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American made floor jack


I totally agree. It's a total shame American made products just can't compete with the rest of the worlds pricing. It's not even close.

If I counted on the jack everyday for work... it's easier to justify the cost. I've used my jack a couple times in the last week... but it wasn't used for a couple months before that.

Hard to say which way I will go when the time comes... but it just may end up a foreign jack with what I want it to have... and a pair of seats for the Bronco.
American products can compete price wise with anybody, we just have to give up OSHA. the EPA, unemployment, social security, medicare, labor unions, safe working conditions, and the idea that a work week is 40 hours. Actually, I never had a 40 hour a week job unless I took one day off. Unfortunately when we buy foreign stuff- and sometimes there isn't a choice- we're voting with our money for those working conditions.
 
American products can compete price wise with anybody, we just have to give up OSHA. the EPA, unemployment, social security, medicare, labor unions, safe working conditions, and the idea that a work week is 40 hours. Actually, I never had a 40 hour a week job unless I took one day off. Unfortunately when we buy foreign stuff- and sometimes there isn't a choice- we're voting with our money for those working conditions.
I can give up some of that. Labor unions, for one. EPA and OSHA have their place. But they have gone overboard with what they do. We can have safe workplaces without half the crap OSHA requires. The problem is that someone thinks we can make stupid people safe by putting up signs and making rules, most of which are common sense to the people who actually have enough brains to do the work. 40 hour work weeks? They're nice. But in my current job, I was brought in with the understanding that I would be working 48 hrs per week. Did that for 6 1/2 years. Then COVID required the plant to shut down for a month. Maintenance kept working. But they knocked us back to 40 hrs per week with the understanding that we would go back to 48 when the plant resumed full production. Our manager decided to never put us back. Bam. There went 23% of my income. Anyway. The time off is nice. But I want my money back and I'm willing to work 48hrs per week plus emergency OT.

Back in the 90's when I was building my electrical business on the side, I worked 45+ hours for the big company and another 20-35 hours per week on my own business. Wore me out. But I finally became able to quit working for "them".

Social security and Medicare? They have their place. But they need to be cleaned up a good bit. And this unemployment/COVID relief mess needs to end.
 
I can give up some of that. Labor unions, for one. EPA and OSHA have their place. But they have gone overboard with what they do. We can have safe workplaces without half the crap OSHA requires. The problem is that someone thinks we can make stupid people safe by putting up signs and making rules, most of which are common sense to the people who actually have enough brains to do the work. 40 hour work weeks? They're nice. But in my current job, I was brought in with the understanding that I would be working 48 hrs per week. Did that for 6 1/2 years. Then COVID required the plant to shut down for a month. Maintenance kept working. But they knocked us back to 40 hrs per week with the understanding that we would go back to 48 when the plant resumed full production. Our manager decided to never put us back. Bam. There went 23% of my income. Anyway. The time off is nice. But I want my money back and I'm willing to work 48hrs per week plus emergency OT.

Back in the 90's when I was building my electrical business on the side, I worked 45+ hours for the big company and another 20-35 hours per week on my own business. Wore me out. But I finally became able to quit working for "them".

Social security and Medicare? They have their place. But they need to be cleaned up a good bit. And this unemployment/COVID relief mess needs to end.
Labor unions did a lot of good 100 years ago when 12 hour days and 7 days a week in unsafe conditions were common but they've gone way overboard since then. Google "GM jobs bank" for an example. Before environmental rules a river in the Midwest, in Ohio if I remember right, caught fire more than once. Towns would buy our waste oil and spray it on dirt roads to keep the dust down, most houses in NH have wells and oil from cars burning leaded fuel had lead in it. During the winter when the shop doors were closed most of the day I'd drive home with a pounding headache, seeing rings around oncoming headlights from exposure to Carbon monoxide. Some "safety" rules attempt to protect idiots with no common sense from themselves.
Before the Olympics, China shut down 2 industrial cities to try and get the air clean enough for foreigners to breathe, we don't want to breathe soot just to compete with them.
Social security isn't a gift from the government, it's money taken from the people who worked for it, I had no choice but to pay into it for 47 years and now Biden is talking about "means testing". So if you lived within your means and saved for retirement instead of spending every dime, your "benefits" will be reduced so more can be paid to people who spent it as fast as they earned it.
Medicare is a good idea but it's not "free", I paid into it for 47 years also and the supplements cost me $300 a month.
Nothing is free, somebody always has to pay for it.
 
I agree. It makes me mad that I have been paying into ss for 30 years and than they want to adjust for the losers who sit home or the girls who just pop out kids every nine months. Crap makes me really mad.

And those free covid checks are Bs too.
 
My harbor freight one that is not well treated, as you tell
 

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And those free covid checks are Bs too
Nothing free about those. I didn't get any. I'll surely be paying for them.
:pissedoff:
 
Free to the moochers, I meant. I know, all working class people will be paying for them, for sure
 
My oldest son is about to finish his bachelor's at Texas a+m. One of his friends quit his job to sit at home and get 3k a month instead of working so he could play video games all day. So many people quit and won't go back to work now because the Bs checks they were getting
 
I agree. It makes me mad that I have been paying into ss for 30 years and than they want to adjust for the losers who sit home or the girls who just pop out kids every nine months. Crap makes me really mad.

And those free covid checks are Bs too.

I clearly recall my father "complaining" about that way back in the mid 60s. apparently we are slow to catch on to a scam.
 
If you are in any reasonably sized metro area you should be able to find a shop or machine shop that specializes in repairing hydraulics. Call them and ask if they carry the parts to rebuild a floor jack, or if they know of a local business that sells those parts. I rebuilt a Sears floor jack (just the cylinder). The parts cost about $20 five years ago, but might be more now. They're easy and straightforward to rebuild as long as there isn't any significant amount of corrosion in the cylinder. If there is you always have the option to hone out the corrosion. The valve body has two items you can take apart. One is the valve itself. The other, I don't know what it is called, but it calibrated to bypass excessive pressure to prevent you from jacking up a vehicle that weights more than the rating of the jack. It's rare that you would have to do anything with that part of the valve body.

Edit: I didn't realize you already rebuilt the jack. I would still try to save that jack as there is only two or three places for it to leak down.
 
agriculture equipment repair shops deal with all sorts of hydraulic stuff.
 
My 3 ton HF aluminum jack has lived on the back of my truck, sitting on its side for 6 years and it still works just fine, its more about the quality of manufacturing than where it's made. I've seen absolute trash made here and good stuff made elsewhere.
 
Anyone ever see one of these? Bought it a few years ago at a moving sale. Only paid 30 bucks. Has been great other than it is VERY heavy and has been leaking lately. Taking it apart to fix the leak. They built it to be serviced and last longer than the first 2 or 3 suckers to own it. Had to name it "The Hulk" for obvious reasons:)
 

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Anyone ever see one of these? Bought it a few years ago at a moving sale. Only paid 30 bucks. Has been great other than it is VERY heavy and has been leaking lately. Taking it apart to fix the leak. They built it to be serviced and last longer than the first 2 or 3 suckers to own it. Had to name it "The Hulk" for obvious reasons:)

That looks like one of them big bastards for working on smaller commercial trucks.
 
Went online to look for history and found little. The company started in 1922 in Albany NY. along with many other long gone manufacturers and sold or closed in the 70's It was probably made between the 60"s and 70's not that it matters. It's not light and nimble but it's worthy of a light restoration and definitely has no trouble lifting my truck. As far as cheap and crappy tools goes I am weary and normally wait until I can afford a quality one unless it's an unplanned repair and I can't find a loaner tool somewhere.
 

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