M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: gravyface on July 03, 2010, 01:18:04 PM
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Bought a nice heavy-duty 3-ton floor jack; tried it out today, have a couple of questions:
1. when you're lowering the floor jack, you're supposed to "SLOWLY" turn counter-clockwise to lower the car. However, it seems like there's only one speed: quick! Once you feel it release, it just goes down -- you can brake by turning clockwise again, but if there's not much distance (like lifting halfway up to change a tire or whatever), you'd need to be a ninja master with cat-like reflexes to stop it. Obviously I'm doing something wrong.
2. secondly, there's a foot pedal that I have no idea what it's for; the manual doesn't mention it either.
Thanks guys
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1) bring the jackstand up to the car, not the car to the jackstand.
2) no idea either, post pics?
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The foot pedal is likely a quick lift pedal. Press it down, and it will raise the jack up to the surface you want to lift. It won't lift any real weight, but it's a nice feature.
You may have gotten a cheap on, or one with a crappy valve. If it's too much of a pain, junk it.
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1) bring the jackstand up to the car, not the car to the jackstand.
Ah ok, so raise the car past the jackstand's (optimal height - 1) notch, and then notch the jackstand up as high as it can go, release the jack?
2) no idea either, post pics?
It does raise it, just without any weight -- handy to get it up to where you need it quickly.
I have been playing with it a bit more with my wifey kindly providing some weight (had to tread carefully here with "weight" and "wifey" in the equation) and as long as I don't crank it clockwise (closed), it does release alot smoother and lower easier.
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glad it seems you got everything figured out :)
ahaa and try not to use the wife and weight in the same sentence. lol