Your xjs convertible hydraulic rams are rebuildable
#1
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$149 average price on ebay or more. Well you look at the ones you took out after they spued all the hydraulic fluid all over. Ehh!.. I need new ones.. just look at these things, chrome hanging off in spots. Deep rust pits up and down the shaft. I guess I'm lucky they are for sale at all. And those used ones they're selling are just like mine and they expect someone to buy them? Why in Gods name they weren't made out of stainless to begin with I"LL never know. I guess as usual they wanted to sell parts when these went bad. You see If these rams were meticulously cared for they'd last forever but the were inherently in a spot that be gets water and moisture. Most people assumed they would dry up and be fine. Chrome rusts fast. It's a thin metal layer and deteriorates fast if left unchecked or prepared. If one of these cars gets put in a garage for an extended length of time through moisture alone the ram rods will deteriorate The chrome will start peeling and given time the steel will become potmarked and once you get this car for the first time and try to put the top up OR down these chrome (razorblades) instantly rip open the o-rings at the top of the cylinder. And there goes the hydraulic fluid.
tops goin nowhere. THE FIX...Remove the top cylinders. On a bench look at the very top cap, on the sides of the top there are stop clips ,it's obvious what to do, bend back the clips carefully (don't break them) and use a pipe wrench to unscrew the top. Observe where every part goes. even make a diagram. Chances are that star shaped washer is loose but it belongs up at the top end of the cylinder to block the plastic piece that holds the new o-ring you will obtain and install with a liberal amount of grease. If you don't mix these parts up then you wont need a schematic. On the inside if this same piece there is another o-ring. You will need to replace this also. Make these o-rings on the snug side due to your preparation of the shaft (that goes up and down) Now this shaft must be thoroughly freewheeled to remove ALL the rust trying not to wire wheel too much on the remaining chrome as we will want to smooth this as much as possible with steel wool MED- FINE. After this is done, clean the bar and make an amount of two part mix of JB WELD, obtainable almost everywhere, in proportion to the amount of exposed rust on the shaft. So that after you are done mixing it, you know exactly where to put it and smooth it. You have a time period to do this where it will still be smooth able but if you don't work fast you can screw it up. Get the bulk of the JB on all of the spots and start smoothing out fast, jump from one spot to the other. After this start smoothing the material up and down the shaft.(the direction it travels) You don't have to coverall the chrome just use water or your spit to keep smoothing this shaft out ,spinning it as you go. Don't leave any lumps, smooth them out for an o-ring will be traveling over the shaft and it needs to glide smoothly and still RETAIN a SEAL. If you think you've covered the rough spots and made that shaft smooooth without building up big bumps but used as little as possible to smooth that shaft out (before the epoxy sets up!!) and if you think an o-ring would love it !!!! your done with this one. Put this one aside and let it dry. The same goes for the 2nd bar.Put this one aside. Both overnight. You can wet sand after dry to fine tune the smoothness but with 320 w/dry to take any high bumps off (not too much) You'll see them as you sand, but leave enough on for the 400 grit,you could use finer grits but if you do good enough with the 400 your done. Grease this shaft up and reassemble in reverse. The larger o-rings should remain intact. And don't forget that star lookin washer has to be shoved up into that spot(you'll see to hold the o-ring retainer My rams work as new with this fix and I saved 300. I hope I helped some Jaggers save a little if they were so precluded to doing so. Buddyluv Cherrio Chaps
tops goin nowhere. THE FIX...Remove the top cylinders. On a bench look at the very top cap, on the sides of the top there are stop clips ,it's obvious what to do, bend back the clips carefully (don't break them) and use a pipe wrench to unscrew the top. Observe where every part goes. even make a diagram. Chances are that star shaped washer is loose but it belongs up at the top end of the cylinder to block the plastic piece that holds the new o-ring you will obtain and install with a liberal amount of grease. If you don't mix these parts up then you wont need a schematic. On the inside if this same piece there is another o-ring. You will need to replace this also. Make these o-rings on the snug side due to your preparation of the shaft (that goes up and down) Now this shaft must be thoroughly freewheeled to remove ALL the rust trying not to wire wheel too much on the remaining chrome as we will want to smooth this as much as possible with steel wool MED- FINE. After this is done, clean the bar and make an amount of two part mix of JB WELD, obtainable almost everywhere, in proportion to the amount of exposed rust on the shaft. So that after you are done mixing it, you know exactly where to put it and smooth it. You have a time period to do this where it will still be smooth able but if you don't work fast you can screw it up. Get the bulk of the JB on all of the spots and start smoothing out fast, jump from one spot to the other. After this start smoothing the material up and down the shaft.(the direction it travels) You don't have to coverall the chrome just use water or your spit to keep smoothing this shaft out ,spinning it as you go. Don't leave any lumps, smooth them out for an o-ring will be traveling over the shaft and it needs to glide smoothly and still RETAIN a SEAL. If you think you've covered the rough spots and made that shaft smooooth without building up big bumps but used as little as possible to smooth that shaft out (before the epoxy sets up!!) and if you think an o-ring would love it !!!! your done with this one. Put this one aside and let it dry. The same goes for the 2nd bar.Put this one aside. Both overnight. You can wet sand after dry to fine tune the smoothness but with 320 w/dry to take any high bumps off (not too much) You'll see them as you sand, but leave enough on for the 400 grit,you could use finer grits but if you do good enough with the 400 your done. Grease this shaft up and reassemble in reverse. The larger o-rings should remain intact. And don't forget that star lookin washer has to be shoved up into that spot(you'll see to hold the o-ring retainer My rams work as new with this fix and I saved 300. I hope I helped some Jaggers save a little if they were so precluded to doing so. Buddyluv Cherrio Chaps
Last edited by buddyluv; 07-25-2012 at 12:33 AM.
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#5
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OK, it runs on a little bit but I get what you are saying, and thanks cause I have a cylinder thats leaking slightly too - hope I can get it fixed also.
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buddyluv (08-30-2012)
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