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hi sages- heres a question all here will deal with sooner or later. where do you get a hydraulic floor jack repaired and reasonably. bought a 2 ton sears in 73 and have used it a lot. this week was jacking up a tank to inspect brake pad wear and the jack started to creep downwards. was told piston and cylinder rarely wear, probably seals and o rings. this is a good steel jack and its long usage shows it is quality. is it easy to repair it yourself. are there easily available kits to fix them. want to avoid an hf one likely to crap out in the third year. never saw any mention of this here on the board. thanks tons oldduke
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If Sears doesn't have a rebuild kit for it, drive out to the nearest town with a viable farm tractor dealership. Ask them who repairs hydraulic cylinders. Take it there and ask them for the seals and orings.
Greg
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hi to all the helpful sages here. looked up hydraulic jack repair for instructions and how to repair videos. they were helpful but none had a sears jack like mine. did learn some about the repairs though. the2 videos from you tube suggested by a poster here were not able to be raised. looked at one on the list which explained some things. went to sears store here and had agent lookup my jack - couldnt find the exact one but found a similar one- no rebuild kit is available nor is thekey part which is called the power unit. this is probably because it is a 1973 model. would like to fix this one if i can.will try a farm store. still searching for a hydraulic jack repairer. the power unit has the ram in the front and the pump valve and release valve in the back. went to hf here but their jack is only warranted 90 days unless you buy a 2 year extended warranty. worried about their parts availability if jack craps out. last ditch may be to attempt to remove the pump valve and replace the orings and seals. the front of the ram is not leaking so that part of it must be ok. too bad such a seemingly simple thing is so complicated. seems like a waste to junk it. thanks tons oldduke
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Olde Duke,
Try www.hcrcnow.com. They looked to have a lot of manufacturers' rebuild kits. Hope you can find what you need, brother.
Andrew
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hello again pep- thanks tons for that hcrc website. thats exactly what i need or will need if my refilled sears jack flames out. found out that the sears i have was made in japan not us, but its longevity speaks for itself. they had an exact seals and o ring rebuild kit. will book mark this sight. surprised that my initial search for jack rebuilders and parts turned up some useful stuff but did not have this site which pretty much answers all questions. had my exact model number from73. again thanks oldduke
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thanks pep for the website- will try it. oldduke
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hello nel, artben, dan pag and starkie- solved problem i think with the old sears from 73. remembered two advices from uncle moe- to wit- if it aint broke dont fix it and try the simple stuff first. forgetting these two items more often then not has caused me to use bad words. tried all your suggestions and found no repairers left, no repair kits available and no tractor shops had parts or a solution. one advice here said they got a repair parts kit for $30,where?. did call hf and they said no repair kits. anyway getting back to moe, i pried out the rubber filler plug and there was no fluid in the resevoir. remember there were no signs of leaking near the moving ram, gear valve release or pump plunger. installed the plug and the jack started working fine and held pressure at all the points. used bars leak hydraulic oil with stop leak. problem solved for now , but curious about the missing oil. another uncle, udo, might say i got what i deserved for not following the rules and being impatient. moe said these jacks over many years of use(been using this one since dick nixon quit)gradually lose fluid since it also lubricates the sliding ram, plunger and release valve and you wont see any leaks since it is so gradual. makes sense; what do you sages think? thanks tons oldduke
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Well you did better than I did. I attempted to fix an old Sears jack ( current century) and took off the wrong thing and a spring and other mysterious parts shot out into the woods to be lost forever. Down to HF for a new one.
Brian Mee
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hi b dad- you probably removed the pump plunger on the left top side of the power unit or the gear release valve to the right. question- what was your plan if the parts didnt fly away? did you find the illusory seal and o ring kit? thanks tons oldduke
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Good question oldduke. Plans.
Well, I had to give BrickDad a TU because he evoked the all-too-familiar feeling hearing those parts zing off into the wild. It is one I've kicked myself for time and again over the years. Always beware the spring.
The problem? NO plans. Only plan is to take it apart, see what makes it tick, and have confidence in being able to put it back together. Confidence, but maybe not always justified.
If I planned something like that, instead of diving in for the fun, I would not take things apart over the lawn, over the gravel, where there's no light, etc. Like the one liner, some mistakes are just too much fun not to repeat. Picture me crawling around on the ground in a search pattern with a big magnet.
