Blackhawk S4 Floor Jack - Craigslist Find

thehorse13 · Jun 10, 2016

I've been after a Blackhawk jack for quite some time now and I stumbled across one on Craigslist. I wasn't after one this large but how many more will I see like this?

The original owner used this Blackhawk to jack up tow trucks at the gas station he ran from the late 40s until the early 70s. When the shop closed down when the owner retired, this jack went into storage at his home.

The jack sat unused for 40+ years and since the original owner has passed, the estate is being liquidated.

So that's the back story, now, on to the jack itself. All of the parts are there and everything works. Surprisingly, there are no leaks and all of the casters roll silky smooth. I've only found one small screw missing in the handle but I will be able to easily replace that.

I've never restored a 4 ton jack before so this will be quite an adventure. When my better half saw me dragging this hulk into the garage she asked me if I planned on jacking up battle ships. Silly girl. You need a crane for that. I asked her if she knew where there was one for sale. lol.

Anyhow, this will be my project for the new few months. I'm sure that you're curious what I had to pay to drag this beauty home. $125. I have no idea if I did good or bad but the jack is a work of art and it will be beautiful when complete.

If anyone has restored one of these and documented it anywhere on the site, please point me to the post. Thanks!

Lookin4'67Galaxieconv · Jun 10, 2016

That's beautiful! I'd love to find one like that, but never see them in these parts.

Gear Wolf · Jun 10, 2016

Oh man I've always wanted one of those!

930dreamer · Jun 10, 2016

Great Blackhawk jack find and price.

thehorse13 · Jun 11, 2016

This morning I did some testing with this jack. I wanted to see if it holds under load and so I lifted up my Jeep. After 15 minutes, it didn't move so I'm pretty confident that the ram is good and I might be able to get away with a fluid change and thorough cleaning.

Looking closely into the nooks of the jack, you can see remnants of the original paint. As many of you already know, this jack should be red. It will be returned to its original color during the restoration.

Does anyone know a reliable source for parts for these old Blackhawks? I would like to get the proper pan head screw that is missing from the handle. I have attached a picture for reference.

Thanks!

BlueBomber · Jun 11, 2016

Very cool, horse--I missed your original post. There's a vintage floor jacks thread in this site--it would be great to add your jack to it. There may be some folks who follow it that can help with your pan head screw question.

Here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130285

thehorse13 · Jun 11, 2016

BlueBomber said:
Very cool, horse--I missed your original post. There's a vintage floor jacks thread in this site--it would be great to add your jack to it. There may be some folks who follow it that can help with your pan head screw question.

Here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130285

Thanks. I should have known better seeing that there are threads like that for vises, grinders, etc. :beer:

I will keep this thread open because I plan on documenting the restoration here.

BlueBomber · Jun 11, 2016

I look forward to it. I have a disassembled Manley floor jack I keep stumbling over that I really ought to finish and post up here as well. Good luck!

Diesel Jim · Jun 11, 2016

That is a sweet find! I have a fair selection of parts for this jack if you need anything. The proper name for the screws you are looking for is slotted oval head machine screw. It is a little different than a pan head screw. It will have the slotted rounded head & the tapered underside. It takes a cone shaped lock washer called a Countersunk External Tooth Lock Washer. If you have a nut & bolt supplier in your neck of the woods, he may be able to get what you want with those descriptions & your sizes. If you don't have any luck there, let me know. I'll do some rootin' & see what I can find. Happy jackin'!

thehorse13 · Jun 12, 2016

Diesel Jim said:
That is a sweet find! I have a fair selection of parts for this jack if you need anything. The proper name for the screws you are looking for is slotted oval head machine screw. It is a little different than a pan head screw. It will have the slotted rounded head & the tapered underside. It takes a cone shaped lock washer called a Countersunk External Tooth Lock Washer. If you have a nut & bolt supplier in your neck of the woods, he may be able to get what you want with those descriptions & your sizes. If you don't have any luck there, let me know. I'll do some rootin' & see what I can find. Happy jackin'!

Thanks Jim!

I would love to use parts that are from a Blackhawk jack so if you don't mind, I will make a list of things that I need as I break down the jack for restoration. I will PM you when I get everything documented because I don't want to bother you more than one time.

Diesel Jim · Jun 13, 2016

In case you don't have this, here's a parts diagram.

thehorse13 · Jun 13, 2016

Diesel Jim said:
In case you don't have this, here's a parts diagram.

The diagram didn't appear in your post. Can you give it another try?

Thanks!

crab · Jun 13, 2016

That's a great catch, I'd pay 125 for it in a heartbeat. Sounds like all it needs is cosmetics.

thehorse13 · Jul 10, 2016

The restoration started today. I'm taking it one section at a time and thus far I have pulled the cup, knuckle, lift arms and a few pins.

