrust, lifting cars and small vehicles high enough for tire changes and light maintenance activities. Your car probably has a scissor jack as part of the standard toolset. But don’t expect to lift loaded trucks with scissor jacks!
  3. Bottle Jacks Bottle jacks are called so because they look like bottles. They use the same principles as floor jacks to lift cars and trucks. A stubby base and thick pistons make the bottle jack a reliable tool to lift large and bulky vehicles. The only caveat: bottle jacks aren’t known for lifting high.
  4. Pit Jacks  Pit jacks are exclusively used in workshops with dedicated service pits. They can lift big, bulky vehicles in a jiffy, thanks to their combined hydraulic and pneumatic (compressed air) systems. Products like the Scorpion Pit Jacks from our inventory feature a durable and compact design that fits into any service pit on the continent. Telescoping arms with stackable adapters are good for any vehicle type, from loaded trucks to EVs. For instance, the Scorpion PJ35S can lift loaded trucks as heavy as 35,000 lbs. to a height of over 20”!
  5. Rolling Bridge Jacks If your workshop has a lift, you can consider buying a rolling bridge jack. It’s a great tool to use with loaded trucks because of the ease and efficiency with which you can operate them. Like pit jacks, bridge jacks use the combined power of hydraulics and pneumatic pressure to lift heavy vehicles. The Stan Jack J50000H is a great example of an ultra-efficient bridge jack with a weight capacity of 50,000 lbs.So, what’s the best floor jack or truck jack you can buy? Any tool that has been manufactured by a reputable manufacturer known for producing well-reviewed equipment is the thing to buy. Don’t always go for cheap. Remember, saving a few dollars upfront may prove to be expensive and unsafe in the long run.

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Categories
Bridge Jacks Floor jacks Hydraulic Jacks Pit Jacks Truck Jacks

A Guide to Choosing the Best Truck Jack for Your Truck

So, you are a proud truck owner! One thing’s for certain: trucks don’t come cheap and truck owners love their vehicles. Timely servicing keeps trucks up and running for long and ensures a solid return on investment. When it comes to truck maintenance or upgrades, you need the proper tools to go about the business. And the truck jack is the one indispensable tool you can’t do without.

You’ll have noticed there’s a wide variety of truck jacks available on the market. But which one’s the perfect fit for your beast? In this article, we’ll cut the clutter and shed light on the key factors that’ll help you decide on the perfect heavy-duty floor jack, pit jack, or rolling jack for your truck. Read on!

Knowing your truck’s weight is crucial

Trucks are rugged vehicles built to haul around heavy loads across all kinds of terrain. Tarmac or no tarmac, trucks have to carry on performing their duties and this means they have a lot of chunky metal parts and reinforced sections for rigorous use and durability. All this adds to the weight of the vehicle, making trucks heavy – like real heavy!

Trucks can weigh anywhere between 3 and 25 tons, sometimes even more. So, how heavy is your truck? If you don’t know that, you can’t decide on the best truck jack for your vehicle. Truck jacks perform the all-important task of lifting vehicles for undercarriage repairs and maintenance. So, you need a tool that won’t buckle under the weight of your truck.

Heavy-duty truck jacks come with a weight capacity rating. This tells you about the load-bearing capabilities of the tool. Always go for a truck jack with a higher weight capacity than your truck’s weight. This will ensure a safe lifting operation and longevity of the jack. Savvy?

Now, let’s dive straight into the details of all the different jacks you can buy for your mean machine.

Heavy Duty Floor Jacks

Tough, compact, and user-friendly – that’s how you describe heavy-duty floor jacks. Floor jacks have been serving truck owners forever! These cool tools use a hydraulic system to amplify the pressure applied on their handlebars into the monstrous force required to lift big and bulky trucks. Heavy-duty floor jacks typically have a low collapsed profile for easy access to a truck’s undercarriage. Leveled trucks, lifted trucks, military vehicles, EVs – throw anything at them and they’ll perform equally well.

Stan Design offers you a wide variety of heavy-duty floor jacks with weight capacity ranging from 12 tons (the TJ12S Scorpion Floor Jack) to 25 tons (the MJ25 Scorpion Floor Jack).

