It still new to these cars so take it easy on me, I was born 28 years after my car was built. First question: Does this look like the jack for a ‘54 Ford? It came with the car but I don’t know if it’s correct. I’m not picky about being original but I need something that will work. Second Question: If I use it, will it drop the car on me and kill me? Are these things safe? I notice no one uses these anymore, must be a reason. Last question: If it is safe to use, where do I lift the car from? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The one you show is particularly bad, I think. Most of the bumper jacks had a little hook on the end to keep it under the bumper face. Yours is flat with no hook. Unless you are building a Concours car that jack is better served in the metal recycle pile. Buy an aluminum trolley jack and keep it in your car.
You can use the bumper jack to jack up the car to change a tire, but not for anything else. If you don't ever get any part of you under any part of the car when it's on the jack, you will probably survive. We used them when I was a kid, we were careful and never came to any harm. But yeah, they quit making them for a reason...is it because too many people died ? or trunks are too small now to hold a jack that size? or they cost too much, or weigh too much? or cars just don't have bumpers any more? I don't know the answer, it's probably a combination of several things. and it sounds like there's a bunch of nanny sissys here, who's still man enough to use a real bumper jack?
Bumper jacks were all we had when it came time to change a flat. Keep in mind that some of us drove these cars as regular transportation. Yes I used bumper jacks, make sure the car is on level ground, block the wheels so it can't roll. I won't go into how many times I laid under a car with nothing more than a bumper jack holding it up while I changed a starter and I am still here.... If I were on the road with a flat I wouldn't think twice, I'd use the bumper jack and put the spare on
Those old bumper jacks are great for pulling posts up out of the ground, so they do have a use still. I too have changed many a tire with one back when that was all I had to use. Now, it's a screw scissor style under the car or a hydraulic style, or maybe one of the mechanical screw style bottle jacks like found in pickups. Lots of reasons they are no longer made or used, mainly because there are better choices available now. And you'd rip the plastic right off a new cars "bumper" if you tried to use on on it!
Thanks, I finally got a spare tire for the car and I’m taking the car out of town and need a jack. I’ll see what else I’ve got that would fit in the spare tire well for a jack, Otherwise the bumper jack will work if it’s all I’ve got Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have used them and continue to do for changing a tire. Bumper jacks show up by the late 40s and were common through the 70s. 50s and 60s cars sit rather low. Most have quarter panels that incase the rear wheel. So you have to lift the body up off the frame, release the suspension load and finish by lifting the tire. This can.be tricky with a bottle jack and the smaller floor jacks.
A proper bumper jack for your car would have a hook that matches the contour of your car's bumper. That one isn't safe for any car, in my opinion. Gary
They call them bumper jacks because they're very handy for bending your bumper. Oh, and when they fall over they're even better for putting a hole in your deck lid. hint: always leave your deck lid open when using one of those. Once upon a time [summer of '65] I was over visiting my classmate, Jim and we were getting his 50 ford ready for a double date that night. His older [and wiser?] brother, Tommy ran a 59 bel air sedan in modified production and had it at the curb...on a bumper jack while adjusting the clutch under the car. He'd dragged the spare tire under the car with him [leaving the decklid open] when the car fell off the jack. That spare tire saved his ass but he still got smooshed as thin as a spare tire. Oh man...he screamed."Jim, get this thing offa me...help, help help!" We blocked the wheels and jacked the car offa Tom and I learned a valuable lesson right there and it didn't cost me one drop of blood! Tom limped far a few days and his hips were sore as hell where they met the bottom of a 59 chevy.
Some of the 50s and 60s cars you had to raise the body and the tire at the same time. Pretty hard to do with the short stroke bottle jack. This jack did the job ok. When the car was high enough to remove the tire the jack got pretty wobbly.
They are great if used correctly but as said, the ones with the hook are much safer. I use these in the shed(I have a few) for spreading and aligning frames,squaring etc, and removing star pickets around the property .you don't need the foot mount either, adapt to your needs. A bloody good invention,
There is NO hook of any kind on that jack! It can slip right out from under the bumper. Do not use it to lift your car!
I've used them many times over the years. I've seem them slip and fall many times over the years. Fortunately, I was never under the car at that moment. They belong in the trunk with the wicker picnic basket and the vintage coca cola cooler. Get a good jack or AAA.
That's not an OEM Ford jack, they used a sorta-square tube. Similar design though. No hook on these... Loosen, don't remove the lug nuts until it's jacked up and you know the car is at least semi-stable. Had one fall over more than once.... And the comment about them 'denting' the lower edge of the bumper is true. I use a late-model scissors jack. Can be just as shaky, but usually won't tear anything up if the car rolls off it.
