As a wrencher, I spend a lot of time pumping my Harbor Freight floor jack. Unless you have a lift, a hydraulic floor jack is pretty much the only option when you have to take your wheels off or just get more clearance between the ground and the vehicle’s undercarriage. But yesterday, while attempting to walk the entire SEMA show in under eight hours (I did it, narrrowly), I discovered an electric jack, and I haven’t decided whether I like it or not. I’d love your thoughts.
A contraption with a rather sexual-sounding name, the Roadtek “EJack” promises to let you take a break from all that pumping you normally do to get your car up. Instead, there’s just a simple on/off switch and an up/down button. Hit the up button and listen as an electric motor whirrs at the base of the jack, raising its lifting arm slowly but surely. Hit the down button and see as the vehicle drops fairly quickly, as a hydraulic ram releases pressure.
Here, have a look at this eJack in action:
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This jack actually won a New Product Award this year from SEMA itself. On the association’s website under the “Tools & Equipment Product” category, you’ll see “GarageMax 3T Long Reach Electric Floor Jack (ROADTEK).”
The company’s representative showed off a few different wheel designs (plastic, aluminum, caster or regular) and weight ratings, with prices for two and three ton units spanning between about $350 and $450. That actually doesn’t sound that bad.
All of the EJacks use a standard power tool-type 20-volt battery that you can slide right into place near the top of the Roadtek’s handle. Once the battery is in in, you hit this red rocker switch at the front of the handle:
That rocker switch turns the EJack on, and with the green illuminated you just hit the “up” membrane-button and the arm rises.
The jack is fairly slow when going. up, but it’s quick when dropping. I assume this is because the electric motor is turning a power screw (which is naturally slow) (EDIT: Naw, it’s definitely just a tiny hydraulic pump -DT], which is pushing a piston to raise the arm. Here’s the electric motor that makes all the noise:
And here’s the hydraulic piston — note that Roadtek would not tell me how the electric motor interacts with the hydraulic ram to create lift, so I’m just going to assume a power screw for now.
You’ll see in the image above the previous one that there’s a little yellow tab; that’s meant to be pulled in order to lower the vehicle even if the battery has died and rendered the “down” membrain-button useless.
The handle post itself unscrews from the base via an orange collar. Here’s a look at the connectors:
I’m not entirely sure what I think about this device. Per the representative at the show, a common criticism they’re hearing is that this seems lazy. And indeed, if you look at the comments on my Instagram post, you’ll read things like “Seriously, how lazy can you be? Is their target audience just getting too much exercise?” and “How lazy do you have to be?” The representative reminded me that, before power tools, people were using hand-wrenches to undo bolts. This, she said, isn’t much different in terms of the evolution of wrenching.
One of the benefits of the system is that the handle stays where you set it, so if you don’t have much room in your one car garage-for example, you can just raise the hand to the vertical spot and hit the button. You don’t have to have space to swing that handle to pump the jack.
As for drawbacks, it seems slow, I’m curious about the weight compared to a conventional jack, and I’m also curious how long the batteries last on a single charge. Plus, I’d like to know what the life of the electric motor is, and whether those switches can hold up to serious abuse that’s commonplace in a garage. I also find the long handle — which exists on a traditional jack to provide leverage — to be largely superfluous; just give us a wired remote so I can raise the jack while looking at where it’s lifting from? The Roadtek rep did tell me the motor is meant to be serviceable, and if I had to guess, the battery life is more than enough for a casual DIY’er who probably isn’t jacking up cars all day
The bigger issue is that Roadtek seems to barely exist as a company. It has pretty much zero internet trace, and its website looks like this:
So, whether anyone will be able to buy the “EJack,” we just don’t know yet. But the device has made a big splash this year at SEMA, so who knows. I could folks wanting one, especially at those fairly reasonable prices.
I’ve considered buying 4 floor jacks as kind of a poor man’s lift, the combined cost would be half of even an EZ Lift or similar. But running around the car pumping them all one after another feels like a PITA, so if I could control them all electrically, that would be nice.
