True, but the sprinter jacks are only designed for one or two tyre swaps in their life, they aren't really designed for much more....

An awful lot of them were removed from sprinters by some fleets to discourage people trying to self change the tyres at the side of the road. When a recovery company pops along to do the job have you ever seen them use anything rated at less than 3.5t?

The sprinter jacks idea came from the disco forum and i said back then i wasn't really ready to trust one as dont forget the LR jack is rated the same. Low and behold a little down the line and stories of them failing are coming out on that forum as well.. Dont get me wrong they may not be 'bad for the money' but my 20t jobby was the same money and has done me proud and only leaked when it was unknowingly knocked over in the garage and still performed well after that and only needs a hydraulic oil topup to resolve it not being able to reach full height...

Just my two pennyworth though  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

when i managed a tyre depot we used sprinter jacks regularly [on council grass cutters] so they can be used more than a few times.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Sprinter jacks are rated higher than FFRR ones anyway Stan. IIRC they are a standard item which is designed to lift the corner or the largest Sprinter when fully laden. that's a lot more than a Rangie weighs.

Even so, I'm with Pleb there. Hydraulic trolley jacks are my personal preference, the 3, 5 or 10T ones which are designed for years of continuous use. I recall looking disparagingly at my Mum's Triumph Spitfire scissor jack and thinking that it was the most unsuitable thing I've ever seen for lifting a car. That opinion hasn't changed in 40 years. Scissor jacks are nothing but dangerous IMHO.

I don't have a Sprinter item so can't comment, but I do carry a 5T bottle jack in the car in place of the standard item. Why anyone would consider a bit of pressed steel was adequate to lift a 2.5T vehicle beggars belief really.

The sole reason most fleet remove the jacks (and often the spare wheels) is liability.

If staff go changing wheels and the vehicle topples over or the wheel nuts fall off and cause an accident the company would be held liable. Any risk assessment would say the employer has to provide training and refreshers for their staff in how to change a wheel. It's cheaper just to pay a contractor to come and change the wheels.

The reason a recovery company is going to have a very high capacity jack is obviously because they don't know what they're going to have to attend. They could be called out to a 7.5tonner or larger, no point turning up with a 2t jack and not being able to do anything. Also if you have a dedicated service van lugging a 3.5t workshop jack around isn't an issue. Lugging the same thing around in the boot of your car all the time is just ridiculous for day to day motoring.

The sprinter jacks are very good quality jacks, they're sold by Webber Hydraulic in the aftermarket, you can actually get the generic Chinese made 3t bottle jacks much more cheaply, but i know which jack i'd rather use. But either way if it's in your boot for wheel changes, it's what it's designed for, so what's the problem?

Scissor jacks are cheap, that's the only reason they're included and i'd much rather use a hydraulic jack. But saying a small number of sprinter jacks have the seals fail, can be applied to ANY hydraulic jack. That's why you never working under a car just supported by a jack (lets face it we've all done it!)

Yes seals can fail but so can scissor jacks

Hence me pointing out the disco history as whats the point in replacing something known to fail with something else known to fail? FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Rather different failure rates though KP.

Maybe due to not so many on there using them as the scissor jack and their age being younger than the std jack? FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Exactly! ANY JACK can fail.

But the failure rate on hydraulic jacks including the sprinter jacks is very very small.

By the logic you're using what was the point in replacing the standard jack with your 20t one? They're known (like all hydraulic jacks) to fail on occasion too.

I mean i once had a trolley jack that failed, you could lift with it, but it wouldn't stay at full height and eventually it stopped lifting at all. But i wouldn't say there's no point replacing the bendy scissor jack with a trolley jack.

My personal choice more than anything and yes it could fail but its LESS likely to fail as its nowhere near as stressed lifting vehicles as the sprinter or trolley jack is

Its up to each individual to asses the risks themselves. Me, i chose a lesser risk IMO

Also it has a 3 stage lift, spin adjustable top so i can extend it even before i start lifting and get the whole front or rear end in the air on most vehicles without issue and with kit in them  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Of course it's your personal choice. I just don't see a problem with the 3 tonne sprinter jacks, lifting at worst 1.5 tonnes of Range Rover (you're never going to lift the entire car off the ground).

The sprinter jack is still far less likely to fail than the flimsy land rover one. The only reason people are recommending them is they're very good quality jacks and in plentiful low cost supply.

The older sprinter jack i've had as a workshop tool, is 15 years old now and i've used and abused it for all sorts, not just on cars. Still works fine - i think if they were weak it would have died by now.

Everyone has their own choice

But i dont think it will work here...

Click image to enlarge

one of the advantages of the sprinter jack is they also have a high lift, but no they probably wouldn't be any more useful than your own in those situations.

The one in your link doesn't look bad, but doesn't say if it has TUV approval (German version of a BS mark.) or anything on it. The Sprinter one does.

I got my sprinter 2.6t jack today off EBay, it's
like new and works like a dream. Even with
the deployable steps. Thanks for the advice
everyone.
Gary

 MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Well you live and learn. Managed to kerb one of my brand new alloys on Tuesday so I devised a plan to replace it with the spare and then have it repaired. Having seen the warnings re the LR supplied jack on here I was a little wary but I thought if I was careful to follow the safety rules how hard can it be to do a quick change of one wheel. First problem is getting the spare wheel and tool kit out of the underfloor storage area, I hadn't realised how heavy one of these 22" wheels is even using the sling device supplied by LR it is quite a task to get it out but managed in the end. Tool kit and chocks are stored next to the compressor and are easily accessible, not so the jack, this is stored as far away from human hands as is physically possible, you have to climb onto the lower half of the tailgate with legs waving in the wind to reach it and remove it, replacing it behind the rubber straps which hold it is a whole new experience which really requires three hands. Disable the side steps, jack in place and nuts freed off ready for a quick change and away we go. Not so I'm afraid, operating the jack beyond taking up the initial strain is virtually impossible, iam not as young or as strong as I used to be but still consider myself capable of a task such as this fairly easily but the jack is not, as the OP suggests fit for purpose in a safe manner. This was all carried out on a clean flat driveway on a fine day so how JLR expect anyone to use this piece of junk at the side of the road on a wet cold winter night is beyond me. All packed away afterwards and off out and bought a 3ton trolley jack for safety's sake and peace of mind. Agueroooooooooo. 93-20
I swear you will never see anything like this ever again....watch it..drink it in.

Last edited by Pfazz on 13th Nov 2015 12:31pm. Edited 1 time in total