Bent jack barrel

Boy, you guys can't even tell when I'm joking (admittedly not often enough). Just get a 1" 60 grit flapwheel in an air motor. About 2 minutes work.
 
This is an aluminum jack which was bent during shipping. The jack handle installs in this barrel. The barrel is non-ferruous so I assume it is aluminum. I didn't see it until I tried to install the handle.

Either a flapwheel as Tony said, or leave it as is if the handle installs ok.

The handle on a floor jack is never a precise fit, so as long as it functions I'd leave it alone unless the aesthetics bother you.


M
 
No the handle does not fit. That is when I noticed the damage. As a mechanic one would assume I would know about grinding or sanding. This is a $300 jack, if the handle binds when turning, the jack becomes dangerous and useless. I use these jacks because they are light and precise. I do intend on dismantling it to take to machine shop. I want the bore to stay the same while removing or straightening the damage.
 
what about milling a light flat on the handle to make it fit? might be easier to "fix" the handle than it would to really fix the tube...

just saying...
 
The handle engages the valve at the bottom of the barrel and is held in by the threaded pin in a ring groove on the handle. The handle must turn to lower the jack.

The thing is that even if you grind/sand/polish it a little too deep in that small a portion it will have no affect on the operation. Not very much of the barrels length nor much of the diameter either. Main thing is to get the high spot out. It is amazing how accurately such hand work can be done.

Steve
 
what about milling a light flat on the handle to make it fit? might be easier to "fix" the handle than it would to really fix the tube...

just saying...

That style of jack requires the handle to rotate in the socket in order to lock or unlock the valve connected to the square red pin that can be seen at the bottom.
If the handle was only required to pump up and down your solution would be one to use.


M
 
What I do to straighten things like this is find or make a steel ball the right size and press in into the bore. Swages the material right back to where it supposed to be. You've got a hole at the other end to allow you to push the ball back out. What diameter is the handle?
 
I used to work in a place that had high pressure water hoses with quick couplers on them. Some were aluminum, some were bronze or brass. Either way, some guys would drop them on the floor, causing exactly that sort of bend, rendering the coupler useless since it would no longer fit onto the male fitting. We had a steel "cone" as we called it, that could be hammered into the opening to push the bent material back out. Never ever saw one break or crack. The amount that the metal had to me moved was small enough that cracks were never a problem.

The tool was simply a cone shaped chunk of steel, technically a "truncated cone" as it did not come to a point, and it was as easy to use as can be. If it jammed in the hole, you just gave it a tap or two sideways and it popped right out.
 
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