What the Best Jack ?

What's the best and safest jack for my 3,300 Kg Symbol at a reasonable price for a wheel change ?  Many thanks.  Bill

Probably the standard jack that came with your van is good enough, what might be less satisfactory is the ground that the jack is sitting on, be it soft or sloping etc. You could have a thick piece of wood which would also double as a levelling block. I would not want be crawling under a van with only a single jack in place though and I'd only use a bottle jack if I had some axle stands available too.

A trolley jack is hard to beat but storage might be an issue.

Someone else's, breakdown guy.
Especially when it comes to getting the spare out...You don't want to be under the thing at all, far less then..

I wanted to use it at home rather than carry it with me.  What tonnage jack due I need for me to lift for one wheel safely ?

If for use at home buy a good quality bottle jack with at least a 2 ton rating and also use quality axel stands

Freelander and I are on similar lines here. At home I’d definitely use a trolley jack and 2 tonnes should be plenty. Axle stands are the best way to block it for safety.

I bought a bottle jack, turned an adapter to fit on the end of the jack an then it located in the lugs in the body as the lifting jack that came with the Motorhome does.
I then found out that with the jack positioned just under the body work with full lift the wheel was still on the ground.
If you get a jack with a higher lift then it will not fit underneath the body work to start with. There may be bottle jacks with a double ram I suppose.
Not sure if it is okay to lift up the Motorhome from the back axle but what about at the front end.

I found the same thing on the VW T5 - to get the range that you need (accounting for the wheel rim being on the ground if you have a complete flat) in a bottle jack, you need a double piston, which makes them expensive. I ended up buying one from SGS, and IIRC it was over £100.

If you're only using it at home, I would go for a low-entry, high-lift trolley jack rather than a bottle jack.

I inherited a 3 tonne trolley jack during the time of tinkering with my Landrovers. I bought a pair of heavy self locking axle stands at the time. At home that was adequate but at the roadside I used the issued bottle jack with a shaped head to fit under the axles. 
A trolley jack is easier to use under a vehicle if only because it saves you crawling underneath to position it and the handle is easier to use. 
One of my mates bought an industrial trolley jack from EBay and had it overhauled by a local hydraulic company. It is big and chunky but will last a long time using it occasionally for home repairs.

I have a piece of thick timber that I place under the bottle jack ,it also stops the jack moving on soft ground and the pebbles on my drive and gives a firm base and allows to lift higher

A piece of heavy duty plywood is substantially stronger than a plank of wood which is prone to splitting if the ground is uneven or soft, an alternative would be to get the tyres injected with sealant then you'd be very unlucky to get a puncture, just thinking outside the box and yes my tyres are treated thus.
Graham

There are Tyron Multibands that can be fitted that allow some run-flat capability.
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These are probably not what you are after but I mention them to draw attention perhaps for others. I knew someone in ASOC who had them fitted.

I think you will find that having a smaller jack that allows you to sit it on a block of wood  will still only give the same lift height as 
a jack which only just fits between the ground and the jacking point.

Relaxez-Vous wrote:There are Tyron Multibands that can be fitted that allow some run-flat capability.
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These are probably not what you are after but I mention them to draw attention perhaps for others. I knew someone in ASOC who had them fitted.

I think they work by filling the well in the rim so a flat tyre is less likely to peel off but IMO no substitute for true run flat capability especially on a heavy vehicle?
Graham

Anyone looked at electric jacks, lots on Amazon such as this......

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I've never tried one, but I've seen some feedback on other forums, which suggests that they may not be very reliable...

The idea seems a good one but, as is often the case, spoilt by Chinese quality corner-cutting. If these were made with top-quality components I'm guessing that they would be £200+ each at a minimum, but the Chinese can cut every corner (and then make a few more quality cuts) and then sell millions of them at the equivalent of half that.

Many of the reviews say that they leak fluid after the first time they are used, and the likely reason is that the manufacturer saved the equivalent of about 10p/unit by using seals that aren't quite good enough...

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A 2 stag bottle jack the one to the left is 2t and to the right is 5t 
I have got the max hight and the lowest to fit into place to jack up a vehicle
This is ok for a wheel change and with stands for safety but would be using a trolley jack for working on a vehicle myself