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.
The controls being at the top of the handle defeats any benefit it would have for me. I recently had to remove the exhaust from my car. It was up on QuickJacks (highly recommend those!) and used my old floor jack to support and get the exhaust out of and back into place. Maneuvering the exhaust in place from under the car while using my legs to awkwardly pump the jack handle to lift it a little at a time was a pain but much better than endlessly going back and forth. A floor jack with the controls on a remote box with a coiled cable connection would have been an absolute godsend for this work but having the controls at the top actually makes it less useful. Missed opportunity. Maybe they’ll sell an accessory that gives you remote controls in the future?
I do not get this product. The only reason I can see is the one David referenced about not needing space to work the jack handle, but a wired remote would be far superior for that he mentioned. I don’t get who would actually spend money on this. One more thing to charge, buy batteries for, store, etc.
For me the biggest pain with a floor jack is lugging it around into position, having to juggle jackstands onto the correct jack points etc. The actual act of pumping the handle to lift the car is a very very minor annoyance in the whole process.
This likely increases the weight so makes part of that equation even worse than normal and doesn’t solve the worst parts of the process.
To me the quickjack is perfect for my day to day home garage needs. Sure its also heavy to lug around but you only have to slide them in from the sides if you store them on either side of the garage and after that its just one push of a button. I throw my jackstands underneath just for backup safety but that is basically no work compared to properly positioning the stands on sometimes precarious jack points.
The quickjack I got at costco was less than twice the cost of this electric jack. Definitely not for me.
My Harbor Freight 3 ton high lift jack is $239. Don’t think I can justify the additional expense.
My biggest concern is durability. Was the price including batteries? I would want at least two and batteries can be pretty pricey.
It would have been nice if they used Ryobi or Milwaukee 18V batteries instead of having yet another set of batteries kicking around.
Knowing what I know about hydraulic lifts, that sucker is gonna lift at about half that speed when loaded up.
I just can’t see an advantage for this in a home garage unless you physically don’t have the space to swing the handle.
My $150 CAD floor jack has a quick lift pedal that brings the base up to the jack point instantly, and then it’s about 10-15 seconds to full height. The leverage is so good, my 43lb 5 year old can successfully lift a car.
So yeah, neat, but I can’t see myself spending the extra cheddar. I’d sooner save up for a set of QuickJacks.
Yeah, not every damn thing in the world needs to be electric…next it will have a touchscreen. Also, just the thought of this premise makes me cringe: “Oh yeah, I couldn’t jack up my car since my jack RAN OUT OF POWER”
Absurd…
I’d be in except for: the handle..
They defeated the purpose in my opinion by needing the handle mounted.
In my case sure, a low profile jack just fit under the car, but 1) the lift point was so far in, I had little handle swing. So far this jack is fine, but b) I couldn’t always maneuver the jack in place with the handle, and or iii) have room for the “whole” handle once in place. If the handle attached the old school way, and the up/dn was remote (on a cord) this would be far better.
Exactly, this does literally nothing a normal jack doesn’t do and it only “solves” the most minor part of the annoying process of jacking a car up.
Working in a crowded home garage I find weight to be one of the biggest pains with a normal jack and this makes the thing heavier…
Like you said if they made the entire jack SUPER low profile so you could slide it all the way under a lowered car and not have to worry about a handle it would be a win IMO.
The Stancenation crowd would probably keep them in business for years, but what I see is a solution looking for a problem.
Quickjack for the win.
I thought for sure the handle would be backup lift like a regular jack, otherwise why bother with a long annoying pseudo lever? And overall why copy so much of the original form factor? The battery should be on the floor instead of at the end of a long plastic handle
As someone who has spent decades working on cars for my daily bread, I’ll have one of these. In a busy one man shop, this tool could result in one more job going out every work day. That means it could pay for itself in a week and leave a tech feeling less wrung out after a long hot day. And it goes up and down a lot faster than a two or four post lift while keeping most of the electric bits out of the road salt zone.
Perhaps if it was displayed lifting a no front driveshaft SEMA Jeep while the rep said “Tough and Rugged” every sentence, the reception here would have been more positive.
I would be extremely surprised if this raised up faster than a real lift when fully loaded up…
I do agree that in a one man shop with limited lift space it could be useful but in a home shop or a big professional shop with tons of lifts I don’t see the value personally.
When I see things like this, my first reaction is to write them off as solutions looking for problems, but then I think about disabled folks. There might be some people with arm issues that let them turn a screw but not pump a jack. To them, this would be super helpful.
That said, I agree with another comment here, they should’ve gone farther. It should be like a rumba with a bottle jack on top. Maybe a pair that can get under your car automatically.
I have a messed up back, and I would have loved this back when I was really hard core into autocross and track days and swapping wheels multiple times a week.
Why is the control at the top of the handle?
The only reason I would use this is lost if you gotta get up and use the control. I’ve often been laying down and needed to life it a bit higher plus some cars you gotta lay down to line it up. Put the controls on both the handle and the base please.
I’d also be afraid of a wireless control, imagine a neighbor loves yours so much and buys one then one of you is trying to go up as the other finish a job and lowers it….. If either of you don’t use jack stands it could be much worse. Maybe a lock out pin is a good idea.
I am here for this, but I want it in more of a bottle-jack form factor. Lean into not needing a long-ass handle to pump with and go with a corded or (gasp!) cordless remote. I’ll still keep a conventional hand-pump jack around for backup or when I need a second jack, but I could see going for the electric jack by default. I have yet to by a cordless tool from a decent brand that gave me anything less than good experiences.
