What’s Up Jack?

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I was pretty busy all day yesterday and I’m paying for it this morning but things aren’t going to get done laying around on my ass.

It was clear and cold yesterday and today looks to be the same. Ice on the lawn until it warmed up about Noon.

I had to replace a leaky flapper valve in a toilet in the master bedroom bathroom and also fix a stopped up aerator at the end of a faucet. I tried soaking it in that calcium and lime deposit remover stuff first. I poured some in a baggy and taped it around the spigot and let it soak for over an hour but no love. I wound up taking it apart and poking a dentist’s pick through the holes and cutting off the plastic cover on the top of the damn thing but it works now.

I was just cleaning up and putting things away when The Kid texted me.

He somehow killed the brand new battery on the old Chevy and he couldn’t get it to jump start so I had to drive up to his place to help him out.

I tried using my truck but I’m thinking the jumper cables he had weren’t worth a shit.

I wound up dragging the Horror Fright jumper box out from behind the seat and finally got it going. I had him follow me back here and I stuck a battery charger on it.

I found this old battery charger up around the corner sitting on the curb for free. It looked like it had been dropped out of a third story window a couple of times and there weren’t any wheels on it. I spent two days pounding it back to a semi rectangular shape and then fixing everything wrong with it. I had the axle and wheels left over from my Horror Fright horizontal band saw and they fit perfectly. I also replaced all the broken and missing cord retainers on the back. I’m giving it to The Kid because I already have one.

Then he and The Wifely Unit went out for the rest of the day.

That finally allowed me to drag the floor jack I bought the other day out and start fixing it.

The front wheels were both froze up and one of the swivel wheels in the back was too.

I literally had to use a hammer to drive the front wheels half way off after removing the retainer cap to get to the needle bearings. I’m thinking they hadn’t been lubricated since it left the factory sixty years or so ago.

Same with both swivel wheels.

I probable messed with the thing for four hours but I think it’s good to go.

Just for scale, both of these floor jacks are rated at 2 tons lifting capacity.

Umm, yeah.

I’m pretty sure I know which one I would rather use to lift up the ass of that 5200 pound Dodge 3/4 ton truck.

The Weaver is long enough that I don’t have to have my head underneath the back bumper to operate and that 2 ton rating is a pretty conservative estimate in my opinion.

I think I did pretty good for $30….

It is big and it takes up a lot of room but that just means I’ll have to get rid of some more crap.

Win Win.

10 thoughts on “What’s Up Jack?”

  1. As a guy with two left hands and zero mechanical inclination and therefore zero expertise I admire people like you who can do magic with their hands and their tools.

  2. Can the Kid fuck up a wet dream? How does one wear down a new battery when you drove it for how many months on the old battery until you got the Red Dragon? Are you going to have to have the cylinder rebuilt? A Weaver, a good old Jack. I use to have a more compact 2 ton Weaver.

  3. I had a battery charger like that once. I loaned it to my sister about 20 years ago. She misplaced it and hasn’t seen it she initially used it.

  5. I hung on to my Dad’s mid-60s Blackhawk floor jack. Local hydraulic repair guy said no more repair kits. I didn’t believe him and have been blessed with storage options.

  7. If that’s your Midget, I’m BRG w envy. As to aerators, here in SW Flawduh the tapwater does very bizarre things to plumbing. Clogging the crap out of aerators? LOL…. You either have a P.M. schedule to clear them or just keep spares around to replace them. Those and ballcock valves for the toilets too.

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