Took advantage of the Craftsman Club tool sale at Sears today and picked up a compound miter saw and a lightweight 2-ton floor jack that weighs less than 45 lbs. Haven't put the saw together yet, but had to take the jack back to Sears for a refund after discovering a leak at the lift valve.
I'd gotten the thing out of the box, and was following directions to purge any air that had set up in the cylinder during shipping (it's made in China), but just couldn't seem to get the darn thing purged. Then I noticed a small pool of hydraulic oil under the jack and started really looking the unit over carefully. After all, a floor jack that won't hold a car can be a bit off-putting! I finally found a leak right at the fill valve attached to the pump handle that was blowing oil out on lift and sucking air in on release.
Back I went to Sears, where the really nice folks apologized for my inconvenience and offered to get me another jack. After my experience, I decided to just take a refund for now and make a decision later. In all the years I've been purchasing Craftsman tools (30+), this is the first one I've had a problem with. I have an old Sears 1 1/2 ton jack that's about 25 years old, is American-made, and weighs almost as much as it lifts! It still works great, I was just hoping to get a jack that was a little easier to maneuver in my old age.
On the lighter side, I felt a little bit better knowing that the Chinese Army may have a million soldiers, but if they ever get a flat tire on their transportation they're gonna be stuck by the side of the road for a long, long time.
Now, I did see a really great price on a Craftsman scroll saw while I was waiting for my refund......
2 comments:
It's hard to find an American made hydraulic jack anymore. I think Milwaukee may still make some, but they are pretty pricey.
Apparently there may be some good ones made in Taiwan with Japanese innards.
One way to find out might be to poke through archives of mailing lists for semi-pro SCCA and NHRA racers, see what they use or are obsessed with.
I don't know about those Pacific Rim jack makers, especially after I watched 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'! Just kidding. Who'd have thought there would come a day when I'd be overjoyed to see my new power miter saw was made in Taiwan (by democratic Chinese) instead of mainlander Marxist Communists?
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