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Craftsman Vs Larin

Bubber

By Bubber
in Watering Hole

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Bubber

Bubber

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I want to buy a MC jack and both the Larin and the Craftsman motorcycle jacks are on sale.

 

Larin at Pep Boys is $49.00 and the Sears Craftsman is $59.99.

 

Is there one that is better than the other or are they equal?

 

I am leaning towards the Craftsman 1500 lbs jack.

 

COMMENTS ????? :2cents:

 

Bubber

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Bubber

Bubber

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Well I read the reviews of the Craftsman jack and they pretty much say the same thing the bottle jack leaks and spits oil all over the floor and if you you the lock system you can't get theMC off because the hydraulics don't work. Looks like 60 negative reviews Vs 55 good reviews. That is a crap shoot at best.

I will be looking for Larin reviews to see what is up with them.

 

Bubber

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Squidley

Squidley

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Posted
Well I read the reviews of the Craftsman jack and they pretty much say the same thing the bottle jack leaks and spits oil all over the floor and if you you the lock system you can't get theMC off because the hydraulics don't work. Looks like 60 negative reviews Vs 55 good reviews. That is a crap shoot at best.

I will be looking for Larin reviews to see what is up with them.

 

Bubber

 

 

FWIW....

 

I have never had an issue with the hydraulics on mine, but thats just me. I will tell you that all the jacks are made in China so it's a crapshoot. I'd be willing to bet that if you did have problems and took it back to Sears they would probably make it right. Ponch has one of the yellow ones, and it's nice, but the handle is right in the way. It might be able to be removed, but if not that would be a PITA to work around.

:2cents:

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FreezyRider

FreezyRider

Posted
Posted
Well I read the reviews of the Craftsman jack and they pretty much say the same thing the bottle jack leaks and spits oil all over the floor and if you you the lock system you can't get theMC off because the hydraulics don't work. Looks like 60 negative reviews Vs 55 good reviews. That is a crap shoot at best.

I will be looking for Larin reviews to see what is up with them.

 

Bubber

 

Maybe, as you say, it is a crap shoot. I've had my Craftsman jack for 3 years and it has performed flawlessly. I recently had my bike in the air on it for over 2 weeks (waiting on parts) and it gave me no problems.

Like most things you buy these days, it seems that there are good ones (probably manufactured on Tuesday through Thursday) and junk (made on Monday or Friday)! :D

 

Good luck with your decision.

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Bubber

Bubber

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FWIW....

 

I have never had an issue with the hydraulics on mine, but thats just me. I will tell you that all the jacks are made in China so it's a crapshoot. I'd be willing to bet that if you did have problems and took it back to Sears they would probably make it right. Ponch has one of the yellow ones, and it's nice, but the handle is right in the way. It might be able to be removed, but if not that would be a PITA to work around.

:2cents:

 

Well that is one of the problems, from all the posts the buyers claim that Sears just tells them to bad and that there are no replacement parts available for the jacks.

 

Sears is notorious for buying from the the lowest price vendor and then switching vendors at the price of two cents savings. They all pretty much claim Sears tells them to kiss off. Like one guy said it has got to be a law suite in the making, but I am only reporting the info not making it.

 

I could find little or no reviews on the Larin jacks. What I did find was not negative.

 

I was very surprised about the Sears reviews... makes me wonder just how lucky I would be. And I ain't real lucky to begin with.

I did find where a guy claims to have found the reason why the Sears jacks fail and has a fix. I copied it for safe keeping in a word file. If people want I can post it.

 

Bubber

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Sideoftheroad

Sideoftheroad

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Posted (edited)

From talking to a sears employee, craftsman isn't really craftsman per se. They take another companies design, tweek it a bit and put their stamp on it. Who knows it might be a Larin design anyway.

 

I have a Larin and it works ok. No hydraulic failures but there are 2 legs (one on each side) that as you lift it up, they drop down into the holes to hold it at that position. I have a difficult time when getting the bike back down on the ground. When I push on the pedal, one leg will stay down and the other one will go up so I have to pull the one leg up and do it again. I don't like this because you are in essence circumventing a safety feature. There is a bar that runs across from one side to the other. This bar connects the pedal to those legs. That is bent, I have tried bending it back but doesn't seem to help. Also I think the pedal itself is bent as well.

Edited by Sideoftheroad
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Bubber

Bubber

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Decided to post the finding on the Craftsman and you can make your own decisions.

 

 

From: "S.P.": "I've had mine for about a year now and it has malfunctioned twice. The rubber plug leaks and a threaded plug would be desired, but wall thinness may prohibit this. Plug access is a pain as it's location is under the return spring and on the side, rather than on top when the jack is fully retracted. Going to wrap electric tape around the jack, covering the plug to see if this helps ...poor design.

When it works it is a back saver. I have a classic GT750 and doing the points and timing on the jack is very convenient. Or any maintenance on the carbs, air cleaner, etc. Anything to keep me out of a unright fetal position is a plus. Got spokes to polish rims to clean ...on the jack it goes."

Update From "S.P.": "I finally found the reason my Sears Motorcycle jack keeps failing and is probably the same issue on some of the other responders issues with this jack. The oil fill plug does not vent properly. As the jack is raised a vacuum develops in the outer chamber causing a pressure differential great enough to overcome the ball valve seating. Oil will not feed to the piston and the jack feels like it's low on oil.

Put more oil into the jack (removing the plug (and the pressure differential along with it) and it may start working again but the plug (and extra oil) will blow out the fill hole when retracting the jack. Making a #$%^ mess.

Replacing the rubber plug with a 5/16" grommet, inserting a plastic tube to fill the grommet hole (and provide a positive vent) enables the jack to work flawlessly, full piston strokes to the full height of the ram. Hope this alleviates someone else's frustration, a $0.43 fix."

 

 

Hope this works for all :Avatars_Gee_George:

 

Steve

aka Bubber

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RedRider

RedRider

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Posted
I have had two of of the cheaper lifts fail within two years of purchase.

Wish I had bought the Craftsman first.

 

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00950191000P?vName=Tools&cName=Auto+%26+Mechanics+Tools&sName=Lift+Equipment+%26+Jacks

 

This is the jack I have and am very pleased. It is $180 instead of $80 and you get what you pay for. The reviews are over 80% positive on this one as compared to the cheaper steel unit. I use it with the Carbon1 adapter (w/ legs).

 

RR

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