Why people don't buy craftsman anymore
I still have and occasionally buy some Craftsman stuff. I also had that same compressor you have. It lasted about somewhere around 7 years before I had to put a new sleeve and piston in it. It was never the same after that. It puddered along for a couple years after then I bought a 60 gallon 2 stage Kobalt. They are made by Cambell Hausfeld. It works good and so far has been problem free. Since I paint cars I needed the extra air capacity.
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A lot of fellas even laugh at those style compressors but I got news. If the pump is cast iron like that one is, it's a decent compressor.
Tell you a story about the one I have now. I got it from Lowes probably about 5 years ago. I've always left my compressors on, because I don't like to wait. So I always make sure they are as leak free as possible. Of course, nothing is absolutely leak free. This one will leak down over about a week and kick on and pump back up. Pretty dang leak free. lol
Anyway, its predecessor, a Husky, also with a cast iron pump, had an oil leak that I did not see, because it was on the side facing the wall. Again, I left that one on as well. Went out to the shop one night and the motor was running. Shop full of rubber smoke. The compressor pump had locked slam up from lack of oil.
I disconnected the main air discharge line and sprayed the piss out of it with Sea Foam Deep Creep after it cooled off. Let it sit for about an hour or so. I grabbed the flywheel and much to my surprise I could turn it. It was hard but I kept turning it back and forth and it freed up. I fixed the leak and refilled it with Royal Purple, put a new belt on it and got about another two years out of it. It started getting weak, so I told a friend about it and gave it to him and bought my new one. He put new valves in it and it's still running fine.
That's the testament to cast iron pumps. Had that been an aluminum pump, it would have gone to the scrap yard.