But ganging them like I described is the only use case I can imagine. On its own this feels as useful as an electric door knob turner.
Taking the leap and getting a lift was a game changer for me.. I built a garage with 11’ ceilings but even with a garage with 8’ ceilings, you can modify the trusses etc to make it work. Depends on how handy or important having the lift to you is. Everything in mine was around 5k after having 220v installed.
The worst part is then lots of your friends, etc. will want to use it and that gets annoying.
Though it is pneumatic, these things look like a better alternative to this jack.
https://www.vevor.com/pneumatic-car-jack-c_10308/vevor-air-jack-5-ton-11000-lbs-triple-bag-air-jack-airbag-jack-with-six-steel-pipes-lift-up-to-18-5-inch-470-mm-3-5-s-fast-lifting-pneumatic-jack-with-adjustable-handle-for-car-garage-repair-p_010582142840
What does Vevor NOT make??
It’s just another stupid gadget for idiot gadget freaks.
If someone is so out of shape that pumping a hydraulic jack is ‘too hard’, would they have the fitness level to do any actual work on the car after it’s jacked up?
Hell… would they even have the fitness level to move that jack into position?
In my view, they should go all-out in making this completely stupid by making it wifi connected, installing an LCD touch screen and a little speaker that does some useless beeping when in use and claim it has ‘AI’.
I assume you have similar feelings about anyone who uses a lawnmower that has a motor.
Kind of weird how many people seem to think operating a hydraulic jack is something that earns you a “man card”.
“I assume you have similar feelings about anyone who uses a lawnmower that has a motor.”
You assume wrong. I personally use an electric lawn mower.
“Kind of weird how many people seem to think operating a hydraulic jack is something that earns you a “man card”.”
Nope. It’s just that electrifying a jack they way it’s done here doesn’t provide a meaningful benefit and only needlessly adds weight, cost and complexity.
The long handle/no remote is probably to reduce the risk of someone using a remote while they’re under the car. Make them get up before they lower the car.I’m 100% certain everyone who calls it “lazy” would eagerly take delivery of a free lift for their garage. And it wouldn’t be a hand-pumped lift, now would it.This seems like just a fancier version of using a drill to crank a scissor jack.
I wrote that comment as a numbered list but the list disappeared at some point.
Sad pie.
I also assume the long handle is there for rolling the jack around without having to bend down. If it didn’t have the handle, it would be a huge pain to push into position!
Back when I was drifting I’d jack my car up for four pairs of rear tyres in a morning.
Doing this with a scissor jack was ok, maybe a couple of minutes per wheel, but when I had space to bring my hydraulic jack it was no effort at all.
I’ve jacked my car up in a single garage (in the UK a double garage is just for the rich), and if you don’t have access for the jack handle you also won’t have enough room to take a wheel off, I’ve tried.
This is of no benefit at all unless you physically can’t pump the jack, in which case I’m not sure you’d be physically capable to position it and then do any actual work on the car. I’ve tried working on cars with a fractured spine (stupid and ineffective) and a broken wrist (not too bad with a bit of planning) and an e-jack would have made no difference at all.
I don’t mind the idea… maybe even like it. But this is the first thing I thought too:
There are all those little adjustments I have to make to be sure I’m lifting the car in the right spot…it’s always a bit of back and forth. If I had a remote while looking under the car, I’m pretty sure I could catch that small spot to lift the car a bit easier.
Is it a big problem? No… but the 30 seconds I save can go to doing other pointless stuff when I’m changing tires.
Jackie Treehorn – “It’s the wave of the future Dude, 100 percent e-lec-tronic”
The Dude – “Huh. I still jack off manually”
The only use case I can think of is in a small space, like you mentioned. Otherwise, this seems like a solution looking for a problem.
If you can only afford a place with a small one-car garage it is unlikely you have extra cash burn for this thing.
