6 ton jack stands - double locking imort or US HW or US Jack?

I'm convinced I now want 6 ton jack stands - after working under my car with some shorter (16" max) 3 ton I found I needed about another 6" or so and then I wouldn't be so crowded underneath.

I'm very interested in the Northern Tool Torin brand double locking stands, I picked some up and I dig the safety of double locks.

However, I would like to buy US made if possible, so I was considering the Hein Werner or US Jack 6 tons. I do not like however how they don't have the extra safety feature.

Thoughts?

My favorite jack stands for unibody cars are the old school design that you see on a lot of vintage american jacks but for some reason nobody makes anymore!



That style top doesn't crush the unibody. I say start looking on craigslist. All of the new ones except for some extremely expensive brands sell he stupid style that only works on solid axles or body on frame vehicles.

Nobody makes that style because you only have 3 height options and the pin is a big weak point.

I already said this in the other jack thread, any quality ratcheting jack stand cannot disengage when there is weight on it. Its entirely impossible to hit the release while a car is being held up. Theres also at least 2 teeth engaged so you'd be talking about a multiple failure in that regard as well.

The us jacks I have seen here on the forums look really nice

(x)

This is somewhat of a tough one for me. For a while I've thought about upgrading to some really nice US-made units, of which several options are mentioned in the poll. Given recent quality issues and some of the pics I've seen here though, I'm not sure I'd want the potential hassle of returning and re-ordering. I realize it's probably not terribly likely that I'd get a bum set or anything, but I'm still on the fence at this point.

Now if I could buy those brands in a brick and mortar and look at them before I buy them, that would be a totally different story.

Skin said:

Nobody makes that style because you only have 3 height options and the pin is a big weak point.

I already said this in the other jack thread, any quality ratcheting jack stand cannot disengage when there is weight on it. Its entirely impossible to hit the release while a car is being held up. Theres also at least 2 teeth engaged so you'd be talking about a multiple failure in that regard as well.

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I can't find any thing that mentions the HW's use a double locking paw. If they do I will order those. The ones I had prior using a single paw.

I've seen pictures of jack stand paws failing and the double lock puts me at ease.

I love my Torin's! Got 6 pairs of them, back when they were $20/pr. I use 'em all the time

I need some new jack stands so I've been following threads like this one. I like buying high quality American made products when I can and came very close to getting buying some HW stands but the more I see of both the HW and the US Jack product, the less I'm convinced they are worth their premium price?

I've been leaning towards the ACDelco's that O'Reilly's sells...


Still Asian made but they seem somewhat above average construction wise and I really like the metal "pads" welded on to each corner. Not sure why more companies don't do that?

Remember, the US Jack stands are rated differently than most brands. The US Jack 3-ton stands are equivalent to most companies' 6-ton stands.

Stephen is correct, and all it takes is one time you get pinned under like my Dad and your thought on the extra money goes away like a bad fart! What's your life worth?

stephen9666 said:

Remember, the US Jack stands are rated differently than most brands. The US Jack 3-ton stands are equivalent to most companies' 6-ton stands.

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The Torrins in the original post and the ACDelco stands I referred to are both 6 ton stands as well so I think we are all comparing apples to apples. The main difference is the Torrin and ACDelco's cost almost half as much as the US Jack stands.

JASTECH said:

Stephen is correct, and all it takes is one time you get pinned under like my Dad and your thought on the extra money goes away like a bad fart! What's your life worth?

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People make comments like that every time a jack stand thread comes up but I have yet to see anybody demonstrate how a HW or USJ stand is actually safer then a JS like the Torrin or ACDelco? Someone will probably point out that the USJ stand have a wider base and in theory I guess that's an advantage but in a real world\practical POV I don't really see that as any major advantage or benefit.

What kind of jack stands was your Dad using? Did they actually fail or were they improperly placed? If they failed, what exactly broke and what lead up to that? Pics would go a long way here. I'm just a little skeptical because I've never heard of or seen a jack stand actually break or fail while under load? The stories I've seen or heard of involving people getting stuck (or flattened) under a car ultimately came down to user error, not equipment failure.

I have about 6 sets of the Harbor Freight 6 ton stands and a couple sets of their aluminum 3 ton stands and quite frankly I can't see the need for paying anymore than the $39 or whatever it is that these cost. They do the job and there's just not a way in which they could do it better. I have had their stands for about 10 years and never had a single failure or complaint in all that time. The aluminum jack stands are really nice as they are super light.

