Harbor Freight 3 Ton Daytona Jack Versus Snap On FJ300 Jack

[Nitsua98]

Never thought there would be a reason to compare Snap On and Harbor Freight, but given the brand new "Daytona" floor jack HF just released, it seems the time as come.

The reason for this is they are nearly identical in every way. Look at the below photographs:







Looking at the specs add to the story:

Physical dimensions are near as makes no difference the same.

Max Lifting Height - 23 inches (HF) and 23.4 inches (SO)

Weight - 104 Lbs. (HF) and 112 lbs. (SO)

Both have a magnet in the pump reservoir

Both have grease zerks in the same spot

Both have dual pump pistons

Snap on has "U-Cup Seals" and HF has "Premium Seals"

And the Snap On Country of Origin is "CHN". It's no secret where HF comes from...

So what do we think. Is Snap On selling a re-branded Harbor Freight jack, or vice versa?

 

[firworks]

They are likely the exact same jack (Minus small cosmetics as far as bend radius on the sheet steel) made in the same factory, but it isn't a matter of Snap-On selling a rebranded HF jack or vice versa. There are tons of tool factories in China who make tools. They are the OEM providers for HF and O'Reilly and Craftsman and a ton of others.

You go to them and say, here's my logo, here's my color scheme. Can you make me Firworks branded jacks? They come back and say unit price would be 34$ a piece @ 1000 qty. They send me one they mock up or some pictures. I give the goahead and then I negotiate freight to get a container of them stateside and put them in my stores. Sell them for 98$ with a 20% off coupon and all is peachy.

HF is not the designer of at least most of the tools they sell. Their model is, buying a whole ton of tools from China and testing them out at their HQ. Figuring out which ones work / are a good value and then selling those in their stores.

 

[Hiball]

So what do we think. Is Snap On selling a re-branded Harbor Freight jack, or vice versa?

Neither... I'll repeat myself again, Snap On has Never Manufactured there Lift equipment, it's always been a rebrand for them, In particular Walker/Lincoln/Hein Werner (Shin fu)/Gray to name a few. On the other hand.... There are No Harbor freight factories pumping out Harbor freight jacks, If you are following along.... This means they are also rebranded. I'll go a bit further and say that there are only a handful of Hydraulic Units in play with the "Color of the Month" Low profile jacks, the Main differences are the Frame designs/Stickers and aforementioned Color. Its extremely plausible that whomever (Torin/Sunex/Shinn fu) is making the Snap on Jack is also sharing components with the HF and probably 20 other different brands.

 

[zendriver]

3X the price, equals 3x the quality, right?

 

[lightning02]

i wonder how they compare to the Arcan XL35 3.5ton jack. thats what i have now and could use anther jack. this one might be it.

 

[Jarhead0408]

Weight - 104 Lbs. (HF) and 112 lbs. (SO)

I wonder where HF shaved 8 pounds from?

 

[Showkey]

I wonder where HF shaved 8 pounds from?

The pump ?????????

Just because they are copies does not mean they are same

Maybe a little destructive testing before we decide they are same.........see which frame folds like cardboard.

The same goes for lifts and testing has shown there a huge differences is strength.

 

[Polski-Chevy]

I was surprised to see the jack comes with a 3 year warranty.

 

[CutterFarms]

Neither... I'll repeat myself again, Snap On has Never Manufactured there Lift equipment, it's always been a rebrand for them, In particular Walker/Lincoln/Hein Werner (Shin fu)/Gray to name a few. On the other hand.... There are No Harbor freight factories pumping out Harbor freight jacks, If you are following along.... This means they are also rebranded. I'll go a bit further and say that there are only a handful of Hydraulic Units in play with the "Color of the Month" Low profile jacks, the Main differences are the Frame designs/Stickers and aforementioned Color. Its extremely plausible that whomever (Torin/Sunex/Shinn fu) is making the Snap on Jack is also sharing components with the HF and probably 20 other different brands.

So what's your opinion on this jack hiball?

