Floor Shop Press

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72bluNblu said:
I could have mounted the one I had to the deck of an aircraft carrier, wouldn’t have helped. Not gonna stop the work deck from bowing like the one I had would do under load.
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Concrete would have helped!

Mine has been pretty darn tough for the dollar spent! No complaints knowing it was bargain brand to start with! Mine is early 90's so the Chinese may have built it better back then!
 
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Not hf but close,20 ton on sale for 129 about 15 years ago. Welded it so it stayed square. If i have a lot of bending i use my 12 ton air jack. Dont forget your bearing splitter assortment. Three sizes,must have.
 
1969383S said:
Concrete would have helped!

Mine has been pretty darn tough for the dollar spent! No complaints nowing it was bargain brand to start with!
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What the hell do you think it was mounted to? The concrete slab of my shop. Hence the aircraft carrier comment. It was level and square at rest, that wasn’t enough.

Like I said, it was pretty useful for most of the things I used it for. But when things got tough the 12 ton got flexy. No amount of level and square can help if you can bow the cross beams that make up the work deck with the load of the jack. That’s not a problem from the frame not being square. Only way to fix that would be to reinforce the work deck, and if you’re going to spend that time and money it’s just easier to buy the 20 ton.

That was my experience with my 12 ton from HF, and that’s why I bought the 20 ton to replace it. I put the 20 ton in the exact same spot and built it the exact same way, no issues. Glad you like your 12 ton, I needed something more durable.
 
72bluNblu said:
What the hell do you think it was mounted to? The concrete slab of my shop. Hence the aircraft carrier comment. It was level and square at rest, that wasn’t enough.

Like I said, it was pretty useful for most of the things I used it for. But when things got tough the 12 ton got flexy. No amount of level and square can help if you can bow the cross beams that make up the work deck with the load of the jack. That’s not a problem from the frame not being square. Only way to fix that would be to reinforce the work deck, and if you’re going to spend that time and money it’s just easier to buy the 20 ton.

That was my experience with my 12 ton from HF, and that’s why I bought the 20 ton to replace it. I put the 20 ton in the exact same spot and built it the exact same way, no issues. Glad you like your 12 ton, I needed something more durable.
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My smiley face did not post for some reason! Sorry!!

It is a bargain level unit but has done all I asked. The toughest thing I ever had to press was joints on a 99 Dually shaft that was a ***** due to the nylon in the caps. 8.75 axle bearings and carrier bearings were easy as well as suspension pieces on the 69 Barracuda among other things! For the price it has been well worth it! Return spring mods are required for level on the head but like said hard to beat for the money invested. And we are talking 1990 vintage.
 
1969383S said:
My smiley face did not post for some reason! Sorry!!

It is a bargain level unit but has done all I asked. The toughest thing I ever had to press was joints on a 99 Dually shaft that was a ***** due to the nylon in the caps. 8.75 axle bearings and carrier bearings were easy as well as suspension pieces on the 69 Barracuda among other things! For the price it has been well worth it! Return spring mods are required for level on the head but like said hard to beat for the money invested. And we are talking 1990 vintage.
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Those gm u-joints are immovable without a bit of heat. All i have ever used is my ball joint c-clamp to service drivelines.

Place i used to work had the 20 ton with air jack and a gauge. That was nice. Another one was the electric/hydraulic but way bigger,50 T if i recall. If something wont move it will break stuff. Scary machine.

Only drawback with all these smaller presses is the gap in the bed frame could be wider, i wedged a pinion in there more than once.
 
I've had one of the old-style orange HF 12T presses for well over 10 years now. It's done everything I've needed done....so far.
However, when I first got it originally set up, it was pretty "flimsy" as some posters have mentioned above.
I squared/plumbed everything up, then welded it to keep it that way. It definitely helped it a lot.
Even the round push bar was slightly out of plumb so I cut it off, squared/plumbed it, then re-welded it back on too.
It's been a decent press for its size ever since those mods were made. Probably the heaviest thing I've pressed with it has been Honda front wheel bearings.
I've pressed out/in 8 sets of those style front wheel bearings with it.
I've used it for my A-body suspension needs with no issues, but like some of the others on here, every time I walk by that 20T, I'm tempted...LOL.
IF I didn't already have my modified old 12T, I'd definitely get the 20T over the current 12T they have now.
 
i bought the 20T and I am impressed with it so far. I am going to have the ram mill squared and then tapped so I can attach different ram attachments.

Where are you storing the handle?
 
In a short 2"pipe on the side with a screen over the bottom to let crap fall out.
 
I put a handle on the valve, way less fiddling to release jack. Will snap a picture, i have them on all my bottle jacks.
 
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