GD

cgv69 said:

The Torrins in the original post and the ACDelco stands I referred to are both 6 ton stands as well so I think we are all comparing apples to apples. The main difference is the Torrin and ACDelco's cost almost half as much as the US Jack stands.

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What hes saying is USJack is rated per stand if you actually read the import stands, and even Hein Werner, their rating is for the pair in tandem, not each, so 3T HF/Craftsman/HW stands are actually 1.5T per stand. In the real world that doesnt mean much (what home vehicle is going to put over 3000lb on one corner stand?) but its still a fact.

Skin said:

What hes saying is USJack is rated per stand if you actually read the import stands, and even Hein Werner, their rating is for the pair in tandem, not each, so 3T HF/Craftsman/HW stands are actually 1.5T per stand. In the real world that doesnt mean much (what home vehicle is going to put over 3000lb on one corner stand?) but its still a fact.

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You got it. US Jack 3-ton stands are rated for 3 tons EACH, while most brands rate their 3-ton stands for the pair, meaning 1.5 tons each.

So, to the OP, you'd probably want to consider the 3-ton US Jack stands, since they're basically the same as other companies' 6-ton stands. But, you probably already figured that out.

Here's a link to the manual for the HF stands. It says the rating is for weight that is "Evenly distributed across two Jack Stands."
http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/38000-38999/38847.pdf

Here's the link to the US Jack website, where it says:

Rated capacity is PER stand– stands are packaged in PAIRS

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http://www.usjack.com/products/Jack Stands.pdf


Also, I'm not advocating that the OP should buy the US Jack stands or the import stands. I'm just pointing out a bit of info he should consider.

It sounds like he's looking at the 6-tons stands more for the extra height rather than the capacity.

Yes I want 6 ton for the height, so the 3 ton US Jack are out

I would shy away from the Hein Werners, the quality of their welds has gone down a lot over the years


Eventually I want to replace my Hein Werner and HF stands with US Jack ones

Skin said:

What hes saying is USJack is rated per stand if you actually read the import stands, and even Hein Werner, their rating is for the pair in tandem, not each, so 3T HF/Craftsman/HW stands are actually 1.5T per stand. In the real world that doesnt mean much (what home vehicle is going to put over 3000lb on one corner stand?) but its still a fact.

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Serious communication breakdown here. I know exactly what he was saying. What I was saying is that the "6 ton" foreign stands are = to the "3 ton" USJ's and there for that would be an apples to apples comparison.

More over I could also add a "so what"? Jack stands, even the ones made by US Jack are all made to be used in pairs. As long as the pair together are rated at 3 tons, that's good enough for me.

I have no idea what you guys are putting on your stands but anything that can safely hold 3 tons is more then enough for anything I'll ever jack up and crawl under. I'm only looking at 6 ton models for same reason most people do, the extra height.

cgv69 said:

Serious communication breakdown here. I know exactly what he was saying. What I was saying is that the "6 ton" foreign stands are = to the "3 ton" USJ's and there for that would be an apples to apples comparison.

More over I could also add a "so what"? Jack stands, even the ones made by US Jack are all made to be used in pairs. As long as the pair together are rated at 3 tons, that's good enough for me.

I have no idea what you guys are putting on your stands but anything that can safely hold 3 tons is more then enough for anything I'll ever jack up and crawl under. I'm only looking at 6 ton models for same reason most people do, the extra height.

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I'm not a HF basher. Never have been. But as I search for jack stands I'm finding more and more HF jack stands have bent or sheared off and fallen. One on a BMW board, one on a Land Cruiser board (he was using a single 3 ton to hold up one corner of the LC, I can't imagine it exceeded the 1.5 ton load by doing that, and either way there should be a HUGE safety factor built in to those numbers).

Anyway, I love HF but just can't trust 'em to make good jack stands

pipsters said:

I'm not a HF basher. Never have been. But as I search for jack stands I'm finding more and more HF jack stands have bent or sheared off and fallen. One on a BMW board, one on a Land Cruiser board (he was using a single 3 ton to hold up one corner of the LC, I can't imagine it exceeded the 1.5 ton load by doing that, and either way there should be a HUGE safety factor built in to those numbers).