There are some additional safety aspects that have to be taken care of with a jack, but that is very doable. So to all the doubters, I hear you, but do you *really* miss your corded drills, pneumatic impact wrenches, etc.? If you still prefer those then fine, but I’ll bet many if not most of you have already converted most of your hand tools to cordless. So why not a floor jack?
There are always use cases. Lack of space or some kind of desability or mobility comes to my mind instantly.
For me, there are things that I don’t really like thing that add unnecessary failure points. Hydraulic jacks can fail? Yes, but here they are adding:
I am pretty sure they have tested and certified that chances are minimal, but is the kind of thing that would make me unconfortable.
WOuld not be my first choice for sure, but I can see where they are targeting, and that makes a bit sense.
Lack of space is my problem. My parking situation in my third stall is really tight. It’s very hard to get a floor jack on the left side of my toy with enough room to pump. I acutally have to take the top of the handle off to give myself enough room to pump, which then obviously means it takes a lot more effort.
If I could sneak this along the wall and push a button that would be really handy. Not $300+ handy, but handy.
Needs a touchscreen for the buttons and internet connectivity to be modern.
I have to wonder why they didn’t go with a 12v platform that can just attach to an auto battery if needed.
How lame. This thing should be self-propelled and know exactly where the hacking points are on every vehicle so it can just go there and do its thing! Haha. I laugh, but it’s probably already in the works.
I’m surprised this thing isn’t “smart” like everything else nowadays. I just hate how every product has to be connected and app-controlled. Example: My wife bought me a digital wifi meat thermometer. It is of course app-controlled and wants me to rate it and share my experience on social media after my “steak cooking event”. So f*ing annoying. The thing is that I’m sure plenty of self-proclaimed “grill masters” do just that, sharing pics etc.
… But it isn’t smart. Do you want it to be? Anyway, I don’t see the point in complaining about it, since it’s not that.
I WANT THIS AND WILL PAY A LOT FOR IT.
(Yes, shouting.)
I’m not lazy, I’m just nearing 50 and pumping a jack makes things hurt that didn’t when I was 20.
Another super cool jack (that I have) is the U-Jack. It has a big slot in the pad where a jack stand fits. So you can jack up the car and set a jack stand at the same time at the same lift point. This is essential on a BMW E39 because it has exactly 4 jack points. With a normal jack you have to lift by the engine crossmember and differential, which is a big PITA.
Ah yes, just what I want. To make sure my floor jack has a charged battery before I can work on my car.
My thoughts exactly. I already have too many tool batteries to keep up with. I really wish all these companies would just get together and create a standard already. I think we’re at the point where we can at least agree on the best connection type. Ryobi One+ was the first “system” I remember. Good, but let’s go brand-agnostic.
I actually don’t mind a good corded tool. No battery to run out. More power than a battery tool. A cord really isn’t that big of a problem for me doing basic weekend work. Maybe not for everyone and I get that.
I use the same logic for some lawn tools. A battery powered blower is exhausting to use when you strap a battery on it that provides enough run time. For several years I used a corded snow blower. Was it annoying with 50-100 ft of cord? Kind of. But not as annoying as getting a surprise 6″ of snow and not having batteries charged.
I tend to buy corded, it is cheaper as well. I use a 40V cordless string trimmer and small leaf blower, love them. Leaf vac is corded, mower is gas. Snow blower is corded. I still have corded drills, saws, sanders etc… plus some air tools. I finally broke and bought a small cordless impact set and am happy so far. I have a few cordless drills but prefer corded for big jobs.
Not sure what kind of cord you’ve got for the snowblower, but I highly recommend the Flexzilla Pro from Menards. It stays flexible in the extreme cold weather. It’s great.
Would have to see it in action but this could be nice for 2 reasons.
1) I could actually use it in my garage without clearing out all the other cars and having the car I’m working on sticking half-way out of the garage in order to make room for the handle.
2) I wouldn’t have to pump the handle 100 times for my sports cars. Getting the jack to the rights place sometimes means I have about 1 inch of movement in the jack handle until the car is off the ground a bit. Even with a double pump floor jack that is tedious. Especially when doing all 4 tires.
I like that it’s electric over hydraulic and not trying to use a motor to do all the lifting.
There are just so many reasons I would never buy this. 1. It is not difficult to pump a regular jack (solution in search of a problem) 2. I oftentimes have to quickly reposition a jack once or twice to get the exact spot. How long would it take with this slow-ass motor? 3. Not interested in yet another battery to maintain/replace as I have too many different types to deal with already. Also – when this company goes belly-up, this thing is a boat anchor. 4. I don’t use mine daily which would be the main draw.
I have a garage space that is just wide enough to allow squeezing in & out of the car – if I have a passenger, I’ll have them hop out before I pull in so I can give myself an extra few inches.
It’s fine as a storage space, but changing wheels or doing brakes in there is annoying. There’s just enough space to do the work, but pumping up the jack is always a pita. I have to put it under at an angle & use a handle that is about 1/3 of the usual length… and I make little micro pumps and take roughly as long getting the car up as the actual work will take.
I’d consider buying this thing, but what I really want is a trolley jack that has a handle that can be rotated left/right so I can pump the handle parallel to the car. I’d buy that thing right away.
The handle’s worse than superfluous – it’s in the way. One of the biggest benefits of an electric jack would be that you don’t need the handle sticking out of the top so you can get it underneath stuff better.
Also not a fan of the sketchy rapid drop.
On my street rod this would be nice. My 40 Ford has lots of overhang and you jack it up by the crossmember or the rear differential. The first dozen or more pumps are moving the handle just far enough to engage and move a little higher so jacking it up is a pain.
I think you found the one good use for it.