What's jack oil?

Turboman said:

It shouldn't be a safety critical item, as you should never get under a vehicle supported on a jack alone.

Or do you mean we should only use jack oil in engines as well?

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Actually, I was agreeing with your previous statement.

Whichever way you look at it, if you use a jack to lift a vehicle you potentially put yourself in a risky situation.

Cheers

neilly said:

Actually, I was agreeing with your previous statement.

Whichever way you look at it, if you use a jack to lift a vehicle you potentially put yourself in a risky situation.

Cheers

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I thought that was probably what you were saying, but posts are often difficult to understand.
And you will notice that I suggested originally that the OP used the proper stuff, and posted a link to it.

Others may wish to do otherwise, up to them.
I was quite surprised that the subject has provoked such a discussion. I thought it would disappear after the second post. Thought I had it covered, but that is often not the case on LZ.

A few weeks ago I was using my trolley jack to lift the end of a socket bar I had on the wheel nuts. They were pretty stuck. Anyway, the jack was just about lifting the Landy when the wheel nut gave up. The bang nearly burst my eardrums and I nearly sh@t myself. Once I'd recovered from the shock I set the next wheel nut up with the socket bar and the jack. But, the jack wouldn't pump up! I reckon the shock wave had cleared the piston of oil. Did a bit of googling and found that unscrewing the release valve and then pumping the lever back and forth, rapidly, bled the system. Jack back to working order after that.

I've always had easy access to high spin hydraulic oil from work, it's closest to 10W and I've got a half gallon of it in the tool stores.

We've got a couple of diggers with vegetable oil in the hydraulic systems where they have worked on river banks, so I'm told it's basically the same as you'd fry your bacon up in.

Use power steering oil or any ATF, both have suitable qualities to use in a hydraulic jack, and most of our sheds/workshops will be harbouring a spare or leftover quantity of either type. Put the oil in through the "bung" on the body of the jack, make sure the jack is fully down/ compressed and laying horizontal, fill the body/reservoir to the top, then replace the "bung", stand the jack up into its working position, vertical, then close the release screw and pump the jack up, open the release screw and push the jack piston down, this will release air from beneath the piston, tighten release screw and pump again, repeat this operation a few times before placing the jack under working load.
It is definitely a clever marketing ploy to put some basic hydraulic oil into a one litre bottle and sell it for a big price as "hydraulic jack" oil, but that's business!

dieseldog69 said:

I've always had easy access to high spin hydraulic oil from work, it's closest to 10W and I've got a half gallon of it in the tool stores.

We've got a couple of diggers with vegetable oil in the hydraulic systems where they have worked on river banks, so I'm told it's basically the same as you'd fry your bacon up in.

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Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................bacon.................

I topped up the oil with engine oil, just to see if I could get it to work, it was almost at correct level anyway. I've tried to get any air out. The thing doesn't work! Bloody hell.

Mr Freedom said:

I topped up the oil with engine oil, just to see if I could get it to work, it was almost at correct level anyway. I've tried to get any air out. The thing doesn't work! Bloody hell.

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Have you tried bleeding system as I described above? You have to pump the lever loads of times.

I've tried and tried! Watched Youtube vids. Gonna have another go, as a new one from Paddocks is over £100 which is pretty excessive for a jack ...

Al2O3 said:

Have you tried bleeding system as I described above? You have to pump the lever loads of times.

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It will possibly be the seals on either the main lift piston or the pump piston, but also the jack will have one or more ball non return valves that may not be sealing.
Recently our Mens Shed was given a 5 tonne trolley jack that wasn't working, the main cylinder piston seal was falling apart, (it is some sort of Poly plastic material, maybe effected by incorrect oil ?), I replaced that seal, reassembled filled with "jack oil", pump, pump no go. Eventually, after a bit of searching, found what was stopping it working was small bits of disintegrated seal material stopping the ball valves sealing so the oil was just going back and forth in the pump section, and not lifting the jack.

Mr Freedom said:

I've tried and tried! Watched Youtube vids. Gonna have another go, as a new one from Paddocks is over £100 which is pretty excessive for a jack ...

