In the continuing saga of my QuickJack (tm), which needs as much maintenance and repairs as the cars that ride it up and down, I had to fix my "down" solenoid.
Background: QJ 5000 is four years old. I started developing lowering issues on one of the frames. Maine has a 4 year implied warranty on durable goods so I wrote QJ and they sent me two new frames. Sweet!
But I had been using a c-clamp to hold the "down" button on my pendant and in an amazing twist of fate I coincidentally burned out the factory solenoid by leaving it on too long. Zero ohms across the terminals. No click. Dead. The red LED for power still lit, though.
Got my new frames, and, per the directions, put a car on them and raised it. Wouldn't come down.
Desperate to drive to work, I unthreaded the hydraulic fittings just enough to leak fluid and get the thing down. Not recommended-- if one pops a side that side will come crashing down. And, of course, I had to balance each side so they came down at the same pace. A nail-biter.
Now for the hard part-- finding an appropriate solenoid. It's not listed on Bendpak's parts website. The "post" sticking out of the power unit that holds the pintle barely excludes a 1/2" open end wrench, but coils are sold in English sizes.
And the answer is... the Hydraforce 6306012!
It's a 12VDC solenoid unlike the 115VAC one shipped with my unit. Perfect fit. May be the very one used on the 12 volt power units. And of course it has enough magnetic energy to bleed the fluid down.
Wired it up with an old "wall wart" and it works mint. Just have to remember to cut power when done so I don't burn out another solenoid.
I'm confident I can hack the OE wiring to make it work "normally" but for now am just happy to be lifting stuff... got a backlog of repairs, and bad weather on the way!
Background: QJ 5000 is four years old. I started developing lowering issues on one of the frames. Maine has a 4 year implied warranty on durable goods so I wrote QJ and they sent me two new frames. Sweet!
But I had been using a c-clamp to hold the "down" button on my pendant and in an amazing twist of fate I coincidentally burned out the factory solenoid by leaving it on too long. Zero ohms across the terminals. No click. Dead. The red LED for power still lit, though.
Got my new frames, and, per the directions, put a car on them and raised it. Wouldn't come down.
Desperate to drive to work, I unthreaded the hydraulic fittings just enough to leak fluid and get the thing down. Not recommended-- if one pops a side that side will come crashing down. And, of course, I had to balance each side so they came down at the same pace. A nail-biter.Now for the hard part-- finding an appropriate solenoid. It's not listed on Bendpak's parts website. The "post" sticking out of the power unit that holds the pintle barely excludes a 1/2" open end wrench, but coils are sold in English sizes.
And the answer is... the Hydraforce 6306012!
It's a 12VDC solenoid unlike the 115VAC one shipped with my unit. Perfect fit. May be the very one used on the 12 volt power units. And of course it has enough magnetic energy to bleed the fluid down.
Wired it up with an old "wall wart" and it works mint. Just have to remember to cut power when done so I don't burn out another solenoid.
I'm confident I can hack the OE wiring to make it work "normally" but for now am just happy to be lifting stuff... got a backlog of repairs, and bad weather on the way!
