I've been using 6ton princess auto stands for 10+ years, had a 5ton dump truck on them for half a winter once.
Ratchet style stands are perfectly safe if they're not made eith bad tooling
Torch the washer before you try with lower power tools
The washer seizes, causing much of the frustration with these. Even a little propane torch for 5 or 10 mins will help.
After that the lisle socket and a decent 1/2 will do it no problem
Oil the feeder, not just down the fitting
If it still doesn't feed properly something is wrong with it. Even cheap framing nailers work fine for a decent period of time. I use one probably 20 or 30 times a year and a Campbell hausfeld lasted 5 years for me
You might,or might not find that the sockets you upgrade to fit any better.
Inconsistent fastener sizes is as much of a problem as I'll fitting sockets. Maximum stuff isn't bad fit wise so I doubt you'll notice the difference.
Gray ratchets are nothing special,just very heavy duty.
I'm a roofing contractor, I use their stuff. The brushless cordless saw is great, haven't plugged a saw in at a job in a couple years. Have sheathed hundreds of houses with them.
Their impacts and hammer drills do the job fine, sawzall is ok but works. 1/2 impact has no problem on my 3/4 and 1...