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I agree hundred quid for a jack, ridiculous, I bought one for my Disco D1 from an Supercheap Auto parts shop here, just $39.00, (equiv to 20 quid, maybe?), 4 tonne capacity and plenty of lift, better than the standard "leaky" item, (why would they supply a Landy with any other type?).

^ Yes, maybe a value problems, don't think I can do much about that. Can't get anything suitable from shops around here. Jack needs to lift from the axel on the Defender, so it needs to lift pretty high, and in particular to cup the axel - otherwise would be very unsafe I think.

Gazbo said:

the main cylinder piston seal was falling apart, (it is some sort of Poly plastic material, maybe effected by incorrect oil ?)

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I suspect that is why the jack oil is recommended.

Mr Freedom said:

^ Yes, maybe a value problems, don't think I can do much about that. Can't get anything suitable from shops around here. Jack needs to lift from the axel on the Defender, so it needs to lift pretty high, and in particular to cup the axel - otherwise would be very unsafe I think.

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Not really, if you are careful. I always used a normal bottle jack for jacking my Ninety. Quite a high capacity one, about 8tonne. Little square of wood on the jack top, and jack under the flange where the axle tube is bolted to the fixed hub. Axle stand under ASAP.

Turboman said:

With the amount that you will use, the cost is not really a problem. A litre will probably last you a lifetime.

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Flossie said:

I got 1/2 ltr of jack oil around 25 yrs ago, still got loads left.

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When I first met the wife - 24 years ago - she had a Halfords 2 ton trolley jack in her little mini 850. It was low on oil so I got a bottle of "Jack Oil" - stuck some in - and have never topped it up since and it is still in regular use!

The mini is long gone tho

Beneagles said:

When I first met the wife - 24 years ago - she had a Halfords 2 ton trolley jack in her little mini 850. It was low on oil so I got a bottle of "Jack Oil" - stuck some in - and have never topped it up since and it is still in regular use!

The mini is long gone tho

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I have successfully topped up bottle and trolley jacks several times, and they are still working now.

It sounds to me like the issue in this case is seal damage, either caused by exceeding the maximum rating of the jack, or by using the wrong kind of oil.

Personally, if I was in that position, I think I would just cough up the money and get a new bottle jack, they are fairly inexpensive.

Mr Freedom said:

^ Yes, maybe a value problems, don't think I can do much about that. Can't get anything suitable from shops around here. Jack needs to lift from the axel on the Defender, so it needs to lift pretty high, and in particular to cup the axel - otherwise would be very unsafe I think.

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They are usually able to be pulled apart, just need to be careful where all the little gubbins go when putting it back together, any bearing/seal seller can supply new polypac or suitable seals for little money.

Turboman said:

I suspect that is why the jack oil is recommended.



Not really, if you are careful. I always used a normal bottle jack for jacking my Ninety. Quite a high capacity one, about 8tonne. Little square of wood on the jack top, and jack under the flange where the axle tube is bolted to the fixed hub. Axle stand under ASAP.

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Great advice, never get under your vehicle just on the hydraulic jack without the axle stands, that is unless you can bench press 4 tonnes.

Gazbo said:

Great advice, never get under your vehicle just on the hydraulic jack without the axle stands, that is unless you can bench press 4 tonnes.

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I never do, and I hope others never do either.

Jack first, then stands as quick as possible, or even better a large wood block.

Turboman said:

Jack first, then stands as quick as possible, or even better a large wood block.

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After taking the road wheel off I usually put it under the vehicle positioned so that if the jack / axle stands fail, the vehicle doesn't land on its brakes.

Wimblowdriver said:

After taking the road wheel off I usually put it under the vehicle positioned so that if the jack / axle stands fail, the vehicle doesn't land on its brakes.

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Not a bad plan either. You can't have too many fallbacks when lifting heavy weights.

Mr Freedom said:

^ Yes, maybe a value problems, don't think I can do much about that. Can't get anything suitable from shops around here. Jack needs to lift from the axel on the Defender, so it needs to lift pretty high, and in particular to cup the axel - otherwise would be very unsafe I think.

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Merc sprinter ones are double stage and go way higher than the Disco 1 variety, they are also qiuite a bit taller, but thats not an issue with a coiler.