Do I just rock up to a breakers/scrap yard and try and get one?

Anything to watch out for?

Thanks

Hi mate, that's probably your best bet, yeah. You could check ebay to see if there's any for sale on there nearby to you, but if not it wouldn't be worth it as postage would be dear with the weight. Only thing to watch out for if buying from a yard is to test them!

On my old Mondeo the thread on the jack screw was worn and so just slipped when under load so it wouldn't lift the car. I went to my breakers and they had a pile of jacks and told me to take a look through. Found 3 Ford scissor jacks that would have been a suitable replacement, but I tested all 3 by opening them up and putting pressure on with my foot, only to find all 3 had the exact same problem as my own! Walked away with a VW one instead and it did the job fine.

I'd advise getting one sorted asap mate as Sod's Law will leave you with a flat tyre soon and no jack to put on the spare! (Hope I don't jinx you here by the way, but you know what I mean!) Might as well double check you have a wheel brace, locking nut (if required) etc too.

what Gary said!

Thanks!

So not a problem to use other Brand jacks? Somebody told me I had to get a Ford one

Nah, as long as it's the type with a groove on it for the sill of the car to fit into.

I mention Sod's Law above, because I experienced this first hand! My jack failed on me in the drive one day when I was taking the wheel off to check for damage after hitting a pothole, lucky enough my brother was round and had the same car/jack, so used his. A few days later, before I got a replacement jack, I got a flat leaving work. Of the 4 other people in the office that day, three of them (two Toyotas and Renault) had jacks that didn't fit and the other guy's BMW was on run flats so he didn't have one at all! Luckily there was a tyre place 100yards away and they came with a compressor and pumped up the tyre to get it to the shop. Turned out I'd a hairline crack after hitting the pothole causing a slow puncture. Got the wheel welded the next day and went straight from there to the breakers to buy a jack...and lived happily ever after!

Sorry about the fairytale there... point being this -

Your Focus should have a lip on the undersill of the car, so the jack will need a groove to fit this into. The other three jacks I tried on the day I was caught out were the opposite way round, where the groove was on the car, so the jack fitted into it rather than around it, if ya get me.

The VW I picked up had the groove on the jack, so I took it and it worked fine.

You could try something like this mate...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiesta-focus-mondeo-c-max-kuga-Jack-Kit-ford-Jack-Kit-mk8-Fiesta-Jack-Kit-/221180806804?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item337f674694

Can't imagine a breaker selling you one less than £10-15 anyway, only risk is not being able to test it yourself before buying!

if its anything like my breakers there will be a huge box full of jacks lying there waiting for you to sift through again just make sure it has the groove for the dsill like this

Cool, got one for £6 at Trent's in Poole