wow; over a year and this thread is still alive.. I didn't expect that.
but since I started it, I'll provide an update;
First off I had the 2-1/2 ton Snap on that broke on me, probably from too many drops off the tailgate... as I carried it in my truck for when I had to go to someone else's house and fix their junk; I wasn't very nice to it as I rarely "set it" on the ground...usually dropped it! I bought that jack nearly 20 years ago and paid over $500 for it then... being able to pay $20/week was just tooo convenient back then. I scrapped it just before I put up this thread for discussion. It had the highest lift of any other floor jack I have ever used if you don't include the big "long chassis" truck ones...
I had an OTC Stinger, 3-1/2 ton bought by my well intentioned wife about 10 years ago for Christmas; The OTC never left the home garage so wasn't treated roughly at all.. the plunger stuck in the down position after having had it about 6 months, so I couldn't pump it up; I still had the 2-1/2 ton Snap on at the time, and also bought a 2 ton Walker/Lincoln>> I still have that one, has been demoted to the "toss in the bed of the truck jack"/// so when the OTC died its early death, it went into a corner since it was no good to me in broken condition.
That jack had been bought at Car Quest where I was quite a "regular" customer.. that CQ store was like the "Cheers" bar on the old TV series, since I was there so much...
after that OTC sat in my garage for over a year and I was tired of tripping on it/moving it to another corner-- and I'd asked a couple times about the possibility of gettin parts for it--- as the counterman that recommended that one to my wife has the same one himself, and has had good service from his, talked to the Store manager and their vendor rep and even though it was technically out of warranty due to the time I'd had it they knew it had been sitting, un-usable for most of the time I had it; they asked the rep about getting a new plunger ass'y for me (I wasn't expecting it for free, just looking to see if I could even get parts for it at all) or to see if maybe it might just need to be bled or something and how to do so.... The rep said to bring it in so he could see it. next time I went in, there was a brand new one sitting there with my name on it...
Took that one home, and the very 1st time out of the box... same problem. After that one sat here unusable for a few more years, since Counterman Ed had such good luck from his, I dropped it off behind his home garage as I was tired of looking at it. I never heard a word about whether he fixed it, junked it or whatever....
So with the Snap on 2-1/2 tonner having been scrapped, and finally getting rid of the OTC Stinger paperweight, I was down to just my 2 ton Walker/Lincoln.. I feel I need 2 good floor jacks around here.
So again around the time I started this thread, I started shopping Craigslist; I found a 4 ton Sears about 30 years old, long chassis truck jack for a good price. It is made in Japan (boo) but for the money it was like brand new and obviously not used much.
Then a couple months later I was looking for something else on CL, definitely not looking for another jack, but tripped on a 2 ton Snap on (another Walker/Lincoln-made jack and USA made!) for a price I could not pass up. so though I previously had 3 jacks I never had 3 working ones at a time... I do now. the "new" (to me) snap on is identical to my Walker except painted red instead of blue.
In the meantime, I picked up another good deal on CL that I could not turn down... In addition to having 3 good working floor jacks, I now also have a working, 9000 lb capacity twin post hoist in my garage that I went thru and redid, at the time I had an "in" at a powdercoater, (my son worked there, does no more) so this thing is like brand new... now to take out a few ceiling joists so I can use the "air rights" in the garage so I can put it up high enough that I can stand under it... a 10' ceiling is not enough... but it is great for doing brake work and such as is....so I have no shortage of car lifting devices. yeah I do have a couple sets of stands here as well.
