HW Model K

[maxdustington]

Hello,

I just picked up this jack today. I've been hunting a Hein Werner for a while after discovering them on this site. I missed out on a minty o boy a few months ago so I was not going to make the same mistake again. This thing is a beast, it was so heavy that I could barely put it in the back of my car by myself. I paid $100 for it which I thought was good considering it came with a rebuild kit. However, upon further inspection what I thought was a rebuild kit might have just been a bunch of used seals and stuff as the previous owner told me it had been rebuilt at least once. I felt better when I got home and tested it for 45 mins under one of our trucks and it did not leak down.

I have a few questions:

1. My jack raises from the top of the handle travel which from what I can tell means that it is ok condition. When I lifted the truck off the ground a few inches it got significant harder to pump. Most jacks that I have used get a little harder to pump but nothing like this. Is that normal?

2. It has an extra knob on the handle that I have never seen before on a jack. It is the knurled knob with the spring in the pictures. I checked the parts diagram but it had some very vague description of it. What is it?

3. The release knob is very stiff and releases quickly which I assume has something to do with needing to be lubed. Is normal grease fine for this application? Also, the knob is cracked and missing pieces, but I assume I am out of luck for finding a replacement.

Also, could anyone just give me some general information about this jack? It's been painted and there is no tag anywhere that I can see. Is there anything I should do before I start using it? I guess check the fluid level and try to grease the zerks, but a lot of them have been painted over so I guess I have to replace them.

Finally, I recently read a thread about best jack for the money here. I wanted to tell those who are currently looking for a vintage American jack to stay patient and resist buying a HF or princess auto or whatever. I've been on the hunt for months and it finally paid off. This jack was cheaper than a modern one and much cooler.

Thanks!

I was going to post the pics but there were way too huge:
https://imgur.com/a/HcWdi

 

[Hiball]

Hello,

I just picked up this jack today. I've been hunting a Hein Werner for a while after discovering them on this site. I missed out on a minty o boy a few months ago so I was not going to make the same mistake again. This thing is a beast, it was so heavy that I could barely put it in the back of my car by myself. I paid $100 for it which I thought was good considering it came with a rebuild kit. However, upon further inspection what I thought was a rebuild kit might have just been a bunch of used seals and stuff as the previous owner told me it had been rebuilt at least once. I felt better when I got home and tested it for 45 mins under one of our trucks and it did not leak down.

I have a few questions:

1. My jack raises from the top of the handle travel which from what I can tell means that it is ok condition. When I lifted the truck off the ground a few inches it got significant harder to pump. Most jacks that I have used get a little harder to pump but nothing like this. Is that normal?

2. It has an extra knob on the handle that I have never seen before on a jack. It is the knurled knob with the spring in the pictures. I checked the parts diagram but it had some very vague description of it. What is it?

3. The release knob is very stiff and releases quickly which I assume has something to do with needing to be lubed. Is normal grease fine for this application? Also, the knob is cracked and missing pieces, but I assume I am out of luck for finding a replacement.

Also, could anyone just give me some general information about this jack? It's been painted and there is no tag anywhere that I can see. Is there anything I should do before I start using it? I guess check the fluid level and try to grease the zerks, but a lot of them have been painted over so I guess I have to replace them.

Finally, I recently read a thread about best jack for the money here. I wanted to tell those who are currently looking for a vintage American jack to stay patient and resist buying a HF or princess auto or whatever. I've been on the hunt for months and it finally paid off. This jack was cheaper than a modern one and much cooler.

Thanks!

I was going to post the pics but there were way too huge:
https://imgur.com/a/HcWdi

1. Fairly normal under load, but it's possible that something internally is binding.

2. Changes the Angle (Hein Werner calls it Quadrant IRC) of how the handle connects to the pump Pistons, thus allows you to have full stroke under a vehicle.

3. The HW K has a lot going on with the release, lots of areas that can cause resistance, I would just start at one end and work your way to the others lubing all linkages looking for pin play etc.

The K wasn't HW's Best Model, obviously lubing all pivots would be a good place to start, a lot of the older HW utilized drive style zerks. If you find the need to replace seals, I would tear into the jack for inspection, prior to forking out the cash for a kit.