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General Topics/Tech TipsDiscussion on break in periods, rider comfort, seats and pad suggestions. Tech tips as they become available will be posted here.
If any of you own an early kendon and have had jack issues easy fixes. Most have to do with the pump side of the jack. 20 years ago I inherited this standup jack from a good bud. He won it in a raffle and really didn't need it at the time.. I'd used it for a number of projects back then and the jack had an issue with going to full extension. I found that there is an O ring in the pumping side body that was worn out and as the jack moved to full extension it would stop short and suck air past the I ring. With that fixed I used it some more stuffed it away.
I had been working on a 65 pan and wanted to use it for doing the wiring.. Loaded the bike and the damned jack wouldn't do crap.. Finished the work with the lift bottomed out and stuffed it away. Couple weeks ago, I figured I'd see what was going on in the jack. I pulled the jack, set it upright in the press, ran the ram down enough so the jack could register on the gauge. Need barely moved. Something was leaking inside.
I disassembled the cylinder and found nothing wrong (Heard that before but in my case there wasn't ) It was a real PITA to pull the cylinder. I had to clamp the base in the 6 inch vise, swing the cylinder over the bench and set on a block. I then used a 24 inch Pittsburg crescent and a 6 foot piece of heavy exhaust pipe to get the cylinder to unscrew..
The piston seal looked fine, so I reassembled. I put a little hydraulic fluid in and found that I could pump it up and squish it down hand. I got to looking at the pump. It looked fine but there was a brass sealing washer that looked chewed up. I dug it out and the check valve body popped out.. I got to looking at it and the body really doesn't have a seal on the bottom. It needs to be firmly pressed up against the bottom of the hole to seal, no gasket. I cleaned up the valve bottom with some 320 wet and dry then reassembled with a new copper washer. After that the jack started working.
I tested in the press and got 2.5 tons, put the jack back in the lift and it's worked better than it's ever been.
Early Kendon lift fix
) It was a real PITA to pull the cylinder. I had to clamp the base in the 6 inch vise, swing the cylinder over the bench and set on a block. I then used a 24 inch Pittsburg crescent and a 6 foot piece of heavy exhaust pipe to get the cylinder to unscrew.. 
