Troublesome jack

micki

My Hudson jack does not work as expected...

There is no problem to lift the car when the lever is in the 3 o'clock position, see enclosed picture.

But it will not move downwards when I move the lever to the 6 o'clock position and try to lower the jack by operating it the same way as when I lifted it.

It stays in the position it had before I tried to lower it. What´s wrong?

Any tip how to repair?

Park_W

6 o'clock is up?  What kind of a clock do you have, Ken?

Jon B

What happens when you move the lever to "UNIV"?  Do you get a degree in Mechanical Engineering?

Park_W

What keeps a good number of Hudnuts using these critters is that on the stepdowns, if you need to pull a rear wheel you have to jack either the frame or the built-in "pockets" under the bumper. The frame is the logical choice then, but it has to be raised quite a bit, and some typical scissors jacks don't have enough range..

micki

Thanks Ken U-Tx for your tip but it cannot work. Look at my picture but magnified. The lever can only move within a circular sector which limits its movement to 3 o’clock. 12 o’clock cannot be reached.
To Jon B I would like to say that I already have the degree in Mechanical Engineering plus a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering plus 45 years experience from my work.

micki

I got a tip

micki

Ihave got a tip from a Swedish friend: When you wish to lower the car you must press the "pumprod" down until it stops. Then you can lift it and the car goes down a bit.
I have tried this without success. I guess that the spring inside the jack is weak and does not operate the "hooks" in the correct way. The spring is not broken.

duncan

I can see that the jack looks dry, oil the jack mechanism and jack post. Where the parts slide on. Oil does wonders to jacks.  Ray

Chris Smith

Maybe where the term "jacked up" for something broken came from.

Lee ODell

I carry a 25lb aluminum floor jack in my Hornet. It raised the frame enough to remove rear tire. When Betties car had a flat, AAA came to change the tire. The driver uses the same model floor jack I have in the Hudson. I would not consider using the original jack still in the trunk.

micki

Duncan, I have oiled the jack without result.
Lee, I will follow your advice.

PAULARGETYPE

I TOO HAVE A SMALL ALUMINUM JACK I GOT AT HABOR FRIGHT IT WORKS GREAT ON MY PACEMAKER 

[Deleted User]

I always had good luck with these, but it's been about 20 years since I used one. I do remember having to push down pretty hard sometimes on the jack handle to get them to start releasing and lowering the car. My current Hudson didn't come with a jack, so I keep a bottle jack and a chunk of 4X4 in the trunk...and my State Farm Card (lol). If anyone has a Hudson jack they'd like to get rid of I'd be game to take it off their hands, just to complete the trunk appearance.

akcoop

I think the best way is to keep a floor jack and a 6 ton jack stand (for size not weight) in the trunk.  Jack the car up with the floor jack under the axle put the 6 ton jack stand under the frame just forward of the wheel.  Then you can use the jack to raise or lower the axle to get the tire out.  I feel safer with the car held up with the jackstand and using the jack to get the axle in the right position.  Just my two cents.

micki

I looks like I have solved the problem by decreasing the tension of the inside spring a little. If I have time I will make a drawing to show my solution.

micki

Dear friends. Have a look att the enclosed drawing which I have made by inspecting the inside parts of the jack using a torch. The spring has a significant function. At first I tried to extend the lower left U-shaped part in the drawing but it did not make any difference. Still the jack refused to go down. So I tried the opposite and compressed the lower left U-shaped part a little. And it worked.
I hope you can have some benefit from my drawing and exlanation. Best regards
Michael (micki) Henze, Sweden

lostmind

Nice job on the drawing and explanation. It should help to get some of those pesky jacks working again.