Press for my shop

[Spook50]

Now that I have an actual shop and space for real equipment, I'm seeing the possibility of needing a press in the future for some of my projects. For those of you who have one, do you think a 20 ton press would be sufficient for stuff like transmission rebuilds? I see Harbor Freight has one for $200, but I'm also curious if their quality is any good. I know with HF it's hit and miss sometimes, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

 

[spressomon]

Can't give you advice on tonnage for trannies but I recently bought the 20T HF...was going to build one myself but the steel would have cost me more than the $169 I paid; it works just fine for my purposes. For steady use, though, I'd want air over hydraulic...

 

[Sc0-]

20ton should be fine for what you intend, also most of the affordable presses are made in China now.

Omega 60253 10 to 25 ton - Press, Hydraulic

I have the above and am happy with it, I used it for two tranny builds and other odds and ends. I am using it with a Harbor Freight Air over Hydraulic pump Air Hydraulic Pump - 10,000 PSI I bought the harbor freight pump with a 20% off coupon that was in a NRA magazine, it helps keep the price down but I would NOT USE IT WITH THE HANDPUMP! I can only imagine how slow it would be. The HF pump leaks fluid but just have to top it off every now and then, the press itself does not leak anything.

Beware that some of these Chinese made presses have "cast" arbor plates, I went to the local steel yard and spent $80 on quality steel plates, bars, and heavy gauge pipe rectangular sections... I also have a few OTC tidbits that I used for the tranny builds:
OTC 1130
OTC 4520
Sunex SUN52PPK3

 

[KLF]

I have the 20T HF press that you're looking at. It's done everything that I've asked it to so far, 2 or 3 trannies, several transfers, multiple diffs.

 

[Frankencruiser]

I had the 20t harbor freight model. I found it a little flimsy so I welded it up a bit and added some bracing. For the price it's fine, but if you are going to use it a lot look for something better.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Can't give you advice on tonnage for trannies but I recently bought the 20T HF...was going to build one myself but the steel would have cost me more than the $169 I paid; it works just fine for my purposes. For steady use, though, I'd want air over hydraulic...

How would that work? Would it be an air driven hydraulic ram?

 

[spressomon]

^^^ essentially. It eliminates the tedious hand pumping of the jack...

 

[1FZj80]

If you want made in usa, I highly recommend Dake. I have been using their 10-ton for many years and it has been a great press. It is not a huge, but has been more than adequate for a home garage/shop and cost was very reasonable.

power hammer - Dake Machine Tools, H100 Manual