Non-working trolley jack - help required

championc

Hi all,

I have a trolley jack which I've had for about 30 years. When I push the bar / handle down, the main horizontal piston cylinder comes out about 0.5cm but then goes back in again. If I pull up the lifting pad as I jack the handle, it will stay up. So I'm not sure as to what is wrong with it. It's full of hydraulic oil.

There is a small vertical piston connected to the jacking handle. It has a small O Ring near the base and then a U Seal at the base. Both of these have been replaced. Any quick thoughts or where could I bring it for attention ?

It's not a cheap Lidl/Aldi or eBay jobbie, so I really prefer to fix and save it

Thanks in advance

biko

Could be trapped air.
Did you ever change oil?

What make is it?

kirving

Sounds like a pumping seal gone, but non return valve is working still?

If there's nothing restricting the flow (ie; the weight of the lifting arm), you can pump the fluid. One it's up, it will stay there.

Can you feel any resistance when you jack it up?

championc

Here are photos of the unit. Maybe the U-seal is slightly the wrong size ? I measured the thin part of the pin on the end of the piston as being about 5.5mm, so I could only get a U-seal with either a 5mm or 6mm hole - so I went with the 6mm.

When trying to jack up, the only resistance is that created by the spring which is pulling the lifting arm back to the bottom. When I push the jack handle down, the main hydraulic cylinder moves out about 0.5cm and when I lift the handle back up for a second stroke, the main hydraulic cylinder goes back in again.

championc

Here are photos of the unit. Maybe the U-seal is slightly the wrong size ? I measured the thin part of the pin on the end of the piston as being about 5.5mm, so I could only get a U-seal with either a 5mm or 6mm hole - so I went with the 6mm.

When trying to jack up, the only resistance is that created by the spring which is pulling the lifting arm back to the bottom. When I push the jack handle down, the main hydraulic cylinder moves out about 0.5cm and when I lift the handle back up for a second stroke, the main hydraulic cylinder goes back in again.

TheBoyConor

For safety reasons, just replace it. Even with a repair you could never fully trust it to not collapse when raising or lowering a load. You should never repair any sort of lifting gear. If it develops a fault, it's done.

And don't just dump it. Cut it in half with a grinder or gas, or dismantle and dispose of the components separately just in case anyone were to salvage it from the scrap and decide to use it not knowing that it might be likely to collapse.

blackbox

TheBoyConor wrote: »

For safety reasons, just replace it. Even with a repair you could never fully trust it to not collapse when raising or lowering a load. You should never repair any sort of lifting gear. If it develops a fault, it's done.

And don't just dump it. Cut it in half with a grinder or gas, or dismantle and dispose of the components separately just in case anyone were to salvage it from the scrap and decide to use it not knowing that it might be likely to collapse.

Are you suggesting that every device that could be potentially dangerous should be disposed of rather than repaired?

Do you scrap your car if you have a fault in the brakes?

punisher5112

blackbox wrote: »

Are you suggesting that every device that could be potentially dangerous should be disposed of rather than repaired?

Do you scrap your car if you have a fault in the brakes?

It's 30 years old, I'd replace imo....

LollipopJimmy

blackbox wrote: »

Are you suggesting that every device that could be potentially dangerous should be disposed of rather than repaired?

Do you scrap your car if you have a fault in the brakes?

When the piece of equipment is older than most of the posters on the thread it's probably not a bad shout. It's not a spanner like it's a jack. Now I know you always need to use axle stands etc but still. 30 years out of a jack is probably enough to ask of it.

TheBoyConor

It is a safety critical device. Anything like this, lifting slings, chains, tackle etc are never repaired. They are just put beyond use (ie, chopped up) and replaced, nomatter how easily repaired. Especially if others are using the jack, replace it. If it were to collapse and someone got hurt, you would be torn apart by the HSA and courts for doing a DIY repair rather than replacing a 30 year old garage jack.

