With life becoming more and more expensive, one thing some people are doing to save some of their hard-earned cash is simple DIY work on their car like oil changes or even changing their own brakes. To do either of these things on your car, though, you are going to need a floor jack to ensure the car is high enough off the ground and stable enough not to fall on you.
I spent some time looking into this and I am quite pleased with the American companies that I found that produce floor jacks.
Which Companies Sell Floor Jacks Made in America? (The Short Answer)
After digging around Google and corporate websites, I found 4 different brands that still produce Floor Jacks in America. Those are SFA, US Jack, Barker and Norco. These companies produce basic cheap jacks but also produce much higher and safer options for people that plan on spending a bit more time under their car or truck. Some of these jacks can even be used on other DIY projects like jacking up a small floor joist to level a small building like a tool shed in the backyard.
American Made Floor Jacks (4 Brands to Choose From)
With all of the cheap options coming out of China and Southeast Asia, many people wonder why they should spend extra money on products. However, American cars are some of the heaviest in the world and often weigh 1.5 to 3 times more than vehicles in other countries. If you are going to lay underneath it to get something done you definitely want a jack that is built to hold up such a weight securely and safely.
SFA
Shinn Fu started in Taiwan in 1978 but quickly established a regional operation in the same year in the United States. The firm has been in business for over 40 years in the states and is now the leading distributor of hydraulic lift equipment in the United States and Canada. Its head office is 1 mile east of the Kansas City International Airport at the company’s 100,000-square-foot facility located at 10939 N Pomona Ave, Kansas City.
Shinn Fu also has BVA Hydraulics, Blackhawk Automotive, Omega Lift Equipment, Hein Werner Automotive, and Pro-Lift as its other divisions. Shinn Fu now operates globally but produces products in the region they are sold in.
The directors began their journey elsewhere in Kansas City but moved to their current location near the airport in 1990 and have been expanding on that site ever since. By 1993 the facility reached its current size and Shinn Fu focused its efforts on acquiring the small companies and divisions that I listed above.
Shinn Fu makes so many products that it is hard to choose just 2 products to share but I narrowed it down based on which products are never produced overseas at any of the firm’s other facilities.
I am listing 2 Hein-Werner Jacks which are among the best in America according to many blogs and articles that I have read. The first is a rolling jack perfect for quick work like changing a tire and the second product is a more traditional stand jack that is perfect for leaving in place for longer work.
US Jack
U.S. Jack company is relatively new, having only been founded in 1988, but there is a long history of quality that most people overlook. The founders launched in 1988 when Auto Specialties Manufacturing decided to not sell aftermarket products, so they sold all of the designs and tolling data to the newly established U.S. Jack company. This provided staff with design and research work going back to the early 1930s.
U.S. Jack company also nearly went out of existence when a fire almost wiped out its production facility in April of 2000, but the firm came back just as strong as ever. In the American spirit the directors proved to be too stubborn to quit and rebuilt almost completely from the ashes. Their headquarters are still located in Benton Harbor, MI, and all manufacturing is done at various facilities around the state of Michigan.
Their products are durable and reliable enough that nearly 60% of their business comes from the US government from one avenue or another. They supply hydraulics and Jacks to BAE systems, Lockheed-Martin, and Boeing Aerospace. If they can make jacks to support a fighter jet then I am sure that they can handle lifting your car for you.
U.S. Jack company does have one of the shortest warranties that I came across during my research and it only guarantees its materials and workmanship for 1 year. After that, you are responsible for maintenance or replacement at your own expense.
I have listed 2 of the more affordable options which should be of use whether you are picking up a medium size car or a tank. A fun fact – a single jack has the power to lift up to 10 cars!
Barker
The Barker Manufacturing Company was founded by the late James Barker and has been around since 1953, but it is an outlier on this list because it focuses entirely on the RV industry. Staff make a very wide range of products to service RVs including power jacks for leveling RVs. They are also sometimes used to level floors or other small structures that are not fixed to the ground. Based in Battle Creek, MI they are well located to service the American and Canadian Markets but 100% of their manufacturing is done in Michigan.
The company to this day has remained family owned and is operated locally by the family that started it over 6 decades ago. All of their products are marked “Made in the USA” and are backed by long-term warranties that give you the peace of mind you need when working under a heavy vehicle. There is not much else to say for this small niche company so I will go ahead and provide you with what it makes.
Norco
Norco was founded in 1964 as a family business in Elkhart, Indiana and it is now in its third generation of family ownership. It has been around for nearly 60 years now but there is very little to be found about the company online as its website isn’t very expansive. However, the firm’s products speak for themselves when it comes to quality. Staff still produce 100% of their products in Indiana and they are distributed by a team of representatives and distribution centers nationwide.
Norco focuses primarily on the professional market and supplies mechanic shops and dealerships with high-quality jacks that will last for a long time. You can still find these products through secondary dealers like tire supply, though, which I used to find the company’s jacks. I listed two models, the smaller of which is great for lifting the front of a car to change a tire and the second which is perfect for lifting your oversized tank to get underneath it.
