Quick jack and VM speedy

As far as I know the jack should work if it fits within the measurements of your wheels. @Gordon Nichols @Panhandle Bob I believe they have quickjacks and standard speedsters. 

It comes with a few thick black rubber blocks (to right on photo) that are used to match jack contact  points to VW pan.  You can buy additional rubber blocks from them or use blocks of soft wood.  It can also be used cross wise on the pan.

Cool, so there are jack points? All I remember is the rectangular receiver that accepted the VW jack. I wasn’t sure there were jack points.  Thanks Woolfy.

Richard

For some unknown reason, the square tube jack receivers are removed from the VW pan when used on a Speedster (even though they're shown below).  The CMC assembly manual tells us to remove them, and the cars from VS-whichever have them removed, too - maybe to be more "authentic" looking?  I dunno.

These are the preferred Jack Stand points on a VW Pan (yellow crosses) along with where I position my Quickjack blocks (Red Squares).  If you go much farther forward on the car with the QuickJack lifts you may find that the car is tail heavy (because that's where all the concentrated weight is) and it may get a little tipsy or the front end will try to raise while on the lifts - not good.  

I have also moved the rear QJ blocks back to come up under the torsion bar end cap housings (they're cast iron) thereby moving the QJ balance point further back and that can seem more stable.  I also use those end cap housings with my floor jack to lift just one side.  If I want to use a floor jack at the rear to raise the whole car I center it on the chassis under the center of the torsion bars.  Same thing to raise the front - center it under the torsion bars or slightly rearward under the front beam mounts.

Here is a video I made a while back of the QJ's in action.  Just remember that if you have a swing-arm car (the one shown is IRS) the rear wheels will tuck under at the bottom as you raise it.

Thank you I was getting a little nervous about my purchase of the Quick Jack

I installed some thick aluminum plates under the car.

One is under the rear VW jack point. I filled the space above the plate with epoxy putty.

The other is under the vertical tube in front of the door.  I have a hole in the middle of the plate for my 928 jack. This jack is very compact and light.

I put the blocks of the quick jack under these plates. They are also used when the car is on a 2-post lift.

Thank you, looks like reinforcing  jacking areas is the way to go

Show us a few picts Michael...

Honestly, I own and have used both the quickjack 3500 original and the 5000 not sure what model this one is at the moment.   I also got their large rubber pads, below are the new ones with the pinch weld slots, I don't have those cuts but they are the same size and I can put that on any area and lift my Roadster, in fact we lift a jetta, a Honda Van and a GTI on the 5000 at snow tire time.  Great tool for sure.  

I found that Harbor Freight has very similar hard rubber blocks for jacking systems for about 1/4 of the price directly from QuickJack.  After all, a rubber block is just a rubber block.  You want custom pinch weld slots?   Buzz them out on a table saw.

I did a search on the web and there are other lift suppliers who will sell you 3inch high by 4-5 inch blocks which allow you more clearance as you need to clear the side rails on the quickjack.  Just saying.

Quickjack often has specials on left over parts if you ask.

@Gordon Nichols do you have a link for the Harbor Freight blocks?

3 inch x 2 here..  never used this supplier but seems reasonable Michael

https://www.carliftparts.com/p...g-jack-fj2428-set-2/

https://www.carliftparts.com/p...g-jack-fj2428-set-4/

Thanks Ray.  At $16 a block it as not as reasonable as I would like.

I still would like to see any blocks on Harbor Freight.  When I search I don't find anything there.

Mike, I searched on Harbor Freight and didn't find anything, either.  I know I saw them in the store last visit, but that was something like May.  Sorry - My bad.

I searched Amazon and got these hits:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rub...amp;ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I installed a few new cedar fenceposts this summer and now have a set of wooden blocks, all 5" X 5" X 5" that I place in the tray on the lift, then put the rubber blocks on top of those.  Everything seems stable and I get 5" more height on the car.  I always put jack stands under the car after I get it up in the air, just to be safe.

Harbor Freight's website is sometimes REALLY hard to find stuff. I looked and only found rubber pads that fit the top of jackstands for $9 a pair.

I'm not trying to be a smart-alec, and this is an honest question:

What is the point of these Quick Jacks? I went to the website because you guys keep talking about them. The lift capacity is about that of a $200 long-frame floor-jack (which will do 24" easily), and high-lift jack-stands are good for 30" all day long. If all you want to do it barely get the wheels off the ground, how is this a lift? Even on the website, they are selling this as a (better?) replacement for a floor-jack, not as a lift.

I've got an old HF long-frame floor-jack that lifts 30", and a set of HD high-lift stands that go to 30+". Neither are on the site any more, but I think I've got less than $200 in the entire set-up. A Quick-Jack is $1200+. For another $300, you could have a honest to goodness 2-post lift.