Very much not true. In my area the difference between garage/no garage gets into $500k pretty quickly.
Calling someone who is using a jack lazy seems a bit ridiculous…
Though if I’m honest, the most strenuous part of using a jack is lifting the damn thing. Maybe they could electrify that somehow…
Totally buying the harbor freight version…
What would you like carved on your tombstone? Something along the line of “He was brave, but rather foolish“?
“He died with an extra $200 in his checking account”….
Unless you’re always working in a garage where there’s not enough room to pump a floor jack handle, this is a lot of money and a lot more shit to go wrong for a little tiny benefit.
Sounds very Made in China. I had a little bottle jack, made in China, which lasted for four uses, before the let down valve sent a jet of very smelly hydraulic oil all over the place….
While indeed China has produced much junk over recent decades, they have made massive strides recently and now produce some very high quality stuff.
I’m very much reminded of how, well in the ’70s, Made in Japan or Taiwan meant low-grade. Just ten years later, Japanese electronics became the standard of the world and Taiwan was well on it’s way to becoming a lithographic powerhouse.
It’s just not possible any longer to assume that most everything made in China is garbage. Over the last few years I have acquired some stereo equipment made there that is of astonishingly high quality. Like, they have pride in their shit and it shows. There isn’t any whiff cutting corners to make a profit. Capital is being spent to improve quality, not merely profitability or volume.
All other considerations aside, it’s just not valid these days to assume it’s all junk.
I disagree somewhat.
Companies simply off-shoring manufacturing to China must put strong quality controls in place in order to keep product quality high. This continues to be true.
Some Chinese companies selling their products worldwide have greatly improved quality (think BYD) due to increased govt interest and govt funding.
As always, caveat emptor.
Companies off-shoring to China generally are off-shoring to save money. Which means they’ll go to the factory and say “Build me this $30 widget for 20 cents.” And the factory will say OK, and then build it with pot metal and chewing gum because “you get what you pay for” does not stop being a thing just because you’re in China.
China is capable of excellent manufacturing precision and durability, but they will not do it for peanuts.
This is exactly what I came here to say.
I feel like the accusation is that China “cannot build quality products”, but that absolutely is not the case.
China can build excellent quality products if they’re asked to and paid appropriately, unfortunately that just isn’t usually the case. That’s the fault of the company off-shoring, not the fault of the Chinese.
You probably didn’t pay $300 for it though.
Chinesium? Gutter Oil. Google it.
Some people might not have strength to pump a jack due to disability or sickness but still need to change a tire or other basic maintenance. This is a brilliant idea, my only concern is longevity. How reliable is that electric pump?
If you can’t pump a floor jack, you can’t change a tire. Even if you have a impact wrench for the lug nuts/bolts.
And also I actually like the concept. I think its silly with the long lever on it,but I definitely would buy this.
I would love to ejack all over my garage with this.
They need to add some AI. If they want some of that sweet VC money they have to have AI. The new EJack AI with the latest technology automatically controls the jack speed based on load so it quickly rises until it encounters resistance and then continues to jack your car a safe speed.
And an app so you can monitor the status of the jack, and turn it on remotely from your phone
This post sounds pervy.
Needs an app, and MUST connect to the internet and a server somewhere to activate the ‘license’ (because the ejack is a subscription model after all) and to let them spam you with ads every time you go to work on your car.
I could see this being rather useful in cramped quarters or when the jack needs to be way under the car. Being able to better control the down speed would be nice though.
I could also see a version showing up at those retail-store Christmas-gift displays branded as a Sharper Image “auto-lifter” or some such nonsense. It will undoubtably come with a free 187-piece Emergency Road-Side Tool Kit consisting of a pliers, a screwdriver with two bits, and 183 little zip ties.
I pretty much found that on Amazon just now – the E-HEELP electric car jack. Comes with an electric impact wrench.
I thought I was getting Rick-Rolled but hot damn.
