Hydraulic Floor Jacks

[D45]

All my floor jack's leak oil and I want to fix them all

Two are pretty old and two are newer, only paid for one.....

I assume a seals or o-ringd in the hydraulic cylinder is leaking?

Is this something I can do myself or should I take the cylinders out and pay to have them rebuilt?

I called two locals hydraulic cylinder repair shops and they both said they don't work on floor jack cylinders.......ok? They both said to just buy a new floor jack. Nope!

Are special tools required?

 

[L.Cheapo]

I have a late 90s Craftsman 3.5 ton jack that would no longer lift a vehicle. I bought a rebuild kit online and did it myself in an hour or so. The only issue I had was getting the gland nut off. I had to hold the cylinder assembly in my hydraulic press and use a large pipe wrench with a cheater pipe to get it off.

Other than that it was just a matter of keeping track of which check balls went where and in what order and matching up each seal/o-ring as I removed it to a new one.

It now works as it should again.

 

[D45]

I just wonder why no one wants to work on these

I even told the shops that the cylinder would be removed from the jack before bringing it in

 

[SusKatCas]

Similar to L.Cheapo I found a kit online and rebuilt a roughly year 2000 Craftsman floor jack in about 2015. Most of the non-metallics fit. That jack is in service today. However, I had to get a lower jack when my daughter was driving her Mustang so it is now in backup service.

I was able to use my largest adjustable wrench with a cheater bar to break the gland nut loose.

Some folks have had success disassembling the jack and then ordering the big seal and a few o-rings. Knowing myself, I feared that if I attempted this method it would be torn apart for two years.

Cheers, Alan

 

[Tchicken]

I'd be interested in the real reason also - but my guess is there's little prospect of the shop making a profit when brand new jacks (no comment on quality) can be had for as few dinero as they can nowadays

 

[Nocturnal]

I just wonder why no one wants to work on these

I even told the shops that the cylinder would be removed from the jack before bringing it in

Probably due to the liability of having it fail and causing catastrophic injury.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I just wonder why no one wants to work on these

I even told the shops that the cylinder would be removed from the jack before bringing it in

Likely because no one would want to pay what it costs to do the job.

If the rebuild kit is $30 plus shipping, figure $45, plus an hour of shop labor at probably $100/hr...plus tax and oil, you're looking at the cost of a comparable new jack, unless it's something special.

I did it myself as a first foray into hydraulic repair. If I screwed it up it'd go to the scrap man and I'd buy a new one--I had very little to lose--it was already junk.