Bad Emergency Jack?
 

I just bought my FR-S yesterday so I haven't needed to use my jack but I saw that someone posted on the BRZ Facebook page that his jack failed after 7 minutes of use!? Luckily he wasn't under his car but still, dude could've died.


UPDATE (10/9/12)

here's the pic.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...cexxp/jack.jpg


Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Again, im not trying to meddle in anyones business but if the guy had an issue with a piece of equipment im just trying to pass the word.

More info?

This is why I keep a hydraulic jack and one jackstand in my car. Spare jack broke on me while my friend and I were being good samaritans. Good thing I had just got the wheel on....

i usually put the wheel i take off under the car when doing a roadside change(in place of a stand, but obv i dont lower onto a wheel lol), or a lift without a proper jackstand. not sure how much it would help in the case of a failure, but it should lessen the blow imo.

yea, it is what it is, an emergency jack. i personally have a 3-ton jack in my trunk and would never get under a small jack. i dont have more info other than the direct quote.

"FT86 owners DO NOT USE EMERGENCY JACK! I was using it an hour ago and after 7 minutes of holding the front the all thread bent and my car dropped. I'm just glad I wasn't under there. Will post pics."

This is a good example why you should never get under a car with the emergency jack or any jack. Always use proper jack stands on flat ground

This is why it's better to use roadside assistance (AAA et al.) than risk life or limb using an emergency jack. You won't catch me on the side of the road working on my car. Any other time, I'll either be using ramps or a quality jack and jack stands.

This. That's what i learned in school. Happend to me before when i jacked up the car on a windy day. Car was shaking heavely and fell of the jack onto the wheel.

Who has the room to keep a hydraulic jack in the trunk? Not to mention having it shift around during hard maneuvering? No thanks.

Never get under a car that is supported only by a jack.

I'd recommend calling for a tow or at the least motorist assistance if you are on the road. Working on the side of the road is dangerous stuff, I know.

You wouldn't catch me under my car with nothing but the emergency jack in a billion years. That said, I've actually used mine 7 or 8 times now (I guess my gravel driveway is just filled with old nails) and it's been totally fine.

Anyway, we've all got roadside assistance for the next 2 years or 25,000 miles, so I would recommend just using that.

i supposed you've never owned anything faulty, or defective...? comparing a jack to a EMS vehicle, i just dont see the analogy.

Don't depend on the roadside assistance guy to have a proper jack. 11 years ago I had a 99 GTP and saw a fellow GTP owner stuck at the side of the road. I pulled over to help and found out their jack had stripped, then broke while removing a flat tire. The guys said don't wait, they have a tow truck coming to replace the flat tire, but when the guy showed up he didn't have the proper jack at all. We ended up using my jack instead and got the guys tire changed.

Having said that, I had the same GTP jacked up in the driveway and when I jarred the car slightly, the oem scissor jack broke and dropped the car. The dealership replaced the jack for free.

Rob

I've used my OEM jack a couple times now with no issues. I actually like it. It's pretty quick for a scissor jack.

Indeed. That post is ahead in the Stupid Post Sweepstakes.

Bottle jacks aren't particularly large, and it's not terribly difficult to affix to something such that it doesn't move about as you drive.

Brett

The person who posted this on FB has put a picture of the jack up. I can log on to it cuz on im a goverment computer. Ill post it once i get home.

Keep a jack stand or two in your car at least. The scissor jack should be able to get it up, but I have not and never will trust one. Hell, I put my tire under the car even when I have jackstands. I mean, can't hurt. Lol

This thread is worthless without pics

The OEM emergency jack is standard issue that’s been in cars for as long as I’ve been alive.
Hell, back in Russia this was the ONLY jack I ever knew of, I have personally used such a jack about 6 times on a variety of vehicles ranging from lightweight eight Ladas to Dodge Caravans.
I have already been required to use it on my FRS when I blew out a tire catching a 1mm allan key on the freeway.
The jack must be placed in a specific zone under the car along those vertical rails, perpendicular to the road, on level ground
Although it has been done in more adverse conditions… :/

Some of this fear mongering is unfounded. Would I just lay under the car on the freeway under severe crosswinds twiddling my thumbs? No. Hell I wouldn’t even do that if the car was on proper jackstands, freaks the shit out of me.
But for quick roadside repair of deflated wheels the jack works and IS reliable.
And if you think the jack in the Scion/Subaru is scary, go look at the one they (used?) to put in Volkswagens.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5...owmakerxo8.jpg

I used mine a couple weekends ago, the car sat on the emergency jack for near 30 minutes without a hiccup. Easy to use and quick compaired to other's I have used (the low clearance helped).

