Jack Failure

[sterkrazzy]

I bought a kit from advanced that came with a hydraulic jack and a couple jack stands for my first car about 15 years ago. The jack is just now starting to fail on me. I had to rotate my tires this weekend and it's got a small leak so it slowly goes back down.

Really the only thing I've ever used the widowmaker for was to get just enough clearance to slide the hydraulic jack under it.

 

[Keehs360]

When a poor, pleb / peasant student my first car had no jack , the only jack I could get and afford cost me whopping £8 ($11ish) from a UK discount store, say about £16 ($22ish) now - and it was almost identical to the VW OEM scissor jack. I was forced to use it loads: changing wheels, raising car to rebuild gearbox (!), repair exhaust, underfloor, etc, in other words likely way more than was intended, it was all I had remember. Anyhoo, where it started to wear badly was the area where the 'arms of the scissor' interlocked at the base, and the teeth started to seperate though the metal was so thin it was easy to bend back into place, the threads I kept greased and were ok. So, the VW jack should be perfectly adequate for the odd wheel change, some home DIY etc, and shouldn't wear too much with little use. As both I and others said though, it really isn't a quality tool (£8 - £16 remember) and if not used much, a chat to VW can't hurt, though they just say "too bad", so poss best to invest in a more substancial jack anyway that will still fit in the boot. How this helps.....

Oh I get that. My first jack came outta a junked Toyota minivan. Junk yard sold it to me for 5$

 

[Corprin]

The Mk7 Golf Hatch has a proper scissor jack..1,100kgs max load (stated on jack data sticker) & jack from the rear points not the front points...

Skoda Octavia wheel jack 5Q0011031B | Used Car Parts UK


The OP's car is a GTD its very nose heavy...
5dr GTD = 1407Kgs for manual, 1425Kgs for DSG unladen weight

Basically its as all jacks have been for years....emergency use only & jack from the lighter end of the car...as in RTFM & data sticker

PS for comparison my car (GSW manual) has an unladen weight of 1354Kgs as per the brochure...ok I've added a bit due to the bigger battery & other things, but not as much to get near to the GTD hatch weights..

Can you please eloborate on what “RTFM” means?

 

[Lth0ms0n]

Can you please eloborate on what “RTFM” means?

It means you should Read The Fucking Manual.

Which my Dad did, last night. Nowhere in the manual for my car (a 2013 ‘63 plate GTD) does it say the jack is intended for emergency purposes and to only use it on the rear mount points.

And no one was under it at the time, nor has anyone been under it when it’s been in use. It’s been used to raise or lower the vehicle and nothing more - when the failure happened, it was in the process of lowering the vehicle back to the ground again following the (successful) completion of the job.

 

[Corprin]

It means you should Read The Fucking Manual.

Which my Dad did, last night. Nowhere in the manual for my car (a 2013 ‘63 plate GTD) does it say the jack is intended for emergency purposes and to only use it on the rear mount points.

And no one was under it at the time, nor has anyone been under it when it’s been in use. It’s been used to raise or lower the vehicle and nothing more - when the failure happened, it was in the process of lowering the vehicle back to the ground again following the (successful) completion of the job.

Yes! That is exactly what I was looking for! How did you know?!

 

[Keehs360]

Yes! That is exactly what I was looking for! How did you know?!

My manual is still plastic wrapped

 

[jimlloyd40]

My manual is still plastic wrapped

Mine too.

 

[Lth0ms0n]

Yes! That is exactly what I was looking for! How did you know?!

I'm sure someone of your obvious intellectual superiority has the capacity to come up with your own comebacks, would you agree @Corprin? You make the (false) assumption that hadn't been done, in the first place. While some men prefer not to do so, I don't fall into that particular category.

Perhaps it's because I'm an IT Professional - something 10+ years in the industry has also taught me being that, despite what information you may have being what you deem to be "commonplace", it's also false to assume that anyone else may also be privy to it.

Something working in customer service for 15+ years has taught me is that, when communicating the missing information to someone else, it serves you better not to be a complete dick while going about it.

Get off the thread, you're embarrassing yourself.

 

[Corprin]

I'm sure someone of your obvious intellectual superiority has the capacity to come up with your own comebacks, would you agree @Corprin?

I figured I’d have to stoop to your level to ensure adequate comprehension. Clearly it worked well.

 

[Corprin]

I'm sure someone of your obvious intellectual superiority has the capacity to come up with your own comebacks, would you agree @Corprin? You make the (false) assumption that hadn't been done, in the first place. While some men prefer not to do so, I don't fall into that particular category.

Perhaps it's because I'm an IT Professional - something 10+ years in the industry has also taught me being that, despite what information you may have being what you deem to be "commonplace", it's also false to assume that anyone else may also be privy to it.