Oldduke, you on the other hand, have the sense to post this thread and learn the pitfalls others have encountered before actually trying to fix something. I've never been able to learn that. Instructions always get relegated to "if all else fails," and, what, "asking first" (?!?) well you see how often I do that.
Now that you've canvassed us, don't worry about finding "kits." The jack is no good as it is. How much do you have to lose? Maybe you can just rinse the parts in kerosene and put it back together? If nothing else, you WILL learn something.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
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hi art and starkie- thanks for your comments. always preferred to learn from the mistakes and experiences of others since it usually reduces the time and expense of learning things the hard way . told my students - always two ways to learn, the easy way or the hard way. even back in the war uncle moe told me why should you have to drive in a pothole just to see what it is like- listen to what others tell you first. then avoid the pothole. plan to use the now working jack if and until it craps out. pretty clear the kits are not available. only source left if needed would be the general hardware store and their o ring sets and flat rubber seals. thanks tons oldduke
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hi art and starkie- thanks for your comments. always preferred to learn from the mistakes and experiences of others since it usually reduces the time and expense of learning things the hard way . told my students - always two ways to learn, the easy way or the hard way. even back in the war uncle moe told me why should you have to drive in a pothole just to see what it is like- listen to what others tell you first. then avoid the pothole. plan to use the now working jack if and until it craps out. pretty clear the kits are not available. only source left if needed would be the general hardware store and their o ring sets and flat rubber seals. thanks tons oldduke
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I just went through a similar situation with a 15 year old HF jack, seals were leaking and I had to regularly purge air from the cylinder.
My conclusion was to replace it with a new HF with an additional pump valve and give the old one to a friend, it worked fine. Seals could have been replaced for $30 or so and the new one was only $60 so I started over.
Unless all you need is some hydraulic fluid or you are attached to the old one just replace it.
Dan
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The hard part will probably finding the rebuild kit. You have nothing to lose by calling hydraulic cylinder repair businesses in your area and seeing if they can help you source the parts.
If you do not have model numbers for your jack ask them if they can put calipers on yours once it is apart and work with those sizes to get you a kit.
Good luck,
Randy
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For the most part it may only be a seal or two. So maybe just remove the seals and take it to the parts store and match one up.
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But, what I've learned, oldduke, is if I need to fix my jack, or basically, uhmmm, ah, well, basically, ahh, anything else under the sun, I just need to search youtube. Someone will have donned a head camera and waxed eloquent.
I have the same aluminum one shown in that last one Nel posted, and it was from HF circa 1999, and so far, I don't know how to fix it because it ain't broke yet. But mine, despite wiping it down frequently, doesn't look near as new and shiny as that racerguy's. Umm, ahh, basically...
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me. -Sigmund Freud
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Oldduke has nothing to lose.I posted the video links just so he would have some idea of what is involved.Funny thing is that 2 post lift we fixed we had no idea how to do it. We new what was wrong with it but not how to take it apart.A little youtube and a few hours of work and now the lift is as good as new, almost. May be time to do the other side in the near future.
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Nel, I apologize for my snarky sarcasm. It certainly wasn't directed at your attempt to help oldduke, just ranting against time wasting videography in general. I'm guilty of it myself.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it, 2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
-Patrick Murra
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No worries. That second video I only posted it without watching it. Too much talk, not enough how to. I like searching for how to videos if only to get an idea on what is involved. Like anything else there are good ones and bad ones.
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Yes there are some good ones. I stumbled on one yesterday because it was related to one I posted about manifold vacuum while cranking. My video is atrocious, but the one popped up to follow it felt like time spent better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg3J4ibMkWc
This one is a professional classroom style done by a very good presenter on diagnosing a no-start (Lexus) caused by a stuck-shut IAC. Even it has its dragging moments and missteps, but it is edited to keep the viewers time from being totally wasted.
Finding these good ones does eat up a lot of time.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
What engineers say and what they mean by it:
"The designs are well within allowable limits"
We just made it, stretching a point or two.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4LZC4larTs
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Find the part number and see if Sears sells the rebuilt kit or seals, or whatever. It is usually a seal or two.I recently helped a friend of mine repair an old automotive lift. Yes it was bear but all it needed was two seals. What job, messy but now the lift is fine. Can't see how a floor jack would be much of a challenge.
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may be relevanthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDzefZVF0N0
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