Are Quickjacks Worth It?
 

Since I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time working on my car in the garage, I'd figure something like this would be a good purchase!

Anyone else use a Quickjack for their GR86/BRZ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJqrO2KuIa4

If you can get yours on sale, it's definitely worth it. I use mine on both cars. I got the 5000 model, and iirc, I got it on sale for $1k. I also got the pinch weld blocks at the same time (it comes with the frame rail blocks).

Sht, I would absolutely love a Quickjack!

I'm hopeful to own a set of these someday. I'm under my car so frequently, these will always be on my bucket list. Baby steps though, I need to buy a proper oil filter removal tool first.

Here is the proper tools for removing the oil filter on a twin. If you need more than that, you are putting it on too tight.

Fumoto valve + Rhyno ramps will be your friends

Hands always work, but tools are cooler!

Fumoto valve already on, it's great!! Ramps don't work in my garage, too slippery

I found pretty good success using OEM Tools (Autozone) one. Its been great for vehicles where the filter is underneath, and hasn't failed me on the BRZ.

I'm kinda like and don't like my quickjack. Dislikes are the rails are very heavy for an older guy with mobility issues, it doesn't go high enough for my trucks, and won't work with the Lotus. It only works with the twin and the 911. Takes me a lot of up and down and moving around to get the rails and blocks aligned. likes are, once it is in place, if you have a lot of suspension or under car work to do, it gets the car a nice distance off the ground in a very safe manner.

I mean, I'd be happy to relieve you of that burden if you wish to get rid of it. :D:D:D

For oil changes, an extractor pump has been one of my favorite buys.

...

I asked on youtube as well but anyone look at the Bendpak MD-6XP? I'm kind of leaning towards that and sacrificing the mid access in exchange for the additional height. Was curious if anyone else had considered similar or did any analysis. I also figure the Bendpak could be useful on higher rise vehicles so it might fit more use cases overall with the trade-off that I'd likely need to build/buy some ramps to get a couple inches of clearance. Also, it appears to be much heavier, so it'd probably live in place.

I have rhino ramps and I cannot use them for my twin, and I am only slightly lowered with TRD springs. They are too tall.

For me, 12" Race Ramps, one a single piece, one a two piece. Super low profile, high lift, HF jack. Plenty of room to work under the car on a creeper.

that is entirely dependent on what you bought and whether you're trying to make one size fit all.

My Quickjack 5000LT (bought in 2019) worked well for a variety of vehicles.

without extension ramps, it worked for my S13, S14, and a friends BRZ

with extension ramps, it worked well for my Subaru Legacy, Lexus ES, Volvo V60 CC, a couple of Honda Odysseys, and a Tesla Model 3.

for extra height I use the larger blocks. for something close to a truck I'd rather use the larger 7000 series lifts.

the basic 5000 unit is good for smaller 2 door or 4 door cars with short wheelbase.

I have the 5000SLX

same as what I have then, I have the regular one with SLX extension frames.

not ideal for a truck, I agree, but I can also lift my car up and do a tire rotation, oil change, and anything else within an hour.

YMMV. and obviously you need to be able to push around a 100lb frame on the floor.

I found that a foot long 1x8 laid flat across the front of the ramp provided enuf lift to work with the ramps.

The problem I see with the Bendpak is it's limited use. How do you service the transmission fluids with all that stuff in the way? With the quickjack you can at least still get to everything. It may not be the easiest with only front/back access but you could drop the transmission still. Absolutely not possible with the Bendpak.

the REAL problem with the Bendpak Bendpak MD-6XP is that it weighs 900+lbs (for the shipping weight).

you're not moving that thing once it is put down in the garage.

at least with the Quickjack I can easily lift it to be stored vertically on the hanger hooks that is included with the kit via Costco. sure there might be easier or cheaper setups, but I really have not found anything else that can be as flexible for a variety of cars, stock or modified.

Having just done my TOB, I think it would have been a PITA to try it with a quickjack.

I would say, based on experience, that with Quickjack you'd only be able to do transmission or drivetrain work if you lifted on pinch welds using the pinch weld adapter blocks.

if you use any lift point more inward then you lose access to the drivetrain.

Quickjack is useful for doing 4 wheel rotation, any moderate suspension work involving all 4 wheels, any front engine work, or even just storing the car in an off-the-ground state for an extended period of time.

So are jack stands and a floor jack. I'd take a quickjack for anything that doesn't have specified center jack points, sure. But the twins have center jack points so lifting them with a floor jack is pretty easy. I suppose a quickjack would be useful if I didn't have room to pump a floor jack, but then where are you storing the quickjack? And I can use the same floor jack for other stuff if I need to, even while the car is on stands.

Do you still have access to all the underpanels' fasteners (especially with the 2017+/JDM underpanels) with the Quickjacks?

