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Jul 19, 2014 19:21:32 GMT
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Just dredged this huge great beauty out of the 'bay for a very reasonable sum. It's an Epco No55 high lift jack - will (or rather, should) lift to 90cm. Presently it only raises around 10cm! It's way bigger that I really need, it weighs nearly as much as it's rated to lift and it doesn't work... but I love it! Here's what it looks like under the cover (after a few minutes with an old toothbrush and some white spirit to get the inch thick layer of ancient scunge off) There's oil in it and I tried opening the release valve (twisting the handle) and pumping 20 times to bleed it as this seems to be the bleeding procedure for many other jacks but no difference. Does anyone know the bleeding procedure for this model?
I'm guessing the little screw behind the large nut which I take to be the filler has something to do with bleeding - any ideas?
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Jul 19, 2014 19:32:31 GMT
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Yep the small screw is a bleed valve type affair.
What we used to with industrial hydraulic jack was to remove the bleed screw, fill the jack with oil,pump up the jack,adding more oil as you pump,until jack reaches max height,then lower the jack, the downside of this of course is you get oil spewing out as the excess overflows, so it is messy, but it used to work for our gear, That usually got rid of any air locks, sometimes we had to do it twice,also worth leaving jacked up,and checking whether it lowers by itself or not before you use it in anger.
(Also just pointing out,it helped that I didn't have to pay for the oil,work ordered it in big drums, so you may need to 'recycle' your overspill)
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Jul 19, 2014 20:11:33 GMT
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Ok, thanks mate - will give that a try.
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Nov 30, 2019 23:18:39 GMT
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Soooo, after only five or so years of not getting round to it, I finally got bored of tripping over a still very much inoperative epco jack (despite my attempts at bleeding it) and decided to strip it down for a look-see. The impetus for this sudden activity came when I finally popped into my local and it turns out ,friendly and knowledgeable hydraulics place in Witney - www.jasonhydraulics.co.uk/ whilst looking for a new seal for my work tipper truck who seemed confident they could match the seals for my jack if I brought them in so - Stripped down, with new seals ready to go. Turns out when I tried to bleed it initially, I was trying to top up the oil into the wrong place - the filler/breather is on the far left of the body in this pic but is hidden under the arm of the jack when it's assembled! Probably could have just topped it up and bled it after all but seeing as it was now all apart... New seals ready to go - the boss came straight over when he saw me bring in a box of bits to be identified and proceeded to tell the young lad on the counter exactly what size all the seals were (in both metric and imperial) and exactly which drawer each one was in, in the nether regions of the rarely visited mezzanine storage area! Reverse the procedure for reassembly, etc, etc... ok, only how do I get this new seal in when it's a good couple of mm wider than the hole it's meant to go in?... As can be seen, I'd already started to damage the edge by using my usual brute force and ignorance approach so had to step back and engage brain cells... With a piston ring compressor in mind, I tried tightening a hose clamp around it but it quickly became obvious that it wouldn't work, so plan B - Collar of shame! And it only went and worked! Had to 'encourage' it in with a copper faced encouragement stick then had a bit of a struggle easing the collar back out but got there in the end. After that, reassembly was plain sailing.
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Last Edit: Nov 30, 2019 23:43:58 GMT by rust4life
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Nov 30, 2019 23:50:01 GMT
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We have lift! And just to check, I hoisted my Chevette up by its danglitalia and left it there all weekend! For which it thanked me by pouring a few litres of stale petrol all over the garage floor through it's perished fuel hose - ah well, better tofind that out now than later!
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Nov 30, 2019 23:54:04 GMT
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Great result with the jack useful tool to have.
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Great result with the jack useful tool to have. Certainly hope so - I have a load of welding to do on the underside of the boot floor so should make access way easier
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steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,548
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Thanks for posting this. I have a similar Epco jack that was my late Fathers, not as big as this but the ram is very similar. I did take what I could apart and cleaned it up a bit but I couldn't get the piston bit operated by the handle out to change the seals. I need to fix it so it's handy to know seals are still available.
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Ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 764
Club RR Member Number: 12
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That's some height! You just need some equally tall axle stands now.
