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Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
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BB767

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I've noticed this in several pics, but finally I've got to ask... Why the different gloves?

I know... With all that Walker Eye Candy (WEC) ( :drool: ) how can I be looking at gloves?!?!

MM

Probably so he can tell his left hand from his right hand!

(Sorry, but someone had to say it).

Lane

That's a fair question. I've got two different types of gloves, blue nitrile and the black nitrile which are suppose to be more chemically resistant. Cameron tore one of the black ones and just grabbed a blue one. Lane's thought about telling his left from his right has a great deal of merit about it however. I'll pass that on to him! :D

Tough crowd indeed! :gunfire:

Thomas
 
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BB767

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That's a totally crazy thought!... (Some of you may have noticed that we seem to have a problem with not getting rid of anything easily.)

Chris

And thus guys that's exactly why she's had me around for soooooooomany years...........for which I'm eternally grateful. ;)

Thomas
 

oberst

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Has anyone suggested putting *tires* on the metal wheels? You make them by cutting loops from old innertubes....

In the spirit of this whole thread, lets take it to the next level; machine 5 or 6 grooves into the circumference of each wheel and install a nice chubby o-ring in each groove.
 
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markviii

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I don't see him altering the jack physically - he's strictly Pure Stock everything - but it does seem like a good solution. By the way, I don't have a thing to do with limiting Tom's tools - whatever shows up by USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, R & L, Spee Dee Delivery, or whatever, gets put on his work bench. I see it on GJ when it goes into use.

Chris
 

deziac

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Crazy, haven't been on here much of late but I love coming back and seeing this thread still going, amazing shop and so many interesting pieces and tools of vintage to refurbish.

Keep it up dudes!
 
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BB767

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..... By the way, I don't have a thing to do with limiting Tom's tools - whatever shows up by USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, R & L, Spee Dee Delivery, or whatever, gets put on his work bench. I see it on GJ when it goes into use.

Chris

Dearest Christine, it's just best you not know. Trust me on this, eh? :)

BTW, when the other anvils arrive, please don't try putting them on my bench. You can just leave them on the floor. Thanks from your devoted husband...

Thomas
 
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BB767

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Crazy, haven't been on here much of late but I love coming back and seeing this thread still going, amazing shop and so many interesting pieces and tools of vintage to refurbish.

Keep it up dudes!

And just exactly why haven't you been back on here of late deziac, hummmm? :eek7:

Thomas
 

hobbitss

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Dearest Christine, it's just best you not know. Trust me on this, eh? :)

BTW, when the other anvils arrive, please don't try putting them on my bench. You can just leave them on the floor. Thanks from your devoted husband...

Thomas

Ah, Ah, Ah.... :willy_nil
There will be a designated spot for un-restored Anvils, it will be covered with a sheet of Masonite to protect the floor tiles...

There will be no molesting of the anvils, photos may be taken to document their condition before restoration... Lots of photos!!! :thumbup:

There will be a discussion before proposals and plans for the future Anvil museum may be submitted... :beer:
 

Amitygravel

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Chris ,
Just give me a call when those anvils show up on the delivery truck.
I can run down real quick and we can just slide them from the delivery truck into the bed of my truck. Then I can just take off.





I mean pull into the shop and slide them from my truck onto a bench !

Hello Thomas !


Craig
 
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BB767

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And so as we continue to finish up the WFJRE...

IMG_5460.jpg


The handle and various linkages were installed...

IMG_5462.jpg


...and I've must say, doing this by ones self was more than a little tricky, what with a strong spring resisting your every effort! But eventually I prevailed. I did upgrade a roll pin attachment on the universal joint for a stainless steel screw, washer and lock nut, seen near the top of that joint.

IMG_5463.jpg


A somewhat better view of it from the other direction here. It will make removing the handle much easier in the future should it be necessary.

IMG_5465.jpg


The last piece to be installed is that pesky cover plate which just snaps into place.

IMG_5467.jpg


This photograph is a nice contrast between original and restored. In this case the original paint jack was a different shade of blue from the factory than the paint on the restored one which is now actually powder coating and not paint of course, but you get the idea. Those two jacks were manufactured about 10 years apart, best I can tell. The original from sometime in the 1930's and the restored one from mid 1940's.

IMG_5476.jpg


IMG_5478.jpg


IMG_5479.jpg


IMG_5482.jpg


IMG_5483.jpg


On the restored jack, I did use stainless steel cotter pins through out.


