Audi Scissor Jacks

This may turn into a rant of mine, so consider yourself warned...

Today on the way to work, I had a flat tire. No big deal, right. Put on the spare, and away you go. One problem, though- the jack:


That's right- Audi decided to give me Half of a scissor jack. There's a point on the frame that you connect it to. I did that. I loosened the lug nuts, and raised the car enough to remove the tire. I got it off, and set the donut in place. As I was raising the car, the jack gave way, and sent the car onto the rim of the donut.

A man stopped and had a real scissor jack. We got the donut on to find out that the fall flattened it. Of course, this is all happening at -15 degrees. Go figure.

So, I ended up calling a tow truck. At least our motor club covered it, but I had a hard time explaining that one!

This has to be the worst jack that I've ever owned. It's going on my scrap truck right away.

Can anybody make a real jack anymore? Anybody?

Wonder who in R&D thought that one up. I was fortunate my truck came with a passenger side mount 5-ton bottle jack. Glad you made it through your endeavor relatively unscathed.

I'm getting a real scissor jack for it, and I'll be getting a full size spare. It looks like the rim on the donut was damaged when the car came down on it. All of the corner (It was a front tire, at least), was resting on the bottom of the rotor, on the rim of the donut.

The donut got me almost 2 miles. We were 25 from town.

I'm glad we were all okay. That's the main thing. The tow truck driver was nice, and everything's alright.

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I'd like to see what moron approved that jack. Does this even look like a stable design?


That's not my car, but the jack is the same.

I'd encourage all VW/Audi owners to throw their jack away and get a real one. The life you save may be your own...

Originally Posted by Metalbestos

I have seen some bad jacks , I'm surprised that Audi let that leave the plant .

Exactly. That thing is a liability all day long. What a piss poor design.

I have one of those jacks at home. Mine is just an AC-Delco that was on sale.

I love it! I've used it for most of my repairs- it's done everything from tires to dropping a fuel tank. Sadly, it was at home. I had about 4 jacks at home that would have worked.

I was dumbfounded when I opened the tool kit, though. This is far and away the worst vehicle jack that I've ever used.

Hopefully it's non-ferrous. It'll be worth a little more then, right?

I'm not a person who wears a suit!

I've done many vehicle repairs "on the go". I pounded the starter under my Chevy truck in front of my business once, and have changed tires countless times. I once had four truck tires strapped to the roof rack of the car (It's an Audi wagon).

I'm probably the only person who looks at my 1995 LeSabre, and says that it's "just as good as the Audi".

Me in a suit. Hah! I'm a scrapper after all!

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That Mercedes setup looks nice, but I'd like to see a larger pad on the ground. Who cares about form? It's a jack! We use it for a purpose, and that's it. We don't care how it looks!

Most of the OEM jacks provided with the vehicle are shzt. They are engineered to the last gnat's weight of steel and will work, on flat, level concrete at 25 degrees C. Put them in a position where they are twisted just a bit and down they go.

Consider that in today's world that even having a jack is a holdover from a bygone era. When tires weren't as good as they are today. So given half a chance, the OEM's would not even provide a tire change kit. Or make it an option.

How many people change their own tires nowadays? Us dudes that maybe choose to (or have to) run our tires a little closer to the ragged edge know we will be eventually stopping to change one.

I do a lot of backroads and the little hydraulic bottle jacks, while powerful, don't have a lot of travel. This doesn't work in rough terrain very well without a armload of blocking. I have a floor jack like Mech has shown...I don't trust it 'cause it is chinese made and I'm worried that it is only a little better than the OEM jacks...may fold up when not used in perfect conditions. The good floor jacks are kind of heavy....I use the good old jackall. It can be dangerous as heck if you aren't sure of its operation and stick your jaw in line with the handle... But you can't beat 4 feet of lift and it's ability to be a comealong if you need one of them.


I picked up an older F350 4x4 a year or so ago. Got a flat on some ugly country and had to use the OEM jack 'cause I was too stoopid to follow my own hard learned lesson to throw my Jackall into the box. In the photo, I'm trying to figure out how that spindly piece of OEM shzt can fit under the axle and even lift that behemoth of a front end. And, of course, it is way to heck under the vehicle so is awkward to position and then to crank on.



The only caveat with using a jackall you need to be sure to have a hard corner on your rig to jack on. But there's no crawling in the mud or snow.

Don't forget a decent wrench with an even more decent cheater to bust loose the wheel nuts. And on some rigs I've needed a sledgehammer or heavy pry bar to pull the wheel off the truck hub...they are tigher than heck on my GM 1 ton.

Never very much fun...

Jon.

Originally Posted by matador

This may turn into a rant of mine, so consider yourself warned...

Today on the way to work, I had a flat tire. No big deal, right. Put on the spare, and away you go. One problem, though- the jack:

That's right- Audi decided to give me Half of a scissor jack. There's a point on the frame that you connect it to. I did that. I loosened the lug nuts, and raised the car enough to remove the tire. I got it off, and set the donut in place. As I was raising the car, the jack gave way, and sent the car onto the rim of the donut.

A man stopped and had a real scissor jack. We got the donut on to find out that the fall flattened it. Of course, this is all happening at -15 degrees. Go figure.

So, I ended up calling a tow truck. At least our motor club covered it, but I had a hard time explaining that one!

This has to be the worst jack that I've ever owned. It's going on my scrap truck right away.

Can anybody make a real jack anymore? Anybody?

You shouldn't have a hard time explaining it to your motor club.....just show them your jack. My gosh it looks like a grass-hopper leg.

Remember the old bumper jacks? Back when cars had real bumpers and real spare tires.

The motor club was nice about it. They don't seem to understand that in Wyoming, though, there is no reference point! The tow truck driver didn't have a problem finding the only stopped car on the road, though. The driver was nice and courteous. The people at Walmart did look at me strange- a car with a flat donut on a tow truck, with a set of four new tires in the back of the car. I was going to have those tires mounted that day before something like this happened.

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I know, I'm in a dying crowd. I change tires, change my oil, fix broken things on my vehicles, and prefer three pedals.

I know that most Toyotas will now give you a can of Fix-A-Flat in lieu of a jack, which is sad in itself.

I've used OEM jacks before. When I was in high school, I didn't have the best tires. But, the OEM jack on my Buick beats this joke hands-down!

All I ask for is a real scissor jack. And, a real full-sized spare tire. The next time I'm at a pick and pull, I'm definitely getting a real spare tire- and the jack... from something else.

Stay safe out there....

You would think as much as auto companies are sued, killing and scaring thousands that just want to go from A to B., they would not put liability with every new car. Especially considering one thing everyone is guaranteed to have happen to them, a flat tire. I also equip my cars with the type Mechanic showed. My GF who is not mechanically gifted at all, after having a flat. Says to me the guy who changed my tire for me, was so happy that you replaced the Lexus jack, with a decent jack in the trunk. I told her I didn't replace it, I just added another one, the Lexus jack is still where the factory installed it. She said "why did you waste money then on another jack". I'm just stupid and let her have the last say! A many a person has had a serious accident on the side of a road fixing a flat, be safe out there!

I don't use cheater bars. I put my foot on the 4way and body weight does the work. I might as well use it for something since I burn extra fuel to haul it.