What am I missing?

What your missing is the ease of using these things and the portability of the units also if you wanted to track your car and needed to get under you could bring the hydraulic pack, if you get a battery operated one.

I agree that a Jack and jack stands could do or if you have the space get a two post and fully install it and it would be the cats meow in a larger garage.

So in the end, it's just another solution but it only takes 15 secs to get your car up and even less going down.  Putting them away is a piece of cake.

It works for me.

@Gordon Nichols thanks for your reply. I may not be going to Harbor Freight soon. My wife was complaining today about how many trips out I have been making recently.  Until 2 or 3 weeks ago I could count on my fingers how many times I had gone beyond the end of my driveway. Lately, I have been visiting Lowes and the hardware store. I have even made secret stops at the fast-food drive-thrus.

I have spent a lot of my work life in crawl spaces, at ground level inside and outside of houses running wires. In utility rooms in businesses doing same. I'm not overly fond of doing things on my knees(insert crass joke here). The knees are ok, and don't need replacing, but they're a definite wear item for me.

I prefer to either sit, lay on a creeper, or stand when working on the cars.

That's why I'm with Stan on the Quickjack "why" question.

My HF lift goes up 48" if I had the ceiling, but even with the height I've got I'm STANDING for most work. I got my lift delivered for $1300 all in, including tax and freight. Plus it picks up to 6000 pounds. No installation other than a 220v outlet.

No, I can't take it to the track with me, but other than that disadvantage I'm good.

Ray, you must really have a hard time with the Quickjack since you're tall and bending down low to work on your IM.

Danny, in reality with a nice rolling seat the wheels are at the right height to work on them and I can even do under dash work easier with the car at a 22inch height as I can get out from under the steering wheel.  Losing weight helped too  

FYI, I bought my first Quickjack for $825 and picked it up in Ogdensburg NY.  

A scissor jack is really nice at 48 inch, I am not saying it isn't but at the time it was not on my radar and the QJack has more than paid for itself.  I have a lot of cars to do winter summer tire changes and just tabulating the savings for one year of install and storage, it saves me one QJack in value yearly, go figure.  I also so far have not done any engine dropping and do not plan to do any at this point.

My garage I built in 2014 is 9 feet on the main and then the loft is 7&1/2 feet.  I know I should have built the ceiling higher but I had local height restrictions.  In the meanwhile you guys got me thinking that If I ever want my daily drivers to go into the garage I could modify my loft to allow the car to go to the second floor so to speak and get a 4 poster for the IM>

It is a heated garage so I don't like putting in a salt filled car in a heated garage for obvious reasons.

Anyway, so many choices but a man who has a real big garage 40x30 or more should have true garage equipment for sure.

PS.  If you do a lot of work with your hands up would that not be an issue as well ?

Ray, with regards to "hands up", I set the car at whatever height is comfortable. Even working on the Spyder engine is easier, being able to raise the car so the engine is at waist/elbow level, with the clamshell open. I agree with you about working under the dash, any height off the ground helps.

My garage is 19 x 19 feet, so size "small", with a 7 foot ceiling. I have put two cars in there(Audi allroad and the Spyder) and a snowblower, but it was TIGHT. Now I keep the Spyder in my enclosed trailer and the Cayman in the garage or vice-versa and there is plenty of elbow room.

The Quickjack seems about perfect for what you do with it. I just need more height, probably because the Spyder is smaller and lower and my knees are worse. Plus my concrete isn't as smooth as yours, mine is 70 years old and rough in spots. Sometimes my mechanic's seat and creeper get stuck in the rough.

“ I know I should have built the ceiling higher but I had local height restrictions.”

True story:  We built a house in town, but the lot sat on top of the town line between two towns with the 2-car garage’s far wall closest to the town line.  Before I built my speedster I needed to add a third bay to the 2-car garage, so I sent the paperwork to the town building inspector for a building permit but was told that the third bay would be in the other town so THEY had to approve it.  If you stood on the street looking over the town line marker (a 4’ tall granite post leaning at a 60° angle from being there for 200 years) and had an accurate map showing the track of the town line I could see where the confusion came from.  I didn’t agree with it, but could see it.

Anyway, the town of Grafton told me it was in Westborough, and Westborough told me it was in Grafton.  After fighting both for four months I finally thought, “ What the Hell”, and just started building because both building inspectors thought it was the other guy’s jurisdiction.

