Spalding Screw Jack Portable Basketball Hoop

Product:Once assembled this basketball hoop is the best driveway hoop I have played on. The glass backboard is makes all the difference and is vastly superior to acrylic and poly carbonate boards. The bounce off the board is solid with very little rebound loss and the sound is sweet when compare to the booming you get on plastic boards. This system is very heavy and well built. The 4 inch square pole adds to the solid feel and altogether the basketball system is very stable and rigid. The plastic base comes with a metal support frame that you attach to the struts supporting the pole. I filled mine with water and used the ropes included to tied it down. The result makes the hoop firmly grounded. During play you do not have to worry about the base moving at all, and I don't think it will ever tip over. Overall I am very happy with this purchase and my kids love it.Packaging:The hoop is delivered by a freight company called CEVA in a very large and heavy box. CEVA will make an appointment with you and they will bring the box to your garage. The items are packed very well so the glass and metal parts arrived safely without any damage. All the hardware (ie bolts and nuts) are packaged in separate plastic pouches that are well organized. This makes finding the parts easy when you do the assembly. The heaviest piece is the glass backboard. I would guess it is around 40-50 pounds and one person could certainly lift it by himself. On some reviews I read, they mentioned that the directions were confusing because the spacers for the rim and the backboard were pre-installed which the directions did not mention. In the shipment I received, the directions have been updated so this is not an issue.Assembly:I read every review and I was concern about assembling this by myself since many reviewers rate the assembly as very difficult. I thought about hiring someone to assemble it, but after looking at the different parts in the box and reading the instructions I decided to give it a try. I got all the tools (mostly pair of socket wrench with 1/2 and 3/4 sockets) and followed the directions carefully. The assembly went smoothly for the most part, except the step to attach the board to the elevators. For me this took the most time. I lifted the board and use some milk boxes to support it. Then I tilted the pole on the saw horse so the holes were close to lining up. I temporarily inserted the bolts to hold the backboard to the elevators. Then I did each bolt one at a time. The difficult part is that there is a plastic spacer between the board and the elevator and this took a very long time to line up the bolt through the holes and spacer holes. After I did one, I would take out a bolt that I had temporarily inserted and add the spacers to do it right. The four holes took me an hour and a half and it was by far the most difficult. After I attached the board, I filled up the base with water and asked my wife to help me move and upright the system. This is very heavy and you would need someone to help you. After it was uprighted, I finished by installing the rim and the foam panels on the under side of the board. From start to finish, it took about 4 hours.Tips:1. Before banging the poles together line them up so the clearance for each corner is about same. You don't one one corner very tight and the other corner very loose. Also spray WD-40 before drop banging the poles together.2. When attaching the pole to the base, push the bolt through the holes on the plastic base before threading them through the pole. You need someone to hold the pole for you at this step.3. Use some plastic milk boxes or other support when trying to attach board to elevators. Having two people to hold the board while you attach the bolt through the spacers would make things go alot easier. If you don't have extra help, then slide the bolts without spacers as a temporary step to hold the board to the elevator, and then go back and do one bolt at a time with the spacer. This step was hard for me because I had to push very hard to get the spacer in between and to line up the holes.4. Before uprighting, push the base to the desire location. You will need someone to help when uprighting, it is very heavy.