Something working in customer service for 15+ years has taught me is that, when communicating the missing information to someone else, it serves you better not to be a complete dick while going about it.

Get off the thread, you're embarrassing yourself.

Aww the edit.

What false assumptions did I make exactly?

 

[anotero]

Scissor jacks and the widow maker are intended for limited use in very specific arrangement; perpendicular to flat higher grip hard surface. They are not service tools at all. Your user manual only calls on them to be used for changing our a single tire, with the other three inflated tires on the ground. The remainder of your tool kit is there to facilitate the changing of a flat tire, nothing more.

The jacks are lightweight, cheap in construction, and prone to failure. The screw shaft, threaded collar, pivots, stamped cheap metal, etc are all failure points. This is why they should be considered for only emergency use when you have nothing else on the side of the road... and then only in optimal conditions. Your car only has one because pretty much every agency covering vehicles in the world requires the vehicle to be equipped with a spare or alternative to a spare. If they could get by with it, manufacturers wouldn’t give you even that.

I’ve used all manner of jacks, including a scissor jack for track day tire swaps when I was younger. I’ve had two fail. One was the screw mauled the threads and jammed up the thing, the other was a lateral failure that crushed it like a beer can. My hate for emergency use type jacks runs deep, to the point that I had to open my boot to figure out what type I have.

Your life, your decisions, but fuck those things.

an aside: I see @anotero chimed in, I’m sure it was something very helpful to the conversation.

It certainly was. I was showing the new guy around, including the local dumpster factory to avoid.

 

[anotero]

He probably called the scissor jack a monkey or something

Scissor jacks aren't rabid and don't sling poop at others. So no, it's not a monkey.

 

[golfdave]

When a poor, pleb / peasant student my first car had no jack , the only jack I could get and afford cost me whopping £8 ($11ish) from a UK discount store, say about £16 ($22ish) now - and it was almost identical to the VW OEM scissor jack. I was forced to use it loads: changing wheels, raising car to rebuild gearbox (!), repair exhaust, underfloor, etc, in other words likely way more than was intended, it was all I had remember. Anyhoo, where it started to wear badly was the area where the 'arms of the scissor' interlocked at the base, and the teeth started to seperate though the metal was so thin it was easy to bend back into place, the threads I kept greased and were ok. So, the VW jack should be perfectly adequate for the odd wheel change, some home DIY etc, and shouldn't wear too much with little use. As both I and others said though, it really isn't a quality tool (£8 - £16 remember) and if not used much, a chat to VW can't hurt, though they just say "too bad", so poss best to invest in a more substancial jack anyway that will still fit in the boot. How this helps.....

But what was the unladen weight of your car at the time & what was the max load capacity of the cheap scissor jack??..

The jack the OP was using has 1,100kgs max load (stated on jack data sticker) & & the jack sticker states jack from the rear points not the front points...

The OP's car is a GTD its very nose heavy...
5dr GTD = 1407Kgs for manual, 1425Kgs for DSG unladen weight

I've used the OEM VAG "half scissor" type jacks that have come with my previous VAG cars for swapping a wheel, even on my first car I was using it for servicing for the first few months until I got a proper trolley jack, but that car only weighed circa 804Kgs...

 

[golfdave]

It means you should Read The Fucking Manual.

Which my Dad did, last night. Nowhere in the manual for my car (a 2013 ‘63 plate GTD) does it say the jack is intended for emergency purposes and to only use it on the rear mount points.

And no one was under it at the time, nor has anyone been under it when it’s been in use. It’s been used to raise or lower the vehicle and nothing more - when the failure happened, it was in the process of lowering the vehicle back to the ground again following the (successful) completion of the job.

Here is a picture of the data sticker on the jack from my UK 2014 GSW, showing a green highlight for the rear jacking points..& here is also a picture of the relevant section from my UK 2014 owners manual highlighted in yellow regarding the usage of the jack. Jacking from the lighter end of the car ALWAYS places less strain on the jack & it is easier to do...as ANY engineer should know...

I have been driving cars in the UK for the past almost 30yrs & its well known that the jacks supplied in any brand of car are just emergency tools for an emergency wheel change..nothing else.

Regardless of this, the fact your 2lt diesel engine car has a very heavy nose, & the jack has a stated max load of 1,100Kgs, & your car has an unladed weight of circa 1,400Kgs should have rung alarm bells with your engineer father......

Don't blame VAG for stuff that fails, especially when you are NOT using it as per its original design purpose. That's your fault & you have had a learning experience. Luckily for you it was not the case of "he'll never be able to do that or anything else again as he's 6ft under"...

 

[Strange Mud]

Can you please eloborate on what “RTFM” means?

LMGTFY