Anyone know why my 6yr old Torin aluminum low profile lightweight racing jack, used maybe 6x/year, would out of the blue only raise the car about 1" at a time (per travel of the jacking arm), and only at the bottom of the travel (down near the floor) while I'm jacking it up? It used to raise the car after like 3-4 pushes on the lever.

There is no sign of any fluid leak. There is a "bleeder screw" that i tightened to see if it would fix the problem, but it did nothing.
Torin is off till Monday for the holidays...

Thanks!

Ron

 

sounds like the jack is getting old.

 

The seal may be leaking by. I would bet that's the problem if there is fluid in it and you can't see any external leaks.

 

Was it laid on it's side? If so, pump it a bunch of times with the handle in the down position to get air out of the system.

 

It is stored flat on it's wheels...I've seen old, used jacks at gas stations before & if you saw mine, you'd think it was like 6 months old!
There is no real signs of fluid on the floor that I can detect, but that is not to say it didn't leak....

Any other suggestions from anyone??

Ron

 

I have had the same thing happen with mine and it is about the same age. The fluid is almost clear (Like a Foblin oil) and on mine it leaked through the seal on the pump. Time for a new jack, I haven't decided which one to buy yet.
Mine also still looks brand new, just doesn't work like new.

D.J.

 

My friend says I SHOULD be able to add fluid back....I'm gonna call torin Monday when they return....As an alternative, JC whitney has them for $90.

Ron

 

Sounds like the internal seal is leaking from not being used enough, need to make more trips to the track Ron

 

Is it possible that the vent got screwed back down? I have a couple of floor jacks that are 30 years old that still work (my first real job was working for Walker jack company in Racine WI, in 1976). I also have to keep in mind that I paid more for one 30 years ago than you can buy 3 for today....

 

Change the jack oil. After a few years moisture gets into the oil. You can't compress water.

 

 

There should be a vent on the top that you can take out with a 6 point socket and turn it over to let the oil out. Then fill with fresh oil and pump it several times in the release position to get the air out. Or it may have a screw plug on the body of the cylinder that you can drain and refill the with.

Also. Northern Tool carries that brand and may have the manual on line.

It's worth a shot.

 

I remember in the seventies when we jacked the car up to change the wheels. It jacked up fine but when I turned the handle too let it down
it stayed there and would not come down. In the end I had to open the nut on top to release the pressure and it blew out and we all got soaked with hydraulic fluid. It was in my hair big time, Will never forget.
The best jack I had since was the low profile racing jack you can get at
HARBOR FREIGHT for a little over $100.00 and made my own hockey puck.

 

The hydraulic circuit for a floor jack is very simple. It consists of a vented reservoir, cylinder, pump, relief valve, release valve, and two check valves (one on the inlet and one on the outlet of the pump). If the pump was leaking by, you would see oil external to the system. You can get full stroke on the cylinder so that means you have sufficient oil in the reservoir. (BTW, contrary to the poster above, the reservoir could be filled completely with water and it would still work...until rust set in of course. Hydraulic fluid is incompressible too.) If the load is being held after you raise it, the cylinder seals are good as well as the pump outlet check valve. The relief valve and release valve are also good as they have to hold the load too. That leaves us with the pump inlet check valve as the most likely source of your problem. There may be a small piece of trash stuck in the check valve which would cause a leakage path diverting oil from your pump stroke back to the reservoir and that check valve is not in the circuit that holds the load...it only seals off the passage to the reservoir during the pump stroke. Pressure is highest at the beginning of the lift due to less mechanical advantage in the linkage and leakage increases with pressure so that would explain why you see the problem at the bottom of the lift. It could still be the relief valve but only if it was lifting early, not leaking. When you stroke the pump, pressure increases higher than needed to hold the load with the amount of increase depending on how fast you stroke the pump. With the higher pressures at the bottom of the lift, a quick stroke on the pump could partially lift the relief valve diverting a portion of the fluid to the reservoir.

To determine which one it is, load the jack and stroke the pump very slowly. If travel increases, the relief valve was lifting early. By slowing down the stroke, you decreased the pressure below the relief valve lifting pressure and all of the fluid went to the cylinder. If travel decreases (it may not even move), the problem is the pump inlet check valve. Since leakage is constant at a given pressure, the slower stroke caused more/all of the fluid to leak back to the reservoir past the pump inlet check valve. Of course the pressure with a slow stroke will be lower as noted above so leakage will be less for this test but it should still leak by. The check valves are simply spring loaded ***** and easy to remove/clean/replace and usually come in rebuild kits. Of course it doesn't cost anything to take it apart, clean it (paying particular attention to the check valves), and put it back together. Make sure you reverse flush the passages with pressurized water then air and be very clean when assembling...dirt is the enemy in hydraulics. In the end, you may decide a new one will be the better option rather than attempting repairs to this one. Good luck with it.

 

Is it possible to add TOO much hydraulic oil??
I jacked real slow and it didn't really seem to move. there DOES appear to be some old stain on the garage floor where I keep the jack. Can't say 100% it's from that, but it can be.

I added fluid by removing the relief screw. I didn't fill it all the way, but at least 2/3 or more. Once I did that, the jack would only lift about 6" & no further!!!!

I think I'll just get a new one. At the Harbor Freight store, (never knew they existed, let alone had one near my house) they have a similar jack on sale for $60. I think I'll just go buy it!!!

Thanks for the responses!!
Great post glass slipper!

Ron

 

can't compress oil either!

 

Well I got another jack from Harbor freight. $60....Done deal....rather then deal with this again or even worse, have the jack fail!
Thanks for the responses!

Ron