Pit Jacks:

Quiz time! What keeps the fleets up and running all across North America? You guessed it right – it’s the intricate network of workshops dotting the landscape of Canada and the US.

Hundreds of thousands of truck owners in North America rely on truck workshops for maintenance and repair jobs. And the one tool these workshops rely on is the pit jack. These heavy-duty truck jacks are designed to fit into service pits and lift big and bulky trucks smoothly without compromising on safety.

Innovative products like the Scorpion Pit Jacks from Stan Design employ pneumatic systems to boost their hydraulic mechanisms, ensuring some serious weight capacity. For instance, the PJ35S Scorpion Pit Jack can lift trucks as heavy as 35,000 lbs.!

Pit jacks also have inbuilt safety mechanisms to ensure that vehicles are secured in their elevated position, and stackable adapters ensure that they suit every truck type thrown at them.

Rolling Jacks:

Workshops with car lifts prefer the rolling jack as a valuable tool. These jacks can slide under the lift and allow specific sections of the truck to be lifted for maintenance or repairs. Couple of things to consider before choosing a rolling jack:

  • Safety and efficiency are equally important. Make sure the rolling jack you’re planning to buy has a proper locking mechanism.
  • Reinforced parts made of high-grade steel – that’s what you’re looking for when buying a rolling jack. It ensures safety and longevity.

What to Look for in the Perfect Truck Jack

Material and Build Quality:

  • Truck jacks are made of steel. We all know that. But the quality of the alloy and the construction of the tool matter. Make sure your truck jack has a robust build strong enough to endure decades of heavy use.
  • What’s the biggest enemy of any tool? Moisture. Rust can wear down machine parts quickly, leading to critical failure. Make sure your truck jack comes coated with corrosion-resistant materials for longevity.
  • Reinforced components, a wide base, and sturdy lifting arms are what you are looking for in the perfect truck jack.

Lifting Speed and Efficiency:

A wise man once said, you can make up for lost money but not time. The longer your truck sits in the garage, the more time and business opportunities you waste. So, you need a truck jack that operates quickly and smoothly.

Portability and Storage:

Truckers are constantly on the move. So, it’s in their best interest to carry a heavy-duty floor jack that’s compact, reasonably light, and portable. A floor jack with a low collapsed profile can be a lifesaver for overloaded trucks with saggy suspension.

Safety Features:

We can go on and on all day on the importance of safety features. Can you trust your truck jack to keep you safe when working under the vehicle? Here are a few things to consider as safety features:

  • Safety valves.
  • Locking mechanisms.
  • Sturdy base.

Carrying jack stands is a good idea. They share the load on the jack, increasing the tool’s safety and longevity at the same time.

Endnote:

Buying a truck jack should be a one-time investment. Your favorite truck-lifting solution will go through a lot of abuse during its time in the garage. So, it better be made of high-quality materials. Whether you buy a heavy-duty floor jack, pit jack, or rolling jack, prioritize robustness, reliability, and safety. Always go for time-tested products manufactured by popular brands. Remember, saving a few dollars upfront doesn’t always prove to be a good decision in the long-term.

Happy lifting!

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Categories
Jacks Pit Jacks Truck Jacks

Boost Your Productivity with Scorpion Pit Jacks From StanDesign

Every day, hundreds of thousands of trucks navigate the freeways of North America, carrying essential commodities to the farthest reaches of Canada and the USA. The continent’s enormous network of vehicle servicing workshops functions as the backbone of the trucking industry. And if there’s one tool the workshops can’t do without, it’s the heavy-duty truck jack.

What’s so special about truck jacks?

  • Truck jacks facilitate undercarriage repair. The undercarriage takes a lot of beating as vehicles crisscross all kinds of terrain. Without heavy-duty truck jacks, it would be impossible to lift vehicles high enough for the inspection and maintenance of everything from the wheel assembly to the exhaust system.
  • Truck jacks are robust tools and last years under rigorous use. High-quality truck jacks return great value for money, making them prized possessions among workshop owners.