I got a flat tire on my Murano SUV on bridge. wow shaking so badly on bridge. as soon as i raied up enough, this emergency jack just fell. thank god i didnt even start taking out my wheel. i just called road assistance.

it's good to carrying hydraulic jack but it's heavy and big.

unless it's flat surface and safe to work on,

This pretty much shows how german over engineers things that should be kept simple and reliable.

here's the pic.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...cexxp/jack.jpg


Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Again, im not trying to meddle in anyones business but if the guy had an issue with a piece of equipment im just trying to pass the word.

I used to use Dodge/Chrysler emergency jacks (they had a 19mm hex drive on the end of the screw) along with a cordless drill or impact to jack my car up at autocrosses to swap tires. They usually lasted about a season before they failed or appeared to be unsafe to use. I'd just buy another for $10-20. I'd always make sure to be on a flat, hard, level surface, I would never get under the car when just supported by the emergency jack, and most of the time I was dealing with rather lightweight cars. Back then the Neon I raced weighed 1990 lbs.

Interesting... is there any other ppl had same problem w FR-S/BRZ emergency jack?

Looks like it was raised too high and then the car pushed against it sideways. Not sure how it did that with three other tires on the car.

keep in mind you're never supposed to over-extend the jack, you only need to lift the car a hair off the ground so the wheel can be pulled off/on.

i'm no engineer but when you turn what is supposed to be a rhombus into a straight line (that pivots on the bottom point no less) you'll get instability

again there is more to this story

just like the people who use torque wrenches to untorque things, or overtorque things with normal wrenches then think everything is fine if their torque wrench clicks when they "check" it... and the list goes on.

It doesn't say anywhere whether he used the jack properly or not. The manual clearly says ONLY use it for the FRS/BRZ, and ONLY to be used to lift a single wheel off the ground at a time. This means you don't have to lift it very high, and there is minimal weight on the jack.

From the looks of the picture, I get a feeling he didn't follow those guidelines. It's for you to change a single spare tire in emergencies.

Good idea to spread the word though.

The lower arms are geared together, but it's quite easy damage that part. I'm better he was halfway in the ditch while he used it which means the car wasn't level. At that point no jack is really safe...

That's exactly what I thought as well.

These types of jacks can be very dangerous if extended too high.

The jack in the pic was extended too high. The damage to the screw happened when the car moved or fell over. No way that screw shaft bent from any kind of normal use.

I had one of those jacks fail on me when I was changing a tire on a minivan. Fender hit my elbow but luckily I have threaded on 3 lugs so I was spared. I was gonna complain to honda about it but the car was 10 years old and I felt it would just waste my time...

And yea, the screw on mine actually just broke at the part where it threads through the hole, didn't bend or cross thread or anything like that.

I just bought my BRZ a few months ago, so I'm headed into my first winter with it. I'm soon to be buying a set of winter tires and wheels. My question is, would you guys use the OEM jack for swapping the wheels off your car? Or is there a better jack I should buy?

First of all, manually jacking up four corners of your car twice a year with the scissor jack is too much work. Get a 2 to 2-1/2 ton floor jack and jack the car up using the center jack points at each end and do two wheels at a time. Store it in your garage.

Frankly, I wouldn't wear out any emergency equipment because it might self destruct when I need it: in an emergency. It would be like using those little cigarette lighter socket powered air pumps you can buy in emergency roadside kits to maintain your tire's air pressure and then finding yourself in the middle of nowhere with a flat, but fillable, tire but a burned out pump.

What @MrDinkleman said is extremely important and logical. Assuming you'll own this car for say 5 years which involves taking tires off twice or more a season, and with possible mods underneath the car and what not you might as well invest in a quality low profile jack and 4 jack stands. Anything less is stupid and almost suicidal because you increase the risk of the car falling on you in any of those 5 years. Also just so you know so many online stores have awesome deals right now with black friday and christmas coming up you might as well take advantage and get a set for the cheapest they will probably be.

Thanks for the advice guys. I will definitely get a proper jack and jack stands now. Already got my torque wrench and breaker bar.