Hydraulic Press? Whats a good one?

[Dukes69]

No Harbor Freight!

I'm thinking in the couple hundred dollar ($300-400 or so) range. 20 ton. I found THIS ONE, which seems like a good deal to me. And with shipping it puts it in the price range. Whats good? Whats not? Or should I just shut up?

Thanks
-Chris

[rick]

If you can stomach the price to capacity ratio of OTC, buy one of those. I would say it largely depends on what you will be using it for and how often, how close to capacity, etc. OTC has two models - the high end made in the USA one (~$1000 for 20 T), and the Stinger series. These people have decent prices on OTC stuff, I bought some other tools from them recently: SJ Tools. If you can handle used, you could pick up one of the high end OTC 20 tonners here for $400: Allstates Supply . That guy also has some used Lincolns, which I'm sure you could not go wrong with. They are a bit more $ though.

The press you reference is also only 24" inside the frame, like my HF unit, and this will be a limitation at times if you ever plan on doing tcase or other gearbox work that may require a wider unit. My D300 barely fit into the HF press, and only with it hanging off the frame. This gets a bit annoying. I believe the OTC stuff is 32" inside.

I learned all this cool stuff about presses when I had time to look for a press, but when all of a sudden I had my junk torn apart and I needed one now, I went a bought a HF cuz it was down the street. It's a piece, but it does work. It would benefit greatly from a good jack, as it takes about 100 strokes to move it an inch. Blaine's HF press is bent to hell, so I'm thinking maybe I'll sell mine and buy a good one before I screw it up

[BrockGrimes]

Make your own press by welding up your own frame and installing one of those big ass bottle jacks. They push a couple ton or more depending on the jack, and I know it's manual work but hey it's cheap, and how often do you really need a press.

[aston]

Hey Chris

There happens to be an article on making your own press in the current issue of Xtreme Offroad Magazine. Not only that, it has pics of great rigs doing crazy :poop: :yay:

You may not have the time but you could get a friend to help

[rick]

Or go buy a cheap a$$ HF one and call it a day...

It works!

[JeepGal]

Ha!

[Dukes69]

Or go buy a cheap a$$ HF one and call it a day...

It works!

did

[sarah]

did

return it, and buy ricks

[nagal]

How much is rick selling his for?

[rick]

I guess I'd have to get $180 for it considering it has made at whopping 5 presses and still has shiny paint on the cross bar. You could probably find a new one on sale at HF for about the same. You would also have to pick it up, I don't have an easy way to move it in it's assembled state. I paid full price ($230+tax) for it and it took me an hour to put the damn thing together (it's heavy!). As you can see from the price and delivery options, I'm not really *trying* to get rid of it. I was thinking more along the lines of selling it locally for $200 to some boob that thinks shiny paint is nice and doesn't know that he can go buy a new one for $230. Sarah, stop trying to sell my stuff...

Now to find that boob...

[nagal]

Now to find that boob...

Thanks for not making me that boob

[Kman]

I went to buy a 20 ton press at one of those "truck load tool sale" deals and they were all out of 20 ton ones.I got a 12 ton one for around a $100.I have used it a several times but would like to get a 20 ton unit.Steve Smith Autosports sells a book about how to build shop equipment and includes plans on building a press.It's not all that difficult...just time consuming.There is a lot of satisfaction about doing projects with tools you have made yourself rather than that "Made in Tiawan" stuff.