Best Jack for the 996

Hey Guys, I'll be changing out my summer rims with my winter ones in a couple weeks. I am thinking about investing in a good quality garage jack and would like recommendations on which jack to get. Also, are there any attachments I need to avoid damage to the car? I don't want to keep taking out the emergency jack for this, plus the idea of twisting a screw to lift the car doesn't appeal to me. Thanks Bobby

I have a Craftsman 4000 lb aluminum floor jack, seems to work ok so far ( the HF wouldn't lift the car??). A lot better quality than the Harbor Freight jack IMO. But they're both made in China so who knows. I know a real made in the USA racing jack, like the Winston Cup guys use, will cost about $6-700 or more.

pretty much any floor jack will do fine for you. professional jacks run quite a bit of money, but for your purposes a $50 (or less) sears or auto zone model will work just fine. i have a $40 jack that i bought a few years ago that works great, and i use it pretty regularly since i do all of my own maintenance on my cars. i'd recommend you get a jack adapter though for it. these sit on top of the floor jack and have the same shape as the emergency jack top does so they fit over the porsche jack site under the car. you also might want to invest in a good piece of 2x6 board about 2 feet long. right now i bet you're asking why, huh? floor jacks can be tough to get under cars so it's usually good to drive the wheel closest to the jack point up onto a board so you have better clearance under the car.

Griot's garage. About $400 but it's GREAT quality

The Griots jack is very nice, but is exactly the same as the Harbor Freight aluminum jack and that one is $200 cheaper. I have the Harbor Freight one, and it works great on my Cab

I love my HF jack I have the basic Alum. $179 I believe. I have had for over a year and it has not let me down. No pun intended....

Just bought one from PepBoys over the weekend. $99. 4" pad height. Fits under my car which is pretty low. Worked great. No more driving onto the 2x4's!

I saw that jack this weekend it looked pretty good. 3 or so people had one in their basket.

A Low jack min height (3-4inches), that has 1-pump to the lift point and that lifts high 22+ inches is really nice. To avoid damaging the lift points on a 996 some type of thin rubber or wood pad is really useful. To lift the whole car from the crossmember near the engine, I do need to drive the car up onto a few 2x6 blocks to get clearance for the jack handle, but this way I can lift the whole rear of the car at once. I use something like this: http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/OTC-1525.html But these look real nice. http://www.ultimategarage.com/acjacks.html

Northern Tool has aluminum ones labeled "Racing Jacks" One of them had the front casters in the form of a rolling pin, and the steering came from the rear standard casters. Looked very sturdy. Hecho en Chine.

SO what is the maximum height that the jack should be to fit under the car? I'm going to buy one this weekend and want to avoid having to use 2x4's and such to get the jack under the car. Also, where can i get an adapter to use with the 996? These comments have been great. BTW, I was at sears and it looks like they are having a freaking tool blowout. I saw a couple jacks for 50% off. Later Bob

There's a 996 jackpad here. Seen 'em a few other places as well, but this is the only link I saved. http://www.wildingeng.com/MainWEiSite.htm

What about those jack pads from Performance Products. They are a little cheaper but look like they do the job. Check it out http://www.performanceproducts.com/P...producttype=20 Thanks Bob

I'm not sure why everyone uses these jack pads. I just stick the jack under the jack points and lift it up. They seem durable enough to me. chitownbob: My car is lowered and I needed a 4" height. My 5 and whatever wouldn't fit. I would suggest you just measure from the ground to the bottom of your jack points.

with a "PowerLift Hydraulics" aluminum racing jack from CostCo. It's MIT (Made In Taiwan) and is reportedly the same jack sold at Griot's which is also MIT. Griot's = $450. CostCo = $279. I know Harbor Freight has similar looking jacks for less $$$ on some models, but I'm not sure if they're all the same or not. No problems with my jack. No jack pad necessary due to the large rubber pad on the jack itself. Very low clearance height. It slips right under my M030. 3-4 pumps and I'm done. The jack weighs about 35#. GL.

I would throw a vote in for the new Craftsman alunimun jack. Its built in china but appears to be constructed much better than the Harbor Freight and its numerous cheap variations floating around. My HF jack failed after about a year. I've already abused the Craftsman pretty badly and it seems like it's going to hold up really well. I paid $169 on sale but you can buy it anytime for $199.