Troublesome jack

micki
edited March 2014 in HUDSON

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?

image

Comments

  • Park_W
    edited March 2014
    6 o'clock is up?  What kind of a clock do you have, Ken?
  • Jon B
    edited March 2014
    What happens when you move the lever to "UNIV"?  Do you get a degree in Mechanical Engineering?
  • 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..
  • 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.
  • I got a tip
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Maybe where the term "jacked up" for something broken came from.
  • 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.
  • Duncan, I have oiled the jack without result.
    Lee, I will follow your advice.
  • I TOO HAVE A SMALL ALUMINUM JACK I GOT AT HABOR FRIGHT IT WORKS GREAT ON MY PACEMAKER 
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
    edited March 2014
    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, Swedenimage
  • Nice job on the drawing and explanation. It should help to get some of those pesky jacks working again.
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