Wasted $120 on a cheap jack that failed on a boiler base in Baltimore

Bought a no-name hydraulic jack from an online surplus store to lift a firetube section and it blew a seal halfway through the job. Had to wait two hours for a rental from the local supply house. Anyone else get burned by budget lifting gear on a tight timeline?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekgibson18d ago

...and that's exactly why I stopped trusting anything with a "universal" seal kit. Spent a whole Saturday rebuilding a cheap jack once, and the next time I used it the fluid just leaked out slower. Had a buddy who bought one of those foldable aluminum ramps from a catalog, and it folded right in half under his work van. I get it though, when you're staring down a deadline in Bmore and the supply house is closed, you grab whatever's available. But with boiler base work, especially those old firetubes that weigh a ton, you need something that isn't going to quit on you when you're sweaty and cussing. The rental fee hurts, but it's nothing compared to the time you already lost.

ramirez.caleb18d ago

Ninety bucks for a weekend rental, or nine hundred for a trip to the ER plus a new van floor. Math ain't hard, but it's real easy to forget when you're already behind.