ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) jacks are often the first things people bin when buying a new 4x4. They’re seen as underpowered, undersized and of little benefit when you start installing suspension lifts and larger tyres. They often come in two varieties – screw-type or scissor jacks.

Scissor jacks earn their ridicule for low safe working loads (SWL), flimsy construction and low lift height, but screw jacks are undeserving of the hate. They’re simple in operation, with a pinion gear running against a crown wheel much like a diff. As the pinion and crown wheel spin they turn a worm gear, which pushes the lifting plate up or pulls it down.

The benefits of a jack like this are that there’s very little that can go wrong with them, and almost nothing that could cause instant failure under normal operation. Due to being able to run one worm gear inside of another they also have a surprising amount of lift for such a small package – our one tested having 230mm of lift for a maximum extended height of 420mm. Even with 35in tyres a Cruiser or Patrol’s axle tubes will be a maximum height of around 400mm, so the stock jack with a 50mm-thick timber base plate will still lift enough to change a tyre.

Unfortunately, life isn’t all sunshine and roses. Screw jacks often have limited lifting capacity less than 2000kg, and depending on how heavy your 4x4 is, lifting one end off the ground can overload the jack. However, they’re useful for lifting a wheel off the ground to change a tyre, or as a press to replace bearings in the field.