Researched for a couple of months after our portable of 6+ years broke-from baseball hitting backboard and cracking it. Originally was hoping to go the in ground route as have 12 year old that is a serious ball player. After a lot of research realized the most important thing for us was the glass backboard to make it more realistic in shooting and rebounding. The sticker price of around $1700 with install for a nice 60 inch glass in-ground was more then we wanted to spend. Therefore came across the Spalding 54 and 60 inch glass portable hoops. Watched for about a month hoping the 60 inch Beast would go down in price a bit. Since it didn't went with this one. I am a huge review reader and therefore read all the questions and comments preparing for install day. I am just going to highlight/state some of the tips we found to be most useful:- layout all materials before starting- read and reread the instructions on each page and look at the picture multiple times that goes with it. There are multiple steps per page.- use of sawhorse is called for but one reviewer suggested using two and that would be a good idea- we did not but it would have been useful- the poles- I was dreading this part the most. Look at the picture, look again at the picture, and then relook again before putting together. I did end up switching the direction of one right before we started pounding together based on looking at the picture wrong. We did spray WD-40 on it- not sure if that helped or not but I'm sure didn't hurt. We did start with trying to stand on ladder and having someone with a small mallet hit from the top with wood on the bottom and wood on the top part. Didn't move much. We then laid the poles on the garage floor and while I tried to hold one end my husband used a sledge hammer and gave a hard hit with wood protecting the pole like you would play croquet. That worked great. What we didn't do though was to put a blanket down to protect the poles therefore part of the poles got scuffed from the garage floor.- because of the climate where we live we did use sand for the base (also because of many commenting how quickly the base cracks) Whoever said the design of the little hole to pour the sand through is the most ridiculous thing ever is 110% correct. I cannot understand if they recommend water OR sand why they don't have a better system. In addition, we bought play sand as others recommended but due to the weather it ended up not being extremely dry. Therefore it took us hours to get the sand in. We started with the hoop on a sawhorse, husband on a ladder pouring the 50 lb bags onto a cardboard sort of funnel and I stood on the other end and literally pushed the sand through for the first 200 lbs. Then moved into place and added the rest since it had some weight to hold it up then- which included tipping the system forward and to the side to try to distribute the sand and using a small pole to push the sand further in. If I were to do again I would lay out a tarp on the driveway and empty about 350/400 lbs of sand onto it to dry in the sun while we put it together in the am. Then transfer the dry sand into the hole. That was the worst part.The system when done is impressive and very nice to look at. Very nice to play off of as well. Like how it is a straight up and down pole vs slanting like our last one. I thought I would be disappointed with the 54 instead of getting the 60 but am not at all and it was $500 cheaper. As others indicated if using sand it is a very heavy system and after about 100 lbs of sand hard to move so try to get into location before adding the rest. Will update review once we have for a bit. Hoping backboard doesn't crack as others have had happen and poles/base stays in one piece. Took us without adding the sand about 3+ hours to install plus a couple breaks to borrow a couple tools.

This is my first review ever on amazon so be gentle.The amount of research I did before purchasing this hoop was absolutely insane. I visited sports stores all around my area and tested out the bounce on all types of backboard+rim combinations compared to what it's like in an actual gym and there was no question that glass was the way to go. If you want that indoor hoop feel you have to go with glass and you have to pay the extra money. And even though this is probably the best hoop I've ever played on, it did come with a price.So first things first, price and delivery. Amazon has this hoop cheaper than anywhere I saw in stores or online, and by a good 100$ too. Great deal on the price but still more expensive than 85% of portable hoops, so this is kind of a big investment. Delivery through amazon went through a freight company. They were great too and called me the day before it came and set up an appointment time for delivery. I put the order in on friday and by Wednesday the hoop was at my door.Now as far as assembly goes. This is where it does get tricky. Be prepared to take either 3-5 hours to assemble at least, and grab a few buddies and make a day out of it because you will need some help. The directions are pretty cute and dry. No big surprises. Some stuff was unclear regarding screws, how many there are and which one you use where, but if you are a particularly handy person, it shouldnt be a problem. Some things that will help was a ladder, a wrench set, pieces of wood, and something that could be used as a scaffold base type of thing (I used two step ladders). Also beer.Now