QuickJack BL-5000 SLX from Costco

[vesnyder]

Anybody have experience with the drive over jacks available at Costco? They only requires a clearance of 3-4" but ony list the car ~17". They have a price of $1k - and given their warranty I may give them a try. Curious if anybody has experience with these, or other scissor type jacks that only lift the car 17" - wondering how useful/limiting this might be.

Thanks in advance

[rwest]

Looking for feedback from QuickJack users

Search for Quickjack on this forum, lots of posts and Pelican sells them too.

[adias]

I found those very difficult to position under a 3.2 Carrera.

[acme911]

I recently bought a set to aid in the assembly of my car after paint. they are simple to use. You do not drive over them. They are placed under car. Very easy to use. Hoses have quick disconnect fittings. Takes about 5 minutes to position. I have a rolling mechanics seat that is the perfect height for use with these. The ramp lifts are light enough to hang on a wall.

I debated between these and the Mid-rise units. If I was still rebuilding engines I would opt for a mid-rise. I am very satisfied with the QuickJacks. Brings the car up to comfortable height for tire changes, brakes, tuning, exterior lighting jobs and detailing, etc. They are portable enough that I can throw them in my pick up and then run them off an inverter.

And for only $1000 it's a great buy. Beats jack stands as there is plenty of room to maneuver.

https://youtu.be/5iSlCwPCUBc

[Mark Salvetti]

You'll find some of my enthusiastic posts on other QJ feedback threads. I've had mine for about 3 years now, and I'm still happy with it. My 2-car garage is under our split level house, and so the available lift height is probably less than 30" due to a steel support beam that spans the width of the two bays. If I didn't have this limit I probably would have considered a MaxJack or something similar, but I can't take advantage of the lift height it offers. It's also an older house, and I'm not sure if the concrete floor is thick enough to bolt down one of those lifts. Not an issue with the QJ. You don't even need to be completely level (I think it tolerates a 7% grade).

The other great thing about the QJ is the portability. I often roll it out of the garage and use it in the driveway on our other vehicles. I have the 12V version and I power it with a jump start battery.

You can easily gain an extra 3 inches by stacking a couple of 2x12's under each side. There's also a thread on the Rennlist 997 Turbo forum where a QJ is being used for an engine drop, with the SUV adapters to gain extra height.

Mark

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by vesnyder

Anybody have experience with the drive over jacks available at Costco? They only requires a clearance of 3-4" but ony list the car ~17". They have a price of $1k - and given their warranty I may give them a try. Curious if anybody has experience with these, or other scissor type jacks that only lift the car 17" - wondering how useful/limiting this might be.

Thanks in advance

I'm using the BL-5000 EXT and I'm quite happy.

I have 5 cars to maintain. The EXT version is a bit longer and I'm really glad I bought it because it's been perfect for my other cars. For my '83 I have to move it inboard anyway so the extra length isn't a big deal. I have A/C so I typically remove a bracket on the left front and move one of the A/C hoses out of the way. It would probably be ok but just in the spirit of not taking chances.

I've used it with several friends' cars too. 996, 997, Boxster 986 Spyder, Cayman. It's a little trickier with the shorter wheelbase 996 & 997. We also did an engine drop on another '83 911SC. We ended up needing a little extra height but it was manageable.

[sigchuck]

Tim, would someone buying it primarily to help with an engine drop be disappointed? The rear bumper looks easy enough to remove (at least in Bentley's), but what about maneuvering the engine out, etc.?

Thanks!

[Sboxin]

We use the 3500XL and have done several engine drops - because race car . . .
Like others have said - a lot of advantages to the Quick Jack system - we have taken it to the track also . . .

Regards,

[acme911]

How are engine drop guys getting the clearance?

[seafeye]

I see it listed at $1199.00. Do they ever go on sale?

[Locker537]

What jack/contact points are people using with these on their classic 911??

[Sboxin]

Originally Posted by Locker537

What jack/contact points are people using with these on their classic 911??

