Hein Werner jack questions

[Gslocum]

Long story short: I ordered a HW93642 from Jackxchange.com a few days ago and it was delivered by UPS today. I assembled it after it arrived but I have a few concerns.


Box had a hole on the side - base took a slight impact in transit, but it only chipped the paint a bit.


I bled the jack and added a bit of hydraulic jack oil as recommended by the manufacturer until the oil level was 3/16 above the inner cylinder.

However, I noticed that this jack doesn't seem to engage the cylinder until the handle is nearly 30degrees from the floor, making for many, very short pump strokes to lift a vehicle. Is this common to this style jack? Every other floor jack I've used is capable of lifting from nearly any handle angle. In a tight garage, this makes lifting my vehicles almost impossible unless i have 6 clear feet on either side of my lifting point.

This is the point on the downstroke where it begins to lift:



Also, every ad I've seen for this jack notes a "one piece handle" yet it arrives as 2 pieces. It uses a small bolt to combine the two pieces, but the result is a top handle that clumsily flops around, swaying almost 10 degrees from side to side. I've never seen such poor build quality in a handle before, and it surely can be safe this way, can it?


Shirt vid showing the slop in the handle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMU96f7Sxhw


I'd like to know your opinions before I contact the MFG and the retailer.

Thank you so much for your help.

Gabriel Slocum

 

[Hiball]

Well i cant comment on the Handle issue, IS the bolt the proper size? The contact point of the Pump is Normal and Proper. IF you look at the base you can clearly see that is where the Handle roller contacts the pump. I can also tell you that its better to have the Lower contact versus a High contact Jack.
In a Normal sitsuation where you didnt have a vehicle or wall in your way and your contact point was further under a vehicle it would become very obvious that its a better design. If you've ever used your typical Yasui (import) design and and to reach under a vehicle you would immediately wish for a Low contact point jack. When you are working in a height challenged area you cant get enough Upward action from the Pump, which is gonna limit the amount of fluid you can push on the downstroke. I would definitely call about the Handle, It appears something isnt right.. and its unacceptable. I will say that there are plenty of 2 piece handles that work well and i believe you received a Poor example. As far as the Low Point of contact its Normal and has been that way for 70+ years.

 

[MrMark]

I have that jack and I bought it from jackxchange. Yes, it doesn't engage until 30 degrees like you say. My handle is one piece; I find yours to be unacceptable. UPS seems to destroy everything it touches lately. I won't use them anymore.

 

[Gslocum]

Hiball -

Thanks for the information on the contact point. Your explanation makes perfect sense, although it may take some getting used to.

Bolt is the right size. It just seems as though the top portion of the handle wasn't pushed all the way down into the bottom when they drilled the hole for the bolt to pass through. I suppose I can just turn the handle 90degrees and drill a new hole for the bolt to pass through. I am confused as to why I received a two-piece handle in the first place - do you think I should contact Hein-Werner(shinnfu) or Jackxchange?

MrMark - Thanks for confirming the contact point. I agree, the handle is unacceptable in this condition. It's odd that you would get a one-piece handle for the same jack. I hope to get to the bottom of this.

 

[WOPR]

wow, that is really disappointing. One of these jacks was/is in my future...so i'm interested to see how this plays out. That handle issue would be completely unacceptable to me, and although jackxchange would be responsible for the poor packing / carrier selection, I think you should contact Hein Werner themselves regarding the handle.