So, what about these jacks? Well, first thing to say is at this price point you're not going to buy something of "professional" quality but, in my opinion, you can buy something worth having although you might get a "bad un" due to less rigorous quality control.
I was particularly drawn to this thread because I actually have a Sealey 1153:
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You'll notice it's in their original red finish which is what they painted everything until they decided to get "trendy" with your green one _ I think I've seen it in yellow too?
Those of you with "eagle eyes" - apparently eagles have exceptionally good eyesight - will notice the pumping element is missing from this one? So here's the story and along with it some useful advice I hope.
Very many moons ago - some 45/50 years probably - I was building up my home workshop kit. I was getting much more involved in working on cars at home so needed a decent jack but didn't have limitless funds. A very good friend at the time had a small Hilka trolley jack which was light enough to easily manhandle into the boot of the car and was not dissimilar to the wee trolley jack we kept in the breakdown Landrover at work. Although the one in the Landy was an Epco so of much better quality and a lot more expensive.
Anyway I bought a Hilka and here it is with some pictures of the packaging which I recently found tucked away on a shelf I seldom go to:
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You'll notice I've done a close up showing it was made in Taiwan (China). I think this is important because I have come to the conclusion that most of them are, almost regardless of brand name (there will be exceptions I'm sure)
Again, I'm sure those with the eagle eyes will have spotted that the bit where the handle fits is RED! and not blue as in the picture on the package? Well this is where the Sealey 1153 comes in. After many years and a great deal of use this splendid wee blue jack developed a leak from the pumping plunger:
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The central plunger seems virtually unworn but the barrel into which it fits has worn and the plunger is now a very sloppy fit. In my ignorance I thought I'd be able to buy a new pumping plunger and barrel - you can see the Stilson marks where I attempted to unscrew it - but it wouldn't move so I took the entire pumping element out of the jack:
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and went round to a local hydraulics shop I've used before to see if he could repair it. "Son", he said - I was about 68 years old at that time but they still all call me "Son"? "Son", he said, "just chuck it away, I've tried getting bits for these many times and they just aren't available". So I thought Ah well, it doesn't owe me anything, I'll just buy a new one. I already had my two "big" jacks by then but it really takes two to lift one of those into a vehicle if you're off on a rescue mission for one of the kids, so I wanted a wee one for those occasions.
I quickly found that my Hilka isn't sold any more - they still do one but the one I saw was smaller and less "capable". You need to look very carefully at closed height and maximum height figures when considering what will meet your needs. Some have good maximum height but get it at the expense of closed height so you can't get them under a low vehicle, especially if you use a sill puck or spacer to protect the sill paintwork.
After quite a bit of research one of the few that fitted my requirements was the Sealey 1153. Sealey is a well enough respected "name" and are sold by my local factor to the trade, so I started trolling through the internet and came up with one on gumtree just a 10 minute away from me. Advertised as "nearly new, used only once" so I rang up and went to look at it. It was a beaut! Still in it's original pretty much undamaged box with not even any dust accumulated on it yet and not even a scratch on the saddle paintwork all up for £30. I was very suspicious, could it be stolen? But the chap, who seemed like a very nice young family man, said "I was intending to save money by doing my own oil changes etc but I hadn't thought it through. I live in a flat with yellow lines all around and heavy traffic, It just didn't work for me. I've got some spanners and an oil drain tub too if you want them". Well no, but I'll take the axle stands if you have them. But no, he didn't have axle stands and was intending to just use the jack! So glad he gave up on the idea!
Anyway, not long after getting the new jack home I thought "Oh dear, that looks like it's got a higher saddle than the old Hilka":
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And whilst the wheels are bigger the saddles are in fact the same height at rest so it's not a problem. (some of the levers are sticking out the bottom because the pumping element was removed before I took this picture)I then noticed the saddle on the Sealey is slightly smaller in diameter so marginally less stable a platform for a sill puck etc.:
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Then, on closer examination, I realized the entire pumping element, apart from being red instead of the old Hilka's blue, was virtually identical!
They've changed the oil fill from a screw in plug on the old Hilka:
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To a rubber plug on the Sealey:
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And the release valve now has a flattened end rather than a slot and it looks like it's formed simply by stamping it flat in a press rather than it being a machine operation? I've also seen the slotted type with the lugs snapped off. By the way, if you have one of these - of either type - don't be tempted to over tighten them. Damage it in any way and you'll regret it as spares don't seem to be readily available. Doesn't need any more than "nipped up" anyway.
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The plunger body looks a little different too, maybe they've modified it to make it last longer than the old type?
The change in the release valve has probably made the lever cheaper to produce too as all they have to do now is squash the end of the tubular handle:
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However, other than these minor changes the main body of the pumping element is the same, I'd say almost identical even? So, as I prefer the old Hilka anyway, and the other parts of the Hilka are in good serviceable order, I swapped the pumping body complete into the Hilka and it fits like it was originally designed to be there and has been working fine for the last couple of years or so.