The only kind of repair you could do would be to send it off to someone competent to repair jacks and lift equipment because then they would have to stand over the quality and reliability of a repair. But this is for big stuff, industrial lifts and jacks. It would be wildly expensive and nonsensical to do it for a 30 year old trolley jack.

kirving

I would never ever treat a jack as safety critical device - no way in hell am I getting under a car with just a jack. Always assume it's just about to fail and have an exit strategy should it fail.

That said, it's old now and you're unsure of it. Other failing parts probably aren't far behind. You don't want to be lowering a car nice and gently onto an axle stand only for it to slip and rip a brake line or something.

It's likely only a 20c seal, but unless you can confidently diagnose what's wrong and give it a full service, it's just not worth the hassle of it not working when you need it.

swarlb

blackbox wrote: »

Are you suggesting that every device that could be potentially dangerous should be disposed of rather than repaired?

Do you scrap your car if you have a fault in the brakes?

That particular jack has well outlived it's normal working life, it's by no means a 'heavy duty' tool to begin with, more something you'd keep in the boot to change the odd wheel.

And yes, in many instances it could be a cheaper option to scrap a car than repair the brakes.

TheBoyConor

Kevin Irving wrote: »

I would never ever treat a jack as safety critical device - no way in hell am I getting under a car with just a jack. Always assume it's just about to fail and have an exit strategy should it fail.

.

I don't meant it in the way that you'd let the jack alone support the vehicle when working on it. Of course, that would be mad. You'd obviously be using axles stands or whatever on it too.
What I mean is that even when jacking or lowering, if the jack were to suddenly fail then the vehicle would instantly fall to the ground and could still cause injury to someone or cause severe damage. In that sense I think it still is safety critical.

Either way, definitely scrap that jack. It is very important that you cut it in two or pull it apart when you scrap it to prevent salvage and reuse.
Same as when you are disposing of a damaged ladder - you cut it in two lengthwise, cutting all the rungs so that no-one pulls it out of the skip, takes it home, falls off it, then sues you because you left it there to be found, taken and used.

championc

First of all, I am a Joe Soap with a trolley jack in the shed. It's barely used from one year to the next. It would only ever have been used to jack the car up to then side an axle stand underneath.

So has it been used more than 60 times in 30 years ? Maybe. Has it been used in the past 5 years ? No

It's likely to require a simple seal, most likely the seals on the vertical piston are slightly incorrect.

On balance, it seems far more sturdy than those for sale in Lidl in the past week or two, even though a Lidl one would be fine for the amount of use it's likely to get.

Where in Dublin would be a good place to get it looked at ?

LollipopJimmy

championc wrote: »

First of all, I am a Joe Soap with a trolley jack in the shed. It's barely used from one year to the next. It would only ever have been used to jack the car up to then side an axle stand underneath.

So has it been used more than 60 times in 30 years ? Maybe. Has it been used in the past 5 years ? No

It's likely to require a simple seal, most likely the seals on the vertical piston are slightly incorrect.

On balance, it seems far more sturdy than those for sale in Lidl in the past week or two, even though a Lidl one would be fine for the amount of use it's likely to get.

Where in Dublin would be a good place to get it looked at ?

Depends where you are but anybody who works with hydraulics. Probably a place in every industrial estate

swarlb

championc wrote: »

First of all, I am a Joe Soap with a trolley jack in the shed. It's barely used from one year to the next. It would only ever have been used to jack the car up to then side an axle stand underneath.

So has it been used more than 60 times in 30 years ? Maybe. Has it been used in the past 5 years ? No

It's likely to require a simple seal, most likely the seals on the vertical piston are slightly incorrect.

On balance, it seems far more sturdy than those for sale in Lidl in the past week or two, even though a Lidl one would be fine for the amount of use it's likely to get.

Where in Dublin would be a good place to get it looked at ?

Here... they used to be in Dublin years ago, but like everyone else, moved to the suburbs.

http://rampower.ie/