Guardian 2601 Portable Wall Jack For Use with 1-1/2 X 3-1/2 Inch Wood Poles Or 3-1/4 inch OD Steel Pipe 1000lb Load Capacity Cast Iron

This thing works great. I used it to single-handedly raise 13' high x 16' long 2x4 (16" c/c spacing) walls of an RV garage. I used only one jack. You just need to find balance point of wall and it works fine, but I wouldn't go any longer than 16'. I also did not sheath the walls, although they had three rows of blocking and some had headers and the extra framing for that. The instructions tell you the min length needed for your 2x4 that the jack climbs, per your wall ht. but it says that taller than 10' is not recommended. It states that 10' requires a 16' 2x4, which I didn't believe until I did my geometry! It's true. For the 13' high walls I needed a 20' 2x4, the longest my lumber yard has. I found all of this out after the fact and got lucky that I could even use the jack for my application at all. You need to be able to support a block right behind the jack pole (the 2x4) at just about 3" or so beyond where the top of the wall reaches on the floor. The pole is standing straight up at this point, with the wall slightly raised. I had raised mine by hand enough to slide a chunk of 2x10 under. You might be able to get by with a little less. Attaching that block would be pretty easy on a wood floor of course but I have concrete and had to devise something different. It was time-consuming but there's no room for error. I would say you can get by without the wind kit but I did try to order that. Couldn't get it for some reason. I wound up tying the jack to the wall to retain it at its peak but of course you need to retain the bottom as well, which isn't as easy since it leans more and more as you go. Best method I settled on was to tie the jack to wall and jack it to pretty near vertical and then use another block of wood and screws to retain bottom of 2x4 (on top side) from wanting to move forward without permission. I attached the retaining block too early on the first wall, which was only 12' long because I wanted to try the shorter wall first (2nd and 3rd pics). You can see that the 2x4 was pretty bowed and that was all because of the block I attached too soon and on bottom side of 2x4 pole. I later attached it to the top side of pole and when there was very little more jacking needed. Otherwise it will be really straight all the way up, with no bowing. If you do all of that right you basically have it braced in the middle for the time you have the jack attached. I still wouldn't do it in a wind though. I also used it to raise 15' long 9-1/2" LVL's one-at-a-time straight up to the 11' required ht. I goofed up on the first one and got in a bind. Just keep in mind the space it needs as it rises. You don't want to get way up there and have a problem because you can't just crank this down like a pump jack. It's basically one-way when it's got weight on it. Another poster said it's easier to take jack down after you're done and then pump it the rest of the way off the end, take back to the bottom, and remount than it is to try to lower it back down. Very true, especially when she's 20' long! You'll need a piece of 3/4" or 1" pipe but it doesn't need to be any longer than about 2' and could be shorter too. Good luck and be careful! Take your time and think it through.

Very nice, work as expected.

I am from Texas and neither myself or anyone I know had ever seen or heard of these before. I am in the middle of rebuilding our home, after losing our original one to fire in late 2010, I read about these in a book from Taunton Press on Home Construction. I was able to erect 10' 2"x6" framed walls 25'-45' in length complete with OSB siding installed using only three people (one for a tagline). Absolutely incredible! I raised the walls on a slab, so I had to use a different method than the instructions cover. Due to having already stained the concrete floors, they are essentially finished, and I couldn't use concrete fasteners to attach the bottoms of the jacks to the floor. In order to keep the jacks from kicking out from under the wall in the middle of the lift, I built a couple of small wood "sleds" for the jack bases to ride on. I tied the "sled" to the bottom of the walls with 1/4" steel cables, via a 3/4" hole drilled in the center of & about 4" from the bottom of the 2x6 stud inline with the jack. I propped the bases of the walls up with blocks in order to clear the anchor bolts, and they dropped right down on them. We use a 12# sledge to bump the base of wall into final position over the bolts, then removed the blocks. It worked great. Be sure to use a tag line, or some other way to stop over-travel. The wall will tend to try to fall away from the jack into and beyond the vertical position when it gets to within about 10 degrees from plumb at the end of the lift. Also VERY important!! Be sure the 2x4" used for the jack posts are flawless!! No knots or cross grained wood. You need very straight grain. These posts will have a lot of load on them, especially at the halfway part of the lift. Failure of one post will likely cause failure of the other one and at the very least damage your wall and possibly smash someone like a flyswatter. So be careful always stay out from under overhead loads. If used correctly these things are awesome.

Only buy these or qual craft. DO NOT BUY KNOCK OFFs!!! Only buy Guardian or Qual craft. They are the same arnd both embossed with Qual Craft. The knocks offs are dimensionally wrong and do not work and very dangerous. Tried getting the chwap one here on amazon. Amazon should immediately stop selling any knock off before they have a lawsuit. Luckily amazon returned and refunded promptly. Again, inly by Gaurdian or Qual Craft.

