Clark 5-ton Tractor /Forklift jack

[First one]

Saw one of these for sale at mardens acouple of weeks ago for $150 thought about buying it then but didn't know that much about them at the time. Went home and looked them up ,seems they go for over $200 other places. The old saying
"You should have bought it when you saw it at mardens " came to mind. I started to think how often would I really use it any way, and blew it off. I went in last night and they still had it and marked it down to $99 . I was standing there looking at it when a sales person asked if I wanted it . I was thinking about it but still didn't want to spend that much (I'm a tight wad) .Make a offer he said , $75 so he took off and came back in a few and said OK deal . I bought it ,now it's setting here and I'm thinking did I just buy it because or am I really going to thank" ... " later I did.
How often do you really need something like this? I know If I had a flat it would be useful , but besides that ?
I really need some back-up on this one with the wife, She came home and said what the .... do you need that for !!
I just might have to take it back if i don't come up with something good.
(At least it's not in the bathroom ,I said. like the toe thing with the drawbar . And yes , dear I'll take it out of the
hallway tonight!!

 

[brokenot]

We've got one, (different brand, but...), and use it all the time. On low-clearance stuff there's nothing else that will work safely and smoothly. Ours occasionally gets used on fork trucks, but most often under these, because the bleepin' manufacturers don't include anything resembling a handy jacking point when they build them:

As to making your case to the missus, you could play the "widow-maker" card, and tell her you can take it back to the store and just use a handy-man jack for jacking up stuff when there isn't enough room to get a bottle jack under it.

She'll ask why the handy-man jack got its "widow-maker" name, and you can mumble something about how dangerous they are as you're loading up your new toy to return it to the store.














***disclaimer***

I use handy-man jacks all the time myself for a variety of things, and I know their level of "dangerous-ness" is directly proportional to the amount of consideration any given application is given by the operator. In other words, I'm not saying they're dangerous myself, I'm just giving the OP some "purchase-justification" ammo to use.