OT - 4 ton Floor Jack - Maintenance?

Assuming that this is a hydraulic jack, if it isn't leaking and the fluid level is where it is supposed to be, just keep it clean and dry. ALWAYS use jack stands.

Don't fix what isn't broken.

They're really pretty simple. 'Bout the only thing that can go wrong are the seals (usually just an O-ring) and that's easy to spot (the jack won't work or leaks) and easy to fix. Even if it does leak, some automatic transmission stop-leak usually gets a few more years of life out of it.

Check it for leaks, broken or cracked parts, change the hydraulic fluid, clean it up. I have one that is at least 45 years old that my father had when he ran a service station 45 years ago and he got it from the previous owner. About 15 years ago I had it overhauled because it oozed oil around the pump and cylinder.It needed new o rings and rubber pads on the swing arms. It cost about $75 to repair and may last another 40 or

Jimmie

Plus it is like your old man is there helping you. Yeah, we all get it, we really do. Most of us regulars and semi-regulars on here have a tool or three like that.

-- aem sends...

Thanks guys, that's kind of what I thought. $40...well worth it

re: Most of us regulars and semi-regulars on here have a tool or three like that.

I still got my grandfather's favorite hammer. Between the 2 of us we've replaced the handle 3 times and the head twice.

Best hammer we ever owned.

Thanks guys, that's kind of what I thought. $40...well worth it

re: Most of us regulars and semi-regulars on here have a tool or three like that.

I still got my grandfather's favorite hammer. Between the 2 of us we've replaced the handle 3 times and the head twice.

Best hammer we ever owned.

Thanks guys, that's kind of what I thought. $40...well worth it

re: Most of us regulars and semi-regulars on here have a tool or three like that.

I still got my grandfather's favorite hammer. Between the 2 of us we've replaced the handle 3 times and the head twice.

Best hammer we ever owned.

Not to nit pick but if you replaced the handle AND head , how is it the same hammer ????

He's riffing on the old vaudeville joke about George Washington's hatchet, of cherry tree fame. As in how a con man was selling it to tourists as an antique, and when they noticed how new it looked, he told them that the head and handle had been replaced multiple times, but that it was the same hatchet, really.

Both for hatchets and hammers, I have seen replacement handles. I have never seen replacement heads.

-- aem sends...

-snip-

My favorite is a level my dad gave me a decade or so ago. It is a nice little Stanley 1' level of about 1900 vintage-- it is a No. 237, all metal.

He hadn't used it much but related that he had taken it to GE [where he was a balance machine operator in their turbine division from

He said his dad had given it to him in the 40's and told him it was something special & to take good care of it. Since it isn't a particularly unusual level I suspect it must have either been a tool my Gr-grandfather, or Gr-Gr-grandfather handed down to my grandfather.

Gr-grandfather was truck driver and might have had a good level. But I like to think it belonged to Gr-Gr-grandfather, George Prier, who was a house-builder of some repute on Staten Island. He died in 1911 when my grandfather, his grandson, would have been 15 and working for him.

At any rate the level commands a spot amongst my genealogy records, and it gets pulled out for use in the occasional tight spot- or when I just need to summon the guidance of those who used it in past years.

Jim

heck, the tools that I USE most often are:

1. old S-K socket set that I inherited from my grandfather (SAE)
2. old Craftsman wrenches, same (SAE)
3. old S-K polished wrenches, friend bought them at yard sale or pawn shop, and since he never used them (bought as part of a lot) I traded him for new Craftsman (metric)
4. new Craftsman socket set (metric)

of all those, #4 is my least fave...

nate

LOL should've caught that...LOL....