Best jack for working on a narrow front tractor?

Will Herring

Well-known Member
Whats the best way to work on a narrow front tractor? I've got an old school farm jack, but I know how dangerous they are and I am leery of them, and would prefer something more stable/less dangerous.

Say I want to work on my WD... I was thinking either a bottle jack buiilt up on some cribbing or a hydraulic jack (the kind that rolls on four steel wheels and has a big handle).

Is it easier to jack up the front end with a bottle jack and set it back down on a bunch of concrete blocks or 4x4 posts?

Lggpv5l.jpg


What do you guys do?
 
I personally like a bottle with a 4x4 on top by the frame and a custom cut to length large log round on the bottom. If you cut the log round nice and straight it is extremely stable.
 
Bottle jack with wood cribbing and blocking to hold it up after jacking. Never Concrete blocks, ever.. Jim
 
I use 4X6 cribbing and a hydraulic jack. And I make sure I have both brakes locked tight.

Concrete blocks will crumble and it will come down in a cloud of dust. I saw a large preacher narrowly escape getting crushed under a '59 Buick when the blocks collapsed.

I like those old AC's.
 
To me it's not how you lift it but how you
hold it.
One need only to lift the front end about
1" off the ground so if it drops before you
get it blocked up that's not a big deal.
But when I start working on it I want my
blocking fail safe. I always keep an eye
out for free short timbers and blocking
that I use for cribbing and have a pretty
good pile of it.
IMO Nothing beats a good wood crib.
P1010011.jpg
 

If you are going to be jacking things you first need to get your cribbing together. You want a stack of assorted sizes. Mine accumulated over the years. Aa others have said you want to "crib it". As you are raising anything into the air like this you want to follow it up as you go with CROSSED of blocks of wood as UD's pic shows. If they are all running the same way they could roll over. This is a mandatory practice in fire service rescue.
 
If I'm just working on one wheel on a narrow front tractor I just drive the opposite wheel onto a couple of 2x6 boards
or something similar.
 
We use a bottle Jack and 4x4 and
6x6 cribbing. We build decks and
install fences so we have tons of
good cut offs.......so do our
friends! Lol.
 
What are you doing that requires the front end to be up in the air so much?

For changing a tire, a farm jack is perfectly fine. You need to start with solid footing, set the jack straight, and only need to jack enough for the tire to clear the ground. The other tire is there to catch it if the jack should slip. Same situation as if you stacked up a bunch of cribbing and used a bottle jack.

The only thing dangerous about a farm jack is the person running it, and the choices they make. Follow the same rules as you would for any other jack, and they're fine. The problem is people throw the rules out the window when they see a farm jack.

If you're doing more involved work, a more involved cribbing setup should be used. I would still lift it with the farm jack, on a tractor like that, but I'd start with having most of the cribbing in place so all I had to do was slip in the last 4x4 to support things.
 
(quoted from post at 02:22:50 12/04/18) Bottle jack with wood cribbing and blocking to hold it up after jacking. [b:d533c7b6e7] Never Concrete blocks, ever.[/b:d533c7b6e7]. Jim

Never, never, never.......This cannot be repeated enough!
 
I call your jack like most other people "Handyman's Jack"--My son calls them "Deadman's Jack" I have one though.---Tee
 
If I'm only working on one side at a time,I run the other side up on a block and skip the whole jack thing. If I have to jack up the whole thing,I use a rolling floor jack and some cribbing.
 
"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]just drive the opposite wheel onto a couple of 2x6 boards or something similar[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"

Agree.
 
For lifting the tractor I use a handyman jack, then I have two 1/4 inch thick 2 inch angle iron. Bolt this on the holes for the implements or any holes in
the frame. I have a plate with casters on it I can bolt this plate on the angle irons and move the tractor around the shop. I have used this to tacke off
cvphoto4690.jpg

front pedestal, it is solid.
 
Surprisingly, PGH is the only one to mention the danger of using cinder-blocks. 2X on that. Don't use them.
 
(quoted from post at 10:55:32 12/04/18) Yabut...
What if you only have one wheel?

If I had one of those on my place, I wouldn't need to jack it up.

I could just work on it during one of the many times when it was laying on its side anyway.

Grouse
 
Ultradog, I like the Ford 4200 SOS you have pictured. I really wanted one many years to use on our dairy farm.
 
(quoted from post at 07:59:02 12/04/18) For lifting the tractor I use a handyman jack, then I have two 1/4 inch thick 2 inch angle iron. Bolt this on the holes for the implements or any holes in
the frame. I have a plate with casters on it I can bolt this plate on the angle irons and move the tractor around the shop. I have used this to tacke off
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto4690.jpg">
front pedestal, it is solid.

But never never support the front as in werewolph's picture. The support is way too narrow to be stable. Especially with all the weight on those tiny wheels so close together. A split needs to be performed with much wider staionary support for the front with the rear supported by a wheeled trailer jack bolted RIGIDLY to the side of the rear housing, so that the rear can be rolled.
 
I cut four 16 inch lengths of 5x6 posts, then bolted them together in a solid block. Depending which the block is turned, I have heights of 10, 12, or 16 inches. I made four units like that when I had the Case 2470. Very useful around the shop. Note that I bolted them together, not lagged. The bolts were made out of redi-bolt, and were recessed in the blocks.
 
Oh my, thank you for the replies, all! So, to summarize.

1. Never use concrete blocks. Go with wood cribbing. I am good with this. Wood is cheap. And anything is cheaper than a hospital bill (or worse).

2. If possible, don't bother to jack (ie. drive the other wheel up).

3. Handy jacks are evil (I have seen them kick out myself and do not like them, so I am in agreement here).

4. If you need a jack, seems like a 3+ ton bottle jack is the way to go. With some cribbing.

To replace the front wheel I just drove up the other side on some wood, and then just used the handyman to take a bit of "slop" out of the missing wheel side (should've driven it up on more height on the other side probably).

Now looking at working on the front pedestal and was hoping to take the wheels and hubs off to rebuild/repair. But instead of doing both at once, I could always just jack and do one at a time.
 
I use a tall 30" 5 ton bottle jack then set tractors on a steel stand I made just for working on the frontends.
 

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