OMG help my floor jack

[Moonbeam]

So my 10 year old Sears 3 Ton floor jack needed some floor jack oil because it wasn't lifting all the way up like it did when it was new. I actually had the original service manual for the jack, so instead of topping it off, I read that I could drain all the oil out if I flip the jack over. I figured fresh oil would do the jack better. I flip it over and remove the oil filler cap and two ball bearings which are different sizes and a tapered spring fall out! The manual says nothing about ball bearings or a spring. Well I drain all the oil out and put the smaller ball bearing back in the oil filler hole first, then the tapered spring, then the larger ball bearing. I manually lift the jack to the full up postion and fill the resivor with oil, pump it a few times to get rid of any air, then plug it with the oil filler cap. The floor jack now fails to work when I try to pump it up. What the hell did I do? I've been at it for 3 hours now and my floor is covered in jack oil, I have a ****** knuckle and I accidently kicked over the container with the old oil. Please someone help.

 

[Blue]

I hate to be the "throwaway" type, but I've heard that once a floor jack starts giving you problems, you should just pitch it and get another one.

 

[mhoffm911]

Google "Sears Floor Jack Repair" and you will come up with many pages of info. It looks like they make a repair kit. One of the sites said if you put your model number in the sears website, it might give you instructions on repair.

Good luck.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

You can get the breakdown from the sears site and possibly figure out where everything goes. It sounds like you took the release valve apart rather than removing the filler plug on the top of the barrel.

Close examination should reveal where the parts go and the sequence they go in. Difficult to say without seeing it in person.

Charles

 

[goodfellow]

Looks like you tried to fill the jack via a valve body instead of the fill plug. The rubber fill plug is usually located on the main body not the valve end. If it's a 10 year old Sears unit it probably was made in China or Taiwan and as such are pretty much the same as any made today.

I looked at the Harbor Freight 2.5 ton schematic and saw the parts that you were describing

http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/4000-4999/4172.PDF

Look at the last page -- specifically parts labeled 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5a, 5-5b

Do those parts look like your valve body? If so just install as indicated in schematic.

Then pull the rubber filler plug and follow the "Filling directions" in the HF manual -- it's the same procedure for all jacks of this type.


Good luck!!

 

[Moonbeam]

Thanks Goodfellow! That schematic cleared it up for me. I put the parts in wrong. It is now working great. Tomorrow I'm going to replace the oil in the 5 HP air compressor. Hope that goes better.

 

[SteveL]

I hate to be the "throwaway" type, but I've heard that once a floor jack starts giving you problems, you should just pitch it and get another one.

I'm glad I did not go to the same school as you......I have a 30 year old Walker that quit working a couple of years ago and instead of throwing it out, I had the cylinder rebuilt by a local shop for $125. Works like new and built waaaaaaaaay better than anything you could buy now for 3 or 4 times the amount.

Now if it had been a $100 HF model................

 

[Uncle Buck]

I'm glad I did not go to the same school as you......I have a 30 year old Walker that quit working a couple of years ago and instead of throwing it out, I had the cylinder rebuilt by a local shop for $125. Works like new and built waaaaaaaaay better than anything you could buy now for 3 or 4 times the amount.

Now if it had been a $100 HF model................

And you are another example of why the old timers are easily worth rebuilding!

 

[younglance]

Thanks Goodfellow! That schematic cleared it up for me. I put the parts in wrong. It is now working great. Tomorrow I'm going to replace the oil in the 5 HP air

 

[younglance]

Moonbeam, could you please let me know what order the spring and ball bearings went into your floor jack as i have done the same and taken out what I thought was the filler plug, the schematic you were given is not available any more, please help and thank you in advance, rads from oz

 

[PT Doc]

Reviving an 18 year old thread…might be better to start a new one.