OTC Racing Jack and Stand Review: Yes, It Is 2.5x Nicer Than Harbor Freight

The OTC aluminum jack stands and two-ton racing jack are an awesome combo for trackside tinkering and wheel changes. They’re reasonably light, they perform beautifully, and they’re backed by a limited lifetime warranty. These are professional tools, and they’re priced as such. But when downtime is money, and you can’t afford equipment that quits on the job, they make a real case for themselves.

OTC is a pro-tier tool supplier for automotive, motorsport, industrial, and other serious-work applications. The name is short for Owatonna Tool Company, since the outfit was founded in Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1925; today it’s a Bosch brand. You won’t find its stuff on the shelf at The Home Depot or AutoZone, but you will see it in racing pits and professional auto shops. I’ve been testing its highly portable two-ton racing jack and lightweight stands for months, and I now understand why they cost what they do: $564.99 for the jack and $153.99 for the pair of stands at Summit Racing. As of this writing, I also found the jack on sale for $539.99 on Amazon (the stands are also on Amazon for $153.99).

Summit also sells the whole jack plus stands kit, currently listed at $749.99.

Of course, “is it worth the money” and “should you buy it” are not quite the same question. But I can give you the context to decide for yourself if you’re jack shopping, as I was this past summer.

What I really wanted was a lightweight (and safe!) jack and stand kit that I could pack into my E46, Miata, or Civic Si (RIP) and bring to autocross and hillclimb events. My home floor jack is a rusty old 70-pound Pittsburgh unit, and I try to resist spending a lot of dough when I can. So, like many of you probably would, I went to good ol’ Harbor Freight and picked up the standard blue two-ton. It worked fine, but to my great frustration, it couldn’t lift my Civic high enough from the rear-center jack point to get both rear wheels off the ground.

I returned it for that reason. While scrolling through the hundreds of other options (many of which look identical), I started wondering whether the huge price gap between pro-level tools and auto parts store offerings actually made sense. I got in touch with someone at OTC, and to my surprise, they sent me their trackside light-duty setup to find out: the LDJA2 2-Ton Aluminum Racing Jack and SA02 2-Ton Aluminum Jack Stands.

OTC Racing Jack Image Gallery

Swipe through to see some glamor shots of the OTC jack and stands, because I’m extra like that.

The OTC’s build quality is appreciably better than every other consumer-grade jack I’ve used, and its specs are a bit better too. With the saddle removed, it slides under cars as low as 3-1/4 inches, and it lifts to 18-5/8 inches, which gave me exactly the height I needed. For comparison, Harbor Freight’s Daytona two-ton aluminum jack, the closest thing in its lineup, tops out at 16-3/4 inches and weighs about the same: 42.7 pounds to the OTC’s 41. Still, there’s no reason to spend $565 just for a few more inches of lift. Plenty of cheaper jacks reach that high if you check the spec sheet. For the casual user, even an occasional racer, the cheapest jack-and-stand setup that meets the ASME PASE safety standard and fits your height and clearance needs will do the job.

Where OTC wins is in professional, always-on environments. The LDJA2 costs roughly two and a half times as much as Harbor Freight’s Daytona aluminum jack, which runs about $220. Both are sold as meeting the ASME PASE standard, but that standard is a safety floor, not a durability ceiling. With the OTC unit, you are paying for professional-grade hydraulic longevity, precise release valving (it’s wonderfully easy to control a car’s descent), and long-term parts support. OTC runs a replacement-parts site and a network of authorized service centers, so this jack is meant to be serviced, not tossed when it starts to weep.

I’ve been using the jack all over the shop—it’s plenty powerful for lifting coupes, but it really came in handy when I was doing my Scout leaf springs, too. Andrew P. Collins

Regarding the warranty, “limited lifetime” means it doesn’t expire, but it’s also not a free license to abuse the tool. OTC’s warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship for the product’s lifespan, which it defines as either a period OTC sets or the point where the tool stops working from normal wear and tear. In other words, it protects you from a jack that was built wrong, not one that’s worn out. Seals and other wear items count as consumables and aren’t covered, which matters on a hydraulic jack. Neither is damage from abuse, modification, contamination, rust, side loading, or using the tool for something it wasn’t designed to do. Coverage applies only to the original retail buyer and can’t be transferred. To file a claim, you need proof of purchase, and if OTC wants the jack shipped in for inspection, you prepay the freight. OTC reimburses you if the claim is approved; if it isn’t, you pay shipping both ways. OTC alone decides whether there’s a defect, and it chooses whether to repair or replace (with a comparable model if yours has been discontinued). That’s far better than the 90 days Harbor Freight gives its Daytona jacks, but it’s not a no-questions-asked swap.

It looks slick, no doubt! Andrew P. Collins

If you want

Source: www.thedrive.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.