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Good to see you got it fixed, I've got a similar small seal co in Norfolk who I've yet to stump Makes me wonder how many bits of kit get dumped when for a couple of hours and a few £££s they could quite easily be repaired
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Thanks for posting this. I have a similar Epco jack that was my late Fathers, not as big as this but the ram is very similar. I did take what I could apart and cleaned it up a bit but I couldn't get the piston bit operated by the handle out to change the seals. I need to fix it so it's handy to know seals are still available. Good luck with it - it should unscrew with a bit of encouragement! Also worth noting is that there are two ball bearings hidden under the pressure relief valve (large nut in the middle of the ram on mine) I nearly lost one when I turned it upside down.
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That's some height! You just need some equally tall axle stands now. That was my thought as I jacked it up - we're gonna need some bigger axle stands...
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Good to see you got it fixed, I've got a similar small seal co in Norfolk who I've yet to stump Makes me wonder how many bits of kit get dumped when for a couple of hours and a few £££s they could quite easily be repaired Yeah, was pleasantly surprised both at the fact that they had all the seals needed there ready to go and with how relatively simple it was to put back together - should have done it ages ago!
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Dec 20, 2019 11:36:01 GMT
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I've got something similar lurking down the lock-up waiting to be re-built.
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Soooo, after only five or so years of not getting round to it, I finally got bored of tripping over a still very much inoperative epco jack (despite my attempts at bleeding it) and decided to strip it down for a look-see. The impetus for this sudden activity came when I finally popped into my local and it turns out ,friendly and knowledgeable hydraulics place in Witney - www.jasonhydraulics.co.uk/ whilst looking for a new seal for my work tipper truck who seemed confident they could match the seals for my jack if I brought them in so - Stripped down, with new seals ready to go. Turns out when I tried to bleed it initially, I was trying to top up the oil into the wrong place - the filler/breather is on the far left of the body in this pic but is hidden under the arm of the jack when it's assembled! Probably could have just topped it up and bled it after all but seeing as it was now all apart... New seals ready to go - the boss came straight over when he saw me bring in a box of bits to be identified and proceeded to tell the young lad on the counter exactly what size all the seals were (in both metric and imperial) and exactly which drawer each one was in, in the nether regions of the rarely visited mezzanine storage area! Reverse the procedure for reassembly, etc, etc... ok, only how do I get this new seal in when it's a good couple of mm wider than the hole it's meant to go in?... As can be seen, I'd already started to damage the edge by using my usual brute force and ignorance approach so had to step back and engage brain cells... With a piston ring compressor in mind, I tried tightening a hose clamp around it but it quickly became obvious that it wouldn't work, so plan B - Collar of shame! And it only went and worked! Had to 'encourage' it in with a copper faced encouragement stick then had a bit of a struggle easing the collar back out but got there in the end. After that, reassembly was plain sailing. How's it performing 1 year on? I noticed in the pic where you have the car on it, there is a small wet patch around the back of the jack (under the handle) is that from the pump handle piston, did the seals just need tightening more, or are they a bit slack and not sealing properly in pumping?
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[/quote]How's it performing 1 year on? I noticed in the pic where you have the car on it, there is a small wet patch around the back of the jack (under the handle) is that from the pump handle piston, did the seals just need tightening more, or are they a bit slack and not sealing properly in pumping?[/quote]
I think that wet patch was just a spillage from topping it up. All the seals were renewed when I rebuilt it, although it is now not pumping up fully again so not sure I bled it correctly . Not had the time to look at it again recently.
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Nice work that should last forever I think we have 3 or 4 as I just cant part with them as they are more use to me than a few quid, I was very lucky to find an extra long one that reaches right under most cars and vans. As many have been manufactured using standard size off the shelf seals they can usually be repaired, but with new technology most seals can me manufactured easily. This bloke is very helpful on old stuff www.classic-british-car-jacks.uk
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It will come in handy even if you never use it
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Hi, rust4life: I have just been given an Epco 65 which leaks and am stripping it to get the cylinder out. Just like your 55, at the back of the cylinder is a big hole which passes side to side and anchors it in the frame between two cylindrical bosse welded to the inside faces of the frame.
What goes throgh the hole is a bit of a mystery, which you clearly have solved but I don't think any of the relevant bits are in your pictures.
There is a 1-3/16" nut on each end of a coarse thread, outside the frame beside the castors
BUT
are there two studs threaded into the holes at the sides of the cylinder, in which case they will be hard to extract since the nuts simply turn off? OR is there a single long plain bar passing right through the cylinder, with a nut threaded on each end, in which case it needs to be drifted out?
Either way it all feels pretty solid and resists the drift. I don't want to get into heat and brute force until I understand what I am dealing with. Hope you can assist. Thanks, Dave
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It will come in handy even if you never use it
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