Several years ago I was installing rear leaf springs in my neighbors work van. Before we could finish the job my neighbor was called away on a family emergency. I needed at least a third hand to wrestle the springs into place. Because my floor jack was under the diff, I grabbed my old bottle jack. I stacked up a mismatched collection of boards and blocks and managed to get the springs into place.
Later I started looking for ways to improve on this situation since I knew I'd be even less likely to have help with things like this after I retired and moved out west. Searching the internet led me to a site called "safe jacks". (sorry but I don't have the link). I decide to "reverse engineer" some of their products. Hope this doesn't offend anyone.
Your basic 35 year old bottle jack
I started with a piece of 3/8" plate welded to a section of 1 1/4" ID tube. 1/4" would have been fine but we had the 3/8" on hand
Next we welded two different lengths of 1 1/4" OD round stock into two lengths of the 1 1/4' ID tube. The shorter of these gives a 3" increase in reach while the longer piece gives a 6 1/2" increase in reach. These two lengths can be combined to give an almost 10" increase in reach
Not that this pic is needed but it shows the longer extension with the flat plate. All attachments were constructed with a 1" overlap onto the jack ram.
While we were at it we also fabbed up a saddle that would accept a 4 1/4" tube or axle tube. Please note: I did this project with a friend of mine. The good welds you see are probably his. If some don't look as good they are mine.
Here is the completed kit shown with a new handle and a black Friday special kit bag. I glued up a double thickness of 3/4'"plywood to serve as a base for the jack and also to protect the bottom of the kit bag.
This was a pretty straight forward project. I don't really know the total cost since between the two of us we had most of the material on hand to make two sets. I've used it a number of times since building it and it really makes things safer and much more convenient.
Later I started looking for ways to improve on this situation since I knew I'd be even less likely to have help with things like this after I retired and moved out west. Searching the internet led me to a site called "safe jacks". (sorry but I don't have the link). I decide to "reverse engineer" some of their products. Hope this doesn't offend anyone.
Your basic 35 year old bottle jack
I started with a piece of 3/8" plate welded to a section of 1 1/4" ID tube. 1/4" would have been fine but we had the 3/8" on hand
Next we welded two different lengths of 1 1/4" OD round stock into two lengths of the 1 1/4' ID tube. The shorter of these gives a 3" increase in reach while the longer piece gives a 6 1/2" increase in reach. These two lengths can be combined to give an almost 10" increase in reach
Not that this pic is needed but it shows the longer extension with the flat plate. All attachments were constructed with a 1" overlap onto the jack ram.
While we were at it we also fabbed up a saddle that would accept a 4 1/4" tube or axle tube. Please note: I did this project with a friend of mine. The good welds you see are probably his. If some don't look as good they are mine.
Here is the completed kit shown with a new handle and a black Friday special kit bag. I glued up a double thickness of 3/4'"plywood to serve as a base for the jack and also to protect the bottom of the kit bag.
This was a pretty straight forward project. I don't really know the total cost since between the two of us we had most of the material on hand to make two sets. I've used it a number of times since building it and it really makes things safer and much more convenient.
