One of mine snapped the u-joint; I replaced it with a u-joint I bought from Ace for about $8.00. You know...the kind of swivel joint you use to get around headers when you're changing plugs. Mine was a 3/8. Cleaned up and welded the male end to the handle and the female end to the linkage that runs the cylinder release. YMMV, as always...
As an aside, if (when?) I have to do it again on this or another jack, I will square the handle shaft to fit the female end, and use a socket on the release end, so that the normal setup will work and be easily replaced. Drill the handle end for a rollpin after the swivel's in place, and there you go!
Mikey52_1 wrote: As an aside, if (when?) I have to do it again on this or another jack, I will square the handle shaft to fit the female end, and use a socket on the release end, so that the normal setup will work and be easily replaced. Drill the handle end for a rollpin after the swivel's in place, and there you go!
That sounds like the solution there. I originally bought this jack off craigslist when it was just a few months old and had blown the seal. I was working in a Nascar shop at the time and one of the guys there helped me fix it with parts from the shop.
Over Thanksgiving I'll be trying Mikey's idea on it. Hopefully it'll work. Although that NAPA jack is pretty pimpy looking. Might get it for home use and take the "hopefully" repaired craftsmen on the road for events. After all it's always easy to find one to barrow when at the track ;-)
EvanR wrote: My $0.02... Craftsman, HF, and all the others are all made in the same Chinese factory, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Were I in your position, I'd watch Craigslist for a used, high quality, American-made jack from a garage going out of business. A nice Lincoln, perhaps. Even if it doesn't work, something of high quality is worth the time and effort to rebuild.
Not necessarily the same Chinese factory. There are dozens of Chinese (and Taiwanese) lifting equipment factories, and the quality can really vary.
I used to work for the company that imported NAPA's lifting equipment, after Lincoln lost the contract (deservedly so, due to crappy product and horrible service). I have two of their 3-ton quick lift jacks from the economy line, as well as a Lincoln that was made around 2001 (in their last USA factory). The Lincoln jack is a POS. It sits in a corner of my garage because I'm too cheap to throw it out.
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