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I'm not exactly a HF basher either but I'm no fan of theirs either so generally speaking, I avoid their products most of the time. That is why I was specific about the Torrin and ACDelco stands. I have no interest in the HF stands.

That said, I would like to read about those incidents if you have links? I'd like to get a better understanding of the who's, what's and why's? In the case of the LC, I'm going to assume the owner was at least partially to blame because most jacks make a point of stating the jacks are only meant to be used in pairs.

Thinking about that now makes me wonder if it is incorrect to assume that if a pair of stands are rated at say 3 tons, that each stand is capable of holding 1.5 ton by its self? It may not be that simple. Maybe as a pair their load rating increases by some factor? That might be part of the why USJ makes a point of stating the rating of their jacks individually? This is all just late night speculation of course.

I have the 6 ton Torin and have yet to die. I'll let you know if I do.

cgv69 said:

I'm not exactly a HF basher either but I'm no fan of theirs either so generally speaking, I avoid their products most of the time. That is why I was specific about the Torrin and ACDelco stands. I have no interest in the HF stands.

That said, I would like to read about those incidents if you have links? I'd like to get a better understanding of the who's, what's and why's? In the case of the LC, I'm going to assume the owner was at least partially to blame because most jacks make a point of stating the jacks are only meant to be used in pairs.

Thinking about that now makes me wonder if it is incorrect to assume that if a pair of stands are rated at say 3 tons, that each stand is capable of holding 1.5 ton by its self? It may not be that simple. Maybe as a pair their load rating increases by some factor? That might be part of the why USJ makes a point of stating the rating of their jacks individually? This is all just late night speculation of course.

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http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e3...r-freight-jack-stands-warped-under-beast.html

http://forum.ih8mud.com/ca-socal-80s/305105-*****-tried-kill-me.html

I have two sets (four total) of the 6-ton US Jack Stands and have been very happy with their quality and performance. I have a 1990 3/4ton dodge 4wd so I needed the height as well to support the vehicle by the frame when I needed to let the axle hang unloaded to do suspension work.

pipsters said:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e3...r-freight-jack-stands-warped-under-beast.html

http://forum.ih8mud.com/ca-socal-80s/305105-*****-tried-kill-me.html

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Thanks for posting those links. The first one from the BMW forum was pretty much worthless as he gave no details but the second one was very interesting. I do agree that this is a very important subject and I do not take it lightly. Trust me, there is no one on this forum or any place else more nervous or paranoid about crawling under a car held up with jack stand then I am. Hell I never even felt 100% safe under a vehicle on a lift. That said, my analytical side won’t let me just jump to baseless conclusions or knee jerk reactions either.

So the guy in the second thread who had his truck fall on him admitted to using the jack incorrectly. The manual states “Use as matched pair to support one end of a vehicle only.”. This guy decided to ignore those instructions and even admitted that this wasn’t the first time. He had done this at least 3 other times before this failure occurred.

Now think about that for a minute… If someone came on this forum and declared any other tool by any other brand was a POS because he used the tool incorrectly 3 times and on the 4 instance of misuse the tool failed, he would be laughed off the forum. But in this case that’s exactly what this guy did and instead of laughter or ridicule, everybody’s reaction is to agree with him that the jack stand he used was a POS? How does that make sense?

Did the fact that he was only using one stand have anything to do with it failure? I think so. Why do manufacturers insist that the stands be used as a pair and not individually? At first I was thought it might have something to do with the weight ratings? Kind of like how 2 sticks tied together are more than twice as strong as each stick individually? Well that might be part of it but the more I think about it, I think the real reason has to do with the direction of the applied force.

If you lift the front or rear of a vehicle and place jacks stands on each side, the force applied to those stands from the vehicle’s weight is applied almost directly down. However if you only lift and support one corner, the force is now applied to the stand on an angle and jack stands are designed to have forced applied to them on an angle. I think that's ultimately what caused this failure?

I feel bad that this happened to this guy and it’s one of my biggest fears but I can’t help but think this accident was this guys own fault and not some design flaw or issue with the quality of the metal used. Would a better quality stand withstand this misuse better? Maybe but I’d prefer not to find out. I say use the jack stands as they were designed regardless of where they were made, how much they cost or what they are rated for.

Anyway, as a side note. If money is no object and you want some seriously beefy jack stands, check out these suckers that were linked to in that other thread…


http://www.mile-x.com/norco-81205-jack-stands.aspx