on hour 4 of assembly is where things got a little crazy. THE BACKBOARD SHATTERED UPON ASSEMBLY. Now whos fault this was, I'm not sure but when we were putting the rim onto the backboard we were tightening the screws, heard a pop, and the entire thing just tempered out.Very, Very frustrating but surprisingly enough, despite these reviews, Spaldings customer support is PHENOMENAL. There is a 2 year warranty on the backboard through them and they sent me out a new one for free! Delivery on that was kind of annoying, took almost a week and a half, but it came eventually, and after only hand tightening the backboard and the rim, we were almost up and running. A minor issue but it seemed like the net was flawed. The loops didn't line up correctly, tough to explain, but it was defective. Called Spalding again and they sent me out two "heavy duty" nets that came in only a few days. They really impressed me despite reading some of these reviews.And now for why I gave this hoop 4 stars: My logic behind it is that it simply isn't the best glass hoop out there. "The Beast" by Spalding is 979$ and supposedly the best portable you could buy. It has a few minor differences but if you have the money I would definitely recommend that one over this one. As far as portable hoops goes this model would be a Mercedes benz, but the beast is a Lamborghini. But still, I don't mind driving a benz. Ya feel me?Also a few more notes about the hoop. It comes with those rubber protectors that go around the bottom of the frame. Go ahead scroll up and look at them. You back? Well personally, I havent put those on yet. They seem to need to be drilled directly into the metal frame of the backboard for which you have to make and drill your own holes for. It kinda scares me. After what happened with the first backboard I'm very protective of it. Also my base seems to have a small leak in it. I'm not sure where but as of right now it actually stopped leaking somehow (magic) but I also keep a 35 pound bag of rocks on top of it, just in case. When filled to the top it is very very heavy and that was just with water. After the new backboard arrived, I actually had to remove the water which i though was going to be a pain but with a quick improvisation was actually pretty easy. I grabbed a shop vac and a funnel from my garage, put the funnel in the hoop and stuck the shop vac right in the funnel and it actually started sucking the water out. After 3 full shop vacs, the hoop was finally empty. I couldn't believe it worked either. I'm thinking of laying down concrete and moving the hoop into my backyard because even though it does look great in front of the house (seriously the thing is like eye candy), I am nervous about neighborhood kids playing on it or someone even throwing it on a trailer and stealing it (jokes on them though easy transportation is not one of this products talking points so I recommend building it, not to far away from where you want to leave it). Also on that note DON'T EXPECT THIS HOOP TO STAY IN YOUR DRIVEWAY AND THAT YOU'RE EASILY GOING TO ROLL IT OUT TO THE STREET WHEN YOU WANT TO PLAY. THe hoop is just downright scary to move. Its so top heavy that I had to use a hand truck. So right now Its staying in front of my house on the street which is not only illegal and taking up a parking spot, but also very nerve racking, as I do not know who's out there. I already had two kids, I've never even seen before, ring my bell and ask to play on it. A positive of this hoop however, is that you can remove the lever that adjusts it. So i set it to 10 feet and took out the lever, that way no one else can lower the hoop so I dont have to worry about kids having a dunking contest on a 700$ glass hoop.So yeah thats basically it. This hoop has its issues but like I said, If you want something that will actually improve your game at an indoor court without breaking the bank too much, this hoop is the way to go. It looks great, it feels great, and it came with a free baskbetball. NOw if you excuse me, I'm going to go shoot around. See ya

EDIT TO REVIEW BELOW:Spalding replaced my broken backboard in-warranty and without question within days. I am frankly blown away. Excellent service and standing behind this product!---------I would like to begin this review by saying that I have contacted Spalding about the following, and based on their response I will gladly update this review to five star... which it rightly deserves. ------- We have had this goal 6 months (my son and I, ages 50 and 14.) It was assembled by directions provided (which are great if you follow them exactly.) This goal is heavy - a quality glass backboard. We used the goal daily for the past 6 months and have been MORE than satisfied. Highly recommended. There is a bit of movement from the base - after all it IS an above ground goal. I feel it is near as good as you can get without actually being in-ground. Perhaps the Beast which is the model up is better, but I dont know because that backboard size is even larger (heavier.)Anyway,... 2 days ago on a normal 15 foot shot, the ball hit the front of the rim and the backboard shattered immediately. This is unacceptable based on the care we put into assembling and using this goal.I am awaiting response from Spalding, and if they make good on the backboard, I'll upgrade this rating to a 5 for both the product itself and Spalding as backing company. I can only assume we received a faulty glass.

