Finally got my new HF jack, and it’s bad
- Thread starter ScottsGT
- Start date
If they will accept returns at the store for exchange I would guess they would also accept it for a refund. If I had gotten something that warped I would be looking to get my money back. When my bent and bad hydraulics HF lawn tractor lift went back I almost laughed when I was offered a replacement. I took the money over to TSC and bought a Cub Cadet lift, made by ShinFu, who are the current owners of Hein Werner, and make Omega and a few other decent brands. I paid more but there was no comparison in the quality. It had almost double the lift capacity. I had an interesting discussion with them once. They said there are discount store throw away jacks that they stock almost no parts for and rebuildable jacks that they support. I fear the HF stuff is in the throw away category. There are must be some decent jacks out there without breaking the bank. I have an an older USA Hein Werner 2 ton and a much older Ajax/Walker 11/4 ton that I just rebuilt so I have not checked the current market. I have acouple of cheap HF items that it took 2 tries to get a good one but I don't think I would mess with anything hydraulic again.
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danski0224
Well-known member
So why bolt something to the rockers that makes the jacking point lower? That's dumb.
Drilling holes in the pinch weld to attach something is even dumber.
There are several vendors of rubber jack pads with slots to accept the pinch weld. I have one that is about 5 inches in diameter and 1.5" thick overall. I remove the lifting cup on the jack and put the rubber pad in it's place. No problems lifting the vehicle high enough to get the tires off, and I doubt that there is any reasonable way that the rubber pad will slide off- unless the jack doesn't move when going up or down.
Handyandy23
Well-known member
I've got no horse in this race because I don't even live in the US - I've never even been inside a HF store. I just found the statement very hyperbolic and misleading that you made.
That green low profile jack has 4.9 out of 5 stars from 59 reviews on the HF website. No ratings lower than 4 stars. That's pretty darn good. Most people are much faster to give a poor review for a bad experience than a good review for a good experience, so to me no negative reviews is pretty impressive. The orange low pro has 4.8 stars on over 250 reviews, even the cheapo Pittsburgh one has 4.8 stars on 450+ reviews.
I'm not saying they are incapable of making defective jacks, and obviously OP got a bad one here. But the great majority of evidence seems to show people are happy with their HF jacks.
MikeF2316
Well-known member
The OP should leave an honest review, and let us know when it's done. I'd be interested to know what happens to his review.
Farmall450
Well-known member
Ah, but you can rebuild the HF Daytona (yellow) jack with a Snap-on kit, so there's that.
Good point, but how many other HF items have a twin with spares? Based on the price of the SO jack, I would be afraid to ask what they get for the kit. You could probably buy another Daytona for the price.
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No holes drilled, bolts up to factory threaded holes. Ford designed this car around service bay lifts. It was a very hot topic (pissed off owners) when the car was introduced. Jacking rails are designed to protect the bottom of the rockers. Using the rails makes jacking it up easier and quicker and helps protect the bottom of the car when you lower it. Steep incline entrances can drag the bottom of these cars and the rail gives great protection.
Before the rails I had the cross beam attachment for my old jack to grab the rear lifting points as designed. Great for the back, but still a problem to lift the front of the car.
https://www.steeda.com/steeda-s550-mustang-ultra-lite-chassis-jacking-rails-15-16-all-555-5205.html
FWIW, I did leave an honest 1 star review on HF website. And no, it is not published on the site. They may review them since I left it yesterday.
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Handyandy23
Well-known member
Agreed! Will be interesting to monitor.
lakeroadster
Well-known member
SGKent
Banned
After seeing at least 20 friends' HF floor jacks go bad within a year, after having all my HF bottle jacks last a year and take a **** even when they were just sitting on a shelf, after finding puddles of oil under the HF jacks I have owned, and having an engine hoist jack that lasted three engine pulls of 4-cyl engine engines I made the decision not to buy cheap jacks of any kind. Since then Norco, Lincoln, jacks that I have bought have lasted well, and the price the Jack-X-change in Santa Ana has given me has been quite reasonable. The parts are available if I ever need them worked on too. In addition, these don't bypass hundreds of pounds below their rating. I made this decision in part because I have a 40 year old Hein Warner I got from a friend as a gift in 1978 that still works well even though it has been dropped, carried around racing, and many other things. It has been rebuilt twice in 40 years and in each case parts were available. It came from the Jack-X-Change when it was a gift. The HF jacks friends have had are basically disposable jacks. None of the hydraulic shops here can get parts for them. The only HF jack(s) I have right now is a small RV stand that I use to pull a classic VW bus engine, and a set of HD jack stands. Both are cheaply made but they work for the once a year or two I need them. The RV stand is already bleeding down on its own and the pedal to pump it up leaks oil. Chris - you can LOL all you want but I prefer to keep things that are reliable.