So, my conclusion is that these are actually quite good jacks and I was ever so pleased when a neighbour who lives up the road arrived on my door shortly before they moved away and said would you like this:
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Hang on though, doesn't it look very familiar? Hell yes, It's a yellow version of my old friend the Hilka:
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Branded Halfords though - still made in China just like the Hilka - Happy days. Would I like it? I almost bit his hand off!
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It appears that, although not at all a "driveway greasemonkey" he kept a spare set of winter tyres and wheels which he changed over himself. Well, he did it once and said "never again"! so wondered if I'd like the jack as he wasn't going to take it with him!
I'd be unreservedly recommending you buy one of these but they don't seem to stock them anymore damn it! They may have something else though, I haven't looked. Whatever you're buying, turn it over and have a look at that pumping body. I've done this and, on these "mid range" jacks they all look the same! I think they must be "pumping" - pun intended ha ha! - these out by the million and several of the jack manufacturers use them.
Ok, lets try to rationalize some of my thoughts here. First off, if you can afford a more professional jack then definitely go for it. Here's my two big "every day" jacks with the wee Hilka to their left:
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They are much more robustly built - intended for everyday workshop use of course - and much wider so more stable but I'd still NEVER go under a vehicle supported just on a jack no matter how well made/expensive. However they do cost. The other advantage is that quality bits of kit like this generally have spares available - like seals etc - and I find Machine Mart, who sell the Clarke branded stuff, give good support.
We're considering the more "affordable" options here though and you're not going to buy into support or quality like this at the bottom end of the market. In fact, mostly you'll be buying a "throw away" when it breaks. However these "mid range" Chinese offerings seem to be, within certain limits, up for the "occasional" use you might give it maintaining your own car at home.
The big thing is how much usable lift they give - the important word being "usable" here. This is really down to the length of the lifting arm - by which I mean the distance from the pivot point in front of the operating lever to the middle of the saddle. A short arm can't give a big range of lift - simple as. Some manufacturers advertise "high lift" on these wee jacks but when you look at them the saddle is well above the end of the lifting arm when at rest so the resting height is too high to get under lower vehicles. My wee Hilka has a lifting arm length of 10.5 ins (265mm approx) and a resting height saddle, to ground, of 5" (125mm approx) which means it'll go under anything with 5" ground clearance and jack it up to, a slightly unstable, 17.5" (445mm approx) - these are all actual dimentions taken with my tape measure. I've found this to be very adequate for most common maintenance tasks like brakes, track rod ends, oil changes and checking gearbox oil level, all this sort of stuff. Lets me get the axle stands under easily.
If you look at the big jacks in the last picture above you can see how much wider the wheels are, so they are much more stable and also how much longer the lifting arms are so they can lift higher. The middle jack can lift to 19.25" (485mm aprox) and the low entry jobbie goes to around 20" or 551mm. You can see how it's lifting arm is longer in the picture.
Low entry? exactly what it says, for going under low chassis:
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In fact the low entry jack has a number of quite nice features in addition to the low entry feature. It's got nylon wheels so is much quieter if I want to trundle it about at unsociable hours - metal wheeled jacks on concrete, slabs, pavers, etc can be amazingly noisy at midnight! It's also got a twin plunger "quick lift to contact" pump which means it only takes a couple of pumps or so to take the saddle from rest up to contact with the chassis where it then pumps normally. Very nice feature to have but not really a "must have".
So where does all this rambling take us? Well, I hope you now have a bit of an insight into these small jacks. I have no experience of the "supermarket specials" and wonder what quality of something at this price point might be - It's definitely going to be a throw away though! The biggest thing I'd have against them though is that the majority of cheaper options, wherever you buy from, don't have much range of lift - short lifting arm length - so will be very limited in what you can do with them. The main thing to look for is resting saddle height (4.5 to 5 inches or around 120mm works for me) and range of lift. so with a resting height of say 5 inches (120mm aprox) your looking for a max height of 16 to 17 inches (420mm aprox).
Bottle jacks? too unstable for me, especially when extended! I'm not a fan of the cheap jacks which come with some vehicles - if they have a jack at all - and would always use wheel chocks and never attempt to jack up on unstable surfaces like gravel and grass etc. even with a decent trolley jack
Lastly. NEVER EVER GET UNDER A CAR SUPPORTED ONLY ON A JACK. All jacks have the potential to collapse or slip and hydraulic jacks, if they suffer a catastrophic hydraulic failure, can collapse very quickly indeed.
Been doing this for too long now and my thoughts are getting confused so going to post this now. I've probably forgotten to mention something though so please do come back on this if you think i can help.