 

[PureLeaf]

Im surprised the HF jack weighs less. Thought that Chinese pot metal was full of impurities like lead to give it more weight

 

[djcslice]

Im surprised the HF jack weighs less. Thought that Chinese pot metal was full of impurities like lead to give it more weight

What is interesting is that the HF jack appears to have a steel handle and the SO appears to have an aluminum handle, that may hide some more weight savings that the HF jack has over the snap on.

That being said, I could easily see those numbers not being totally accurate.

 

[Hiball]

So what's your opinion on this jack hiball?

It takes more than a New color scheme to impress me, I won't make unfounded claims as I haven't been inside one, nor had experience using one. The 3 year warranty is a Solid selling point, I'm not really one of those guys who puts a lot of weight with warranties, but in regards to lift equipment, it's marketable. Outside of that, I would definitely be more apt to invest in the HF model versus the SO, IF I actually needed a Low profile Jack. I'm just glad it has a 3 year warranty, I didn't think I would ever recover from the Arcan introduction, Everyone and ther brother bought one and then the PM's/Email's started rolling in concerning leakage issues, handle feedback etc.... With all that said, HF won't be the last one to introduce this style, then again they might be the easiest to deal with in regards to warranty based off the local retailers available to the individual consumer.

 

[stikman56]

I bought one that looks like that, but is 3-1/2 ton, from Napa for $249.00 For some reason I'd just trust it more than the HF one.

 

[gungatim]

I wonder where HF shaved 8 pounds from?

maybe the packaging? is the weight the shipping weight or just the jack? could be Snappy lists the jack weight and HF lists the entire package...of course it could also just be a translation error in their documentation. some of HF's manuals are downright funny to read...



edit: nevermind, I had it backwards...I'm going with the pump maybe aluminum instead of steel...

 

[Strouty]

I just weighed my Snap On and it was just under 101 pounds.

 

[veracassandre]

Never thought there would be a reason to compare Snap On and Harbor Freight, but given the brand new "Daytona" floor jack HF just released, it seems the time as come.

The reason for this is they are nearly identical in every way. Look at the below photographs:







Looking at the specs add to the story:

Physical dimensions are near as makes no difference the same.

Max Lifting Height - 23 inches (HF) and 23.4 inches (SO)

Weight - 104 Lbs. (HF) and 112 lbs. (SO)

Both have a magnet in the pump reservoir

Both have grease zerks in the same spot

Both have dual pump pistons

Snap on has "U-Cup Seals" and HF has "Premium Seals"

And the Snap On Country of Origin is "CHN". It's no secret where HF comes from...

So what do we think. Is Snap On selling a re-branded Harbor Freight jack, or vice versa?

i think about how they contrast with the Arcan XL35 3.5ton jack. that is the thing that i have now and could utilize anther jack. this one may be it.

 

[Strouty]

Snap On does do some final assembly in North Carolina or some other state, I am sure it makes for a much better fit and finish. Also no telling what seals are used from one to the other.

My Snap On driver says that Shinn Fu makes the FJ200, but it is a separate company, not really sure how that is.

 

[JonnyMac]

I assume from Hiballs comment regarding Arcan that they arent great? I have been looking at them in Costco for a few months but ive not pulled the trigger as i didnt know how good they actually were....

 

[Burgerkong]

Snap On does do some final assembly in North Carolina or some other state, I am sure it makes for a much better fit and finish. Also no telling what seals are used from one to the other.

My Snap On driver says that Shinn Fu makes the FJ200, but it is a separate company, not really sure how that is.

Pretty sure what they mean is that it's packed into a box in the US. Take the handles, hardware and package them up nicely, would probably suffice for an 'Assembled in the US' sticker.