I'm with the guys who have said that particular jack isn't safe to use as it stands. It almost looks like it is missing the part that hooks the bumper properly or was intended or a square flat bumper like a channel iron step bumper on a pickup.. Moriarity nailed it in post 6 in that you have to be sure to block the wheel on the other end of the car so it does not move. I have seen too many of the move and drop off the jack along with moving sideways and tipping over on soft ground. I watched one fall about 35 years ago just after I told the guy he needed to put something under the car to support it when he had it jacked up to change a starter. That was while he was standing beside me telling me to mind my own F%^&*(g business, he knew what he was doing. Outside of falling over if you don't do every thing right and use the correct jack for the vehicle they are also real good at tweaking the bumper as several said.
My jack situation may be irrelevant after all, Here’s the new spare tire This is a brand new tire last month. Have to make some phone calls Monday but it bought it online and had it installed by a friend so I my be sol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That tire looks more dangerous than the jack. As others have said, the jacks usually had a hook to keep them from sliding off the bumper. The later models had a slot in the bumper and a tab on the jack. They stopped using bumper jacks around 1973 when they started making energy absorbing bumpers that couldn't be lifted on. That jack could be an aftermarket jack.
I had a car up on one of those bumper jacks, when I watched it "ratchet down" by itself. Never used one again. I keep hydraulic jacks and sturdy blocks of wood in the boot, might take a few extra minutes to get the car up, but it's not going anywhere when it's up there.
Hello, We used the stock jack for many reasons. The little hook allowed a good grip on the bumper, but, the bumper moved up a little. Yours is flat, so how are you able to lift anything without slipping off? Even if you are on level ground, there will be a high point where the cars will not stay on that flat surface much longer. A flat tire change by the side of the road is always weird with the passing cars, etc. (Only a few were necessary over the last 59 years.) But, on a flat concrete back yard driveway, the jack seemed sturdy. We blocked the wheels and if it was only a tire change, nothing else to have to crawl under that car. It was done only a few times until we were able to get a hydraulic jack. But, a story about bumper jacks...nothing happened over the years we used them on our daily drivers and we felt better when we got a hydraulic jack (backyard use only). The bumper jack was for emergencies only and only if precautions were taken. The hydraulic jack was used in conjunction with steel jack stands so we were pretty safe. Our hydraulic had its own story and we gave the jack away after an incident with one of our high school friends. Our friend was in a hurry to get something done underneath his 56 Chevy. He borrowed our hydraulic jack and jack stands. But, later on, we found out that he had a deadly incident with the hydraulic jack. He had put the hydraulic jack under the rear axle housing and it was up in the air. He did not put in the jack stands because he needed to get finished fast. The tires were off. Of course he locked the hydraulic jack handle to keep the car up in the air. But, crawling underneath the car, he somehow kicked the handle of the hydraulic jack and loosened the "locking" mechanism. It was sad to hear of the news from his dad. We had to get another hydraulic jack and new jack stands as we did not want to disturb the family at this trying time. For our daily drivers in high school and later on into our twenties, we always had a scissors jack in the trunk or behind the El Camino seat. They were handy, cranked high enough for tire changes, but only in emergencies. The bumper jacks were then, just decorative. Jnaki These days, in an emergency, AAA seems a lot easier to call and get things done. Besides, have you seen your jack in recent times in newer cars? In our 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, the scissor jack slid into a nice stow away area in the rear compartment.
if there were a mechanical engineer around here, he could probably calculate the angle that the jack would have to be at, for the bumper to slip off it. But if the jack ever got to that angle, having a lip on the jack would not help....
Found a solution My dad bought me this jack when I bought my house, probably so I wouldn’t borrow his. I’ve since upgraded to a larger jack and this one doesn’t get used. The stand is a mismatch from a friend who accidentally set his hoist down on the other one, with a dump truck on the hoist. I’ve also got 2 pieces of 4x4 and 2 of 2x4, and a tire bar. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I could see enough of that "new"spare tire to see it was a radial, and it is in the process of failing. Read on HAMB about how to find the date code on radial tires and I'll bet a dollar to a donut that you'll find out that tire is way outta date. I've seen them blow when not even in use, simply from the air pressure inside them. Good rule of thumb is no more than 8-10 years old on radials even if there's no visible defects. I just a few weeks ago pulled a set of radials with only 8,800 miles on them off my '40 Ford coupe. All because they were too old. You'd be better off with an almost worn out used tire within the age limits than a "new" tire like the one you posted.
Unfortunately it’s a new tire, Dated 2018, I’ve seen this type of failure before, caused by improper mounting Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
^^^^^^^^^^^ Unless you have some way of regaining your purchase price for that tire, then I'm afraid you're SOL. I wouldn.t trust that tire to get around the block. Just think about the damage it could do to that Country Squire's body if it blew while on the ground.
I use a factory jack from the larger GM cars a few years back. They are getting harder to find but I got this one, this week, for my brother. They can get into places that hydraulic jacks can not fit and they ratchet up much like a bumper jack.
I don't think the jack posted by the OP is a bumper jack. It looks like that tab is supposed to insert in some form of a slot in the chassis or frame rail.
The Jalopy Journal
