Topic: Jacks - General Discussion Across 64-73

[specialed]

Brant i have seen original jacks with the nut end area only painted black but dont know what car they came from.  The jacks also came with the grease on the threads & area under the flip lever that rubs jack top when jacking up or down.

[Anghelrestorations]

I will just make a few quick comments as otherwise this thread will become too confusing to follow since the original question was about a 1967 jack only.
 
Just want to point out that Ford never actually made any of the jacks.  They had three vendors doing this, and all three had manufacturing plants in the Detroit area.  In the example of the coarse thread jacks these were all manufactured in St. Joseph Michigan and shipped to all three Mustang production plants.  And these same three vendors made the jack handles as well.  There are variations over the years of the jacks and handles.
As for the date codes, I want to make sure we are not intermixing the first generation jacks, because those are included in the pictures in the previous postings which adds to the confusion.  None of those would have date codes.  There is a specific reason the date codes started in Jan 1967 which had to do with government regulations.  I cant say that every single jack ever manufactured after that date did have one....its likely some did not, just like not all engines got the VIN Numbers stamped that were 'supposed' to.  Remember, from '64 to '73, we are talking about 3 million Mustang jacks.  Same with the paint process.....there could have been changes made during all those years, but I can make some general comments based on the data I collected and the drawings I have. 
I will share everything we have found with detailed pictures when we are finished.  Trying to get that done very soon, hopefully in the next month or so.
 
Jim,
I have no idea what the "double square cut thread" is that you are referring to.  If you post a picture it would be useful.

[jwc66k]

Marcus,
  See the attached picture. It's from an engineering book I used in school back in the 60's. This shows the design of a double thread and even a tripple thread. The design advantage is speed. A square cut, instead of the "V" cut, would have the "crest" (from the picture) flat and parallel to the threaded item, the two sides perpendicular and the "root" parallel as well. The design advantage is strength.
Jim

[Anghelrestorations]

Ok, thanks.  So can you post a picture of the jack so we are all looking at the same thing here?  I would like to see that as well. 

[jwc66k]

For the non-believers, skeptics and Show-Me State (oops, that's Missouri) people, I proudly present - Jack (what, no fanfare?)
I even did two complete turns and highlighted them in chalk. The "square cut" may be closer to an "Acme" cut.
Jim

[cobrajetchris]

I have a jack I pulled out of a 70 San Jose mach1 25 years ago, has the original paint (obviously dipped) and some of the screw threads had black paint along with the nut, but not the washers???. I know this was original to the car and never been painted as there is no dry spray in the places that are impossible to coat without dipping.

[Anghelrestorations]

Thanks Jim.  Pictures help explain what you were describing here. 

As for the paint on the jacks themselves the paint process changed over the years but the drive screws themselves should never have a heavy coat or paint on them.  What the manufacturers sometimes did is they installed the drive screw backwards into the partially assembled jack and it was then dipped.  This coated the nut end and about 2 to 4 inches of the drive screw.  After dry the screw was removed and reinstalled the correct way with the bearing (washers).  The paint itself was a low grade gloss black.

You can see from these pictures here of an NOS jack exactly what I described here with the drive screw partially painted. 

[Bob Gaines]

I could see how that could happen (partially painting shaft waiting for it to dry and reinstall) on a jack like is pictured because the screw shaft is held in place by a pin. Other jacks instead of a pin have the metal on the screw shaft swedged so that it will not back out of the jack . You can't remove it without grinding away the swedged metal. I wonder if that type were the ones that didn't get paint on the screw shaft?

[specialed]

Bob go back to sparkys65 DEARDBORN jack photo (top first post) shaft is swedged & has paint on nut end. I just went up to my attic (you know the place stairway to heaven) & looked thru 3 like new jacks i put away over the years for my cars & i see some black paint on nut end & on cad washers. Looks like the paint didnt stay on shaft end nut area & washers very well because phos plating (shaft) & (cad) on washers first before paint never lasts as long as paint on raw metal does & you can pop paint off with just your fingernail on this area or from just getting rough handling over the years in trunk. It looks like no sign of paint on shaft area where threads start.  I have no idea where these 3 jacks came from as i have been collecting fine thread jacks for years because thats the type i have always seen in 69-70 original dearborn cars & got about 20 here now. These jacks i find mostly in the east & on my trips out west i find the other type jacks around the ones with the loose nut shaft screw end. I know at least some of the jacks have black paint on nut ends as i have seen too many that way but dont know the pattern there & will have to look thru old photos of original cars to see if i can (put the old HAWKEYE) on them & see any signs of paint in that area.

[Bob Gaines]

If we are only working with three vendors then all of the different possible combinations (dozens ?) would most likely be the result of time period changes to the physical characteristics of the jacks. This certainly complicates things. Known unmolested examples (more then one example EDDDD) along with the corresponding handle would be one way to determine application in a certain time period. It would be difficult for sure.

