A pair of portable hydraulic jacks that cost less to build lets Allen Donarski, Argyle, Minn., jack up a 4-WD tractor in minutes.

Each jack consists of an 8-in. stroke hydraulic cylinder pinned to a steel frame with a 14-in. sq. base. The side arms, which support the load when the hydraulic cylinder is activated, are made from 2 1/2-in. dia. seamless steel pipe that's free to slide up and down inside the frame. Once the tractor has been raised off the ground, the jack can be converted to a stand by inserting a pin in each arm.

"It works great," says Donarski, a mechanic for a local farmer. "I had been using blocks and a 12-ton hand jack to raise the tractor. However, 4-WD tractors are so big that it takes a lot of blocks and you have to jack up both sides of the tractor. It used to take me a half hour to jack up a tractor. Now it takes only 3 minutes."

The 100-lb. jack is equipped with a pair of wheels on one end so that it can be easily moved around. The wheels are hinged so they can be flipped up out of the way.

Donarski powers the lift cylinders either with the tractor's hydraulic system or by a portable hydraulic pump mounted on a pressure washer cart. The portable pump lets Donarski jack up the tractor by himself. When tractor hydraulics are used, another per-son has to be in the tractor cab or Donarski has to climb up into the cab several times.