Yea, my 2015 mustang is lowered as well and I have jacking rails as well (the low profile ones, not the original ones that stuck down even more), and sometimes the yellow daytona jack will fit under the rails, and sometimes it doesn't. My garage floor and driveway isn't very even, so that mostly explains that. I may grind down the notches on the jacking pad on one side, so that it sits just a little bit lower.
Jacking from the front is nearly impossible unless I drive it up on ramps. The jacking point is just so far back. But I don't have a long reach low profile jack.
I do still have a low profile 3 ton jack (the older gray one) that works every time no matter what to jack it up. Although that one recently lost it's ability to lift... I added some jack oil, and it seems ok now. I'll have to be cautious about it though.
Newer jacking rails for that mustang sit roughly flush with the pinch weld. They're also attached to the body with 4 bolts. The pinch weld is not drilled into. Older models of those jacking rails were much thicker and sat probably about 1/2" or more below the pinch weld.
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My Nissan is on coilovers with custom arns and I just drive up onto a couple of 2x8 planks first. Seems the quickest way to get the jacks under
ChevyEFI
Well-known member
I'm using my yellow Daytona today to install springs and control arms. 
Yea, I've been meaning to do that. I don't really have a good excuse why I haven't yet.
Gotta love Harbor Fright. A buddy of mine cheaped out on a torque wrench and bought one there, and it fell apart in his hands. Drove the 15 miles back to get another one so he could finish the job.
No apology from the clerk, just a "go back and grab another and I will swap it out." Cheap is usually a bad value. He was pissed.
I told him: "you're saving yourself like $500 by repairing the v-twin on your riding mower; you can thus afford a $60 torque wrench."
No apology from the clerk, just a "go back and grab another and I will swap it out." Cheap is usually a bad value. He was pissed.
I told him: "you're saving yourself like $500 by repairing the v-twin on your riding mower; you can thus afford a $60 torque wrench."
Fluelikesymptoms
Well-known member
There are 2 problems with that way of thinking here in the US that idk if is present in Canada or not, but wouldn't surprise me.
First being there is a culture here in the US, where literally EVERYTHING from Harbor Freight gets compared to Snap On because of the price point. The price point is of no doubt economical, but people seem to get excited and translate that to a professional tool brand in terms of quality. Regardless of what he or she said, HF just isnt snap on or cornwell quality, it's barely even matco quality. I'm not saying that hf is a bad option for tool buying, it's just saying some things are best avoided and floor jacks imo are one of them. Hf is good if you are looking to treat the tool as a consumable. I have a ball joint puller from hf I use for other various things that's actually been pretty helpful. Screwdrivers that get dragged around the house. Etc. People swear by hf and if it works for them that's great, but that doesnt make it quality.
Second being online reviews in the US are a joke, particularly the positive reviews. I always look at online reviews when online shopping but I take it with a grain of salt. If I am studying up on a product I often look towards online forums instead. I just saw someone share a review on hf because someone said about one of the ratchets "it turns my sockets, I'm so impressed, I should have bought one years ago." Obviously that review was a troll, or someone's intelligence level is that low, which wouldn't surprise me either. Then you have flat out false or paid reviews, promotions..
Third, it may be possible that there might be some good Jack's from HF. But I would never recommend anyone to buy one because "not that many in comparison to how many are produced" are defective. Just because the defect rate may be acceptable doesnt mean that there's still not a lot of bad hf jack's on the market. I know it sounds extreme but it's the truth, recommending a Jack because of its acceptance among others and price, when that Jack is of questionable quality and quality control, is a danger to the operators safety. Even with proper jack adequate. It has happened, and will probably happen agian, where someone is severely injured from poorly manufactured Jack's, or worse. Always use a good Jack, even if your not using it in a professional environment. Always use proper Jack adequate as well. Jack's can rock if not built right, seals can leak, etc.
Farmall450
Well-known member
Well, we're talking about this specific item, aren't we
I bet HF can get you a kit, just like they can get parts for boxes, etc. Furthermore, any hydraulic shop could for the other jacks, too.