So, I dropped the floor 18” from the 2-car side (it was sitting on a slight downhill slope anyway) and that let me have an 11’ ceiling height, thinking I might have a lift one day.  I also added two 6” X 12” multilam carrying beams in the ceiling for a future carrier for a rolling chain falls to let me pull an engine (or anything else) upward, roll the carriage away from the car and drop the engine down to floor level anywhere in the garage. I had 220 volts out there for anything needed, way more fluorescent lighting than I ever needed and an oil fueled hot air furnace.  Little of this stuff ever got officially inspected and whenever I mentioned to the Grafton assistant inspector that maybe he aught to take a peek at something he would always tell me “The ‘big guy’ says it’s Westborough’s problem”.  

It was a great shop.  Not quite as finished as my current shop, but it had awesome heat, tons of light and as far as both towns are concerned, it was in the other town......

Sometimes, Gordon, things do work out.

@Stan Galat posted:

I'm not trying to be a smart-alec, and this is an honest question:

What is the point of these Quick Jacks? I went to the website because you guys keep talking about them. The lift capacity is about that of a $200 long-frame floor-jack (which will do 24" easily), and high-lift jack-stands are good for 30" all day long. If all you want to do it barely get the wheels off the ground, how is this a lift? Even on the website, they are selling this as a (better?) replacement for a floor-jack, not as a lift.

I've got an old HF long-frame floor-jack that lifts 30", and a set of HD high-lift stands that go to 30+". Neither are on the site any more, but I think I've got less than $200 in the entire set-up. A Quick-Jack is $1200+. For another $300, you could have a honest to goodness 2-post lift.

What am I missing?

Stan. I've been asking that question ever since I saw the first person post about how cool his new Quick Jacks were. I asked him if he'd ever used a two post lift and he was flabbergasted to find he could have had one, with a 72" lift, for $300 more.  

Meanwhile, just got a text from my friend who said he was "almost done."

Not a big fan of four-posters, but this is mostly a storage solution, and Rick told me the rails have jacking point attachments that attach to the rails and get the wheels 3"-4" off the deck.

Danny,  I agree with you that being able to lift the car to a comfortable work height certainly make for a more pleasant experience.  Speaking of making things easy, have you tried using an oil extractor?  It sure makes doing oil changes a quick thing especially if your filter happens to be a cartridge filter under the hood like on our VW GTI.    We can do one in less than 10 mins.

Wow, nice storage unit with 4 posters

@dlearl476 posted:

Stan. I've been asking that question ever since I saw the first person post about how cool his new Quick Jacks were. I asked him if he'd ever used a two post lift and he was flabbergasted to find he could have had one, with a 72" lift, for $300 more.  

Meanwhile, just got a text from my friend who said he was "almost done."

Not a big fan of four-posters, but this is mostly a storage solution, and Rick told me the rails have jacking point attachments that attach to the rails and get the wheels 3"-4" of fun he deck.

A 4 post lift with a pair of bridge jacks is probably the most versatile lift system available.  Can be used for storage or work. Drive on, lift up, then lift the front or rear independently.  Completely clear underneath for engine or trans work.  The runners are excellent to hold tools while working.

@LI-Rick posted:

The runners are excellent to lose 10mm sockets while working.

Fixed.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Anyway, the town of Grafton told me it was in Westborough, and Westborough told me it was in Grafton.  After fighting both for four months I finally thought, “ What the Hell”, and just started building because both building inspectors thought it was the other guy’s jurisdiction.

It is quite nearly always better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

@IaM-Ray posted:

Danny,  I agree with you that being able to lift the car to a comfortable work height certainly make for a more pleasant experience.  Speaking of making things easy, have you tried using an oil extractor?  It sure makes doing oil changes a quick thing especially if your filter happens to be a cartridge filter under the hood like on our VW GTI.    We can do one in less than 10 mins.

Wow, nice storage unit with 4 posters

No, I doubt I'll use that. I have a system I'm very comfortable with. I get the oil HOT and then dump it. I let it drain for an hour, 4 hours, sometimes days into a plastic catch pan/container-thingy. Then after I'm all done, I put the used oil back into the now empty 4-5 quart bottles and recycle at Tractor Supply. My local people are awesome, and I've brought in about 50 quarts at a time. They don't seem to care how much I bring.

My truck, Michelle's Suby and Spyder have a spin-off underneath. The Cayman has a plastic can with a cartridge(same as VW) but it's underneath. No messes are made.

I'm retired. Never in a hurry. Unless Stan, Carlos, Bob, Chris, Michael and I are ripping around North Carolina...

I gave up quarts, then jugs. I use so much Motul 8100, I buy it in 20L drums, and I'm thinking of moving up to 15 gal, if I can find a local distributor. (Shipping would kill me plus, mine just went out of business.)

You can get an "open box" QJ 3500 directly from them for $923 shipped with no tax.  Just need to call them and ask.  That makes the difference a bit better.

Pelicanparts.com has $100 off on the 5000# unit with free shipping and 3 qts. of atf.