AKRON PRODUCTS C-79 Floor Jack 4'5"-7'9"

Little higher price than expected but not enough to keep from buying as was needed. I have others as they hold up an outside shed roof. Little oil and care they are fine. I need the adjustment for weather change. Probably not designed for outdoor use but been holding up the roof for over 20 yrs. Littlt oil and paint keeps them healthy.

Perfect for what it's intended for

To make it clear: I'm pretty happy with the product overall. It's about the cheapest option out there and it's plenty strong, just be ready to get what you paid for. The two concentric tubes are plenty strong, the holes for locking bolts are evenly spaced, no problem there. A mildly annoying thing, when you want to switch from a short operation to a long operation, you have to turn the inner tube upside down because it isn't drilled throughout its length. No biggie. Just a feature.The top piece: the threaded rod had its thread dinged up. Not sure if that happened in shipping, or what, but the nut wouldn't travel all the way through. had to use a 60deg triangular file to fix the thread where it was binding. Interestingly enough: I bought 4 jacks and all 4 had this issue. Took about 10min total to file all 4.Lastly: the flat plates to put under and over the jack to distribute load: they are way too thin. Looks like 11 gauge (~1/8"). For the bottom piece it doesn't matter that much because the dimple fits inside the tube. However, the threaded rod on top provides a highly concentrated load on that plate, bending the "dimple" inside out, so only on the first lift you have it working nicely. Ever after you have the center of the threaded rod hit the load on top first, and as you turn it and start picking up load, it will "walk" around, which is annoying. But again: that's really the only truly annoying thing. The initial filing of the threads or having to flip the inner tube... that's really nothing.I thought I would have to use a hydraulic jack and a 4x4 to lift the floor and only use these jacks as adjustable stands. I was pleasantly surprised that with a ~12" long 7/8" wrench I was able to create enough lift to do the whole job without a hydraulic jack. I will be using these jacks for a few more projects and I'm happy with the value. Just be ready to deal with the flimsy top plate and have a file on hand to fix the thread before the first use.

I was much pleased with instructions and performance. Very easy to use.

Needed a bit of extra support for a 24’ span on my carport. Just for a little insurance, I installed one at the 12’ point and a couple minutes for the install, done! Excellent’

For C-79 adjustable range of 54" to 93"OD of outside tube: 2.5"OD of inside tube: 2.25"Tube wall thickness: 0.070" (15 gauge is 0.0673" and 14 gauge is 0.0747")End plate thickness: 0.085" (13 gauge is 0.897")Jack screw thread: 1-8 (1" nominal diameter by 8 threads per inch)Quality: Unusable - The jack screw nut (round threaded disc) would only thread 2" (should be 4.5”) before binding. After around one hour of filing the damaged threads with a Swiss pattern slitting file (the coarsest thread file I have is 9 tpi), I was able to get the nut to screw a little over 2.625" without binding. The screw is made of a soft gummy steel, maybe 12L14 or 1018 (I didn't do a spark test), not a good alloy steel.I do not believe that the embossed area of the 0.085” plate can withstand the 11,350 lb minimum load, let alone the 18,000 lb maximum rating without flattening out. This would cause the boss on the end of the jack screw that protrudes through the hole at the apex of the embossed area of the plate to dig into the joist making it much harder to turn the screw. This coupled with poorly machined threads could be why people are having problems with the nut spinning on the end of the tube while turning the screw.The plates need to be deburred. They have razor sharp edges.If you are lucky and receive a properly made floor jack, make sure that the flange area of the nut that engages the end of the tube is free of oil and dry. This will increase the friction. Also, make sure the jack screw threads and the shoulder of end of the screw that supports the plate are well lubricated.At this point I decided to call Akron Products and request a replacement nut and jack screw. The end of the threads are purposely pressed in to prevent unscrewing the jack screw from the nut. That would be bad if you could. That is why both need to be replaced. I spoke with a customer service representative who told me that they do not send replacements for defective parts and I would have to buy another floor jack. She, as with all other reps are working from home. Because of this, she could not transfer me to someone in management.So, there is no warranty. They don't care about their customers. In fact, Akron Products, Tiger Brand and Tapco Companies are the same company with different pricing. If you check Amazon, the Tiger Brand listing is cheaper.The only reason I received all of the parts is the UPS driver cared about what he does. He warned me not to tip the package over because the end was blown out and that he had to gather up the parts and place them back in the box.Fortunately, I purchased through Amazon and will be returning the floor jack for a full refund. I, unlike the manufacturer, packaged the floor jack properly.I have decided to purchase the Big Mo version because they claim to use thicker material and it would cost me several hundred dollars to fabricate one with proper materials. If the plates are too thin, I have some scrap steel from which I can make replacements.

The C79 model is exactly what I needed in my garage. Last year I added a 24' composite beam, but after the year, sag. Now cured!

The size was perfect, it was easy to assemble and install and it appears to be very strong.