I’ll start out by saying this thing was not easy to put together. But, the final product is worth the trouble!The box that was delivered is huge and definitely takes two people to move. We knew going in to assembly that it would be a time consuming task. Thanks to other reviews and a YouTube video, we were prepared. For the first part my dad actually came over to help us as well. It was nice to have three sets of hands.It was really hard to get the poles together. You have to watch the orientation and then it really took some muscle to “bounce” the three sections together. Thankfully my husband is a tall guy and was strong enough to do it. He had to bring the pieces up quite high and slam them down on scrap wood to get them together. We used a rubber mallet early on to make sure everything was lined up.The backboard assembly was also a little tricky. We had one hex bolt missing from our packaging. Standard size so we decided to get from the hardware store instead of calling Spalding and waiting for one bolt. It matched the other perfectly. No big deal there.Getting the spacers in between the rack mounts and backboard also required some muscle to get in place. Thanks again to husband. Fishing bolts through the metal and the spacers was a lesson in patience.Once the backboard was on, things went much faster and smoother. We made a small mistake in mounting the rim. We forgot that for the glass backboard there was a foam pad and 4 additional spacers. Luckily we realized that pretty quick and fixed it.Rim went on just fine and well as the mechanism to raise and lower the backboard. One small thing to watch for - we accidentally had the outer tube orientation wrong when we mounted the rising mechanism. Not a huge deal but when we went to put the sticker on for rim height the little circle cutout was facing the pole instead of to the outside. You can still see the height sticker so - no harm.For the base - We bought the filler that Amazon offers where you mix it with water to form a nice poly fill material. It resists freezing so we decided to go that route instead of adding antifreeze to the water in the base. However this pole and backboard are SO HEAVY we had a near scare with it tipping before we filled the base. So, just to be sure it was safe we put a couple 50 pound sand bags on top of the base also. I’m sure it’s overkill but...We also decided personally to not put the backboard pads on. My kids are too young to even get close to dunking and the way you have to attach those is to drill into the backboard. We skipped this for now. Maybe once we have teenagers we will add the pads.Assembly was complete in what I will estimate as about 8-9 hours. We did it over the course of 3 days. Took our time and double checked the directions. Also had some interruptions. So I’m sure it would be less for many people. It definitely requires two strong adults to get done.We found that the instructions weren’t that bad. Some reviews said they were awful and while they could be a little more clear for some steps overall we didn’t have problems. Just read it through more than once and go slow. Double check things.Now for the fun part - it’s done so how does it play?We are very impressed with this goal. It is rock solid! With many portables you have a lot of wiggle and vibration after a shot. Not with this bad boy! The ball comes off the glass so nicely also. My family has enjoyed this goal a lot so far. It’s very easy to raise and lower the backboard so both my kids can have fun shooting.We have only had it fully assembled for a day so I will update this review once we spend more time on the goal. But so far - very pleased and all the time spend assembling it was worth it!

This is a terrific basketball hoop - extremely solid and sturdy. We went back and forth debating in-ground vs. portable, and in the end we went portable because of the flexibility to move this to the street in the summer, and driveway in the winter. This unit is absolutely rock solid with 10 50# sand bags in the base. Not impossible to move - I'm 180# and can easily tip it down & up safely by using a 15 foot long rope tied high, and pulling it over, rolling into position, and lowering it safely back to the ground with the rope. Can't say enough good things about this - the kids love it and it's built to last.Not bad to assemble, if you're comfortable with socket wrenches, very heavy items, and have 6-8 hours to spare. Helpful to have a 10 year old pair of extra hands to help for half the job and a full sized adult for a few hours. 3 key things will make it all easier...1)Loctite. Worth putting on the fasteners to ensure it stays together thru the years.2) DRY SAND. Tape a cardboard funnel to the base and the bags will pour in like sand through an hourglass. Buy wet sand and this is a 3 day project. The base can hold water, but I assumed leaks will happen (or freezing) and then the unit tips over.3) Truck or car. The most difficult part is slamming the 3 square pole sections together. The instruction tell you to hold the posts vertically, and repeatedly raise/drop to pile drive the top section into the bottom section with gravity. No way that would work for us - we were able to get it 2.5" together by hand, even with grease. Considered attaching weight to the very top, but seemed sketchy. So, for the total 4" we propped the pole up to car bumper height on boxes and taped 2x6 board scraps to the ends (to protect the metal poles). With one 2x6 against a concrete foundation, we gently rolled my truck against the other end at ~2 mph, which did the trick.

