So I picked up the standard yellow Harbor Freight 500 lb lift table and over all it seems very nice, except I can't get the ram to lift. I pump it and nothing.

I did the whole remove the fill plug purge thing that was listed in the manual and I filled the ram up with extra fluid until it ran out of the fill hole.

What I am thinking is that the release "button" is stuck into the ram body. But I am not sure I don't know how far it is supposed to stick out when it is in the closed, ready to lift position. I have tried to pry the release button out of the ram, but it is not easily moving, so I am not sure what it is supposed to look like when it is released. Sorry, the lift table is 20 minutes away so I can't take a photo to show what position mine is in.

When I lift the table it goes up easily and when I let it go it drops back into position quickly and I hear fluid flowing in the ram. That leads me to believe the release button/valve is stuck open. I just really don't want to tear the release valve apart if that is not the problem area. A photo of that area of a working lift table and any ideas would really be appreciated.

Sadly I live a few hours from the Harbor Freight store or I would exchange it, I picked it up over holiday travels.

Thanks.

Yeah, I would just take it back. But like I said no store close by me so I am willing to spend sometime trying to get it working. I just don't want to be chasing the wrong thing and I am hoping a photo will let me know if something is obviously wrong.

Could you please explain what you did to re-seat the valve?

Did you remove the big hex nut that the release button is in the middle of and get into the whole valve assembly that I see an exploded diagram of in the manual or did you do something with it still assembled?

And what is the philips head screw doing on the end of the release button? Is it some kind of adjustment or just a replaceable "press" area so the actual parts precision parts don't get messed up from being pressed on?

Here is a photo of my table valve release button. This is with the release handle fully released. From the looks of it I am guessing it is stuck into the ram.

Can anyone tell me what their working one looks like and what I need to do to get mine working. I have tried to gently pry the button up (I have even tried more than gently).

Do I just unscrew the hex nut part and have a bunch of fluid and parts come out at me?

Thanks

lift_table_release_valve.jpg

Thanks for the photos everyone.

I have already tried removing the philips head screw, J38. Nothing happens, seems like it might just be a consumable wear point so the actual piston does not get worn/mushroomed over.

I will try extra hard to pull out the piston part J37. But barring that and anyone elses recommendations I guess I will remove J34 and let the mess of springs, washers, ball bearing and fluid go all over the place and hope I can get J37 to pop up free.

The exploded diagram does not really explain what retains J37 I am guessing it is larger/has a rim on the inside and that keeps it from popping out.

Any other suggestions or experiences would be greatly appreciated. It will probably be a few days until I can find the time to do this, I want to do it all in one session.

Problem solved, table works correctly. Glad I got to use a 20% off coupon when I purchased the table, this helped to make the extra work to make the table work more bearable.

So what was going on was extra paint got onto the release button and when it was pressed in the paint cause the button to bind up and stick inside. It was in really tight, I had to grab the button tightly in the jaws of a vice and wiggle/turn with a wrench the whole valve assemble to get it to come free.

I would not recommend trying to insert a drift into the opposite side and drive a stuck button out. The rod that you would be hitting on the button is very skinny and you would likely damage one of the sealing surfaces inside of the valve. You can chew up the outside of the release button in the jaws of a vice and it won't matter, it will only look crappy.

After I got the button free I hand tightened it into the chuck on a drill press and very carefully took the paint off with a fine cut file followed by 600 grit sandpaper to remove all of the paint to prevent future binding.

You do NOT have to remove the whole valve assemble like I did. You can just grab onto the button and pull it out of the ram. As previously mentioned it is only held in by the friction of the O-ring.

But I did find random metal shavings inside of my valve assembly when I took it apart so I felt it was time well spent to prevent future problems.

As Liftserv mentioned 15/16" socket and the whole assemble screws right out, not much fluid came out with it, less than a teaspoon.

Here are photos of the taken apart valve and a close up of the release "button" that I end up filing down.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

release_valve.jpg release_button.jpg