That's my thinking as well. I also doubt Quickjacks are really that much less of a hassle (than jack and stands) - seeing uncut videos of people lifting their cars there's still a bunch of fiddling with positioning - raise the jacks, check alignment, raise some more, check again, etc. (and do that on all 4 corners at once, so walk around the car a bunch of times). The biggest benefit would be if you need to raise and lower the car a bunch of times without driving it (maybe for suspension work where you want to torque down bolts with the suspension loaded?), but otherwise I just can't get myself to consider the splurge on Quickjacks over jacks and stands.

No on the fasteners... Unless you set them really on the edge.
I use mine for annual maintenance and alignment where the car is up and down a lot. Way too much setup work for the winter tire swap and even just for an oil change. They're heavy and I have little access one side of the car making it really difficult to position, though i do usually move the car over a bit first which helps. I got mine when I decided to start doing my own alignments and corner balancing. That's a minimum of once a year, maybe more.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience! Most folks just rave about their Quickjack, it's great to see a more realistic representation of using them.

I use my quick jacks for everything but I like the safety of the bars more than most people, I suspect. That said, lining up the pinch blocks is incredibly annoying. To the point that I'm tempted to take the second set of blocks that costco threw in and using a forstner bit to drill holes and glue in some neodymium magnets to get them to stick to the car...

Other than that annoyance, I've loved mine any time I need to get under the car. For me, it makes oil changes fun. I can get on the creeper and check the rest of the car from front to back too.

Have you used a floor jack and jack stands with your 86 before? How much time and effort does it save? Where do you store the quickjack?

Yes.

I think it's the same amount of time... between pushing the car up onto low profile ramps, putting the low profile jack under the center jack point, lift front, do rear, keep lifting til stands are high, verify it won't fall over and kill me, work on car.

Quick jacks are slide them under each side, try to line up the rubber pinch weld thingers, lift it to touching the pinch welds, verify they're all lined up, lift car all the way. Voila.

In teh garage? lol

I don't have a garage so can't own quickjacks, but for anything more than working on a single side or doing an oil change I head to a buddy's house who has Quickjacks because they are just so much easier. Kind of a pain to move around but worth it imo.

They don't lift as high as Rhino ramps, but I got the Cusco low profile ramps and drive up it no problem. Can still squeeze a pan under for an oil change so they do the job and they raise the car enough to get a jack under instead of having a bunch of wood boards around

I've had my Quickjack for a few years. I already sold my BRZ but it really makes doing regular maintenance on your daily driver super easy... if you have the space to move around.

Its all about whether you can move the Quickjacks laterally out of the way. Not everyone has access to a full garage, and for some a jackstand and floor jack setup would be better.

No idea I have not had a BRZ since 2016. Maybe it sucks for the twins but for a lot of other things it was more useful than I ever imagined.

For example, on my S13 I lift the car on the frame rails with the blocks, I never have to compromise the underbody ever again.

https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/wall-hangers-set/

I have 2 pairs of these and vertically store both the Quickjack and also the extenders vertically in my garage against the wall.

The bottom sits on the floor and the weight is mostly on the floor, the hangers just hold it against the wall.

Or when I get lazy I push them together so it sits between the wheels. It is low enough to where I can just drive over them when I park my car.

I think the other benefit is that this is light enough to where you can physically haul it to the track and have a portable lift system if you ever need it.

There's a 12V version.

Again, not for everyone. But if you ever need a way to drop a transmission at the track, this is about as good as it gets.

Thread title. "Are Quickjacks Worth It?"

Buy's them and makes a video about it for the 1st post in said thread.
Not even as an edit.

He does this all the time. Just trying to get clicks, doesn't really engage.

Every youtube personality is different. Some want to build a community and some want to build a channel. The clicks and engagement on platforms like YT mean getting suggested more even if you don't engage 100% with commenters. But for forums and building relationships, the YT style is not the best. :popcorn:

Yeah, I am aware. I have said something to him in a post before as it comes across as spammy. His instagram is very similar, just directs to his youtube content. It's not for me so I mostly ignore it.

I like the threads here though because they're good conversation starters and as someone who watched a lot of videos for the quickjack before jumping in, hearing some of the pros and cons in here remind me that not everything is in a video.

(No one here has talked about what happens when you forget to unlock one side but there have been two really jarring video reviews of just that. Proof the mechanical locks work well enough to yeet a car to the ground.)

I agree, I learned a lot of things I didn't even consider about them.

Yikes! Great point!

Yep, quickjack is not a toy. You need to pay attention, make sure your air cylinders are good, read and understand all the warnings in the manual, and save the beers for when your done.

I didn't know about the wall hangers. I think I want a pair. And I'm going to remove the rubber feet on the pump unit and replace with casters so I can just roll it around.