 

[Strouty]

Here is a link to the manual for the Snap On FJ200, it shows specs and parts break down. Now we need the one for the Daytona.

http://public.snapon.com/UserManuals/ShopTechTools/FJ200_OwnersManual.pdf

 

[Strouty]

http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/63000-63999/63183.pdf

 

[lightning02]

I assume from Hiballs comment regarding Arcan that they arent great? I have been looking at them in Costco for a few months but ive not pulled the trigger as i didnt know how good they actually were....

i have had the Arcan XL35 for the last 5 years and hsnt skipped a beat, i bought it at northern tools when they had a sale. think it was $120 when i bought it back then.

 

[Astro_Pneumatic_Tools]

I'm familiar with the factory. They have the capability to make quality jack frames and double plunger pumps, and often jacks overall.

The thing most people don't realize about floor jacks today is it is no longer "cheap going to fall apart pot metal" vs "precision machined AISI certs metal" it's the little $0.02 things.

Such as the material specifications of the o-rings used
Radius of o-ring seats
Type, design, thickness of tefton backing rings.
Smoothness/DA of inner cylinders
Propensity of their being chips in the fluid or burrs on the plungers

Jacks like these don't fall apart. They start to leak, and it's almost never load bearing aspects as those are so closely scrutinized for ANSI tests, it's the darn quick pumpers that get it to lift quickly w/out load.

Having a leaking jack that wont seal is more of an inconvenience for professional settings that need it all day, which is why those little details mean more to an outfit selling DIY vs professional.

 

[Colin Len]

Interesting, I didn't see that model when I was last there but it does look nice. I for one wouldn't hesitate at all to buy one. I've been using HF aluminum jacks for 10yrs now. I had one fail but it wasn't a safety concern. Plus, you shouldn't EVER be under a car with just a jack anyway, wait till it's on stands. I also have no fear using HF stands - have had 2 sets of the aluminum ones for 10yrs too. One jack did stop working but it had a failsafe. Basically the release feature stopped working, so if you wanted to lower the stand you had to pull the top piece out all the way and reinsert.

The jack I'm more interested at the moment from HF is this one because it has the rapid pump feature. Plus it's a very low profile with good max height.
http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...vy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-60678.html

 

[TooMuchHair]

For what its worth I just looked and Harbor Freight does show the shipping weight on the Daytona jack as 112 pounds. (same as SO jack).

 

[skookum1]

Fyi - The Daytona pump description on the HF site says it has Rapid Pump. But ya the jack you linked has almost 1 inch lower minimum height and about 3/4" more maximum. A trade off for less weight capacity. Of course the price is much less..

The SnapOn list price for the fj300 is $651.25

Interesting, I didn't see that model when I was last there but it does look nice. I for one wouldn't hesitate at all to buy one. I've been using HF aluminum jacks for 10yrs now. I had one fail but it wasn't a safety concern. Plus, you shouldn't EVER be under a car with just a jack anyway, wait till it's on stands. I also have no fear using HF stands - have had 2 sets of the aluminum ones for 10yrs too. One jack did stop working but it had a failsafe. Basically the release feature stopped working, so if you wanted to lower the stand you had to pull the top piece out all the way and reinsert.

The jack I'm more interested at the moment from HF is this one because it has the rapid pump feature. Plus it's a very low profile with good max height.
http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...vy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-60678.html

 

[Colin Len]

Fyi - The Daytona pump description on the HF site says it has Rapid Pump. But ya the jack you linked has almost 1 inch lower minimum height and about 3/4" more maximum. A trade off for less weight capacity. Of course the price is much less..

The SnapOn list price for the fj300 is $651.25

You know what, I think I mispoke. I think that "rapid pump" thing is just a ratio of pumps to lift height - which is not what I was trying to reference. I was talking about the foot pump which allows you to quickly and easily raise the jack to your lift point without moving the main handle. Then once you make contact you use the main handle as you need the leverage. I'd never seen that feature until I saw my friend's fancy, expensive jack and have been wanting one every since. Now that HF has one like that it'll for sure be my next jack purchase unless something better comes along before I'm ready to buy.

 

[stang2007]

I assume from Hiballs comment regarding Arcan that they arent great? I have been looking at them in Costco for a few months but ive not pulled the trigger as i didnt know how good they actually were....