[specialed]

Bob just disagreeing (imagine that AGAIN) with you on the nut end having black paint & agreeing with brant on this & yes i have several original paint jacks here with some remnats of black on shaft yet at least 20 since you have 10 HA HA. I have looked at these jacks over the years & never found any black overspray on the decal so i know many were done that way.  Marcus the coarse thread jack you have isnt the type i see in NJ 68-70 cars anyway as it has a loose square cad plated nut on end of screw shaft.

[Bob Gaines]

Bob just disagreeing (imagine that AGAIN) with you on the nut end having black paint & agreeing with brant on this & yes i have several original paint jacks here with some remnats of black on shaft yet at least 20 since you have 10 HA HA. I have looked at these jacks over the years & never found any black overspray on the decal so i know many were done that way.  Marcus the coarse thread jack you have isnt the type i see in NJ 68-70 cars anyway as it has a loose square cad plated nut on end of screw shaft.

How odd that is you disagreeing with me  . Strange that you were the one that brought it to my attention that I shouldn't have paint on the jack screw when you were cretiqueing a jack of mine in a trunk one time  . That is OK I guess even Special Ed can have a revision in his perspective(even though he will never admit it )

[specialed]

Years ago restorers painted the entire jack black because you cant get the shaft out of jack when swedged or crimped in on the dearborn style fine thread jacks. We tried flattening the 2 swedges a little & using the air wrench reverseing the socket & backing out the shaft. Then we stripped the shaft & 2 washers & sent washers out for cad & shaft for phos plating. Painted jack then reassembled the plated parts & we do several jacks at a time to make it worthwhile. I havent been painting the nut ends because i dont know why some where painted & it dont make sense why they would come back after jack was painted & paint nut end. The ones i seen with black were very thin coating & mainly on nut end.  I wonder if (like marcus said) they painted jack with shaft in backward then took shaft back out of jack & switched ends then reinstalled shaft back correct way then swedged 2 areas on shaft (to keep it from coming apart).   Or could they have simply flipped shaft while still in jack after paint & threaded it back in since the block( where shaft goes thru) swivels on sides of jack.  This process could vary according to who or how much paint was used at that time (kind of like the lower control arms black paint line varied accordingly).  The problem again is documenting this as jacks got used & throwed around in trunks & put in other cars or left in garage after cleaning out trunk & ended up on e-bay or swap meets. Either way paint never stayed on over plated cad washers & phos shafts so you have to put the ole hawkeye on that area to see signs of paint on used jacks. If this can be documented on ALL jacks done this way i will start putting some paint on the nut end. I am going to my storage place & look tomorrow in my purple car trunk as when i got it in early 80s it came out of a storage place parked in 73 & the trunk area was unmolested with jack still in place from new & i kept it that way so i will put the ole hawkeye on it tomorrow unless too many beers get consumed & i think i just drank my last PBR  (probably a good thing) out of 25 free cases i got 2 months ago before all the c ar events & i had a hard time even giving it away.

[Bob Gaines]

Years ago restorers painted the entire jack black because you cant get the shaft out of jack when swedged or crimped in on the dearborn style fine thread jacks. We tried flattening the 2 swedges a little & using the air wrench reverseing the socket & backing out the shaft. Then we stripped the shaft & 2 washers & sent washers out for cad & shaft for phos plating. Painted jack then reassembled the plated parts & we do several jacks at a time to make it worthwhile. I havent been painting the nut ends because i dont know why some where painted & it dont make sense why they would come back after jack was painted & paint nut end. The ones i seen with black were very thin coating & mainly on nut end.  I wonder if (like marcus said) they painted jack with shaft in backward then took shaft back out of jack & switched ends then reinstalled shaft back correct way then swedged 2 areas on shaft (to keep it from coming apart).   Or could they have simply flipped shaft while still in jack after paint & threaded it back in since the block( where shaft goes thru) swivels on sides of jack.  This process could vary according to who or how much paint was used at that time (kind of like the lower control arms black paint line varied accordingly).  The problem again is documenting this as jacks got used & throwed around in trunks & put in other cars or left in garage after cleaning out trunk & ended up on e-bay or swap meets. Either way paint never stayed on over plated cad washers & phos shafts so you have to put the ole hawkeye on that area to see signs of paint on used jacks. If this can be documented on ALL jacks done this way i will start putting some paint on the nut end. I am going to my storage place & look tomorrow in my purple car trunk as when i got it in early 80s it came out of a storage place parked in 73 & the trunk area was unmolested with jack still in place from new & i kept it that way so i will put the ole hawkeye on it tomorrow unless too many beers get consumed & i think i just drank my last PBR  (probably a good thing) out of 25 free cases i got 2 months ago before all the c ar events & i had a hard time even giving it away.

Ed ,you have been reading too many of Gary's long rambling posts . You sound just like him  or maybe it is the PBR 

[Brian Conway]

The jack that resides in my 69 is stamped ' B 7 '.  At the base of the flip top is stamped a small ' A ' and on the under side of the handle is stamped another  ' A '.  Any significance/meaning ?    Brian