Nothing fancy here. Just good old fashioned elbow grease and some paint. Pics attached for viewing enjoyment. :thumbup:

thehorse13 · Jul 12, 2016

Today I finished the basic tear down. As you can see, I have what looks like a giant pile of random parts. I assure you that this is organized chaos and that every last washer is properly accounted for. I'm also thankful for all of the giant antique Snap-On sockets that I kept around the shop, "just in case". They came in handy today when taking off the giant bolts that hold this hulk together.

I finished hand painting the logo plate and lift arms today. I also have the front wheels and wheel bearings next up for cleaning and repair.

As you can see, each wheel has 24 spindle bearings and curiously, one of the bearings is a tad shorter than the rest. Either someone replaced a single bearing or the factory just didn't care if the bearing was a little shorter than the rest. Given that the jack rolled flawlessly, I'm going to wager that I don't have to source a new one. I'd rather keep as many original parts as possible anyway.

Thus far, I am only in need of a single pan head screw for the jack handle. Other than that, everything looks to be in good working order.

Pictures are of course attached for viewing enjoyment, criticism or any other purpose.

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

Nice job so far Horse! I have one I need to get to as well. I hunt your area often and should have seen that but I'm glad someone here snagged it! :thumbup:

thehorse13 · Jul 13, 2016

twertsy said:
Nice job so far Horse! I have one I need to get to as well. I hunt your area often and should have seen that but I'm glad someone here snagged it!

Yea, this one is a great find. I'm glad that I have a jack to restore this time because I was getting tired of vises.

Have you moved up to Charles Town yet?

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

thehorse13 said:
Yea, this one is a great find. I'm glad that I have a jack to restore this time because I was getting tired of vises.

Have you moved up to Charles Town yet?

Nope, staying put until the youngest is out of school. I do come up to the Harpers Ferry flea just about every weekend though.

thehorse13 · Jul 13, 2016

You've likely walked right past me and didn't know it. I'm a regular picker at the Harpers Ferry flea market.

Maui · Jul 13, 2016

There was one for sale in my area that is even older than this one. It was missing the cover plate that says "Blackhawk" on it, and the seller didn't even know what model number it was. I offered him $125.00 for it, and he said yes. I asked him to please wipe the grease off of it to determine what the actual model number was, and it was in fact an S4. He then said he did some digging on this forum and discovered that it was worth much more than what he had agreed to sell it to me for. And he had the gall to ask me what it was worth now. I told him $125.00. He said he would think about it. And then I told him I would pass. No sense in buying something from someone who goes back on their word. He relisted it for $275. And as far as I know, it hasn't sold.

Maui

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

thehorse13 said:
You've likely walked right past me and didn't know it. I'm a regular picker at the Harpers Ferry flea market.

No wonder I haven't found anything up there lately. I go to Winchester first, then HF, then home. Big "Bermuda Triangle" type operation. :beer:

But I can't stop going to Winchester first............FAR better flea for our type of stuff........stay away :evil:

thehorse13 · Jul 13, 2016

I know about the Winchester flea market. lol.

I go there when I'm short on projects and/or Harpers Ferry dries up. Rest easy though, I have a pile of restoration items in queue so you're quite safe down there in Winchester...for now.

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

thehorse13 said:
I know about the Winchester flea market. lol.

I go there when I'm short on projects and/or Harpers Ferry dries up. Rest easy though, I have a pile of restoration items in queue so you're quite safe down there in Winchester...for now.

Amazing the number of projects I have and they don't seem to stop me! :shocking:

Plenty there for the lot of us, but I get there at 5...................

thehorse13 · Jul 13, 2016

The one on Berryville pike by the Sonic at 5am?

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

thehorse13 said:
The one on Berryville pike by the Sonic at 5am?

No, on 522 by 7-11. Double Toll Gate.

thehorse13 · Jul 13, 2016

Ooooooohhh. Yea, I frequent that one too. I found a fantastic bench grinder there about a month ago. That one is next on my restoration list.

twertsy · Jul 13, 2016

thehorse13 said:
Ooooooohhh. Yea, I frequent that one too. I found a fantastic bench grinder there about a month ago. That one is next on my restoration list.

I couldn't even begin to think about what's "next" on my list. There are 2 Baldor's I got from that flea on the list somewhere though! Paid less than $30 for each.........I love that place. :beer:

thehorse13 · Jul 16, 2016

Lots of cleaning, wire wheel stripping and painting in the shop today. I've got both front wheels and the lift arm painted and I have the rear wheels soaking in Simple Green.

