Spare Tire Jack issues!!!

dcwinters · 08-30-2004, 10:09 AM

Anyone used this thing? I had to get mine out to change a blown tire on my boat trailer. It would not jack up my little 18ft boat and trailer. The boat and trailer only weight 3000 lbs and I was only jacking up one side. At most I had 1800 lbs on the jack. I put so much force on the weak designed screw mechanism that I broke the small t end that turns the screw on the jack!

I can't believe that Nissan expects to pick up the truck with this jack.

Has there been any TSBs on this?

Mike H. · 08-30-2004, 10:48 AM

I had to use mine week before last and it did just fine. Jacked it up fast and surprisingly easy. I was changing a rear tire and lifted directly under the spring area. No complaints here.

keiffers · 08-30-2004, 10:50 AM

I had a problem like this on my Tundra with the tiny jack they put in the truck. Had to put a 2X4 under it the first time I used it and still only barely lifted it....ended up having to put a pneumatic jack under the truck to get it up properly. You would think that with a good size truck like a Titan (and even the Tundra) there would be a decent size jack on it....guess they still haven't figured out that there are instances that a car jack won't work on everything

rvsixer · 08-30-2004, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcwinters

At most I had 1800 lbs on the jack. I put so much force on the weak designed screw mechanism that I broke the small t end that turns the screw on the jack! I can't believe that Nissan expects to pick up the truck with this jack.

My best guess is it probably has just enough capacity to lift 1/4 of the truck (or 1250 lbs). 1800 would be quite an overload if so.

-EDIT-

Hmmm now that I thought about it some more, it should be able to lift 1/2 of the front axle weight. That would be about 1500-1600 lbs.

Sounds like I may carry a bottle jack too

pciley · 08-30-2004, 07:42 PM

I have used my jack a few times, and the little "T" you are talking about has bent and I have bent it back, twice! So I'm sure it will break off soon enough. Its not so much the weight, but the angle at which you are spinning the handle. I was being lazy and instead of installing all three extension pieces between the jack and tire iron to turn, I had on just ONE and was spinning very closely to the jack forcing the T to act at all sorts of odd angles with the extension. This is what caused mine to bend.

When you are working farther away from the jacks, with all three of the extensions connected, you are working at a more constant angle while rotating the T thingy. Not trying to be technical at all

but think about it makes sense. You can also get lower, as your hand won't be scraping knuckles on the ground like when you just have one extension on there. The lower you get, the more straight the extensions become and the more you are using your jack as it is intended.

gissle · 08-30-2004, 09:52 PM

I had a flat last week on my way to work at 4:30 in the am. It took me about 20 minutes to change the tire and be back on the road. I was very pleased with how everything worked.

bestatchess · 08-31-2004, 11:00 AM

You can get a nice compact 8 ton jack from Sears for about $30. I have been real careful about not using cheapo jacks since one of my friends was using one of the old bumper ratchet jacks and it failed and some how he ended up with the square jack tube jammed entirely through his palm.

pciley · 08-31-2004, 09:41 PM

OUCH! That is a very bad mental picture...

Would that 8-ton compact jack at Sears be a bottle jack? I have had it with the heavy floor jacks... Not portable at all.

bestatchess · 08-31-2004, 10:20 PM

It is not featherweight at 12.9 lbs, no, but it is no big deal to put it in a storage box in the back of the truck, and it lifts 17.75 inches and collapses to 9 inches. It is not nearly as heavy as the floor jack, as I have one of those also. Last spring I encountered a GMC Jimmy stuck fast in a mud hole to the point that the exhaust pipe was buried. They tried to jack it up with the little cheapo jack that came with the Jimmy, and it really was quite pathetic. Right after that I took a look at my own OEM jack and then drove straight to Sears to buy a decent jack.

Titan4x4Aggie · 09-01-2004, 05:41 AM

pictures ?

bestatchess · 09-01-2004, 10:58 AM

pictures of the jack?

Go to www.sears.com and paste this item no. into the search box:

00950283000

DruDog · 09-01-2004, 02:25 PM

Um...you think the 6 ton version would do the job for a little less

titanwild · 09-01-2004, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcwinters

Anyone used this thing? I had to get mine out to change a blown tire on my boat trailer. It would not jack up my little 18ft boat and trailer. The boat and trailer only weight 3000 lbs and I was only jacking up one side. At most I had 1800 lbs on the jack. I put so much force on the weak designed screw mechanism that I broke the small t end that turns the screw on the jack!

I can't believe that Nissan expects to pick up the truck with this jack.

Has there been any TSBs on this?

No TSB that I could find. I've used my jack on the right rear to change a flat, seemed to work just fine once I figured out how the pieces all went together! I think the bottle jack or Sears jack will be my next mod anyway.

radiokid · 09-01-2004, 05:11 PM

I had to use mine for the first time today. Heard a loud pop when driving around and parked at home and then left with a flat? Once I figured out how to get the tire loose from the chain it only took 10 minutes to swap them out. Jack worked fast and easy