Another day, why not another floor jack?

[oldnslo]

Caution, I'm seriously thinking I need to break this habit (or so I have said before).

Walker 2 ton in red, probably a 93642 because it matches another one I have, however this was advertised as "doesn't lift, might need oil". Yeah, we all know better than that. Fast forward to me making an offer (way off from the advertised price of $45. I then waited a few days and restarted negotiations. We settled on $20 and I would come by and look at it.

It sure didn't lift. It had 4 rusted solid wheels, it had been in the water, the handle was bent. It intrigued me, as I had never seen a red one, except for the SnapOn ones, and they have raised cast lettering along with red paint. I said, I would pass on it, with it being unable to even roll. The guy was going to give it to me, I said I would pay $10, and I loaded it in. That red paint (much faded) is all factory, through and through. The color has me puzzled, I can't find a twin to it despite many web searches.

Fast forward to a full disassembly, I struggled with the wheels, but they yielded, and now the quad o-ring, and ram cup is on its way. A newer decal is $27, so I passed on that. That oil was dirtier than a 400k mile diesel truck with no oil change (and stunk like diesel motor oil too), and it had sludge galore in the body.

Blue jack shown for reference, as I was snugging up the top nut where I chained it down to a trailer. I keep the Walker closer for my daily use rather than my selection of Hein-Werners.

[Elroy]

appears to be an awarding project.

[Uncle Buck]

Cool! I look forward to another Team Elroy restoration! I have to agree, I have never seen a red Walker, aside from those sold through Snap-on as you noted. Like you, those SO versions I have seen all looked as you described.

Perplexing to say the least.

[oldnslo]

Pics (or as they say), or it didn't happen. It's as clean as I'm willing to make it. At this point, I'll keep the paint in the rattle can, and put this to use as-is, or make it a loaner, so being faded fits in with everything else in AZ.

As you can see, she's red from head to toe. I'm seriously under the impression this might have been a tire company floor jack, factory painted to match the store color scheme from the start. What also leads me to that impression is the hex head screw that holds the handle in place was red Loctite'd in place. Many of these have thumb screws for easy removal of the handle at the base. I did get more back story from the former owner today, and while he had had it for 20+  years, he loaned it to a neighbor and it never worked right when it came back. I can see that somebody filled it with used diesel motor oil, complete with a full 3 tablespoons of sludge. That oil stunk to high heaven.

Handle pic, is my home-spun, long-carriage "press" (aka car trailer) for straightening the handle at the high point of the curve. Only a Walker jack is supposed to straighten a Walker handle. (GG code of ethics)

Wheel pic, is where I plan on feather grinding from where it had been drug around on concrete, to a point that the wheels hopefully wont go clunk-clunk-clunk when it gets wheeled into position. Using soapstone for stop marks. I've had success with this approach before.

[gtermini]

Looks like it'll clean up well. That's a far cry from what we'd here in the rainy world would call "rusty".

[Uncle Buck]

That is seriously the most bad ass break bar I have ever seen! Looks to be 4-5" long. I only have the 2' Snap-on break bar myself. If the job gets more serious than that, I break out my " Bertha bar". It's either 4 or 5' long, I don't recall right now and 3/4" drive torque wrench I dug out of the salvage yard for jobs like you are doing. I have never encountered anything that it couldn't handle. LOL

Sounds like that one is almost as bad as the first jack I ever did, a 50's era Walker Greyhound long frame. I dug it out of the dirt from the neighbors back yard. The only thing not buried in the dirt was the handle sticking up from the dirt like a flag pole!  Nothing moved once it was dug from the dirt, the handle would not even move. Everyplace there would normally have been a gap was totally packed with dirt.
It looked like a handle with a massive block of dirt attached to the end. I drug it home like that and fortunately the next day it accompanied a load of parts my pop had sandblasted which amazingly got most of the dirt n even the smallest crevasses removed. Untold amounts of oil, gas and solvent were used to break it down, and ultimately I did succeed in rebuilding it. I recall paying a machinist a modest fee to turn a sleeve for the bore of the ram prior to rebuilding it.

I didn't own a lathe then and was about 18 years old so I  old not afford the $100-$150 a new replacement cylinder would have cost at that time so I just kitted it. I guess I must have gotten something other than the standard size since it was sleeved.

I am watching this thread with great interest because I have at least six floor jacks to rebuild, I think 3-4 long frame jacks, one of which is a Weaver. Only rarely have I ever encountered a Weaver. The other long frames are Walker, the short jacks are several Hien Warners, and one or two old Blackhawks.

Certainly, rebuilding them is a labor of love as they are incredibly labor intensive to restore, but so very rewarding once completed.

I greatly enjoy Elroy sharing his fix for the bent handle and the attention and treatment given the flat spotted castors.

I envy Elroys dedication to salvaging the original castors. I know if I had to grind off too muck of the diameter of the castors, I would likely replace them with round stock fitted with bearings that would fit the axle.

There is the difference between a Craftsman (Elroy) and à duct tape and baling wire hillbilly (me) LOL 😆

Bravo Elroy! carry on with the lesson!

[oldnslo]

Yup, UB, that is one long Geeeezus bar. It came with a owner supplied bend in it, that I was able to press straight again. It started as the smallest Snappy handle, and over the years, I have been able to locate the longer version and rid myself of the small handles.

For everyone's viewing pleasure, the "after pic" of the feather grinding. She's one smoooooth roller now. If you are curious as to how I knew where to stop my feathering of the "damage area" it's because I marked the sidewalls of the wheel with a grease pencil to keep me on track as to the center of the damage, knowing the soapstone marks would disappear during the refurb.