I cleaned up all of the nuts and bolts which had half century of grime embedded in every last thread. They will get a mirror polish once I get close to assembly day.

twertsy · Jul 16, 2016

thehorse13 said:
Lots of cleaning, wire wheel stripping and painting in the shop today. I've got both front wheels and the lift arm painted and I have the rear wheels soaking in Simple Green.

I cleaned up all of the nuts and bolts which had half century of grime embedded in every last thread. They will get a mirror polish once I get close to assembly day.

Looking good Horse!

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thehorse13 · Jul 17, 2016

Because of motor pool maintenance and a mid afternoon wedding, not much was done today.

I cleaned up the bearings from the rear castor and painted up the wheel. In addition, I started prepping one of the frame rails. I have some small areas that need to be cleaned up near the rear fender but once I'm back in the shop without interruption, I should start making good progress again.

thehorse13 · Jul 19, 2016

Today I was able to take care of the giant 4 foot long slabs. While it may not look like a lot of work, stripping, cleaning, prepping and painting one of these things is time consuming.

As you can see, I'm painting both sides even though I know that it will never be seen. It would bother me to know that there was no paint so it had to be done.

While working on the rear castors, I was very happy to find them is such great shape. One curious thing that I found was that one side had ring bearings and the other had ringless ball bearings in a cup. I also found about 7 paper thin donut shims on the side with ringless bearings. It looks like this was a repair done along the way but it works fine so it will be kept as is.

I'm hoping to have the sides completed along with white detail painting on the logos by the weekend. After that, I'm in the home stretch with just the handle assembly and the ram left.

All of that said, I'm torn on what to do with the tag. As you can see, it's torn up really bad. I am tempted to have the guy on here make one up for me because of the condition. On the other hand, it's original to the jack but will look terrible when everything else is restored.

thehorse13 · Jul 21, 2016

It may not look like much, but believe me, hand painting these things is time consuming and frustrating. I'm satisfied now after three separate attempts at the white line appearance.

bsg1 · Jul 21, 2016

thehorse13 said:
All of that said, I'm torn on what to do with the tag. As you can see, it's torn up really bad. I am tempted to have the guy on here make one up for me because of the condition. On the other hand, it's original to the jack but will look terrible when everything else is restored.

you've got a wonderful piece. i would not replace the tag.

thehorse13 · Jul 22, 2016

Today I stripped down the pump and found my second surprise of the restoration. What's the old saying about things hiding underneath paint?

As you can see, after the first pass of paint stripping, I found an old brazing repair. I have no idea how old this is but it's holding just fine. After a fresh coat of paint, it will vanish back into history for another 50 years.

toddmp · Jul 22, 2016

there were two of these for sale a week ago on my local CL for $100 (one complete, one parts). kicking myself for not making the call.

thehorse13 · Jul 23, 2016

Today I finished up the pump. I'm pleased with the outcome but there were a few bumps along the way.

The first bump came in the form of a snapped pin. I managed to get out the small piece that was in the hole using a drill press. Fortunately, I have a drawer full of these pins from vise restorations so I can use two new ones if needed. I would much rather reuse the originals and I believe that I have just enough meat on the broken pin to use it without trouble.

The second bump is the weather. It's about 115 out and I had to pack it in for the day.

One thing that I did decide today is that I will use the original tag again instead of a reproduction. I gave it a very gentle clean up around the edges and it's now ready to go back on the jack.

Assembly day finally can be seen in the distance. The handle is the final part that needs to be done. I suspect that by next Saturday I will have this jack back in service.

sdavis622 · Jul 23, 2016

Looking good! I'd love to restore a jack some day. 110+ here in AZ as well. I got a bit done this morning before 8 am but it's a scorcher!!!

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930dreamer · Jul 24, 2016

Very nice work on the S4, I need to start on the two I have someday.

thehorse13 · Jul 24, 2016

It's always the small things that give the most trouble. Such is the case today with the lightening ratchet knuckle. I had to tape a bunch of odd shapes and then came my real issue. The saw horse tipped after I just finished painting it. Urgh. All of that was sorted out and fixed good as new.

As you can see, there is a tiny spring loaded pin that lives behind the knob. You have to compress it through a keyway and then pull in order to remove the knob and shaft. I also have the swivel joint soaking in Simple Green.

thehorse13 · Jul 25, 2016

Something magical happened today. Things started going back together instead of apart. Next stop is full assembly day!

I managed to put the handle back together this evening. Tomorrow I will paint the shaft and then let everything sit until Saturday morning when I plan on turning this large pile of parts back into a working floor jack.

Stay tuned...

Blackhawk S4 Floor Jack - Craigslist Find

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