Hi Howard,
The pin is cone shaped – it lowers into a hole and you can see behind it the ball bearing which is sprung. The end of the pin is flat yes…It is a little bit of a mystery to me the internal structure of this valve. I have looked around for some sort of diagram of how it would work with no results so far.
I did take the time to smooth the surface of the pin as it was extremely rough and badly made. I polished it smooth with wet and dry up to 1000 grit.
Dirt in the system may be a remote possibility but I have drained the oil out and squirted in lots of brake cleaner throughout the internal passages, especially the reducing valve opening…before letting it dry and refilled it with oil when the ram was taken out for examination.
I think you're right though it could be leakage between the valve and seat…
Yesterday I ordered some SAE 46 hydraulic oil and before going any further I will drain the oil and try the more viscous oil. Currently it is filled with Halfords hydraulic jack oil and annoyingly the packaging does not show what viscosity the oil is. I went online and chatted with someone at the other end and their suggestion was to go to the shop and ask them, not very helpful! In other words, I am not even sure if Halfords hydraulic jack oil is SAE 30 or SAE 32.
The SAE 46 oil should arrive tomorrow or the day after and I will try it and report back….
If it is a bad fit between valve and pin would it be an idea to use lapping paste or is that a bad idea?
I really appreciate your suggestions so if you have any further thoughts I would be most grateful to hear them
also, if you know of a decent source for a cross-section drawing of this type of valve I would be really interested too.
cheers,
James