Jack for roadside tire change

I had a flat on the way to the river last weekend. I found out the jack that came with my truck isn’t capable of lifting my boat. Lucky for me people are still generous and willing to help out. Guy brought a big floor jack for me and we got it changed in no time.

Anyone carry a jack for lifting a heavy boat in this situation? What do you use? I think the boat is around 3,000 lbs but I’m not sure (19′ aluminum with 175 Suzuki). My 2-1/2 ton floor jack that I have in the garage at home struggles with lifting the boat high enough to get a jack stand under the axle and change a tire. I’m not confident in just bringing the floor jack with.

What are you towing with that weighs less than the boat? My F150 is over 4000 Lbs. The jack it came with Lifts my Bass boat with ease.

Sparetime wrote:

I had a flat on the way to the river last weekend. I found out the jack that came with my truck isn’t capable of lifting my boat. Lucky for me people are still generous and willing to help out. Guy brought a big floor jack for me and we got it changed in no time.

Anyone carry a jack for lifting a heavy boat in this situation? What do you use? I think the boat is around 3,000 lbs but I’m not sure (19′ aluminum with 175 Suzuki). My 2-1/2 ton floor jack that I have in the garage at home struggles with lifting the boat high enough to get a jack stand under the axle and change a tire. I’m not confident in just bringing the floor jack with.

A handy Man or hight lift jack would work well. Just make sure its locked up when your done.

I bought a small floor jack about 24 years ago that I still carry. I don’t remember if I got it at Mill Fleet Farm or Blain’s Farm & Fleet. Compact in size, has a case, and has lifted cars, trucks, boats, house beams, barn beam,…. no issues.
This isn’t the same one, but very similair

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/larin-2-1-2-ton-hydraulic-floor-jack-with-case/0000000008081

I went with an approach similar to Randy’s. Even if your car jack works, they are slow and can be awkward to use as far as finding a safe lift point. I could see there was no way that a standard truck jack was going to be enough to lift our express cruiser’s trailer, especially if it had to come all the way up off both tires on one side.

I bought a bottle jack off the interweb that has a nice wide base and a cradle on top so it receives the axle well.

As long as you’re on the subject, make sure you have a good lug wrench that fits the trailer’s lug nuts. Some of the cheapo compact wrenches out there that I’ve seen look freaking useless if the lugs are on tight. I carry a full on X bones wrench, take no chances I say.

Grouse

Before you go jack shopping, you need to take 2 measurements.

1) how high do you need to go to get the tire off the ground, and

2) how low do you need to go to get the jack under the axle, with a FLAT tire.

Once you know what you need, then we can help you shop.

HRG

What Randy and Grouse said.

I also have a block or two of wood too that come in handy.

A bottle jack would most likely be your cheapest bet. In most cases you can lift on the trailer frame too but I would recommend using a wood block or something to distribute the pressure if you have a larger boat.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I bought a small floor jack about 24 years ago that I still carry. I don’t remember if I got it at Mill Fleet Farm or Blain’s Farm & Fleet. Compact in size, has a case, and has lifted cars, trucks, boats, house beams, barn beam,…. no issues.
This isn’t the same one, but very similair

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/larin-2-1-2-ton-hydraulic-floor-jack-with-case/0000000008081

Same jack in my truck.
I carry a bottle jack too

i went to a junk yard and got a screw style jack out of a later model full sized van. works great, light weight and is very small….. and it was only 5 bucks!

692fisherman wrote:

i went to a junk yard and got a screw style jack out of a later model full sized van. works great, light weight and is very small….. and it was only 5 bucks!

That is a great idea!