Have an ajr jack issue hoping you guys can help. The front right air jack is last to pop up and first to retract on my car. When the car is jacked up, the front right will retract if I put my weight on that corner. I just replaced the seals. The inside bore of the jack cylinder was smooth. Not sure what else to check for. Short of buying new, any clues?
Arax
Hi Arax,
Couple of questions to help diagnose the issue.
- You say that when you put your weight on that corner it retracts... when you take your weight back off again does it raise the car again?
- Does putting your weight on the other side of the car, or the rear of the car do the same thing?
- What system pressure are you running? From memory on my car it takes around 320psi to get the car raised. As a result I run around 400psi system pressure on the regulator.
- If you raise the car and disconnect the lance (but leave the bleed valve closed) - how long does your car stay in the raised position?
Answers to the above should tell us a bit more about what the issue might be...
Rod,
1. When the car drops after putting my weight on it, it stays in that position after I let go.
2. The other corners don't behave the same way when I weigh it down, it's rock solid
3. I'm running about 400psi at the regulator
4. The system holds pressure after removing the lance, no leaks. I haven't left it pressurized for a very long time, but say at least 5-10 minutes.
Arax
Hi Arax ( @99sh ), Is there any chance that one of the seals is installed backwards? Seems unlikely but those seals can do crazy things. Another thing that is worth trying if you still have access to the cylinders is to spray some graphite into the top of the cylinder to get some dry lubrication on the inside of the cylinder. When I spoke with the cylinder manufacturer a few years ago they recommended using "Lock-Ease" graphited lock fluid.
Here is a picture of what the graphite spray looks like.
And here is an example of what crazy things can happen to these seals.
Seals are installed the say way it was before (don't have a baseline reference). It behaved this way before seal installation and after. Can you confirm?
Cylinders are closed up but I can try. I did 'mosturize' the seals with brake fluid and pumped it up/down the cylinder.
Arax
Hang on a minute, is there supposed to be two seals here? That must be it. How does the other one orient?
Took it back apart. Where is this 2nd seal supposed to go? The AL portion is narrower and had a much larger OD.
the inter lip on the seal will fit the grove. just work it on there with your fingers no sharp tool. loop a oil ring inside the seal and pull on it and after it fits the grove remove the oil ring
Are the upper and lower seals supposed to be the same size? mine are and doesn't seem they should be.
I did manage to put the seal in the lower groove (after a lot of effort) but since the OD is large the seal bulged was too large to fit in the cylinder.
Hi Arax (@99sh), I cant find a better picture, but the lower seal is definitely a different seal than the upper seal. You can see the difference a little in this picture. As we discussed it is a good idea to reach out to the supplier of the seals and discuss it with them.
I called the guys at XRP this afternoon. They mentioned early generation air jacks only had one seal, but based on my photos and yours Charley this isn't the case here. He also initially stated that he thought both seals were the same. They didn't have any on hand to take a second look. He was going to reach out to England to get more guidance.
Also called Esses and Spring Mountain, neither had the seals in stock. This is ridiculous!
Update. I got a hold of Lister direct. They said 'The seal you are missing was discontinued at least 5 years ago, it was added as a precautionary measure for around 12 months but was proven to be unnecessary. '
Attached is the seal kit as they sell it today. The one I received was old stock and will be trying out the new one and hope for better results.
