I got a Southworth Dandy 1100 lb hydraulic lift table sitting in the garage. I got it for free and brought it home for that reason alone not really having an exact plan for it.
Well I started toying with it and it needs the hydraulic bottle jack rebuilt. A proper rebuild kit is big money from Southworth.
Two questions.
1) Is a lift table really that handy? I can see uses for it, especially since I own it already but will it be a little saver necessity or a novelty?
2) would you guys venture to say this jack could be rebuilt with generic o rings, AC seals and such that I have laying around? The shaft looks to be in nice shape from what I can see, no putting or rust.
worth keeping? Worth fixing?
I'd keep it for sure. No harm in taking it apart to see if you can fix it with an o ring.
Also, maybe you can swap out the bottle jack for a new one from harbor freight or something?
They're worth their weight in gold when it comes to unloading or loading heavy stuff into a pickup by yourself. Since a friend scored a free "broken" one I've been keeping my eye out for one for me.
Check out your local hydraulic shop. I've had rebuilds done very cheaply.
ShawnG
UltimaDork
3/15/21 11:54 p.m.
A lot of times, if it's not heaving oil out of the seals, it's just the release valve not seating properly and letting fluid pass. Try taking it out and giving it a good cleaning.
HF sells a pretty sick air over hydraulic piston for engine hoists, might make one for you. Then you just push a button.
I've had a similar HF/Northern Tool one for years, purchased for the loading and loading of stuff from pickups as described by RevRico. I use it less for that now that I have an Expedition and a small trailer with sides and a ramp gate which make the lift table useless. I did just use it to put an engine in a crate in the back of the Expedition.
Since I've had it, it's also been used for dropping/installing/working on the 911 engine and trans, but it's so big it's not all that great for working under the car. Once out of the car, it's great to be able to roll it around easily and get it up to waist high for working on.
It's handy occasionally, and it doesn't take up too much extra room since the engine shipping crate gets stored on it anyway. All in all, though, I use the engine hoist 10x as often.
