# Saving An Old Craftsman Floor Jack



## astroracer (Dec 21, 2015)

A friend of mine broke the diecast universal joint in his Craftsman floor jack. He couldn't find a replacement universal so, in looking at the broke pieces, I figured it wouldn't be that hard to make a new one out of steel.


 The pieces aren't that big. Only 3/4" in diameter. All of the parts after dis-assembly.



I found a piece of 3/4" diameter steel in the drop pile.


 I cleaned up the OD in the lathe, faced off the ends and drilled out the bore's for the mating parts. Test fitting the parts. 



With that done I clamped the piece in the vise on the mill and machined off both sides.




 With that done I picked up the ends and center drilled for the pin holes.


 After drilling out the pin holes I flipped the part 90 degrees in the vise and hogged out the center portion with a 1/2" end mill.



After some deburring and cleanup.


 I split the piece into two.


 After rounding over the cut ends and a bit of assembly and I had a new U-Joint!






 This was fun project and it will save an old jack from the scrap pile. 
Mark


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## newbydave (Dec 21, 2015)

That is why it is fun to be a hobby machinist. I have also made small repair parts for something that would otherwise ended in the garbage or recycle bin.




astroracer said:


> A friend of mine broke the diecast universal joint in his Craftsman floor jack. He couldn't find a replacement universal so, in looking at the broke pieces, I figured it wouldn't be that hard to make a new one out of steel.
> 
> 
> The pieces aren't that big. Only 3/4" in diameter. All of the parts after dis-assembly.
> ...


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## Micke S (Dec 21, 2015)

Nice work !


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## kvt (Dec 21, 2015)

That looks good,   and will prob outlast the rest of the jack.


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## FOMOGO (Dec 21, 2015)

Nice job. Always good to save something useful. Mike


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## A618fan2 (Dec 23, 2015)

Nice work - clever too!  Those look to be the same as the ones on an Atlas mill power feed.  The universals on my Atlas mill where broken when I bought it and I made replacements but never thought to mill both sides at once - that's just mad problem solving skills!


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