Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Ken T on 21 April 2009, 22:49:39
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For some time I have been using one of the cheap hydraulic jacks. you know the sort, around £17, and they work but....... I am fed up, I can only get my axle stands up to the first notch which doesn't give a lot of room underneath the car to work. Trying to increase the height with blocks of wood, nah, not very safe, it wobbles :-X.
So I did the decent thing and got one of these :
(http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lapbits/PICT2523.jpg)
As you can see, it goes a good 4" higher, so I can get the car up to the 2nd or 3rd pin hole, so a lot better working room. It cost £30 plus £10 postage but its a lot more solid than the smaller one.
However, one downside. Being able to jack up so far means you will pay more attention to the underside. I knew I had a small hole in the bottom of the exhaust pipe so thought I would patch it. However when jacked up, I noticed the large holes on the top of the pipe. And also one of the rear springs had broken. :'(
OK, so I need a new middle and rear exhaust, and a pair of springs. I found a small motorist shop who could get the parts, cash changed hands (its bradford of course !).
The springs were easy to fit, I followed the maintenance guide and it was a piece of cake, drop the diff and the springs pop out. The exhaust however .......
You have probably all watched exhaust centres doing it, undo a couple of bolts, the exhaust drops off, fit the new exhaust tighten up a couple of bolts and thats it.
Well it doesn't really happen like that. I got under the car, WD40 on the bolts, applied the socket and turned. Both bolts sheared. :'( :'( :'( I then had to saw off the section of bolt that stuck out of the Cat section, by hand, which took ages. I then drilled out the section left. Well tried to drill out, I recon the metal must have hardened cause my HSS drills didn't like this one bit. So get the Missus car and go to Screwfix and buy a load of supposedly tough drills and continue. I managed to get the remains of the bolts out saving most of the threads. Now to fit the new exhaust. I was assured by the very nice man who took my money that it would fit. Well it didn't, the angle of the pipe to the cat section was wrong and the LHS box hanger was too low. Also the hanger was about 1/2" dia rod , welded onto the box, so I wouldn't be able to bend it into shape without destroying the box. After a bit of fiddling I realised it wouldn't fit, so took it back. He was a bit difficult, but I mentioned I would need a refund, and he changed his tune. A different exhaust was ordered and I tried it. The LH box was still too high, but the hanger was thinner and could be easily bent, plus the pipe ligned up straight with the cat section. So I modified the hanger applied some goo (sealant !) and fitted it. It took a while to get it to hang properly and not bang against the body but I got there in the end.
Mr Kwikfit wanted £290 to fit it, it cost £110 from the shop, and I have seen it on fleabay for £75 ish. So what I saved more than paid for the new jack.
Ken
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Very nice Jack, and you obviously did a very thorough job :y :y
Best bit though was not using Kwik Fitup!! ::) ::) 8-) 8-) 8-) ;)
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A) bugger, I need to do my exhaust and now you have me worried.
B) Nice jack - I had exactly the same problem with my cheapo halfrauds jack; where did you get your new one?
:)
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where did it come from and what make?
I paid £80 for my Clarke 3 tonne jack but never regretted it, it's great and very strong.
Never skimp on car lifting and safety kit.
By cheap tools and pattern parts all day long if you so desire - but NEVER skimp on something that keeps you safe :y
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This is the one : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-1-4-TON-JM3024-HYDRAULIC-FLOOR-JACK_W0QQitemZ140314471408QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item140314471408&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318
OK, he's charging about £8 more now. If you are interested, I could email him and remind him of his recent lower price and say that Omega Owners are interested and would he give us the prevous price.
Its not bad, rather than having to pull out the pump rod and refit to release the valve, the release valve is in the main pump up housing (secured by a bolt), and so all you do is turn the rod to lower. Its not bad, I feel the lowering is a bit more vicious, difficult to lower slowly, but that might be due to my inexperience. Its a hell of a lot more solid. :y
Ken
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where did it come from and what make?
I paid £80 for my Clarke 3 tonne jack but never regretted it, it's great and very strong.
Never skimp on car lifting and safety kit.
By cheap tools and pattern parts all day long if you so desire - but NEVER skimp on something that keeps you safe :y
Absolutely :y :y :y :y :y :y :y :y
I am still using a pair of axle stands I have had for many years, because they are solid, the welds are good, and I feel confident when under the car. I have seen some stands that I wouldn't use to support a push bike :-X ;D
ken
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This is the one : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-1-4-TON-JM3024-HYDRAULIC-FLOOR-JACK_W0QQitemZ140314471408QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item140314471408&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318
OK, he's charging about £8 more now. If you are interested, I could email him and remind him of his recent lower price and say that Omega Owners are interested and would he give us the prevous price.
Its not bad, rather than having to pull out the pump rod and refit to release the valve, the release valve is in the main pump up housing (secured by a bolt), and so all you do is turn the rod to lower. Its not bad, I feel the lowering is a bit more vicious, difficult to lower slowly, but that might be due to my inexperience. Its a hell of a lot more solid. :y
Ken
I will be interested in about a week when i get paid... and am ready to change the exhaust too. :y
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I'll pop the question tomorrow and see what he says. Re the exhaust, Kevin got a good deal on one for a 6 pot, maybe he can advise where he got it from.
ken
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I could be intrested in one too... Does look good. My cheap jack works fine, but like you say, it doesn't lift it that high!
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I went this way too, 3 tonne clarke jack!
Massive improvement :) So much easier and safer.
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A few years ago I got a 7 tonne jack from a police auction in Birmingham. It was stolen/recovered from a mobile truck tyre fitters van and can lift the @r5e of my estate up to 3'! I just need some taller axle stands now as mine are only 18" fully extended ;D ;D
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I'll pop the question tomorrow and see what he says. Re the exhaust, Kevin got a good deal on one for a 6 pot, maybe he can advise where he got it from.
ken
Hi Ken,
Did you manage to enquire about the Jack?
Cheers,
Pete :).
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No reply yet, I'll ask again tomorrow.
I'll threaten to send Low Knee round to sort him out ! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ken
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No reply yet, I'll ask again tomorrow.
I'll threaten to send Low Knee round to sort him out ! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ken
Sort him out what, a nice frock :D ;D ;D.
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No reply yet, I'll ask again tomorrow.
I'll threaten to send Low Knee round to sort him out ! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ken
Sort him out what, a nice frock :D ;D ;D.
Pretty in Pink ;D ;D ;D
Just had an email back from them. The jack I got is a slightly different model to the one he now has, but he will offer a discount to OOF'rs. I'm just waiting for him to come back with details and I'll post them.
Ken