Toe Jack welding project.

[whisperfan]

I decided to use a small ProLift (WalMart special) 4 Ton bottle jack as the basis for a toe jack. I put this thread in the welding forum, because it is a project filled with welding. I used a Lincoln 140T MIG with an Argon/CO2 mixed gas. Since I use a shielding gas, I use a welding wire with no flux in the core.

I didn't think to photograph the work - sorry!

This is what I did (without photos)
1. I pulled the plug on the side and drained the hydraulic fluid.
2. I clamped the base in a vise and using a 18" pipe wrench, I unscrewed the top of the jack.
3. I welded a piece of channel stock to the side of the bottle jack
I thought that this was all I needed to do to the jack itself, but if I was doing it again, I would also drill the holes mounting the jack to the base at this time.
4. (I used 2" x .5" for the stock of the 'lifting toe'. I found I needed a spacer to build up between the channel and the lifting toe. This could have been avoided if I used channel with higher sides - but you use what you have on hand!
5. This type of toe jack will tip if not secured to a base that better distributes the load. So I used three 1/4-20 cap screws to secure the base of the jack to the bottom metal I had lying around. The bottom metal piece isn't quite square - but I didn't care - it works just fine.

In hind sight, I would have made the toe 1/2" longer and cut the base with a 'notch' - so with the jack as low as it will go, it would pick up from a 1/2" As it is, the lowest it will go is 1"

[Russ Hanscom]

Neat idea, thanks for sharing.

[whisperfan]

You're welcome

One other thing - if you have a jack like this, you will see that the 'bolt' on the top of these jacks don't come out.

But I wanted to use this bolt to hold the lifting tow in place.

So
- just unscrew it all the way
-cut it off, leaving about 1/4 sticking out of the body of the jack
- Slot that short little piece with a dremel or other method
- Screw the stub into the lifting piston, letting it drop into the piston itself.
- Clean up the threads on the bolt and use it to secure lifting toe to the piston.