Low Profile Transmission Jack 450 lb, 7 to 23 in Lift

A low profile transmission jack is what you use when the car is already on jack stands or a set of ramps and there is not enough room under the tunnel to stand a tall telescopic jack up. This one starts at 7 inches tall, so it rolls under a lowered car or a car on 12-inch stands, then screws up to 23 inches to meet the pan. Rated capacity is 450 lb, which covers essentially every passenger-car automatic and manual unit, front-wheel-drive transaxles, and light-truck transfer cases. It is not a jack for a cast-iron 4L80E or an Allison hanging on a diesel truck.

The frame is Q235 steel with a widened base, and the saddle is held to the case by a nylon safety strap that you run over the pan rail before you break the bellhousing bolts loose. That strap is the difference between walking a transmission out and catching one on your chest. Four swivel casters let you steer the unit out from under the car once it drops, and two of them lock so the jack does not roll away while you are still fighting the last converter bolt.

Height is set by hand, not by a hydraulic ram, so you get fine control on the way down. That matters when you are lining the input shaft back up with the clutch hub or the converter pilot back into the crank on reinstall - you can creep the saddle up in small increments while you rock the case by hand instead of pumping past your mark. Working range 7 to 23 inches (18 to 58 cm), and the jack itself weighs 46.3 lb, so one person can load it in a truck bed.

Beyond pulling transmissions it carries mufflers and exhaust sections, fuel tanks, and differential housings during undercar work - anything under 450 lb that you would otherwise be holding overhead with a floor jack and a block of wood.