Awhile back my pal Mike Bowling showed up at my place. He had a floor jack in his hands. " I found this on the side of the road, no handle but it works. You should have it" uggh, another project. . . . . Well, it turns out that it was an easy fix and now I have 2 floor jacks! A hunk of 1.25 OD pipe and 1/2" square female socket was sacrificed.
I always thought those steam roller middle front wheel A-lou-maneium jacks would be unstable and flip over Nice flooring .
Well, seeing how it still works, I bet that jack bounced out of some guys truck and ended up on the side of the road. Nice fix ands it's free! 60 Special
Pretty good, something useful! A piece of foam pipe insulation on the handle protects painted surfaces.
I drug my old Craftsman 1.5 ton floor jack out from under the work bench to do some over due maintenance on my old beater yesterday and it has developed a slow leak, anyone ever revalve a floor jack or is it time to scrap it? HRP
And here I thought you were going to show us a creative way to use a floor jack (other than what they were designed to do), like the day I had a "lightbulb moment" when trying to get two steel fence posts out of the ground, now mind you this didn't come to me until I had struggled to get the first six out, that was a B!T@H. I drug my big heavy Craftsman floor jack across the gravel driveway, my back yard, the barkdust then the dirt flower bed, set the jack on a piece of 3/4" plywood then tightly clamped two angled flange style Vice Grip pliers onto the steel (tee-shaped) post opposing each other, it took some back and forth but it worked great. Boy that beer tasted good!
That's one of those cheap Harbor Freight floor jack's. I won one at a cruise night and surprised mine works well and has lasted 5 years so far.
Some times just hit the check ball with a punch to re seat it on the brass seat. If the ball looks funky a good hardware store will have a new one
try putting some tranny sealer in it i dug one out of the dumpster at work and have been using it dripfree for five years
Those jacks rule, I laughed at them till I picked one up at a buddy's. Then it dawned on me, Perfect trailer jack! Went to harbor, They started using more steel parts, Went on line an found old stock...
I have a 2 ton Craftsman I bought for $99 in 1983 when I was racing. I lost the fancy shoulder bolt that holds the handle on in 1984. Aside from greasing it end washing the crud off it, it works perfect. I carry a HF special in my '59 Ford that was $15 at a garage sale. A smidge on the spongy side, but it works.
Hello, We bought a used floor jack for very low cost and it worked ok. The handle was hard to twist and there were some old oil stains around the joints. So, we used it once and then our friend from Los Angeles told our dad that there was package in the trunk of his Buick Sedan. I guess our dad had talked to his friend about both of us buying a used floor jack from a tool store. When our dad came home, he told us to open his trunk and see what was inside. We both opened the trunk lid and wow… a new black and silver Walker Floor Jack. We had to put on the handle, but that was a simple process. His friend had told him that a used floor jack may be ok for a little while, but constant use will weaken the seals and then once it starts leaking, slowly, then faster, it is a rebuilt one. The new ones last a lot longer and are safer. We were using the floor jack almost weekly, many times during the week. It was a life saver and we never thought about it as we put in the steel supports under the axle or other places. We felt safe and thanked our dad’s friend many times over. Jnaki We used it for all of our old car needs. It even was perfect for taking out an old VW motor since it was lighter, but only took 4 bolts and the motor was lowered to the ground easily. Installation was just the reverse and the Walker Floor Jack moved it right into place for the simple installation process. The hardest thing to give away was the rolling Walker Company Floor Jack. We definitely used our Walker 4 ton hydraulic floor jack on everything underneath all of our builds/daily drivers. Traction Master bars, adjusting the header pipes and flowing muffler system, and changing the rear axle gears, etc. were made simple jobs, thanks to the hydraulic jack. The black silver hydraulic jack was a life saver and made our work that much easier. But as nice as the long floor jack is, its size and storage difficulties played a part when I sold it to a friend for pennies… like, give away…etc. Note: As far as automotive parts and accessories were concerned, we had a heavy duty Walker Hydraulic Floor Jack and four jack stands. They had been gathering dust in the far reaches of our small two car garage floor space since we quit our drag racing era. When the two cars were in place, it was a tight squeeze to get out without hitting the handle. Sure, why did it not lay flat? Well, when someone’s foot hit the flat handle, so close to the floor in the dark and caused a bruise, the handle had to stay up. We listed how many times I used the jack stands and floor jack. Over the last 2 years, ZERO… so, they were deemed to be a “gone” item. But, knowing the value of a floor jack, I knew of a teenager going on 20 in few months, so I asked if he would like the floor jack and stands. His eyes were so wide open with a surprise look, that when I told my wife about it, she was happy something so simple could give someone else such happiness. Pay it forward in simple terms and the result is always good. YRMV That kid was so gracious and ended up being an expert auto mechanic. He came by one day with his latest creation, a Baja 1000 entry build. When we went for ride, he had so much power that I was unprepared for a slight rise of the front wheels on almost every shift. It was definitely faster than most cars on the street at the time. He was very appreciative for giving him the large Walker Floor Jack. Pay it forward… For any car repairs I could not do by myself, he offered to help in any way...YRMV Note2: At the time, we were struggling with just "life." A new family, an old, but new house specifically for a young family and in need of repair, etc or, at least some fix ups. Sure, under car repairs were still going on, but several times of hitting the relatively hidden floor jack sticking out of work counter was too much. I am sure the young kid I gave the floor jack to has rebuilt it over many times and he probably owns a company still involved in building/repairing specific cars. Wait, now he is also retired, too. Ha!
Most Craftsman jacks were built overseas (mine was built in Japan). There's a good tutorial over on the Garage Journal forum on how to rebuild them. This applies to many different brands of jacks, they're all built pretty much the same: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/overseas-jack-rebuild-help-tutorial.51105/
I own two of those HF floor jacks and love them. They work great on my concrete floors, but on my shop flooring that's some sort of vinyl snap together stuff I do lay down plywood to allow them to roll as they raise the cars.
You’ll be doing Junior Johnson style pit stops before you know it, Ron! Damn officials! Yes, that was a steel jack!
Floor Jacks! I have had every floor jack I have ever owned fail at some point. I currently have two Hien Warner 1 1/2 ton American made models that both just one day refused to get it up any longer. No leaks to speak of, just no lift? I also have a Lincoln brand 3 ton, also American made. It as well has abandoned it life purpose of lifting. Now I have a Napa bought 3 ton that is balking and not lifting as efficiently as it was recently. I did do a little exploratory exam of the Napa model. It is working but feels mushy under load. I should discard these malfunctioning units and just buy a couple of new cheapos from the H F store. The mostly Mexican tire repair shops here abouts of which there are many, simply throw them out and get more. I am inclined to rebuild or repair the American made units, but have not been able to locate repair or rebuild kits for them. I hate to throw out good items that may be repairable with some kits. at some point I will just have realize I can't keep or save everything.
Yup, every big city used to have a repair place for bottle jacks and such, not any more, we are a throw away society
I've had one of those for years and it gets in on most of my projects even if it isn't what I lift the car with most of the time. A lot of the time it is the "hold this right here" helper that doesn't fuss. The first use for it was holding my sailboat trailer up while I stuck the hitch extension to put the original hitch on the trailer 15 ft back from the truck to get the trailer that much further down the ramp. That steel handle probably weighs as much of the jack but won't stop you from grabbing it to use for this that and another a lot.
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