Harbor Freight floor jack creaks under load

[Das Delfin]

My car didn't come with a jack so my plan was to upgrade and get a lightweight floor jack and a couple jackstands. So I bought a 1.5 ton HF aluminum floor jack thinking I'm so smart, and it's even smaller than I thought, so I'd get more trunk space, what a great idea!

My thinking is 1.5 tons = 3000 pounds. My car weighs 3000 pounds. So the jack should be able to raise one corner (1/4 the weight) no problem! So when I tried it out for the first time the other day changing my clutch slave cylinder, it creaked like a mofo whenever I would jack up the car.

None of the craftsmans I've ever used have creaked. I've even felt better using a high lift farm jack on my old toyota (which if you've seen how those work…) with the truck swaying in the breeze.

So I very much want to know is my jack:
a) at the end of its lifting capacity even though the math suggests it's nowhere close
b) the math is wrong somehow
c) the jack defective?
d) possessed?
e) low on oil? I checked and it seems to be fine though


There's a 90 day warranty with HF so if it's defective I can swap it out but I want to make sure a new one wouldn't do the same thing.

Thanks and any suggestions/feedback would be appreciated.

[E30SPDFRK]

They all do that, mine has for the 9ish years I've owned it. Just check the little Allen bolts holding it all together regularly because they like to work their way out with use.

[N2MYE30]

They all do that, mine has for the 9ish years I've owned it. Just check the little Allen bolts holding it all together regularly because they like to work their way out with use.

+1. I usually just keep a jack stand ready to put in position once at height.

[TimeMachinE30]

Jacks creak. Use stands if you are working on or underneath the car. Jacks lift it up. Stands keep it there.

There are a lot of threads and pages written about the HF 1.5 jack. It is a good buy. Definitely bleed the system and keep the bolts secure. Some have used thread lock.

[ncbrock]

I just had to replace my aluminum low-profile HF jack after 9 years. With one full pump, it would only raise the car like a half an inch. I just replaced it with another one from HF.

[DrJosh]

My HF low pro jack is completely silent.

[ST1G]

Mine started to make noise over time. I would do as everyone suggests and make sure all the bolts are tight.

[CorvallisBMW]

It's a HF jack, what do you expect for $1.99?

[PimpinWalrus]

+1 on keeping bolts tight and using thread lock, one of the casters snapped on me one day lifting my car, almost lost an arm.

[ELVA164]

Also, aluminum jacks will creak more than steel ones in my experience.

[LateFan]

Holy Sideways Cortina Sig, Batman!

[LJ851]

Holy Sideways Cortina Sig, Batman!

Now THAT is some drifting i can get behind.

Awesome sig, ELVA !

[animal]

haven't even tried my new harbor freight.. maybe I'll go get it out of the box to see if it creaks.

[TimeMachinE30]

Coupon right now for the 1.5 ton Al. for about 60 clams. Too good of a deal.

[camshaftgsxr]

ive got two of them, im pretty sure they creak where the lobes roll across the pistons