All About Bottle Jacks

Every car owner needs at least 1 jack in his garage. Sometimes the question arises - to get by with a simple car that comes with the car, or get something better and more reliable? In today's article we will look at bottle jacks and how they work.

Jacks of the described type are most often preferred by people who are professionally engaged in car repair. This is facilitated by the following factors, which undoubtedly relate to the advantages of such a mechanism.

• Large lifting capacity. Due to this, jacks of this type can lift from 3 to 100 tons. Such a force of the mechanism makes it possible to use it to serve cargo, agricultural and military equipment and is sometimes used at a construction site for a small movement of heavy metal structures.
• The product can work even at low temperatures. Thanks to the working fluid, which does not freeze even at low temperatures, the device works properly even outdoors in winter.
• Convenience and ease of use... When lifting a load using such a mechanism, the effort from the operator is only necessary to press the pump drive so that the oil from the expansion barrel enters the working cylinder. More powerful models are equipped with an electric drive or a pneumatic blower, in which case no effort is required from the user at all.
• Unlike common rack and pinion models, bottle have better stability. The slave cylinder is aligned with a large area flat metal bearing plate. Thanks to this support, the whole structure will be very stable.
• The rise is very smooth... This is due to the smooth flow of oil into the slave cylinder. There will be no sudden jerks during the ascent. Lowering is carried out in the same way. Smooth running eliminates the possibility of a load falling and injury to the user.

Like any device, this type of jack has its drawbacks. It is worth noting the main ones.

1. It is only necessary to transport and store this type of jack correctly in an upright position. It is impossible to turn it over or put it on its side due to the possibility of oil leakage. Transportation in the trunk of the car must be secured to avoid tipping over when cornering.
2. It is necessary to monitor the level of the liquid, top it up in time and, if necessary, make its complete replacement. It is important to change the old oil only to special hydraulic oil. Regular motor or transmission will not work.
3. Pickup height. The vertical design does not allow installation under a machine with a clearance of less than 15 cm.

Essentially speaking, the listed disadvantages are not significantconsidering the technical direction of this product. If you choose the right instrument and take care of it competently, then it will serve you for many years without any problems.

Such a device has wide application in all garage workshops for car inspections, wheel replacement and removal, lifting heavy car elements. They can be found at many stations for the repair and maintenance of all types of transport. They may not necessarily be the main tool, but their presence always helps.

These devices loved by garage craftsmen not only for small dimensions and cost, but also for use in many products where a lot of pressure on the part is needed. They are supplemented with various pressure gauges, bypass valves and clamps.

The described product does not have many types of its execution, since the design is very simple and reliable. However, there are some differences. In addition to the obvious difference in carrying capacity, products may have different heights when raised. In order not to increase the minimum lifting height, but to increase the maximum stem overhang, the engineers decided to make a stem consisting of 2 or even 3 sections, which slide into one another, like in a retractable antenna. Bottle jacks can be conditionally divided into:

• single-pin;
• two-rod;
• three-rod.

In addition to the number of stocks, sometimes you can find jack of the described type with a screw pump. These are quite rare models, but they also deserve attention. They can be useful if they need to be installed in an inconvenient place and it is very difficult to pump with a conventional pump. In this case, a metal cardan will come to the rescue, which is supplied with the jack itself.

The screw bottle jack DVZ 16 is presented in the video below.

Let's take a look at the most common and best-selling bottle jack models.

• Autoprofi DG-8. This model has a 200 mm pick-up height and if your car is lower then the tool will not work for you. The rest of the car owners will appreciate this product and will be pleasantly surprised how easily this small device lifts a cargo gazelle. The jack is designed for a maximum weight of 8 t and a maximum lifting height of 400 mm. In operation, he showed himself quite well, although it is considered budgetary. High-quality processing of the cylinder working surface reduces the likelihood of premature wear of the O-ring, and the safety valve prevents it from being squeezed out under excessive load. The metal heel of the retractable rod still brought in its fly in the ointment. In order not to damage the metal and not to peel off the paint, you will have to put something softer than metal between the body and the jack.

• "Zubr" 43060-12. Its ability to lift 12 tons was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The fact that it can lift a lot of weight is a definite plus, but nobody has canceled the laws of hydraulics, and to lift it you will have to pump it for a very long time and persistently. The pickup height here is not small - 230 mm, and the lifting height is 465 mm. This model is suitable for heavy work, as evidenced by the extension arm supplied with the device. Given its low cost, this product will find its buyer in the form of small repair shops that work with trucks.

• Matrix MASTER 50756. The jack of this company is equipped with a durable case and is equipped with a safety valve, which allows it to cope with weights up to 5 tons. The minimum lift height is 216 mm and the maximum lift height is 413 mm. This budget model will allow you to carry out repair work with small trucks and small agricultural equipment. A moderate combination of price and quality will allow such a product to be found in various fields and places of use.

When choosing such a tool, it is necessary in advance determine the pickup height and the maximum lifting height, but of course with necessary weight, which will lift your jack.Based on these values, you can start choosing. It is necessary to purchase such goods in specialized stores, where you will not only be consulted, but will also give you a guarantee on the product being sold.

Ask the staff quality certificate on the purchased product. If for some reason this document is not shown to you or cannot be shown, then it is better to refuse to purchase in such an establishment. Be sure to inspect the item before purchasing. There should be no visible damage to the O-rings and no scratches or cracks on the stem. If this was found, then ask to replace the product.

The jack is a fairly easy-to-use device, everyone can handle it. If it becomes necessary to use it, then take the device, install it under the load that needs to be lifted, for example, a car. Before starting work, check if the bypass valve on the product is closed. To do this, use a special tip on the lever to turn the bolt clockwise until it stops. Now you can start lifting.

If your device is equipped with a lifting adjustment bolt, and the car itself is much higher than the jack when folded, then unscrew the bolt to reduce the distance to the load, but do not unscrew it completely, otherwise you risk damaging the threads. Leave 4-5 turns for a secure fit.

Next, we begin to pump oil from the expansion tank into the slave cylinder. As a certain amount of oil is pumped in, the stem will extend and the load will begin to lift. After reaching a certain height, stop supplying oil and the device will remain in the set position. Be sure to remove the lever from the pump before starting repair work, as this can be hazardous to health.... Excessive oil inflow can provoke a change in vehicle position when it is undesirable.

After completing all the work, it is time to lower the load back, for this you need to send the oil back to the expansion tank. To do this, we need to loosen the bypass valve by slightly unscrewing the bolt.

Owners of jacks of this type note reliability of the design and smooth running of the product. If the product is purchased with a margin, then there are no problems with the lifting height. She's always enough. It is worth noting that such a device undesirable to store in rooms with high humidity... This will certainly lead to the appearance of corrosion on the metal, which many uninformed users have encountered.

Consumers have noticed that models that come without special cases are much more difficult to transport and carry.