Rebuilding a jack?
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: just outside of Phila.
Rebuilding a jack?
I have a large floor jack for my cars and trucks. I wish I could remember what the weight of it was and lifting height and all, all I can remember is that that monster is heavy!
Anyway, I noticed the other day it looks to be sinking...letting pressure out somewhere. I immediately lowered it and put it away.
Can you rebuild jack? Is it cheaper (time + cost) to buy a new one? If I go new....who makes some good jacks? I need it to pick up an Altima, and a 1988 Bronco with no lift.
Anyway, I noticed the other day it looks to be sinking...letting pressure out somewhere. I immediately lowered it and put it away.
Can you rebuild jack? Is it cheaper (time + cost) to buy a new one? If I go new....who makes some good jacks? I need it to pick up an Altima, and a 1988 Bronco with no lift.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2005
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Years ago I rebuilt an old style hyd. bumper jack/lift. The ram was so worn, that the new seals did not work too well. The lift did not go to max. height and still leaked down a little. Don't think it was worth it, even tho the jack was given to me free!
Buy a decent jack of your choice and always use jack stands.
Buy a decent jack of your choice and always use jack stands.
New User
Joined: Mar 2005
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I had good luck rebuillding an older floor jack. It was an old Walker jack (Walker was later bought by Lincoln). I was able to read enough of the brass name plate to get the model, and a Google search provided a couple of suppliers of rebuild kits (I used phjjacks.com and liked them). I played with it for a couple of weeks last spring - dissasembled, cleaned and painted all the components, new wheel bushings (from Mcmaster.com). Now I have around $100 into it, and it is the nicest jack I've ever used.
About five years ago I had an ugly experience with a $50 Harbor Freight chinese floor jack - the release mechanism jammed, and then dropped abruptly! This Walker comes down nice and slow (and only when you want it to!). You can't compare the quality between older US jacks and the cheap stuff coming in from offshore these days.
If the jack was high quality, and you can get a seal kit, then I would suggest you try your hand at it.
About five years ago I had an ugly experience with a $50 Harbor Freight chinese floor jack - the release mechanism jammed, and then dropped abruptly! This Walker comes down nice and slow (and only when you want it to!). You can't compare the quality between older US jacks and the cheap stuff coming in from offshore these days.
If the jack was high quality, and you can get a seal kit, then I would suggest you try your hand at it.
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: Washington
Safety First when it comes to jacks. I would certainly vote to rebuild what you have. My jack (from ~15 yrs. ago) came with a rebuild kit. Kits have new seals, rings, etc, and should be worth it as oposed to a low cost import jack. My 0.02.
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From: State of Misery (Missouri
Originally Posted by dcummer
You can't compare the quality between older US jacks and the cheap stuff coming in from offshore these days.
If the jack was high quality, and you can get a seal kit, then I would suggest you try your hand at it.
If the jack was high quality, and you can get a seal kit, then I would suggest you try your hand at it.
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Joined: Oct 2002
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From: The Big, Oregon
Those cheap 2 or 2.5ton jacks aren't worth crap. I had one about a month ago decide to quit while I was jacking up my Escort, it shot the handle out of my hand, launched it up about 10 feet in the air, and before I really realized what was going on, the handle nailed me hard on the shoulder. While this was all happening, it shot a stream of hyd. fluid all over the car and me. All my buddy did was stand there and laugh.
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From: just outside of Phila.
THIS is why I always ask here first. I didn't check out the jack I have, for brand and all that good stuff. I bought it at BJs Wholesale Club (I was 15 
). But the thing has serviced me well for about 10 years now, jacking up multiple vehicles. It has the pedal for jacking, and the lock on the handle, so you can't spin it and lower it accidentally. It's big and very heavy. It's always worked well, and then---and I don't know when it started---became a little harder to turn to lower, and it would kind of turn a little too quick and drop the car a bit faster then I would've liked. Those gears at the bottom of the handle don't seem to mesh as well as they used to either. I know this may not help, but I figured I'd throw it out there. I don't think I even expected this much response, so I guess I'm hoping for more advice and opinions.
It does sound like I'm going for a rebuild though. Let me know if you guys have anything else I should know.
). But the thing has serviced me well for about 10 years now, jacking up multiple vehicles. It has the pedal for jacking, and the lock on the handle, so you can't spin it and lower it accidentally. It's big and very heavy. It's always worked well, and then---and I don't know when it started---became a little harder to turn to lower, and it would kind of turn a little too quick and drop the car a bit faster then I would've liked. Those gears at the bottom of the handle don't seem to mesh as well as they used to either. I know this may not help, but I figured I'd throw it out there. I don't think I even expected this much response, so I guess I'm hoping for more advice and opinions. It does sound like I'm going for a rebuild though. Let me know if you guys have anything else I should know.
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From: Great NW
Large American-made jacks are worth rebuilding while Asian ones are not.
Good jacks will have quality chrome-plating on the piston which enables good sealing and fends off corrosion. Cheap jacks do not have this good plating which can corrode, and pit the piston causing leaks. They probably have cheaper seals as well causing the dramatic failures noted above. Having had a jack fail on me, causing a vehicle to crash down ON me, it is just one item in my tool kit that I will not skimp on any more. Get a GOOD jack.
Good jacks will have quality chrome-plating on the piston which enables good sealing and fends off corrosion. Cheap jacks do not have this good plating which can corrode, and pit the piston causing leaks. They probably have cheaper seals as well causing the dramatic failures noted above. Having had a jack fail on me, causing a vehicle to crash down ON me, it is just one item in my tool kit that I will not skimp on any more. Get a GOOD jack.
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From: State of Misery (Missouri
Originally Posted by jdmorg
Those gears at the bottom of the handle don't seem to mesh as well as they used to either.
Mostly likely a cheapy between where you bought it and the dead giveaway above. The better jacks have a U-joint instead of gears. Find out name and model but I bet you'll find it cheaper to get a new one of these.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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I'm with CheapRanger on this. My $50 harbor freight I mentioned above did the same thing you describe - the gears got harder to work, and the jack would release suddenly. It happened when I was removing the jack stands from a full size station wagon - jack was under the diff, and my knee just slipped under the bumper as the car came crashing down. Now I've got 12 screws and a plate in my ankle, and a Walker and a Lincoln long body jacks (both US made) in the garage!
The ability to SLOWLY lower is the most important feature I look for in a jack! I'd trash any jack with a less-than-perfect release mechanism.
The ability to SLOWLY lower is the most important feature I look for in a jack! I'd trash any jack with a less-than-perfect release mechanism.