IMG_5533.jpg


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IMG_5541.jpg


IMG_5543.jpg


IMG_5558.jpg



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[/QUOTE]

This was the restoration visual goal, from a vintage Walker Floor Jack ad published in 1948.

IMG_5468.jpg


And as it turned out in final form. With the powder coating everywhere it should remain looking this good for years and years to come.

WalkerAdSm1.jpg


Walker Greyhounds, America's Finest Hydraulic Service Jacks indeed! :thumbup:

A Satisfied Thomas

BTW, I've still got some more material about this jack for another post....we're not done here yet!! :)
 

johno

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I have been watching the jack part of this thread with particular interest, as i have one in need of work in the garage.
In my opinion I actually prefer a bit of patina,like the other jack in the pics, rather than the shiney powdercoat, but thats just my opinion, and it's your jack.

Either way it looks pretty good.
 

creativedust

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WOW THOMAS that far exceeds my expectations it is a work of art you cant give me any credit whatsoever it was your vision I just did what you told me the color was up in the air for a long time but I think we did enough Justice to this art piece that walker would be proud of it. This has to be the best walker jack in the states and possibly the world. Thank you for allowing me to work on this jack again WOW
 

JC23

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So it's ready for me and Breeze to pinstripe?

And where did you want that Rat Fink painted on it?
 

lirgus

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Did I miss it or was it stated somewhere in the past 150 or so pages about the origin of this Walker before you decided to restore it? I did a search but didn't come across any history of it. Any insight would be great.
 
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omr

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sorry if i missed some thing but people are joking about the front wheels right ? never seen a floor jack with rubber front wheels ..
 

Warg

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sorry if i missed some thing but people are joking about the front wheels right ? never seen a floor jack with rubber front wheels ..

Not really rubber wheels... Just something like a slice of a bicycle tube stretched over the wheel. It keeps the wheels from scratching the floor, and in this case as an added bonus, it keeps the wheels from getting scratched by the floor or any minute particles on it... :);

Btw Thomas, nice work on the jack. It looks at least ten years younger than the unrestored one! :bounce:

-Paul
 
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BB767

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Ah, Ah, Ah.... :willy_nil
There will be a designated spot for un-restored Anvils, it will be covered with a sheet of Masonite to protect the floor tiles...

There will be no molesting of the anvils, photos may be taken to document their condition before restoration... Lots of photos!!! :thumbup:

There will be a discussion before proposals and plans for the future Anvil museum may be submitted... :beer:

So as it is written....

So it shall be done! :D

Thomas
 
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BB767

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Chris ,
Just give me a call when those anvils show up on the delivery truck.
I can run down real quick and we can just slide them from the delivery truck into the bed of my truck. Then I can just take off.





I mean pull into the shop and slide them from my truck onto a bench !

Hello Thomas !


Craig

I knew I could count on my old buddy Craig to help out when the chips are down. I feel the love Craig, I really do! :)

Thomas
 
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BB767

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In the spirit of this whole thread, lets take it to the next level; machine 5 or 6 grooves into the circumference of each wheel and install a nice chubby o-ring in each groove.

Not exactly what I had in mind oberst. :headscrat But thanks for the thought. ;)

Thomas
 
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BB767

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I have been watching the jack part of this thread with particular interest, as i have one in need of work in the garage.
In my opinion I actually prefer a bit of patina,like the other jack in the pics, rather than the shiney powdercoat, but thats just my opinion, and it's your jack.

Either way it looks pretty good.

johno I couldn't agree with you more about patina and originality. I'm pretty well known for doing everything possible to preserve originality when possible. I had hoped when I first started the mechanical work on the Walker (over a year ago!) that it just had caked on dirt and grease that could be cleaned off and underneath it would be similar to my unrestored one. Alas, such was not the case.

FloorJack11sm.jpg


This is before and underneath it had a little too much patina as it were so...

IMG_5547.jpg


...I felt the need to do a top to bottom restoration.

IMG_1415.jpg


I feel you really need to have something to work with...

IMG_5461.jpg


...in this case...

IMG_1426.jpg


There wasn't any patina to preserve.:sad:

IMG_5480.jpg


IMG_1418.jpg


IMG_5469.jpg


FloorJack6sm.jpg


IMG_5482.jpg


FloorJack10sm.jpg


IMG_5535.jpg


All in all it was just a little too rough for me I'm sorry to say. Now on the other hand the original paint jack will remain as is, only cleaned up. It's a nice piece as it is. :) Thank you for sharing the comments.