Looking for feedback from QuickJack users


Post #7 has a good diagram - we use points C and D . . . and also use 2 pieces of wood in the front to spread the load . . .


Tips for engine drop clearance -

Remove rear bumper and lift rear a little higher than front (we use more rubber blocks in the rear) - - we use a HF motorcycle jack with 24" plywood and drop on the headers . . . it helps a lot to have someone handling the transmission end of the drop to get the shift rod out of the tunnel safely . . .

Regards,

[Locker537]

Originally Posted by Sboxin

Looking for feedback from QuickJack users


Post #7 has a good diagram - we use points C and D . . . and also use a piece of wood in the front to spread the load . . .



Tips for engine drop clearance -

Remove rear bumper and lift rear a little higher than front (we use more rubber blocks in the rear) - - we use a HF motorcycle jack with 24" plywood and drop on the headers . . .

Regards,

Thank you!

[uwanna]

Originally Posted by seafeye

I see it listed at $1199.00. Do they ever go on sale?

Costco puts them on sale @ $1000 on a frequent basis. If you get their
sale emails you will see it periodically every couple of months or so.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by sigchuck

Tim, would someone buying it primarily to help with an engine drop be disappointed? The rear bumper looks easy enough to remove (at least in Bentley's), but what about maneuvering the engine out, etc.?

Thanks!

We took the rear bumper off.

The problem we ran into was the ATV jack had a limit on how low it would go and we needed just a hair more to clear the engine getting it out. We ended up using a floor jack to put a 4x4 under the rear lift points for just a hair more clearance.

I haven’t seen it done with the SUV accessories but I imagine it would be perfect.

We were using 2x6’s across the ATV pads to line up with the heat exchangers. I’d like to fab something out of metal to do the same thing but be thinner.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by Locker537

What jack/contact points are people using with these on their classic 911??

What I like to do is to use a slotted hockey puck on top of the rubber QJ blocks. That way I can put it right on the pinch weld seam. Someone found a different block with slots pre-cut and were a little taller. Maybe it was on Amazon.

The rear jacks points are right below the torsion bars and the front are just behind the front wheels.

Once you do it a couple of times you quickly get the hang of it. First couple of times is making adjustments and making sure the ramps clear the tires.

The 911 takes the longest to set up of all my cars. The other cars have obvious lift points that makes it much less hassle. I can get a car up in the air really fast. Now I can do brake work, tires rotations and oil changes so much faster. It’s not the hassle it used to be. One of the best investments I’ve ever made.

[Mark Salvetti]

Originally Posted by tirwin

What I like to do is to use a slotted hockey puck on top of the rubber QJ blocks. That way I can put it right on the pinch weld seam. Someone found a different block with slots pre-cut and were a little taller. Maybe it was on Amazon.

I think these are the slotted pucks. I have a set, but haven't gotten around to using them yet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JTHHBXI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mark

[acme911]

Even though my roller seat has a tray I like using one of these. Especially when doing brake work.Great companion to the Quick Jack.

https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-creeper-56155.html

[tirwin]

A couple of other points worth noting.

All my other cars are front-engine so obviously that's where the weight is. With the 911 you need to flip the ramps around so that the lifting strength is in the rear.

The way I remember it is that the pistons should always point towards the engine.



The shorter QJ would be less useful for my other cars. Maybe I just happen to have long wheelbase cars, but the longer one (EXT) has been perfect. I think it's better to have the longer than the shorter.

This link on the QuickJack website may be helpful in choosing:
https://www.quickjack.com/quickjack-measuring-guide.html

[tirwin]

Here's a couple of pics of us getting ready to put the motor back in using the QuickJack.




The motor had been rebuilt less than 10,000 miles ago. Several oil leaks were not addressed by the rebuilder and there were lots of brittle vacuum lines. The big culprit was the case defect that Porsche issued the TSB on. It would've been so simple to do when the engine was out for the rebuild! Sometimes I just shake my head.

We fixed all the stuff that should've been done the first time and then immediately left for a 800-mile shakedown trip. Didn't leak a single drop of oil!