Res-Q-Jack vs. Paratech

[ChiefSquirrel]

My Squad is considering purchasing either a set of Res-Q-Jacks or Paratech struts for vehicle stabilization. I have used the Res-Q-Jacks with a neighbor agency on an extrication and was impressed with the lifting ability and stabilization they provided. I have never worked with the Paratech product.

My understanding of the Paratech product is that they are primarily pneumatically driven devices but can be hand adjusted too. However, after looking at the Paratech website, the only reference I can find to manually adjusting the product is with a pneumatic foot pump.

Is there another way to manually adjust the Paratech product? Is some sort of hand crank available (like the Res-Q-Jack) or is the foot pump the only option other than a pressurized air source?

Anyone used both and have a preference? If so, why is your preference the way it is? Our primary use will be vehicle stablization and extrication - not trench or collapse rescue.

Thank you.

[PATF1engineer]

Paratech shores, and Airshores for that matter, are not lifting tools, they are intended to be shores for vehicle rescue, trench, and collapse work. Paratech shores can be charged with air to seat them in trench operations only. The locking collar can be set with a standard spanner wrench after you charge them. You can also use the spanner on the collar to seat them in a collapse or vehicle response. Airshores have similar capabilities but a somewhat different setup.

I have not used Res-Q-Jacks but I don't personally like the idea of using a stabilization tool as a lifting tool. You do not have any redundancy if the tool fails or slips; whatever you are lifting is going to fall. I much prefer the old fashioned method of lifting with air bags and cribbing as you go.

Paratech shores are probably a little more time consuming to deploy, but have very high capacity and are useful in many other rescue situations.

[backsteprescue123]

I have not used Res-Q-Jacks but I don't personally like the idea of using a stabilization tool as a lifting tool. You do not have any redundancy if the tool fails or slips; whatever you are lifting is going to fall. I much prefer the old fashioned method of lifting with air bags and cribbing as you go.

Why not just crib as you lift with the res-Q-jaks.

[ChiefSquirrel]

Why not just crib as you lift with the res-Q-jaks.

This is how the Res-Q-Jacks were used on the call I referenced in my first post. We used an airbag to lift, cribbed as we went and then added the Jacks to stabilization. I realized after the patient had been removed that they could be used to lift too and we could have done the entire call without the airbags.

Regardless of your lifting device, cribbing should always be placed and constantly re-evaluated.

[PATF1engineer]

I gave their brochure a quick look, and they do state to crib as you lift in their instructions. However, they also show a side lift of a car being done without any cribbing.

Like I said, I have seen demos of them but have not used them. I would be concerned about the temptation to take a short cut with them regarding cribbing, but I suppose that is not different then using air bags or another lifting tool. Like anything else, it would be a matter of training your people properly and maintaining a safe scene.

[Zagnuts]

Paratech are much more versitile, durable, and are of overall better quality.

[chiefmeyer301]

we just puchased a set of this type from ars advanced rescue systems it is like resqjac but handled by a dealer we use .very nice systems and we like it.

[MasterMerlin]

We use the Res-q-jack system and I love it. As Pat mentioned it is tempting to lift the vehicle without cribbing as you go. But that also really depends on the situation. Most of the time if you are lifting it is only slightly. The only time we have really lifted anything was during training. We had a car set on top of another. We actually lifted the top car off of the bottom. The real issue here is the amount of cribbing you would need to either lift with air bags or to stabilize after using the jacks. In our training we didn't do any operations after the car was lifted. The only reason was to see if we could lift the car with the package we purchased.

One other point that was mentioned was the possibility of a failure of the jack. Although ANYTHING can fail, I (being and Engineer) was impressed with the complete system. If the "system" is set-up properly and is well maintained, I would not foresee a failure unless you were working over the rated capacity.

Just my thoughts.

[Purdue03b]

Chiefsquirrel, check your private messages, I sent you some info through the back channels.