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Ill weigh in on this subject this morning ,being that i utilize floor jacks and
bottle jacks every day in my repair shop .First thing to realize is that most if
not all ,these days , floor jacks are chinese or taiwan and are junk !
(as has been said) .Forget the whole seal idea and take it back for a refund
or credit for some craftsman hand wrenches .You may find that the jack will
collapes down and seriouse injury will happen ,so do not mess with somthing
such as a jack holding up your vehical while your under it ,Yes ,you have jack stands under the vehical ,but never try to fix these things ,they are of
extremely poor quality in the first place ,thats why they leak and fail quickly.
You could do this on the older high quality service station floor jacks of
years past ,as they leaked after many years of trouble free service.
Alcan , is a floor jack thats been around and is of high quality ,proffesional
grade tools and specifically ,jacks as we are talking about ,should be high quality ,so even if it costs 200 dollars or more ,whats your life worth ?
thats the question .I use bottle jacks for heavy vehicals ,motorhomes,trucks
4x4 vehicals and the airstream and customers trailers as well .You get a straight UP lift ,and the bottle jack can easily handle this type of lifting as
long as its rated for the load ,go bigger if you can ,those tiny bottle jacks
really are unstable and unsafe ,and if they are chinese or taiwan ,they will
fail too .A floor jack can be ruined quickly when lifting a heavy truck or trailer
as the (load) is too high and the jack cannot lift it and becomes overloaded
you can tell because it will try to lift it ,then it will not go higher and will
blow inside ,not always leaking outwordly ,yet now will not raise up anything.
Ok ,thats my professional opinion on jacks .Be Safe is the main thing always
and use jack stands ,even if your in a hurry ,your life is worth it .
I have found that the black Craftsman jacks are good (professional line). I had a 7,000# floor jack for years, and would still have it if an errant employee hadn't tried to jack up a loaded semi with it. I have a Craftsman professional bottle jack I use to jack up our Airstream, the first one failed after 3 years, but only 3 uses. Turned out the cylinder had corroded and chewed up the seal. My fault, I had left it in a damp location with it slightly extended. They replaced it with no hassles.
Bottom line, even if you decide you never in your life want to use the jack, take it in to Sears, and try to exchange it. If they do, take it home, and sell it to someone. Then take the proceeeds and buy a jack that you want.
__________________
Terry Aluminitis never sleeps...
AIR#2611
I gave up trying to find replacment cartridges for our old long frame Walker years ago. Just not available.
I don't even know if Walker Jach is still in business.
I asked the guys and a personal friend, when I caught up with him, how the jacks stand up in the COSTCO tire areas. They said good.
I bought one (80.00 or so dollars) about 6 or seven years ago. Still going strong. If it craps out I'll throw it away and go buy another one.
The petroleum hydraulic jack oil absorbs moisture and caused the internal parts to rust/corrode and makes overhaul difficult.
Beginner
By the way, after I get the vehicle jacked up, I always put jackstands under it. My 6 ton jack stands have served me well for quite a few years.
Where precision leveling is necessary or just getting weight off the suspension is necessary (frame set up on a restoration) I use the old bottle type 10 ton screw jack with acme threads. I have never had one of those leak, fail or fail to operate. I just purchased 6 small JET 10 ton screw jacks because of their retracted dimention, also they were $25.00 each.
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. I have a Craftsman professional bottle jack I use to jack up our Airstream, the first one failed after 3 years, but only 3 uses. Turned out the cylinder had corroded and chewed up the seal. My fault, I had left it in a damp location with it slightly extended. They replaced it with no hassles. 
!
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