Experience with Amazon was excellent - delivery system with CEVA was well arranged. Delivery company made every effort to accommodate our delivery needs and schedule.Glass Backboard System is far superior to any of the plastic or pelxiglass backboard systems. Extremely sturdy once assembly is complete. TAKE YOUR TIME! READ THE INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE BEGINNING. Open the box and layout ALL of the parts BEFORE you start any assembly. Follow the directions percisely - especially the assembly of the main pole section. Line everything up exactly - highly recommend the use of a silicone lubricant (WD40 tends to run - and make the pole sections 'greasy / oily'). Follow the instructions - making sure each section lines up precisely. Place a 3/4" piece of plywood (2' foot square) on pavement and DO NOT be shy about pounding the sections together - using the weight of the pole sections and gravity to 'pound' the sections together.Two (2) capable adults CAN assemble this unit together - however standing the unit upright and attaching the glass portion of the backboard together is MUCH easier with added hands. Possibly (2) additional adults. Because all of the parts are 'powder coated' you may need to 'clean out' the clearance holes to allow for a simpilfied assembly. Follow all of the instructions carefully. Assembling the rim is a delicate and precise process. I have used many 'different' portable hoops (various friends and families) and when the 'rim' is loose and bouncy it is because they assembled the 'spring' section backwards.When assembling the use of a 'sawhorse' is vital. Very importanat to make sure you are prepared to add 'ballast' when ready to stand upright. Whether using 'water' or 'play sand' (available in bags at local home improvement store) this process takes time and plenty of it. The overall assembly of this system is not overly complex if you have basic mechanical skills and a reasonable assortment of tools. However to avoid any major problems or set backs familiarize yourself with the instructions and parts and follow the instructions precisely.The system is superior to most found at your local 'sporting goods stores'. It offers a large enough backboard - without jumping to the 'gorrilla' inground systems (which are even more expensive - and require a hole, cement, and more time) and offers an extremely stable playing system. I would highly recommend this system to anyone with even the most aggressive recreational basketball level of ability.The only negative comment I have is in order for it to be 'portable' I recommend three (3) reasonably strong men be available to 'move' the hoop from one location to another. Especially with the glass backboard. There is NO room for error when moving this assembly. With the overall weight involved with this system - when tipping the assembly, you tip the rim towards the ground to move the system (as the wheels are at the backboard end of the assembly) - if the system did 'tip over', you would be looking at significant damage to the rim and backboard assembly. Use plenty of care and caution.Overall this is a great system that I would highly recommend.DJW

Awesome system. Identified that I had all the parts and assembly was straightforward and only took around 3 hours if not less,and that was with me trying to teach my 8 & 10 year olds and let them help. My trick with the poles was to make the 4" marks on all sides, and put a piece of wood on the ground and bang the poles down on the wood. That was far more effective than trying to hammer them together. As others have warned, the backboard and rim assembly is heavy and can cause the system to fall over without any weight in the base, but I intentionally did not prefill because I wanted to see how movable the system is. I can move it, and since I would have bought a permanent inground system had I not wanted the flexibility to do so, I've only filled it with water, but I'm comfortable that it's not going to topple. I'm totally glad I returned the acrylic system I originally purchased at Costco. The glass backboard is awesome and this system is great. Don't let the assembly scare you, I didn't find it difficult at all, but agree that a second adult would help. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and can manage lots of tasks alone, but I did have to get the wife to pull (not lift) on the backboard to get it installed, which was literally less than 5 minutes of her assisting. I left the system leaned over the saw horse and layed the backboard on a short stool, and then attached the lower lift arm. Then all I needed was for her to pull on the backboard while I aligned and put the bolts in the top arm. That obviously means I attached the rim out of sequence with the instructions. I did it last after I stood the system up, but I did attach the backback plate for the rim in sequence. That's the part where I think everyone cracks the glass. My 4 spacers and pad were clearly in place from the factory, and the key to this step is really a common sense thing - don't sandwich the glass between metal and then tighten the bolts. The spacers and pad are to insure that the rim backer plate does NOT rest on the glass. It HAS to rest on ALL 4 spacers and the pad. This totally isolates the rim and it's stresses to the metal framework of the backboard and not transfer it to the glass. Amazon has the best price and the delivery company called in advance to schedule delivery, and that part all went well. 1 big box delivered and left on garage floor.