Craftsman floor jack rebuild

I have the 3 ton craftsman floor jack that was seldomly used and about 25+ years old. Last year it was very slow to raise the saddle and took about 30 pumps just to raise several inches. So wasn't confident it was going to raise and hold a car's weight safely for a minute. Carefully removed the cap to the hydraulic cylinder and disabled the valve (counter clockwise) all the way and slowly pumped full lever travel like 50 times. Then I replenished the fluid through that same access hole to just shy of filling by 1/8" with floor jack hydraulic specific oil. Reinstall and engage valve (clockwise) and try to lift a car. After repeating this twice, I can raise the saddle and car to maximum height in 10 pumps and you can feel the resistance in the handle now. The mistake I did was opening and filling the two visible holes in the front which didn't help me solve my issue.

Still no problems today. Same procedure as what was in the YouTube videos.
 
I have an off brand floor jack that leaks out fluid . Have to add fluid every time or every second time I use it .

Seems like I have read that O-Rings are used to rebuild a floor jack ? Special O-Rings or " standard " O-Rings ? Black or green O-Rings , or does it matter ?
 
I have a 3 year old black craftsman 3 ton. Looks pretty much like that. Was leaking early on but I was able to resolve it. Leaking where you pump the piston with the handle. Whatever that shaft is called. It must remain perfectly clean. No garage debris can get in there or it will cause the seal to leak. The other thing that was causing the seal to leak was air. I found this out because I was unable to find the right parts for that Jack so I tried fixing what was there and it's been good for the past 2 years. I removed the handle and that metal shaft. Pulled the oring out, cleaned everything out and put it back together. Use syl glyde on the oring when reinstalling shaft. Replaced all the jack fluid with the fluid you can buy everywhere . The one with the seal conditioner. Then once it was full the bleeding was critical. Pump it up and down a few times and then push on the rubber seal where you add fluid with a flathead screwdriver. Too much air will cause it to leak out the seals too.

I had given up on the Craftsman and started buying Harbor Freight 3 ton jacks. They are cheap. No problems with those either. What I like about the Harbor Freight Jack is it lifts up quicker then the Craftsman does. But that Craftsman is working fine now so I use the two of them. If I were to replace it I think it's Lowe's now that bought Craftsman but I would just buy more of the Harbor Freight jacks. No point in fixing them anymore they are so cheap

A clean Jack is a happy jack
 
i6pwr said:
Surely enough as I'm nearing the end of my rod bearing replacement, my floor jack decides to start leaking down.

This is the jack, has anyone rebuilt these and/or replaced any seals?

I can crank the handle down as hard as I can but it will slowly drop with weight on the cup.

I don't think its low on oil, but possibly.

All input appreciated.

View attachment 13030

View attachment 13031
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Did you figure this out yet? I have the same jack and I need to know how the springs and check balls go in. I found the rebuild parts.
 
BlakeSpencer said:
Did you figure this out yet? I have the same jack and I need to know how the springs and check balls go in. I found the rebuild parts.
Click to expand...

Sorry, no I have not, honestly it doesn't bleed down as fast right not, have saved this project but seem to keep pushing it along.

I plan on looking into it soon, if I find the solution I will update. If anyone does also please feel free to add to this.
 
i6pwr said:
Sorry, no I have not, honestly it doesn't bleed down as fast right not, have saved this project but seem to keep pushing it along.

I plan on looking into it soon, if I find the solution I will update. If anyone does also please feel free to add to this.
Click to expand...


If you can pull this part and send me pics of where the check balls go, I would greatly appreciated it. I can assist you remotely so you dont lose anything.
 
I had a craftsman floor Jack that sat in the shed for 6 months. Then one day I pulled it out and that piston that the handle pushes on was rusted up and probably tore up the oring a bit cause it leaks down now
 
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ajchien said:
do you have the model number of your Craftsman jack? looking at i6pwr‘s fuzzy pictures in post #24, it looks like a Craftman professional 3.5 ton. I’ll take a wild guess that you might have model 50145. If so, check out page 7 of this link: https://www.hcrcnow.com/uploads/drawings/sears50145floorjack3.5ton.pdf
Click to expand...


I believe that is the model but SOME of the parts are different. I have already seen that PDF. not sure if they substitude bearings for some of the pointed piston/valves or what but that is not what I have exactly.


thanks.
 
BlakeSpencer said:
I believe that is the model but SOME of the parts are different. I have already seen that PDF. not sure if they substitude bearings for some of the pointed piston/valves or what but that is not what I have exactly.

thanks.
Click to expand...

IMHO, it may be easier for you to take pictures of your hydraulic jack block and the pieces you have taken out of the valves to show the internet. It is possible that someone here or more likely over at garagejounal.com may be familiar with that particular valve system. Im not very familiar with that craftsman 50145, but the single-pump
piston with “speedy lift” system it has is something that is found in a lot of Omega branded jacks.
 
ajchien said:
IMHO, it may be easier for you to take pictures of your hydraulic jack block and the pieces you have taken out of the valves to show the internet. It is possible that someone here or more likely over at garagejounal.com may be familiar with that particular valve system. Im not very familiar with that craftsman 50145, but the single-pump
piston with “speedy lift” system it has is something that is found in a lot of Omega branded jacks.
Click to expand...


I will take pics. The "power unit" is made by a chinese company and is used in other jacks, just not sure which one and no one has been able to tell me which other brands use it. It would alot easier for someone here that HAS the same jack to just pull theirs apart.. screw driver and a magnet to pull the balls out of the hole.
 
BlakeSpencer said:
I will take pics. The "power unit" is made by a chinese company and is used in other jacks, just not sure which one and no one has been able to tell me which other brands use it. It would alot easier for someone here that HAS the same jack to just pull theirs apart.. screw driver and a magnet to pull the balls out of the hole.
Click to expand...

If you guide someone to pull their jack apart, please make sure they pay attention to the adjustment screw setting of the overload and speed bypass valves.
 
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ajchien said:
IMHO, you have a better chance finding out where your valve parts go by posting pics over on garagejournal.com, in the general tools forum. There are 2-3 members there that repair or used to repair hydraulic jacks as a job. There are a handful of guys who rebuild vintage jacks as a hobby, and then there are more folks that have decided to learn a little about hydraulics to fix their own jacks rather than buy new (I put myself in the last category). one of the more experienced members I think I see weekly on the forum, the others are sporadic maybe once every 2-3 months, so give them a week and maybe a thread bump, as sometimes the threads can get buried.
Click to expand...


thanks. I wouldnt be as persistent on this but new jacks are total junk. This Craftsman is borderline junk but atleast it survived 23 years. I think I can stretch it another 20 lol
 
i6pwr said:
Sorry, no I have not, honestly it doesn't bleed down as fast right not, have saved this project but seem to keep pushing it along.

I plan on looking into it soon, if I find the solution I will update. If anyone does also please feel free to add to this.
Click to expand...
hello?
 
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