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How Does A Floor Jack Work?

Updated on June 27, 2021 by David D. Brinson

Floor jacks are available in various sizes and shapes. The versatility of floor jacks makes them ideal for helping to lift heavier things, including a car, a van, and other heavy materials like cement and steel bars.

Their various capacities and alloys make them suitable for a variety of uses and allow for easy storage and transportation. But have you ever wondered what exactly happens in the jack that allows you to lift even a three-ton truck?

How do floor jacks work? This question can be answered simply by mechanical force. Powering machinery with this method dates back to around 200 BC.

How Does A Floor Jack Work FI

Floor Jacks | What Are They?

Lifting heavy objects, such as automobiles and construction materials, with a floor jack is possible. A wide range of them exist, each with unique characteristics and functions. This type of tool is usually categorized based on the force applied when it is used. 

Floor jacks have a bottle jack with the piston attached to a joint mounted on an arm parallel to the ground. When the piston is pressed down, the bottom of the arm moves forward, raising the saddle and the vehicle for a lift.

Floor Jack Category

Floor jacks fall into two categories. In addition to mechanical jacks, we have hydraulic jacks. The weight capacity and thread pitch of both types of jacks vary. Let’s take a look at both of them.

Floor Jack Category

Mechanical Floor Jacks

Mechanics floor jacks have screw mechanisms. For lifting the vehicle, the tool’s jack body applies mechanical force to its screwing mechanism. The operation of mechanical jacks is very simple. 

Those screws can be adjusted. This makes lifting objects easier because people only have to exert a moderate amount of effort. 

Car jacks and house jacks are often rigged up with mechanical jacks due to their lifting capacity. Aside from being convenient, they can also be easily stored.

  • How does a mechanical floor jack work?

In addition to being manually operated, mechanical floor jacks also allow you to lift heavy objects. It is a jack stand with a stable base, which you can use to provide support, and uses the principles of a screw thread to amplify force.

Hydraulic Floor Jacks

The design of these floor jacks is more complicated than mechanical floor jacks. Different levers, valves, and hydraulic pistons are used in hydraulic floor jacks to lift heavier loads.

  • How does a hydraulic floor jack work?

Physical energy is used to lift objects with mechanical floor jacks. Compression of fluids is used to power these hydraulic jacks. Hydraulic lifts typically use oil as the liquid.

In the hydraulic cylinder, oil is pushed into a pump (hydrostatic pump) and converted into mechanical energy. The hydraulic machine lifts load off the ground with the help of this energy.

How Does a Floor Jack Work? | Detailed Answer

Lifting objects using floor jacks is done through hydraulic power. With hydraulics, certain things can be moved with the same force by using liquid energy.

Heavy loads are lifted using hydraulics. Heavy-duty lifting is common with these cranes. When you push the handle downwards on the floor jack while lifting the vehicle, liquid pressure is added.

A person can move the piston of the pump by lifting the jack’s handle. By drawing fluid out of the bottle jack, you are drawing the power out of it. As a result, the pump cylinder will be filled with liquid pressure.

Moving the jack’s handle downwards applies force to it. When pressure is applied, the liquid becomes pressurized. the applied pressure.

In this case, the pressurized fluid will flow to a different line. In the main cylinder, the pressurized fluid will slowly fill with water.

The lifting piston will then be pushed upward as a result of this movement. The car will lift a certain height if you pump the handles a few times.

Slowly turning the release valves will lower the vehicle. The liquid pressure will slowly drain from the cylinder with the release valves.

Once the liquid force leaves the main cylinder, it will emerge from the reservoir. Slowly reposition the jack using this method.

How Does a Floor Jack Work

What Are The Components Of A Floor Jack?

We need to know how floor jacks are made in order to comprehend their functions. Floor jacks have handles that connect to yokes.

Once the yoke has been attached to the jack bottle, the piston resides in the main cylinder that contains the piston.

It is the main cylinder that contains the liquid pressure, so it is the most crucial part of the jack.

A release valve and two check valves are located below the main cylinder.  A spring attached to these small balls serves as the check valve.

As well as this, the jack contains several channels that help distribute the liquid pressure throughout. A piston is attached to the handle of the pump just below the cylinders.

A bottle jack is normally attached to the handle of a floor jack and is positioned parallel to the ground.

A handle can move forward or backward on these special joints in order to lift a vehicle.

Types Of Jacks 

There are several kinds of jacks. They come in different sizes and shapes, as previously mentioned. Here are some types of jacks that are utilized at homes and for businesses apart from floor jacks.

  • Scissor Jacks

The screw jack is also called a scissors jack. Personal use is common for this type of floor jack.

The lightweight, compact design makes them ideal for traveling. The scissor jack takes up little room in your car, so it’s easy to stow away. A scissor jack is often used to raise a car or fix a flat tire.

  • Bottle Jacks

They’re also called whiskey jacks or bottle jacks. Pumps that operate on pistons and cylinders are usually used in these jacks. 

If you have a limited amount of space to work with, these are useful. Space is not an issue with this type of jack. The lifting capacity is still 50 tons. This is  common on large vehicles like SUVs, delivery trucks, and 4WDs.

  • Motorcycle Jacks

Bike and motorcycle owners often use this type of jack. Weights up to 3 tons can be supported, but a vehicle cannot be lifted. There is a maximum height at which the vehicle can be held.

  • Hi-Lift Jacks

Often, heavy-duty lifting is done with high-lifting jacks. Heavy trucks, such as delivery trucks, tractors, and other vehicles with large tires, can be lifted. The use of these jacks is more complicated than using hydraulic or scissor jacks.

Types Of Jacks

Final Words

It is easier to understand how science works in such a small tool when you know how a floor jack works. Lifting tools like these are used not only for home use, but also for commercial use. There are a variety of ways to use floor jacks.

You can determine what type of floor jack you need based on the weight limit of each type of jack. Make sure that your floor jack is high-quality, no matter what type you use. Hopefully, after reading this article, you now have a better idea of how a floor jack works.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Floor Jack, Working Mechanism

About David D. Brinson

Worked in a floor jack manufactures company for 20 years, now I like to share what I have experienced in my whole life. Here, in Autoliftjack.org I will help you to pick the best floor jacks and auto lifting stuffs. Hope the best. More about David

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