[Wagoneer]

I'm looking into getting a decent floor jack. Anyone know how much lift I'll need to raise the wheel of an SRX high enough to change it?

 

[n7don_srx]

Wagoneer wouldn't your vehicle's jack be a good indicator of how much you'd need? I'd think just about any commercially available floor jack would have enough lift. As important is one when in the fully retracted position would fit under the vehicle.

 

[Playdrv4me]

since the SRX basically has the ride height of a full size car plus a little bit more, you should be able to use a standard floor jack. For the Escalade I have to use a heavy duty SUV floor jack with up to 21 inches of travel, as the regular jacks wont go up high enough.

An old mechanics trick is to put a piece of 2x4 on top of the mounting point on the jack when you need a little extra height, but its not real safe to do that.

 

[Wagoneer]

Wagoneer wouldn't your vehicle's jack be a good indicator of how much you'd need? I'd think just about any commercially available floor jack would have enough lift. As important is one when in the fully retracted position would fit under the vehicle.

I've used the car's spare jack to change tires before; even with a socket wrench it takes forever to raise and lower the car. I was hoping someone would already have a standard hydraulic jack with height xx" and tell me that it was good enough (or not) and save me the trouble of lifting the car.

 

[Jesda]

Dont know if this is true for Cadillac, but for Nissan, Infiniti, and VW the spare jack is only for emergencies. After a couple uses the thing is prone to collapsing and killing you. I keep a two-ton Sears floor jack in the trunk of my car.

 

[Wagoneer]

Kill me? I wouldn't go under the car when it is supported only by the emergency jack! It's for tire changes. As long as you change the tire efficiently, the chance of it collapsing with nothing mounted on the hub is pretty slim.

I already have the cheap Craftsman 2.5 ton trolley jack, and I can say that it doesn't have enough lift to get a tire off the ground. However, I think it has only about a 15" lift.

 

[Dinger77]

Are you wanting to keep it in the back of your car, or what? If it is for your shop, get one of those aluminum craftsman floor jacks. If its for your car, don't worry about it just use the factory jack, or call Onstar. Its free.

 

[Playdrv4me]

Kill me? I wouldn't go under the car when it is supported only by the emergency jack! It's for tire changes. As long as you change the tire efficiently, the chance of it collapsing with nothing mounted on the hub is pretty slim.

I already have the cheap Craftsman 2.5 ton trolley jack, and I can say that it doesn't have enough lift to get a tire off the ground. However, I think it has only about a 15" lift.

Then you probably need something that handles 18-20 inches. Jacks are cheap, it doesnt hurt to buy more jacking capability than you need?