Aircooled VW South Africa

What goes wrong with the original jack on the kombi'?
Mine works when it has no weight on it, but won't lift the kombi...

Kombi jacks are all simple screw jacks. The weak point on them seems to be the gears in the top of the jack that allow your rotating force on the handle to turn 90 degrees to rotate the screw. The early ones with the cast top don't seem to share this weakness, but the fault you are experiencing is common on the ones with the pressed sheetmetal cover. Basically the gears are no longer tight and are slipping when under tension.

Thanks Fig, will strip it and see if we can get things tight again,nothing to lose....

Jack, I had the same problem witht he gear turning" on the shaft. I asked the guys at Flat Four Racing to weld the gear back up and refitted it, works 100% again. Pretty easy fix if you can gas weld etc.

regards

Alan

Dont they have shear pins that go through the gear that break if the jack is overloaded as a safety feature.

Jeez Terry, I'd go fcking mad if it "sheared' while up in the air and I was changing a wheel!!! How can that be a safety feature?
if there is\was such a design failure, well I bypassed it for the better.

Alan to give me a better understanding of the jack how is the gear attached to the shaft and what weight will it jack up.