I bought my low profile arcan from Costco 4 years ago have not had a issue with it yet, my jack gets used at least once a month, it fits under my Shelby and lifts the wifes Tahoe...

 

[Hiball]

I assume from Hiballs comment regarding Arcan that they arent great? I have been looking at them in Costco for a few months but ive not pulled the trigger as i didnt know how good they actually were....

I'm hesitant to say the Arcan models "aren't great", the common theme with these quick lift jacks is there hit or miss ability in the reliability department. Which is why I've always recommended that people buy from retailers that can handle a seamless warranty replacement if necessary.

 

[CutterFarms]

Interesting, I didn't see that model when I was last there but it does look nice. I for one wouldn't hesitate at all to buy one. I've been using HF aluminum jacks for 10yrs now. I had one fail but it wasn't a safety concern. Plus, you shouldn't EVER be under a car with just a jack anyway, wait till it's on stands. I also have no fear using HF stands - have had 2 sets of the aluminum ones for 10yrs too. One jack did stop working but it had a failsafe. Basically the release feature stopped working, so if you wanted to lower the stand you had to pull the top piece out all the way and reinsert.

The jack I'm more interested at the moment from HF is this one because it has the rapid pump feature. Plus it's a very low profile with good max height.
http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...vy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-60678.html

I was interested in that one also, but now the Daytona one has caught my eye. I have been wanting a long frame jack for awhile, like a old Blackhawk but everything I ever find needs rebuilt. You can buy the harbor freight jacks at a disposable price, since the snap on jacks are foreign made also has to make you think

 

[eksine]

There's a link to the manual for the 3 ton Daytona. it says it's 104 lbs. That could explain the aluminum versus steel handle issue. Also if you look at the front picture it shows 2 pistons there, not sure if the snap on has one but those pistons look insane. plus theres a claim on it that says it lasts 10x longer than other jacks, 10x !

 

[popparoach]

There's a link to the manual for the 3 ton Daytona. it says it's 104 lbs. That could explain the aluminum versus steel handle issue. Also if you look at the front picture it shows 2 pistons there, not sure if the snap on has one but those pistons look insane. plus theres a claim on it that says it lasts 10x longer than other jacks, 10x !

woah,thats a lot of times! does it say if it has elecrolites?

 

[Mastermind]

Ha^ electrolytes. I will be watching this thread, I'm in the market for a new jack, my 1970s orange one is leaking and lost some lift height. Figured I'd buy one while I rebuild/repaint mine. Been eying the hf grey one, local tire shop has a few and puts them thru the ringer daily, says he's yet to have a problem with them.

 

[L.Cheapo]

woah,thats a lot of times! does it say if it has elecrolites?

Brawndo?

 

[davethorik]

Im surprised the HF jack weighs less. Thought that Chinese pot metal was full of impurities like lead to give it more weight

Im astonished the HF jack weighs less. Felt that Chinese pot metal was brimming with polluting influences like lead to give it more weight

Ok so what is with repeating something already mentioned in the thread verbatim?

 

[Burgerkong]

Ok so what is with repeating something already mentioned in the thread verbatim?

Almost identical too

 

[d4dawg]

Had a chance to visit my local HF to look at this new Daytona jack. I know looks doesn't mean anything, but it does overall looks and feels much better quality than the other steel jacks next to it. Welds are very clean, surface is smooth and paint just look nicer. Tried a few pumps, action felt very smooth particularly when letting it go down. Personally I like the yellow color, more visibility and less chance to accidentally kick it and hurt my feet.

 

[redsand187]

Designed for 5000 cycles. Which means the others are only designed for 500 cycles, which doesn't seem like much.

 

[Coach James]

Noticed today a local garage had 2 Daytonas in their front work area. Both were blue.

Coach

 

[90zcar]

Didn't notice this thread til now. I bought one 2 weeks ago

Even the box it came in was quality at its finest. Very thick. Not the normal flimsy hf box that busts open

Wheels are great looking along with grease fittings



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