I bought a floor jack recently that advertises a 14.75" lift, but it doesn't lift quite enough to fit my truck. So, I decided to make a 3.5" extension to give it a little extra lift.

This is an easy project that involves turning down one end of aluminum stock on a lathe and drilling a hole on the opposite end. Adding a hole for a cotter pin is also generally a good idea.

Since I tend to be around TechShop quite a bit, I have access to a rather nice machine shop including lathes that can handle this pretty easily.

You will need:
Stock Aluminum (1.5" round stock in this case)
Metal Lathe
Drill (Hand power drill or drill press)
Measuring implements.

On an amusing note, you might be able to read that the thicker aluminum bar stock says Lightning Rod Lot on it. No, I do not know if that's what it actually is, but that just makes it all the more awesome.

Step 1: Turning the Male End

The first step would be to turn the part that actually sits in the saddle hole of the jack.

Use proper lathe techniques to turn the stock down to the size you need, in this case, a bit more than half an inch.

Note, the picture is wrong. I was actually using a facing motion to turn down the piece. Slap on the wrist for me.

Step 2: Drilling the Female End

The next step is to drill where the saddle is going to fit in. Since the saddle's male end is a tad bit bigger than half an inch, I used a 33/64" drill to put the hole in.

See the nice chips? Not too hard of a process.

Step 3: Checking the Fitting and Adding a Cotter Pin Hole

Now we get to make sure that everything fits together smoothly and drill a hole on the male end of the extension so that a cotter pin can help secure it to the jack.

Not too hard with a drill press, and only a little more difficult with a power drill. Line it up, drill and get it as close to the center line as you can.

Step 4: Testing!

Be. Very. Careful. When testing this out. You've just made a part that is an extension fitting on something that holds 2.5 tons of weight on it. If anything breaks, it will likely break spectacularly. Be. Careful.

Wear safety glasses, wear a heavy jacket of some sort. A hat would also be nice.

For some reason, the pictures won't rotate, but if you turn your head, they look pretty good. The part works, and it fits in the carrying case.