Yep, that's what I'm shooting for, Anand. I hop you don't mind if I steal those pics for my upholsterer.
In other news, I got my lift cylinder out and apart, and I'm pretty pissed off. I noticed something odd last night when I set the thing in the vices:
That's the spot the fluid has been leaking from, right at the top of the tube. The hole faces up so it's out of sight, about a quarter inch from the bottom of the ramp. You can't see it without removing the cylinder.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Hey. Ed, that's just a threaded hole. Shouldn't there be some kind of one-way check valve screwed into it?" At least, that's what I was thinking.
I set that thought aside while figuring out how to get the thing apart. Managed that feat about a half hour ago, and
Wow. Kinda gunky innit? Let's clean off that gunk and see what we have here....
Rust. How about that? Kind of surprising given how young this thing is, and it's never been wet and...oh but wait. It's had a hole in it the whole time I've owned it. Plenty opportunity for some lovely condensation—to say nothing of the shop dust I've been making—to get in there.
I checked the innerwebs and guess what? Turns out there is supposed to be a pressure relief valve. Something like this.
I know what you're thinking though. You're thinking "well, that rust isn't gonna hurt nothing. Now, if the cylinder walls were pitted, THEN you'd have some problems." Right?
So why don't we shine a light in this ol' tube here and see, shall we?
Yep.
So now I've got something of a dilemma. I could rinse the cylinder out with a mild acid, make a big copper wool Q-tip out of PVC and clean it with that, flush it out with water, hose it down with WD 40, put new seals on it and see what I got.
OR I could raise holy Hell with Derek Weaver on Monday because this **** is bullshit.
What would youse guys do?