Found these on a CL...I have a new floor hoist, but something like this would be handy for lifting a body off of a frame, or using in a pinch. Asking price is $400...anyone have any experience using a portable lift like this? Chris
They were designed to lift either the front or rear of a car/truck. Sometimes called "end lifts", or 'bumper lift". Big, bulky and take a lot of room to store. $300.00 for the pair would be a fair price IMO. Stu
Those look like old style bumper lifts, air over hydraulics. Used them on car bumpers and they work great but I haven't used a pair as a lift. Not sure I would either. 400 for a pair is a steal on those if they work. When they go bad Problem is with a load they quit lifting, near the top at first then Eventually about 1/2 way. At that point a floor jack is way better.
Those look like fifties-sixties air operated bumper jacks. Are they extra high lift or something unusual? The ones I'm familiar with had built in locks so they couldn't come down without manually releasing the locks. They were meant to be used under a bumper so as the car was lifted the wheels would roll so the jack wouldn't get pulled over. Using one under each end (or side) you would have to see-saw each one a little at a time, so they wouldn't get pulled over.
Have him lift something < old car or pickup> to be sure they work and the lock works... if everything is ok buy them .. i've had mine since 1976 use it all the time...
I have two of them. One is a Gray from the sixties. Free, had to replace the big O-ring on the piston. The second one is a Peterson and I bought it for fifty bucks. It has more adapters/arms and a better interlock. Needed a new air switch valve. Neither works on modern cars well. But OK on pickups and the old stuff I work on.
I also have an end lift - they are nice for trucks, old cars with bumpers and if you fab up a platform , can load / unload stuff. They are pretty common on C/L around $100. I just installed a MAXJAX moveable hoist in my garage and like it alot . I got it off C/L for $1,400. It was brand new and never installed. Good Luck, Bill
They were used before my time, but I knew some guys that had used them when I worked for Sears. Do a search on Branick bumper jacks. $400 seems high to me.
They are very popular for dirt track racing around here... Can even buy new repos somewhere Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
as others have said, make sure the safety locks work correctly. AND, when using these types of jacks singly, always have the car/truck level (in other words not on a sloped driveway) & in neutral.....if the vehicle is not in neutral, there's a chance that the jack can tip backwards and flip out from under the bumper....bad scenario. We used Gray bumper jacks...work great, but yeah, they take up some real estate. They don't appear to be using air-over-hydraulics, so If they are 5,000 lift, they'd have to be 8" bore cylinders using 100psi air. Can't quite tell by the pic.
I've had a Walker 3 ton and a 7 ton for some 25+ years and found them to be indispensable in the shop. They have been trouble free with only requiring an occasional shot of oil down the cylinder. The 6K will lift 36" and the 14K 48". Great to have around as long as a little common sense is used......
When I got out of high school in 63 I worked at gas stations and used those all the time. As the guys said, cars back then had real bumpers that you could lift a car up with. The ones you pictured would be great for lifting a body off of a frame. Don
The Gray bumper jacks are handy, I still have one in use. There are similarly styled off brand ones that I would not trust, seems they could tip over easier with a heavy car lifted. ---John
I have a Gray that i bought at auction a few years ago for $35.00 they had another there for the same money that i should have bought also. works great.
As with most tools, there is an element of danger that is easily overlooked. I won't go into details but I narrowly missed a tragedy with one of those jacks. I had the rear end of a mid 70's Galaxie up in the air to change out the rear wheels and tires. The car had come from the north where salt was used on the roads. While the rust did not look too bad, the bumper and its mounts broke completely off and flew trough the air. Obviously the car hit the ground very hard an very fast. I was not alone at the car and you can imagine my fear for those seconds until I found the other person, and ok. Of course, the same thing would have happened with a common bumper jack. In retrospect, there were several things I should have done to insure safety. I probably felt so secure with that big jack that I failed to consider other things that could go wrong. Ron
I used two to remove a Porsche engine ( the car I eventually sold to buy the 53' Merc). Notice there is a jack stand under the cross member of the jack. I do like the idea of lifting the body off the frame....thanks, I was wondering what to do with them now. You have to be creative when there in only one of you to do the job.