Making a very long electric jack

[Bill Edwards]

Farm/Hi lift type jacks.
They'll drop right down when there is no load on and the handle is pulled right up, inline with the main bar.
With some load on they won't (shouldn't!) and they will lower using the ratchet mechanism. Care must still be taken though, because the right combination of weight and handle can allow the ratchet mechanism to operate by itself if you let go of the lever. This is potentially very dangerous, which is why you never let go of the lever when lowering and why you also leave the mechanism in the 'lift' position unless actually lowering.

 

[Flapdisk]

Hi Bill. well it certainly scared the hell out of me

 

[rory1]

Later Land rover defender jacks are of the screw type, if you were to have one standard length and one that was extended somewhat you may be able to do the lift in two stages?

 

[Wallace]

Hi Wall. Yes the Toyota is on it's side in the roller as we speak. I could only afford the standard one and believe me the initial lift is as heavy as jacking the car off it's wheels.

I see, the roll point is further away from the vehicle centre compared to the Autovip roller.

 

[Flapdisk]

Sure is mate, whish I could have had one of those.

 

[Wallace]

It's a good tool but has it's problems, to get the most out of it you need a lot of space. I made a chassis dolly so I can turn the car round without having to unbolt everything and fit the wheels. The next car will be a shell so that will be going on a rotisserie for the welding work, this car was too long and still had the interior in.

 

[MrFluffy]

I can attest to bill's farm jack scenario. Just over a ton of machine on one bringing it off a pallet truck, standing to one side in case things went south so it wouldn't fall on me, handle slipped out my fingers while lowering, reach forward instinctively to grasp it but missed, it dropped to the bottom of its travel, triggered the ratchet and came up with a ton of force behind it and whacked me square on right on the skull with the end of the handle.
White lights, tinnitus, stagger out workshop in case I passed out, mrs slathering me in arnica while keeping a eye on me and on standby to drive hospital. Lumpy head for a few days.
And... Whats worse I know better. Was just tired at the end of a days heavy moving and tried to take a short cut because the ram eye had broke on my workshop lift. Farm jacks ace, for lifting tractors out of bogs, pulling things round in a emergency, but they are dangerous and I wouldn't design a system to use one as its default method...

 

[DAPPH]

Hmm .... Instead of sourcing an expensive long threaded bar ,a fabricating a nut perhaps think about hydraulic actuating cylinders perhaps simple steering ram or something similar set inside a uni channel racking strut ( the square galv channel curls over at the open side so it can be used to retain the top platform slider.

Make the moving platform a lock off platform to act as the stay bar , add an isolating valve , have the thing running off a bog standard car hydraulic assisting steering pump with reservoir & a small 12 volt starter motor to drive the pump .

Why you could lift on only one ram securely fitted inside the bottom end of the 2 to 3 mtr long uni strut ., prop it securely , collapse the extended ram , insert an extension tube , extend , prop , insert another extension tube & so on till you get the desired length . Just make sure that the bottom end is fixed by a securing chain to stop it kicking out if knocked & the sasme for the top make it very secure. . .

 

[Mick - Ford Focus]

Intersesting

Hmm .... Instead of sourcing an expensive long threaded bar ,a fabricating a nut perhaps think about hydraulic actuating cylinders perhaps simple steering ram or something similar set inside a uni channel racking strut ( the square galv channel curls over at the open side so it can be used to retain the top platform slider.

Make the moving platform a lock off platform to act as the stay bar , add an isolating valve , have the thing running off a bog standard car hydraulic assisting steering pump with reservoir & a small 12 volt starter motor to drive the pump .

Why you could lift on only one ram securely fitted inside the bottom end of the 2 to 3 mtr long uni strut ., prop it securely , collapse the extended ram , insert an extension tube , extend , prop , insert another extension tube & so on till you get the desired length . Just make sure that the bottom end is fixed by a securing chain to stop it kicking out if knocked & the sasme for the top make it very secure. . .

Interesting Thought - What Pressure Does A Car Hydraulic Pump Supply On 12V Or On Belt Driven. Roughly Ish.

M

 

[DAPPH]

Dunno it's the cross sectional area of the ram that's as important , I'm sure someone will have a Haynes type figure for a certain sort of car

 

[DAPPH]

The old Citroen used to do about 120 to 150 bar on the suspension pump according to Citroen Uk .org , it was belt driven on my old BX 19 GTI

 

[Mick - Ford Focus]

Wow That's Food For Thought.

M

 

[DAPPH]

You can get electric enhanced steering rams as well for a lot of modern cars , the pump for a Volvo wallops out 150 bar
Had a peek in to volvo uk .org to check what I was thinking about it's called EHPAS or similar abbreviations of it . They are an integrated unit. don't get yer pinkies caught up in that or any other appendage for that matter