Thomas
 
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BB767

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Thomas,

Your attention to the details of your jack restoration efforts is quite amazing. Having finished one recently, I can truly appreciate what went into this.

Excellent Job!!! :bowdown:

My last jack restoration can be seen here:

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101426&highlight=blackhawk

Be careful though, you might see a lot of non-clocked fastener heads. :D

CRTDI, thanks for the link to your Blackhawk jack restoration. Uh, very nice piece of work that!! Beautiful, just beautiful!! :thumbup:

It would be fun to get a group photo of all the restored floor jacks together wouldn't it?? :D

Thomas
 
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BB767

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WOW THOMAS that far exceeds my expectations it is a work of art you cant give me any credit whatsoever it was your vision I just did what you told me the color was up in the air for a long time but I think we did enough Justice to this art piece that walker would be proud of it. This has to be the best walker jack in the states and possibly the world. Thank you for allowing me to work on this jack again WOW

Don, I need to give you a big thank you for all your patience working with me on this project. I suspect more than a few fellows would have told me to go take a hike when I suggested some of the finer details I wanted to do on the Walker! Through it all you kept such a positive "can do" attitude, never let me down and allowed me to jump right in and help out at your shop. How many times did you/we strip that cover plate and redo all those WALKER letters over and over and over, convinced we could do it better if we just stuck with it! Creativedust is now two for two with big powder coating projects; the air meter and now the Walker are a credit to your fine work. Thank you again my friend! :thumbup::thumbup:

Thomas
 
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BB767

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Did I miss it or was it stated somewhere in the past 150 or so pages about the origin of this Walker before you decided to restore it? I did a search but didn't come across any history of it. Any insight would be great.


Take a look starting with page 22 and post #421. That's where I first introduced the Walker here. It is original to the shop and was one of the pieces of equipment I had really hoped would be left behind and thankfully it was. One of the truly neatest, coolest and frankly precious bits of the old family 8mm film I've transferred to DVD, is a segment showing Mr. Johnson and one of his sons. Its from the early 1960's, a winter shot, where they are unloading the Walker out of the back of the old Jeep pickup work truck in front of the shop lift room overhead door and rolling it under a large truck with a snow plow on it.

I know, I know. I need to get it posted on YouTube. Patience please. :dunno:

Thomas
 
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BB767

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very nice ! cant wait to see what you restore next :bowdown:.

hey thomas, maybe ill see ya at the LCOC . not sure what the wife has planned for us that day.
im in north Auburn hills about 10 min away. the chrysler muesum is not too far away either.
http://wpchryslermuseum.org/homepage.do;jsessionid=A4B1E38EB9E937B52F9C29C02F6368AE

here is something for you tool guys - http://wimp.com/functionaltools/

Thanks perry for both of those links. The 3D printer is something out of a fantasy isn't it? Simply amazing!

Convince your wife to come to the show! Hope to see you there.

Thomas
 
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BB767

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What is a good price on a used Walker Jack like that? There are 2 near me, one needs seal kit, for $250 each.

Hi bczygan and welcome to the thread. Start with this; a new one similar in function but not in style is $1,400- $1,600 Heinz-Warner - 4 ton capacity. Hiball can supply all the internal seals and packing material for you to do it yourself or ship it to him and he can do it. I'll let him comment on his cost of parts, but the parts ARE available which can't be said of all old jacks. You may or may not need to do some parts refurbishment which you read about on mine here but nothing extravagant I would think. If the jacks are complete, no damage to the frame, lifting arm etc and no missing critical parts, the price you are quoting doesn't seem too far out of line. Especially if you can inspect them in person and have no shipping expense involved getting it home. The one I restored is over 60+ years old and was used hard all it's life and basically it was in solid condition. These jacks were extremely well made and can take lots and lots of punishment. They are worthy of getting a second or third shot or more at being useful again. They'll take a licking and keep on ticking! :thumbup:

Send me a PM if I can be of more help. Save a Walker and you'll be doing your soul some good. :) Best of luck to you.

Thomas
 
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johno

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I see what you mean about too much patina on the Walker:lol_hitti

Well now you've got one of each, orig. and restored, glad to hear you're leaving the other in it's orig. state.
 

cool50

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Well, that turned out great. I was wondering, what's the next project? HEHEH
 
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