The new bottle jack will most likely not fit or attach properly and then why buy another one when J&S will overnight a new one, no charge. They stand behind their products with no questions asked, try getting Harbor Freight to do that!:icon_dance-cpatch:

Use another jack to get it high enough to release the safety latches. Then let it down!

Also if there's a screw at the end of the bottle jack extending it might get you enough lift.

Ok guys thanks for the suggestions. I had 2 issues. One, I had an air bubble that I couldn't bleed. Second, the release valve was stuck. This jack was all sorts of messed up. I spent a lot of time with Steve from J&S and we went through several troubleshooting ideas. The jack wouldn't clear the bubble and raise, AND wouldn't release. I was stuck period! What I had to do was as red suggested and slide a bottle jack in between the jack frame and existing jack. I then lifted it enough to release the safety latches and slowly released both jacks, but had to force the J&S jack ram down as I went. Finally, one safety slot at a time I was able to get to the bottom. Then the J&S jack started releasing letting the bike down FINALLY after forcing it. What an ass puckering ordeal. They're sending me one but not overnighting it. I wish he would've offered to overnight it but whatever. Just glad to have it down. I thought I'd have to rig up a hoist as mentioned. Alls good as it's on the jiffy now.

Hi Mello3, I'm curious how this turned out for you? Is your new bottle jack from J&S still functional or did you install a different brand bottle? I am waiting for a new bottle from J&S. I just received my lift a couple days ago and the bottle jack was bad right out of the box! Bled it to death and still wouldn't lift all the way up. And that's with no weight on it. Thankfully I never tried raising the bike!

Wow. That sucks. You would think that a $400.00 jack would at least be checked at the factory before being shipped out. I`m sure they will replace the bottle jack.

Talk about some bad luck.

Harbor Freight is looking better all the time.

My Silver bottle died last year,They sent a new one within a couple of days.New one is black,hope it lasts longer than 7 or 8 years like the first.

Ha! The bad bottle I had was black. They have been very friendly and are sending a new one free of charge but they clearly have some quality control difficulties. Every bottle jack should be installed on a test rig before shipping to the customer, IMHO. They are obviously not doing this. The Jack is otherwise much higher quality than the Harbor Freight. But obviously it's useless without hydraulics!

This is the exact problem I am having. I just received a new J&S jack and assembled it. The bottle jack operation didn't feel right from the get go, but I mounted it up anyway. I went to use it for the first time this past Saturday and was unable to lift my bike up to the first safety stop on the jack, I could pump like crazy with no resistance on the lever then occasionally I could get two pumps that had resistance and the ram would extend a bit.

I was never able to get a human on the telephone so I contacted J&S this week through the contact form on their website and was told in an email response to bleed the jack per the enclosed instructions. I removed the bottle jack from the jack and bled it per the instructions. I could get the ram to raise to full height one time, lower it down and pump it up again and it will only go to half height. I lower it down again and the ram will not extend again until I follow the bleeding process again with the same results.

I contacted Jamie again and was told to bleed the bottle jack from the point where it stalls. I have no idea how to do this and I am frankly frustrated with this "premium" jack that I have been unable to use along with the customer service from J&S. I have watched their YouTube videos on bleeding, but can't get this jack to operate. I was close to just ordering a new bottle jack from them (for another $48.31 shipped with the holiday discount), but I don't feel like I should have to spend even more money on this thing.

Can anyone offer suggestions to try?

$400.00 bucks for a jack that you have to fix before you can use it? I don't care how nice they are that is flat wrong.