Hydraulic Jack Repair?

I bought a 2.5 ton hydraulic car jack and have used it for three years, generally not for lifting cars. I used it to jack up the corner of a sagging porch but for the last few years I've been using it to lift fallen trees so that I could cut them with the chain saw without binding.

I tried jacking up the end of a fallen tree today and it wouldn't move. When I pumped the handle without a load, it lifted fine, but with any application of weight, it's useless. I tried adding more hydraulic fluid, but that didn't help.

Looks like some valve or compression ring is worn out inside the pump mechanism. There's no easy way into the unit, it seems. Unless someone knows of a simple repair for this sort of thing, I'll just junk it and get a new one, as they're not that expensive.

Thanks for any clues.

Paul

Reply to
Pavel314
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Sounds like the check valve is leaking back into the pump.

If it's like my cheap bottle jacks, there isn't much you can do to repair them.. Just not worth the effort..

However before you toss it, try unscrewing the little control valve, all the way out, or if it has a packing nut, remove it.. Becareful since there may be a spring under a small ball valve inside.. Check that and see if there is something in the seat..

If that doesn't help and you paid less than $10 for the jack, then just toss it in the junk pile.. If you paid more that $25 you should try taking it apart and repairing the pump or valve.. Without seeing the jack, I couldn't tell you how to do that.. (mostly because I have never bothered to repair a bottle jack other than the control valve)

Steve

Reply to
Steve

Cost you, what, thirty or forty bucks to get a new one?

Moments like this you say the magic words: "I got my use out of it"

and you pitch it out. Buy a new one. And get the good one. The good one lasts longer, and does a better job.

Reply to
Stormin Mormonn

this is Turtle.

I use jacks some times on commercial hvac rooftop units to move them into place and found out the following on bottle jacks and the floor jacks. The info really just came from a place called Jacks are Us who rebuilds jack and port-a-power packs.

bottle jacks : He said any jack with the lifting power of less than 10 tons will cost more to repair than it is worth. The rebuilding kit will be as much as the jack cost in the first place. then i get paid to rebuild it. So

12 + ton heavy duty jack become more cost effective to fix but not really cost effective till you get to 20+ tons of lifting power. Most all the home movers and lifting companys buy new ones with anything 20 tons or smaller in bottle jacks. He really only gets to fix the 30+ tons to the 200+ tons. the commercial building contractor have to lift concrete parking lots with the 200+ ton jobs.

Floor Jacks : He said it becomes cost effective when you get to 5 tons light weight or 3 ton heavy duty and is worth fixing but anything smaller than that it cost more to fix than buying a new one.

So what i'm saying here is you have about about 30 cents worth of Scrap metal at $6.00 a hundred price.

TURTLE

Reply to
TURTLE

Make sure it didn't just run out of fluid over the years.

Reply to
MaxAluminum

Yep. I did a bit of work in my fathers shop on these and small engines. It is a loosing proposition to repair a small bottle jack. It is also getting to the verge of loosing to repair a single cyclinder gas engine unless it is a very simple problem. Parts and time run more than it is worth.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

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