The Best Floor Jack for SUVs

Station wagons enjoyed a large following from the 1930’s through the 1980’s until the SUV started to become the family hauler of choice. The OPEC oil crisis in the 1970’s heavily deterred auto companies from producing the station wagon, which was based on a car platform, as they were heavy relative to standard cars which worked counter to increasingly stringent CAFÉ emissions standards that were prevalent at the time. Auto companies started to shift the industry in order to increase profitability by backing the SUV, which was based on a truck platform and not restricted in the same manner as a car platform was for CAFE emissions standards.

Over the next 30 years, the SUV gained a lot of popularity due to their size, perception of safety for occupant, and the ability to cross most terrain due to their suspension travel and ground clearance. Different variations started appearing on the market including two-wheel and four-wheel drive options, multiple lengths, and varying levels of vehicle trim with differing levels of interior creature comforts such as premium audio and heated seats. Chances are you have owned an SUV in the past or currently own one (or more) now, as they are the second most popular vehicles for sale today in the USA after pickup trucks.

The advent of the SUV brought new challenges for the home and professional mechanic alike. One notable difference for the mechanic was the difference in ride height, a design feature which can require less frequent lifting to perform work underneath the vehicle thanks to the ample space between the floor pans and the ground. However, for some automotive work, such as tire changes and suspension related repairs, you must still lift your SUV off the ground. With the increased ground clearance, lifting an SUV can sometimes max out the height of a floor jack before you can raise your SUV high enough to work. As such, special floor jacks for SUVs have been created over the years to address this exact problem.

When it comes to choosing the best floor jack for SUVs, you’ll want to find one with a high maximum height and one that is rated for a bit higher capacity than standard floor jacks used for cars due to the increased weight of an SUV. To make choosing easy, we have pared the choices down for you!

The Best Floor Jack for SUVs

When it comes to choosing a jack that’s affordable and has a high enough height range to get your SUV into the air, we recommend the Torin Big Red T83006 Steel SUV Service Jack. This floor jack is the perfect jack to match your SUV in height and is robust enough that it will serve you well over the long term. Torin also has a longstanding reputation for making value-based vehicle lifting equipment, as well as experience that has gone in to making this jack great.

The extra-long neck will save you time lifting your SUV or truck for tire changes or routine service like oil changes. Also worth noting is that the neck is integrated into the jack, as opposed to just a makeshift extender set on top of the jack meaning it has been implemented safely. We should note that you should never try to improvise a jack extension as this presents an extreme safety risk. Atop the neck, the jack pad also has a clevis design that will help keep solid contact with the a variety of different jack point types to prevent a mishap during use.

The lift range is from 6-inches to 21-inches and has a 3-ton (6,000 pound) capacity that should easily lift any corner of most SUVs or trucks. The body of the Torin T83006 is made from steel and coated in a corrosion resistant red finish. The body features a storage holder for the jack handle when not in use, which is nice as it will keep you from separating the handle from the jack during storage and will save you a few minutes of searching next time you jack your SUV up.

The large wheels on the front of the jack will easily roll on most surfaces and the rear casters of the jack will allow you to easily turn and maneuver the jack as you are positioning it underneath your jack points. Overall fit and finish is good on both moving and non-moving parts, which is par for the course for Torin.

As far as available purchasing options, Amazon’s competitive shipped price is tough to beat for a heavy item like a jack. Overall, the Torin Big Red T83006 Steel SUV Service Jack is the best floor jack value around for SUVs thanks to its ability to lift large trucks and SUVs and it will keep you safe and wrenching for years to come. It’s also small and light enough to pack on an excursion off-road for the weekend and will easily tuck right back in the corner of the garage until you need to pull it out and use it again. We think you’ll be happy with its performance and durability. That said, if you are looking for something slightly different, we suggest taking a look at our floor jack buyer’s guide as this will allow you to learn more about jacks and help you further refine exactly what features you are looking for in a floor jack. Happy wrenching!

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