Floor jack problem

Eric in IL

Well-known Member
I was using my hydraulic floor jack today on a lawn mower. The jack was about 2/3 extended when the handle decided to go straight up if I turned it loose.

Then lowered it and tried again with the same results.

Seems like a malfunctioning check valve ???

The jack was made by Northern Hydraulics and I think it was pretty cheap (2.25 ton). Probably 15-20 years old.

Just wondering if it is worth trying to fix ?

Thanks to responses.
 
I should clarify my wording- on the second try I did not get the same results. On the second try I could only get one pump worth of height out of the jack. If I raised the handle preparing for the second pump, the jack went back down.

Sorry for any confusion.
 
Most of them jacks are about the same. I would say there is a ball and spring (check valve) when you push the handle down you press oil around the ball and when you lift up the ball seats to retain the oil just pushed. so the balls not seating or the springs broken..Simple stuff
 
Eric, check out garagejournalDOTcom Find the forums and ask around for HIBALL. He is a jack guru. He rebuilds them, has parts, and is free with information. A truly good guy.
 
I got this cure from this site when mine did the same thing. Open the valve three of four turns, lift the jack head as fast as you can by hand, then shove it down, do this three or four times. It seams to flush the junk out of the valve, at least it worked great on my 3 ton Buffalo brand jack. And whoever posted this fix the first time THANKS.
 
Your Jack was probably NOT manufactured by
Northern Hydraulics, but only sold by them. It
was probably manufactured in CHINA.
I spent 3 hours on the phone, once, in the 90's
trying to track down a repair kit for a Chinese
jack. I finally reached an importer in LosAngeles,
who told me.."Look buddy, I'm in the business of
selling jacks--NOT PARTS" !
American made jacks are made to a standard of
quality,are repairable, AND ARE NOT CHEAP!
Chinese jacks are made as "THROW AWAY'S and are
made to sell Cheap!
 
504-1, after reading your post this morning I tried it on my jack.

My jack works fine now, thanks for posting !
 

The problem is how can you trust it from now own... What ever stuck it up are jammed up will do it again... Theirs nuttin to taking them apart cleaning them installing new oil that's were I would be headed...

If i went their I would find the relief valve and turn it in while counting the turns till it bottomed out and put it back like I found it after I dissembled and inspected...

Just went into one and the a check ball was corroded/rusty,,, replaced it with one with spare carb parts check balls and its good as new...
 
my chinese lincoln jack has creeped down since new. it s basically junk except for the spring that holds up the handle..my 20 year old made in america generic whatever it might be, has been abused like 90 and still just keeps working like the day we bought it..btw it also cost three times as much too....money well spent..
 
I can't help you with the problem. I've only taken one of those type of pumps apart in my life. I have had almost no long term luck with any tool with a hand pump like that. Floor jacks, bottle jacks, port-a-powers, they all work when new but start acting like yours after a small amount of use. Day before yesterday I was using my high dollar port-a-power jacking an axle back on a truck when it suddenly acted like it was out of oil. Had plenty of oil but there was no resistance in the pump handle. I only need to go another 1/8" to get the spring clamp hole to fall in the pin but it just wouldn't go anymore. Grrr. Finally I held the pump vertically with the hose down and it started pumping again. Jim
 
Many moons ago, Sears had roll around floor jacks on sale, so i bought one for me, and one for my son who was dabbling in cars, etc. Son is now 45, floor jacks are still working! After we bought them, Sears switched over to those foreign things that were only good for raising Kiddie-Kars. The cost of the newer ones was about the same as the ones we had bought earlier.
Sears sucked in lots of folks on them, but lost their rep for good tools! RJ
 
Try this site http://www.hyjacks.com/H7.HTM. I have been given/bought/fixed/sold many floor jacks using the info contained on the site.
 
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51105&highlight=rebuild+sears+floor+jack

I read one time where all overseas jacks are the same- davy
 

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