Fluelikesymptoms
Well-known member
Scott here is a napa 2 ton jack that I think would work with your vehicle. The only thing in question would be if it reaches back far enough, I think someone mentioned it's pretty far back to a lift point from the front. This Jack sits at 2 3/4 when closed. That should give you slightly less than an inch to work with. Most low pro jacks I've seen are 2 ton, with pretty good reach
You can go to napa.com and check out part number NLE 7916402. Your right about the website I often have to change my location on there site to get correct pricing (significant difference) it keeps wanting to place me in Michigan?
I dont know for certain and didn't check to much but the last time I was at napa I'm pretty sure I saw a Carlyle branded jack that was similar for less.
One thing to consider is serviceability. I think the new napa Jack's nowadays are more difficult to get a repair kit for than previously They'll last a while but when they go you might have to take it to a hydraulic shop to get it repaired instead of just ordering a kit and DIY. Unless your good at hydraulic and fab work. Not 100% on that either though.
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Just a follow up. Found one that sits level and flat, but I had to get an orange one. Called my local HF and they told me the store across town had 5 green ones in stock. I got there and it looked like Black Friday at Walmart. No kidding, all 4 registers were open and they were 13-16 people deep.
But by the time I got there, only 1 green jack left. Unboxed it and sure enough, just like the one I returned. Front right wasn’t touching the ground.
Pulled an orange one out, perfect. All I can guess is the different colors are coming from different assembly lines?
But by the time I got there, only 1 green jack left. Unboxed it and sure enough, just like the one I returned. Front right wasn’t touching the ground.
Pulled an orange one out, perfect. All I can guess is the different colors are coming from different assembly lines?
My "jack pad" is a block of scrap wood I put just inboard of the pinch weld, then use a jack with lifting cup removed. Has worked for years.
Fluelikesymptoms
Well-known member
Glad you finally found a Jack that is operable for you. Sorry to hijack your thread all the time.
It's possible the different model Jack's are manufactured at separate plants. It's also, and more likely, they're made at the same plant. I cant tell you for certain. I work manufacturing now for the last 2 years which isnt an extreme amount of time but enough that I've come to realize, being manufactured on the same line as another "brand" or model doesnt always mean a whole lot. The whole, it's made by the same people idea gets took a little too serious sometimes
I work in auto manufacturing and can tell you that our cheaper lower end models are not built to the same quality standards as our higher end models. Now dont get me wrong all models are built "quality", there is always intensive quality control on safety components. But things like small defects or imperfections aren't considered nearly as much as our higher end models. The more expensive models or packages. Another interesting thing is our plant treats the product differently based on export/destination.
It is very possible that the green, orange, and yellow Jack are all manufactured at the same plant by the same people and they just dont care about QC as much on the green one as the yellow one. The orange might be built to a high QC standard with minimal defects but might be designed to a lesser standard overall than the yellow Jack.
There's a difference between auto manufacturing and Jack manufacturing though, no matter how much any brand really tries to build a perfectly functioning vehicle they all still end up with recalls or some type of flaw. It's funny because even though I say that we hold our higher end models to an even higher standard of quality control, they still end up being the models with the most problems but unrelated to assembly defects.
Glad you finally found a Jack though I know it has been a hassle for you. You must be a pretty patient person
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CrazyTools
Banned
You can't really trust reviews on Harbor Freight's website. I mean come on. They're just fictional.
langss
Well-known member
I must be the exception to the rule. I have bought several of the 1 1/2 ton Aluminum Jacks to keep in my cars, and never had any problem with them. I actually way overloaded one to change the brakes on my truck. I have one I pulled the wheels off of and bolted to a piece of 3/4 plywood to use in dirt/soft ground. I have a lot of HF Tools I have used for years and the failure rate is virtually non existent. Perhaps I'm not really hard on stuff, but as an example, I have a 90*die grinder I bought in 1998 for work, and I used it everyday until I retired in 2014. It even locked up once, and actually oiling it like it was supposed to have been oiled, and it never happened again. IDK......
bpjr
Well-known member
I must be the exception to the rule. I have bought several of the 1 1/2 ton Aluminum Jacks to keep in my cars, and never had any problem with them. I actually way overloaded one to change the brakes on my truck. I have one I pulled the wheels off of and bolted to a piece of 3/4 plywood to use in dirt/soft ground. I have a lot of HF Tools I have used for years and the failure rate is virtually non existent. Perhaps I'm not really hard on stuff, but as an example, I have a 90*die grinder I bought in 1998 for work, and I used it everyday until I retired in 2014. It even locked up once, and actually oiling it like it was supposed to have been oiled, and it never ha2.ppened again. IDK......
Yep and the napa jack is probably another china knockoff of same quaility but with a higher mark up...like what Sears originally did with their china tools. The only guys who know the truth are the service guys who do repair.