Modified the OEM scissor jack of my Harrier for better ease of use

It took me disproportionate effort and also time for something as routine as changing a flat tyre.

BHPian UPC7955 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I had a similar experience on a city road after returning to the roadside car park and encountering a flat front tyre. It took me disproportionate effort and also time for something as routine as changing a flat tyre. The scissor jack, the wheel spanner and the handle to raise/lower the jack are much below OEM quality for tools supplied with a four-wheeler. I searched for the solution on the web itself. Will take the opportunity to put forth the same here.

1. The scissor jack requires a bit of a modification to attach a ratchet spanner to it by welding a 19mm bolt to the point where the supplied handle is to hook on. The bi-directional turn from a ratchet spanner can then manually raise/lower the jack with optimum manual effort. After this is executed, the hook handle for the jack is redundant.
2. A 19 mm Taparia ‘Deep socket spanner’ and an L-shaped extension handle give enough clearance and leverage to loosen wheel nuts without scraping the body of the car unlike the wheel spanner supplied with the car, and also for the fingers of the hand whilst turning the spanner. The L extension handle made of stainless steel comes in two sizes, the longer one gives more leverage and is suggested. There are other tool OEMs too like Venus, Tata Agrico, Stanley and a few other OEMs that also manufacture the deep socket spanner and L extension handle. Taparia is a shade better. It’s beneficial in the long term to spend about one-third more on a quality tool, my pov. Tools are time savers and at times life savers. This is for loosening the wheel and also for tightening the wheel nuts after changing the tyre.
3. In case one is particular to NOT over-tighten the wheel nuts….the OEM recommended torque for wheel nuts is 103 Nm. This figure is given in the OEM literature on the soft copy of the service instructions handbook in the service station PCs. The staff is reluctant to share this figure. Reasons unknown. The same figure has unfortunately not been shared with the user in the handbook supplied with the car, unlike other OEMs of cars.
4. A torque wrench <110 Nm or <125 Nm manufactured by Taparia or any other brand would tighten wheel nuts to the exact Torque and prevent the user from under/over-tightening, [unlike the excess pneumatic or manual tightening undertaken by the neighbourhood or highway puncture wala (with the good intentions of course) and I daresay the service station also at times mostly out of shortage of machine floor time]. A torque wrench is a calibrated tool which comes with its calibration report too and needs to be restored to its original un-tensioned state after each use to retain its usability over time. These three tools would considerably ease changing tyres.
5. Last but not least, an old wheeled roller skate medium to large size with a V-shaped SS receptacle welded onto the foot space of the skate to accommodate a large tyre would make moving the spare and flat to/from their alternate locations simpler.
6. The welding required takes about an hour to undertake at a neighbourhood fabricator for the jack as well as the skate.
7. A 1.5 feet hollow pipe of 3mm thick aluminium that has a diameter more than the L-shaped extension bar eases opening wheel nuts furthermore. Hope this helps.

There are videos on YouTube that document these modifications with further clarity. The end state of this solution is to be experienced to be believed. Best of luck.

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