A NEW CAR JACK SHOULD BE EXAMINED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 31 May 1930, Page 5

A NEW CAR JACK SHOULD BE EXAMINED

NEW USE FOR SPARE WHEEL

If vou have a new car try the jack furnished with it to be sure it is working properly. r '. .■?■'_ Jacks fuijpished as the original equipment are not the best or the most convenient kinds, and it 'may be worth while to get a better one than that which is supplied by the car manufacturer. ■ Don't attempt to jack up a car while it is standing on a steep hill, for it is likely to topple off the jack. Drive along 'slowly fill a nearly level spot is found, and be sure that the car is far enough off the travelled part of the road for safety. This often brings the car over sandy, muddy, or otherwise yielding footing, and any attempt to operate the jack simply forces its base into the ground instead of lifting the car. : Placing a board under it to distribute the downward pressure is the remedy, but boards cannot always be found,' and some motorists carry a heavy piece of sheet iron, large enough to serve as a footing for the jack. This can be kept in the bottom, of the tool compartment, where it takes up practically, no space. If, with the perfectly flat tyre, the axle is too close to the ground that the jack cannot be inserted tinder it, place the jack under the spring, as close to the axle as it will go, jack it up as far as possible, and place a stone under the wheel, as a temporary sup-, port, then remove the jack and there will probably be enough clearance under the axle to give it a hold there. 1 Another method is to run the car l tip on a spare tyre, to lift it high enough to get the jack into place. > The spare is laid on tile ground just in front or behind the wheel being attended "To, as the case may be, and in such position that when the, car is moved ahead or backwards under power the damaged tyre will climb up on to the spare tyre, but the position of the spare must not be such as to encroach upon the space where the jack is to be set. Someone may have to stand on the spare to keep it from being pushed out of place. With large balloon tyres a jack must be capable of a very high lift to bo effective, and no old-fashioned one is serviceable for use with the modern nar.