Tiger or Alpine Jack
Your car jack is taken for granted, used, abused, and put away wet, in the trunk without a second though. At least, till you need it again.
How about giving it a cleaning, new lube, and a new coat of paint? This loyal solider deserves a little TLC.
Disassembly
The jack is held together by a pin, which goes through the nut on the top of the jack, and the screw portion of the jack. Take a drift pin and punch this pin out of the nut.
The nut is pressed on to the screw portion of the jack. I used a pickling fork, placed between the nut and the body of the jack, and with a hammer took the nut off the screw portion of the jack.
A pickling fork is used for suspension parts removal, and is a cheap addition to your toolbox.
You could use a press to do this same operation, but I would not recommend using a drift pin to drive the nut off the shaft, as this may mushroom the shaft, making it very hard to get the nut off.
Now that the nut is off, you can pull the screw and inner tube out of the outer tube. If the jack is bent, you may have to use a long drift pin, or similar long device to punch the inner mechanism, which include the inner tube and screw portion of the jack, out of the outer tube.
Caution – Their tube that fits over the screw portion of the jack, and also an upper and lower thick looking washer, which is really the race for the ball bearings. Make sure that at the last portion of removal of the inner mechanism, you look for all of the ball bearings as they come out. If you don’t you will spend a lot of time looking for new balling bearings to match the original bearings.
Cleaning & Greasing
Now that the inner mechanism is out, you can clean, and regrease the screw portion of the jack, which screws into the inner tube.
Also clean and grease the upper and lower race and ball bearings.
Painting & Assembly
Painting is optional for the outer tube, with either spray paint, or if you have a Friend, Thanks Joe, with a power coating system, you can make it look really classy.
Assembly is the reverse. Be careful when putting the nut back on the screw portion of the jack, that you align the hole in the screw portion, with the hole in the nut, so that the holes for the pin align, after you drive the nut on. Take your time.
Completed
You are now completed and you will notice how smoothly the jack moves up and down. It also looks nice for the upcoming Concourse D’Elegant event.
You loyal soldier is ready to stand guard again.
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