[flyingn]

I have a harbor freight 3 ton alum jack and LOVE it

[OCMDGTO]

Just bought the Harbor Freight 1.5T Aluminum today. It is leaps and bounds ahead of the POS I've been using the last ten yrs. I would have got the 2T but it's a little bigger and I want to be able to put it behind the seat on a road trip or going to the track. Sooooo after 3 hours of ownership it's doing great.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I'll be 59 years old this summer and I'm still using the floor jack that I inherited from my GRANDFATHER almost 30 years ago when he passed. It was at least 20 years old then. It's a heavy mother but it's never 'let me down'...lol...I crack myself up sometimes.
I wanna say name brand is Fleet?
Been looking at some of the HF aluminum deals just for ease of moving but this old one just won't die.

This^^^. I use a 1952 Walker 2.5 ton jack that works perfectly and a 1930's unknown brand jack I've used for the past 35 years. Both work very, very, well. I paid $25 for the Walker, and it's an art-deco work of art and built like Fort Knox.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

This^^^. I use a 1952 Walker 2.5 ton jack that works perfectly and a 1930's unknown brand jack I've used for the past 35 years. Both work very, very, well. I paid $25 for the Walker, and it's an art-deco work of art and built like Fort Knox.

I just checked mine. It's data plate reads-
'Fleet'
3 Ton
Model 5-26
Edgewater Automotive Division,
St. Joseph, Michigan

I wonder if this could be the same company as it is today?
http://www.edgewaterautomation.com/

[dataway]

Parts are still available for the Fleet 5-26

I think Fleet was the name of the NAPA brand ... or at least Fleet made the NAPA jacks. Seems all the parts are interchangeable anyway.

Wish that was the case with my POS.

[Greg Reid]

That's good to know. I'd never been able to find any info on it...but never really had to. The only thing that's ever gone bad was the threads on one of the caster studs and that was due to me not keeping it tight.
You are correct though...I just found a parts drawing and a seal kit for it..
http://www.hcrcnow.com/uploads/drawi...Floor_Jack.pdf

[Simple Man]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I just checked mine. It's data plate reads-
'Fleet'
3 Ton
Model 5-26
Edgewater Automotive Division,
St. Joseph, Michigan

I wonder if this could be the same company as it is today?
http://www.edgewaterautomation.com/

Years ago, there was a company in St Joseph MI, called AUSCO, that made a LOT of jacks, jackstands, etc,. Maybe a reincarnation?

[melemans]

I recently purchase the new series Harbor Freight 3-ton (DJ3000 yellow) Super Duty jack. It's low enough to slide under the wife's Civic @ 3.75" low and raises to 23.13 " high. Lifts my Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 with ease. It is a well built jack with rapid pump. BTW, I have been looking for a new jack for several years and considered several brands. When I first saw this one, I knew it was the one that I'd been looking for - and it has good reviews. I waited until it went on sale for $179.99.

[dataway]

Yep, that's the one I was looking at.

[Greg Reid]

My old Fleet finally conked out on me a couple of months ago. I bought one of the small lightweight HF jacks and I like it for what it is but it just doesn't feel as secure as my old heavy metal one, especially when I put it under the crossmember to lift the entire front end.
So, I ordered the re-build kit from the link dataway posted above. I like to clean things before working on them and what's the point of all that cleaning if you're not gonna paint it?
Added a little 'bling' with the white accents...
Before-

After-

Originally Posted by Simple Man

Years ago, there was a company in St Joseph MI, called AUSCO, that made a LOT of jacks, jackstands, etc,. Maybe a reincarnation?

.

You are right. The downloaded manual is from Ausco, copyright 1967!

[Greg Reid]

Works great again too!

[Mr Anonymous]

I have always like the "long frame" jacks, my dad got a Sears 3-ton around 1980 that always worked well. I built my own place in 1997, bought a similar one from Northern Tool, and it was a complete POS, their warranty was just slightly longer than the amount of time to get it out of the shipping container. They told me to pound sand. It was missing the check ball for the release. I fixed it myself.

Fast Forward: 2017, that Northern jack sucks, leaks down quickly. I go grab my now "late" father's Sears long-frame jack, and like my father - its dead. I will attempt to fix the sears, but the northern one is headed to the shredder. Its that time of year again.

[Greg Reid]

I've had/used this one for so long it's like part of the family. I can remember using this one under my Grandfather's carport to change a u-joint on my first car.. That was in '74. I brought it home with me when he passed in 1988.
Part of the reason for fixing it instead of replacing it is the connection to 'PaPa' as we called him.
I'll still keep the cheap HF jack as it's perfect to toss in the trunk for emergencies or lawn mower work, etc.

Originally Posted by Mr Anonymous

I will attempt to fix the sears, but the northern one is headed to the shredder. Its that time of year again.

Check out this site for parts. It's the one I posted above, based on dataway's post, and they had what I needed. https://www.hcrcnow.com/

[dataway]

If I had time I would have searched out a rebuildable used jack from a US company and gone with that. I ended up with the yellow "Daytona" jack from HF ... actually a nice jack, but would have rather had an old US model to rebuild. The current US made replacements are LOTS of money.
Plus ... the US made units almost always have rebuildable pumps. When this HF jack dies, there will be nothing available to fix it.

BTW ... sweet job on that jack. Looks great.

[Greg Reid]

Thanks for mentioning earlier in the thread that these parts were available dataway. I remembered this thread when mine blew and ordered the parts. $39...and frankly, I had a lot of fun rebuilding this jack. It was a nice low stress after-work project.
This kind of stuff is great for my mental health. I still have to paint the bare fasteners before they rust. I knew I'd knock all the paint off with the wrench if I painted them first.

[mgarblik]

I think it's cool you were able to fix that old Fleet jack. You can just look at it and see quality. Cast iron components. Not made of sheet metal. NAPA currently sells Walker jacks under their name. But I think they are made in China like everything else. My Snap-On 3 ton aluminum jack is MADE IN CHINA and is a piece of crap. Won't lift the entire front of my 62 Catalina to set jack stands. Will only do 1 corner at a time and takes 3000 pumps to raise it 18 " in the air. Never sure which will happen first, setting a jack stand or the heart attack. I still use a 2 ton made in Japan orange no-name jack. I bought it off the Mac truck new in 1980 for $150.00 and it's been an excellent workhorse for 38 years. Thought the $500.00+ Snap-ON would be a good upgrade. Not a chance.

[Bob Rutledge]

I have the HF 3 ton high lift. I have had it for a few years and I have a problem with it leaking down. That is my fault. I did some repairs on my house that I bought. The people before me had a deck that they never cleaned off. Since it was a fixer upper I knew I was going to have to replace the outer band/sill plate. Whatever you want to call it. I had my heavy duty bottle jack for one side and my floor jack for the other. Yes, I lifted part of my house with it. But it still works and I never get inder a car with just a jack. So if it lifted my house a few years ago and still works with a little leak down, it is a decent jack.

[GT182]

Side note.... The 4 ton I got from Harbor Freight has twin pistons. They're now going for 124.99.

Item # 60706.... https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...ump-60706.html

[Old Blue 66]

I had a Craftsman jack that gave outr after 20 years. I replaced it with a HF 3 ton low profile jack. I bought 10" race ramps so I needed a jack with a high lift. This sucker lifts up to 24"! So far so good.

[dhutton]

After a few leaky Harbor Freight jacks I decided to buy an American made quality jack and picked up a Hein Werner three years ago. It spilled its guts all over my floor last week after very light duty use. Completely hacked me off....

Don