Trolley Jack issue?

Thanks for the feedback, I’m pretty convinced there’s still some air in there somewhere but it works and the company I bought it from haven’t been any help. I’m going to bleed it a couple more times and just use it.

Pump faster :muscle::muscle:

1 Like

There is nothing wrong with your jack in all probability. Watching your video, it lifts at a much higher rate with no load. It has two ‘pumps’ or master cylinders which are cammed differently so that one has more mechanical advantage than the other. I can even see the two cylinders when you put it under the car.

I’m guessing here because I’m not a jack expert. When there is no load, the cylinder with the highest cam/biggest piston movement pushes fluid into the lift ram at a high rate to raise the pad quickly. When you add load, the extra pressure probably opens a bypass and the other cylinder is then left pushing in fluid at a much lower rate, giving more mechanical advantage to lift your 2.5 tonnes.

You’d need to be Popeye to lift 2,5 tonnes 3 or 4 inches in one stroke.,

I have a different make but mine behaves in exactly the same way. I can also see two cylinders just under the handle. They are a similar size but they are operated by cams that push the piston in smaller or larger increments.

The noise is possibly either the release valve, or the wheels/ lift pad moving

EDIT-if you just stand on the lift pad while you operate the handle, you’ll probably find that is enough to operate the bypass on the ‘raise’ cylinder and you will go up a few mm at a time. It’s nothing to do with lever travel.

Cheapo jacks don’t do this so yours is a reasonably good one.

3 Likes

Thanks that’s a very helpful explanation :+1:

1 Like

Actually I’ve just looked more closely at mine and I think the stroke on the pump cylinders is similar, but they have different bores. Not to say they all have the same arrangement. Presumably the big bore one does the quick lift, the smaller the load lifting. I had never really given this much thought until I saw your question.

When used from the side , it will appear to work quicker . This is not directly because of the car in the way of the stroke , but because you cannot take up the slack in the handle holder … You can overcome this by using your thumb to lift the handle holder up when the handle touches the car… But , hell, you only save 2 mins per side.