Craftsmen Model 50167 4 ton jack review: Latent Product Defect 11

I too am a member of the crap jack club. Sears has now lost me as a customer!

Same problem here. Been moving it around the garage for a few years too busy to fix it. Started thinking about buying a replacement - NOT Craftsman or from Sears - but decided to try and fix it after all. Shameful that with all these problems Sears hasn't stepped up to offer anything. Wonder how many hundreds of these they sold that failed and tarnished their reputation with the people who spent good money on it. I know they've lost out on plenty of purchases from myself since mine failed so quickly.

Guess I have joined the herd of upset customers! Hard to believe sears has sunk to this level on their Craftsman brand of tools! Guess we may as well go to Harbor Freight and save some cash and get a half decent tool!

I have the same issue with the cylinder leaking on the bottom. Craftsman has become junk and I will never buy anything from them that doesn't have lifetime warranty anymore. (Meaning I will only buy manual tools from now)

Easy fix for Crapsman 50167 (4) ton low profile floor jack – Possibly?
I, like so many others, have ended up with an expensive, leaky floor jack. I believe most of us have tried to go through the Craftsman parts department without any luck. Sears will ask for the Craftsman part number & serial number. The Sears/Craftsman number is supposed to be 3 digits, followed by a period and then more digits. There isn’t any information on the jack except ‘maybe’ a serial number and other than the 5 digit Model #50167 sometimes proceeded by a 9 on the label and also listed as such on the Operators Manual. Even if you have the unknown multi-digit number you would not be able to get anything less than the complete power unit at a cost almost a much as a new jack. Most of the folks I talked to, that had this Sears jack, indicated that the failure and leak was coming from the smaller piston on the bottom of the jack. Maybe the following will help resolve the problem, although I don’t know for how long. As far as I’m concerned the jack can be considered a heavy boat anchor, i.e. junk.
NOTE: The next steps will allow more hydraulic fluid to leak out. If you can drain the unit before proceeding, do so. Or use a flat pan to catch the hydraulic fluid, otherwise expect a mess. I did!
I dismantled/removed the smaller piston shaft that appeared to be leaking, from the bottom of the power unit. This is accomplished by turning the floor jack on its side. Extend the lift arm assembly about ½ or more of its height. Using a couple of wrenches, remove the nut & washer from the shaft. Push the shaft back in slightly until the spindle can be removed, which will allow the small piston to be pulled straight out.
You will note that a small diameter o-ring is on the threaded end of the piston. This appears to be nothing more than a dirt shield when the jack arm is all the way down. The actual piston end has a groove that will have a plastic washer followed by another O-ring. The O-ring seems to be an odd, (not easily obtainable), size. For reference the following appears to be the proper size o-rings: the first smaller diameter one is ½” I.D. x 5/8” O.D. x 1/16” wide. The second one is 0.375” I.D. x 0.625” O.D. x 0.139” Width (3/8” I.D. x 5/8” O.D. x 9/64” +/- W, and is listed as a 2-204, or some derivation of that part number. This latter O-ring was damaged quite heavily in my floor jack, (chewed up for lack of a better word).
Luckily I had my piston in hand when I went to a local hydraulics shop and they noticed that after installing the fatter O-ring, there was still a sizable gap between the end of the o-ring and the piston, even with the first plastic/nylon spacer installed. They suggested installing another plastic spacer to tighten up the space which will keep the O-ring from ‘rolling’. Further discussion indicated that rolling of the O-ring might be the major cause of so many failures. Sorry, I didn’t get the size of the plastic spacer, but it is the same O.D. as the piston, and I.D. should be easy to figure from the O-ring size. All you have to do is split the spacer with side cutters and install it on the interior side of the O-ring, opposite the existing spacer. This doesn’t remove all of the excessive play, but is tighter. It’s possible that another spacer or one that is thicker may work better.
I used a small amount of petroleum jelly around the O-rings & installed the piston with the new O-rings & plastic spacer. The Installation of the piston is opposite the removal. Jack arm up part way, insert piston, align spindle, either push jack arm down or pull piston out to place the screwed end through the spindle. Reinstall the nut washer, tighten and turn jack upright. Refill the hydraulic fluid & purged any air in the system. Pump a few times and run the jack through a few cycles. Check for leaks.
I jacked up my vehicles a few times while checking for leaks or any settling. So far there is no indication of any leaks. But caution is advised. After jacking up your load, support any load with appropriately rated vehicle support stands. Note: Less than $2.00 for parts plus hydraulic fluid.
I do have some photos that may be used as a guide. You may contact me at sfillips@earthlink.net and insert ‘request for Craftsman jack photos’ in your subject.

Guess I've joined the club. The same small piston started leaking on me during one of my bi-yearly oil changes on my car. This means that in about 14 uses, it finally let go. Its sold as Craftsman but has a Torin sticker under it. I will buy neither in the future.
Dan in Dallas

Well crap.. Looks like I bought the same piece of jack. I was looking for parts to fix mine. Craftsman sure ain't what they used to be. I agree with the recall.

I as well bought the 4 ton model 950167 s/n R08007179 about two years ago and have the same problem that occurred approximately three months after the warranty ran out. Is there any thing we can do to get this taken care of by Sears. Seems Sears boasts about Craftsman quality. Will they back their talk with action?

I also bought the same type of Jack at Sears and of course after a year my warrenty ran out and the cylinder started leaking terrible.. so I contacted sears and was told they do not carry a replacement kit to fix the cylinder... I have read as wel numerous reports online from the same type of Jack... THIS JACK should be RECALLED by SEARS its a safety hazard and we who bought this jack should either be given free of charge a replacement jack that is the same ton.. or they should have to fix the one we bought free of charge