Ignoramus16322 wrote:
On 2008-08-18, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:35:00 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm,
Ignoramus16322 quickly quoth:

The hydraulic jack on my crane has two problems:

1) it leaks around the small (pumping) cylinder
2) When I open the valve, it opens too abruptly, so the crane drops
instead of going down slowly, I totally hate this.
So learn some dexterity, Ig. gd&r Alternatively, you could use the
winch to lower the load instead of the hydraulics. g

Additionally, mill a large diameter lever or round knob/cap for the
valve stem and pop it on when you want to use the valve.

Larry, I think that you are mostly right. The problem is that when the
boom is raised high, the wire rope hangs on the bottom lengthwise slot
in the boom, beneath the roller, instead of being suspended from that
roller.

I took the boom to my mill and lengthened the slot by an inch, which
will hopefully enable the winch to work even when the boom is fully
raised.

If so, then, I will be able to use the winch at those elevations.

Also, on the hydraulic front, I added a cross "T" handle to the
hydraulic handle. I practiced a little to close the valve by holding
the body of the handle, so that I would not overtighten it, and open
it by holding on to the T.

This does not solve the leaking issue, but it solves all other issues.

i

Every bottle jack & hydraulic engine hoist I have ever seen will leak if
stored with the valve closed, you might try to park it with the valve
cracked open 1/4 turn or so & see if the leak stops.

MikeB