For me, this would be a novelty at first and then the novelty would soon wear off after the first instance in which I’d go to use it and the damn battery is dead because I forgot to charge it!
I don’t see any difference functionally between this and a full car lift -no one is pumping those things up by hand. With some refinement this will be a good product. Granular control over lift and lower speed is a must.
“The jack is fairly slow when going up, but it’s quick when dropping”
Having had close calls with some janky floor jacks with hair trigger handles dropping quickly when I first started learning to wrench on cars I never liked floor jacks. I did buy a Craftsman floor jack, back in the 90s, that worked surprisingly well if I put a large pair of vice grips on the handle to provide a perpendicular lever to the handle for good control when turning the handle because I could carefully modulate the speed in turning the handle and drop the floor jack slowly. (Alas, that floor jack got lost during a cross-country move a couple decades ago; haven’t ever replaced it.) Doesn’t seem like the electric motor on the EJack has variable speed? If it’s just a single-speed electric motor that’d explain the quick dropping? The hydraulic pressure gets released all at once when the electric motor starts operating at its single speed to release said pressure. Pretty dubious prospect, an electric floor jack without the ability to control the speed of the electric motor.
So, if you are going to make a powered jack, why would you conform to the conventional floor jack design?
An electric pump allows you to make your lifting unit any shape you like…
Marketing and familiarity. It’s easy to explain what the product is and how the product works if it resembles the standard design.
You still need a hydraulic cylinder or jack screw, and linkages long enough to raise the car. Your choices are a long arm that rotates, a scissoring set of levers or a bottle jack (which restricts height and lift quite a bit).
I’d rather they’d used a scissor jack because you can lift straight up without having to move either the jack or the car during the lift. Lifting in an arc is a compromise.
There’s a bunch of electric jacks on Amazon that use a telescoping rod to lift the car. It shrinks down quite small and rises straight up.
Would be interesting to use one on a desk chair in place of a hydraulic cylinder.
Airbag? “Ok, I’m only going to show you this once.”
That sounds way more useful.
The lift point on a vehicle doesn’t go straight up as you raise it. It’s on an arc. the higher you raise the vehicle the greater the pitch distance (simple trig.).
Yeah, but it’s a 4 yard arc being lifted by a 1 foot arc on a trolley jack. Those two arcs results in either the car or the jack having to move, whereas the scissor jack means they don’t.
This looks like the kind of product that will be on Amazon (via AliExpress or Temu) in 6 color variations under different brand names like LOGFREAE.
And as others say, it takes what? 5-6 pumps to jack up your car with a normal jack? And you don’t need to be a strongman to do it.
I would be very interested if it had a remote control instead of buttons on a conventional shaft.
The additional safety of being able to look at what’s happening from multiple angles while raising or lowering a vehicle would probably be enough for me to buy it at the proposed price.
I expect a pneumatic jack can come close to being as safe, but a compressor and an air hose is a lot more limiting than a wired remote using battery power.
The convenience and ease of use arguments mean literally nothing to me. Pumping a jack is simple and easy.
This product should be marketed primarily on enhanced safety.
This feels lazy for most people, sure, but it seems like a great tool for older wrenchers who no longer have as much muscle mass, as well as folks with disabilities/chronic injuries, etc. I’m sure they don’t mind that this is appealing to lazy people, though. That’s a way bigger demographic.
To be honeat, if using a jack is too difficult/uncomfortable for you, then I don’t really see you performing any maintenance tasks that would necessitate a jack in the first place. Just my two cents though.
Probably still worth while. Instead of doing difficult thing plus uncomfortably operating the jack, you’re only doing the difficult thing. Then the energy expenditure and aches you would have incurred operating the jack are avoided or can be incurred doing something that doesn’t have a simple labor saving device available.
You could probably fill your tires with a hand crank-powered air compressor, but nobody does that.
I’m torn about future tariffs taking away such innovation and future tariffs taking away such innovation….