When it comes to buying truck jacks there are a lot of options to choose from. You have hydraulic floor jacks, bottle jacks, bridge jacks, and our topic of discussion for today – pit jacks.

What’s so special about pit jacks?

Time is money, more so in the world of truck and bus maintenance. So, workshops servicing trucks, buses, and other heavy vehicles need a tool that is quick, smooth, efficient, and safe, and what’s better than a pit jack for the job?

Workshops with dedicated inspection pits use pit jacks to lift all kinds of vehicles for undercarriage repair. Think of them as scissor jacks on steroids! At the heart of every pit jack is a hydraulic system aided by a pneumatic (compressed air) lifting apparatus. Dual lifting arms when actuated lift cars and trucks weighing tons high enough for easy access to the subframe.

Here’s why pit jacks stand out as super-efficient tools in the vehicle lifting solutions industry:

  • They are robust tools, easy to maintain, and last for years on end.
  • Pit jacks are built to lift loaded trucks. So, they have high weight capacities to tackle any kind of vehicle.
  • The lifting operation in pit jacks is precise and accurate, aided by multi-stage locking mechanisms for added safety.
  • They are safe and easy to operate, eliminating the need for specialized training.

All this amounts to increased efficiency, reduced downtime, and more profits for a workshop business. No wonder, workshop owners love pit jacks!

The Scorpion Pit Jack – your workshop’s biggest ally!

What the Scorpion Pit Jack does is take all the characteristics of the standard pit jack and make them better.

Let’s explore why this winning product from our stable can be a complete game-changer for your workshop business.

1. Unrivaled Lifting Power

Pick any product from our line of pit jacks, and you’ll see a robust hydraulic lifting apparatus in its core. The hydraulic apparatus is aided by a compressed air system for additional power, resulting in some of the meanest tools money can buy.

Take for instance the Scorpion PJ35 Pit Jack. It can lift vehicles as heavy as 35,000 lbs. effortlessly in no time. Whether it’s for routine maintenance or complex repair jobs, the Scorpion Pit Jacks make light work of the heaviest loads. Let’s just say, we are here to raise the bar when it comes to the raw lifting power of pit jacks.

2. Smart Design and Durable Build

With the help of precision engineering and years of experience in product development, we have come up with a blueprint for producing floor jacks, bridge jacks, and pit jacks that trump competition with their smart design and unmatched durability.

Our battle-ready Scorpion Pit Jacks are designed to survive and triumph in harsh conditions and under rigorous use. Hardened steel frames and rams, zinc-plated components, anti-rust coating, and precision-engineered hydraulic and pneumatic systems all contribute to the build quality of the Scorpion Pit Jacks. Our Scorpions certainly have stings in their tails!

3. Precision is the Name of the Game!

What’s a pit jack without precision lifting abilities? The Scorpion Pit Jacks excel in this department with hydraulic systems engineered for controlled movements. Technicians can elevate vehicles with pinpoint accuracy and rely on the built-in safety mechanisms to keep them safe.

4. Adaptability for Varied Fleets

No two vehicles are the same. We design our products keeping in mind all the different car and truck types currently running on the road. The Scorpion Pit Jacks come with stackable adapters to lift all kinds of cars and trucks across the axle.

A compact profile expandable up to as much as 46” ensures that these heavy duty truck jacks fit any inspection pit in the country.

5. Unmatched Safety Features

Safety is non-negotiable, and the Scorpion Pit Jacks prioritize it with advanced safety features. Automatic locking mechanisms engage when the desired height is reached, securing the lifted truck in place.

Our commitment to safety provides technicians with peace of mind as they perform critical tasks beneath the elevated vehicle.

6. Efficiency Redefined

Time is money in the world of logistics. The Scorpion Pit Jacks are engineered to be quick and efficient. Swift lifting enabled by intuitive controls reduces downtime drastically for trucks, increasing the operational efficiency of workshops.

Endnote:

When you buy a Scorpion Pit Jack, you carry home a tool that’s been designed by engineers who know and cherish their craft. Our lifting solutions aren’t just tools for lifting heavy vehicles. They are a means to increase your workshop’s productivity and profit with the guarantee of quality and durability.

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