In my first picture I stood up a 10’ x 16’ 2x6 garage wall, (I installed the header after the wall was up), it worked awesome, no way I could have done this any other way working by myself. Its a little sketchy/scary trusting the 2x4 this uses to not snap, it got to bowing pretty good but it worked, I didn’t die. In my second picture it was even more challenging. Part of my building is underground into the side of a hill so I had to actually lift my wall sections 5’ up and then position and drop it down on anchor bolts. This got it done, not easily, but it got it done. I needed 2 for this, I only had 1, so I had to find the perfect center balance point, the real problem came once I had the wall up and needed to lower back down. Lifting with this thing works great, lowering with it not so much. The instructions show 2 lowering levels, they don’t tell you even a hint or clue how to use them, I never did figure out how to get this to lower. Its heavy duty top quality, also works great so I gave it 4 stars. It would have been 5 stars if… 1) At this price they could have included a 2 foot piece of 3/4” black iron pipe for the lever. 2) The design is great for lifting, lowering it back down was a design oversight. The instructions show 2 “lowering levels”, then no further mention of them at all. I tried figuring out how to use them with zero success. The only way I could get this off the 2x4 was by continuing up off the opposite end I started on. 3) They should have made this accept a doubled up 2x4 instead of just a single 2x4. I was only lifting a small wall section and the knot free treated southern yellow pine 2x4 I was using started bowing to the point I had some real concern it was going to snap.

Worth its weight in gold! These jacks raised eight fully sheathed walls on our two-story house, measuring 32 and 40 feet long. We used two jacks for each wall, which seemed safer than just one. We braced the walls at intervals during the raising, toe-nailed the bottom plates to avoid shifting, and put 2x6s on the outside to “catch” the wall when it was vertical. We could not have framed our home as efficiently or safely without them. Yes, you want these.

Building a house by all by myself, in a developing country where labor is let's just say not very laborious. Even if I had a big crew of men, I would still prefer these as they allow for fine adjustments at my own pace. These puppies rule. I can lift a 30 foot or larger segment of wall, with osb on, while drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the view. 40 foot long is as brave as I have gotten with no sheathing. I am getting more confident in them, so I have a 48 foot lift coming up fully sheathed, but will still use some backup supports for that one just in case. I could not find a 2x4 that length, but was able to buy a 2x6 and rip it down. when they say 3.5 inches, they mean, 3.5 inches. I cut my 2x4 to 3 3/4 at first, but it ended up binding as it lifted, which is spooky to have tap with a hammer to get them going again while under a 1,000 pounds or so. Never an indication however that they might slip back, or fail. I have two different lengths of pipe handle. One is about 5 feet long to help keep you out of the "kill zone" longer until the wall is mostly in a stable upright position. I also bought the wind hooks, and the floor plates. the floor plates are totally worth it as you try to position this super tall piece of 2x4 by yourself with one hand. the wind hooks, you could likely just get by with a piece of cable and a simpson strong tie to do the same thing. Still, nice to have. I don't hesitate to lift walls on a really windy day. so happy, bought the pump jacks for scaffolding from them, and their roofing hooks. cons, but not sufficient to drop a star at this price: the paint sucks on all their products, and they do rust. That said, I would expect my grand kids to finally replace them due to the thickness of the metal. the rust is cosmetic. give them a wd-40 bath for long-term storage. the bolts could use some lock washers, or at least check they are tight before each lift. they do tend to loosen up.

I work alone, every so often I can cajole some help out of my son in college, but for the most part it is me vs the material. When it comes to partitions, walls, beams this may be a jack as handy as they come. These jacks are designed to be used in conjunction with a 2x4 - a huge plus as generally they are around and this powerful piece of equipment takes up the size of a large shoe box…no polls, rods or supports to have to pack, inventory and store. What’s more need to install a large ridge beam or glue lam beam - these can be used to help someone do the impossible. I use a ton of clamps - a good clamp is the single operator substitute for “hold this here, and don’t let it move.”. The 2601 can substitute for a crew of gus being asked to “help me lift this into place.” I am not against help, it is just hard to find. innovators like John Carroll in his book working alone, introduced the concept to me as an art. it’s the ability to employ tools or techniques to multiply your efforts. The 2601 plays a key role in my success. Even a simple stud wall begins to weigh a lot - these knock that out…but also allow you to run the siding while the wall is on the ground do you have any idea how much easier it is for one person to install plywood sheathing on the horizontal? The principle behind this jack is easily understand. but the number of ways you can uses these seems to be only limited by one’s ingenuity. If you work by yourself as a framer - you will most assuredly benefit from owning the 2601 jack from Qualcraft.