HF Replacement Jack Stands Fail

[IndyGarage]

The jackstand in the photos of this thread didn't crush - so presumably the owner wouldn't have been killed, but the weld did fail - not sure how they got a weld with no penetration on one side, but it looks like they did.

I would say any brand of jackstand could fail - so if you are working under a car with them you should have both the stands and a jack under the car.

 

[M635_Guy]

Some guys will still defend HF stands as they lay in their casket.
Lets bury them face down so the HF lemmings can keep kissing their asses.

Whatever dude - I'm not going to kiss their *** or yours. Some guys are just looking for any chance to mouth off about HF, which is just stupid. Don't want to buy from them? Don't. It's a serious screw up, but lots of companies screw up. They seem to be doing the right thing about it the right way. They've probably sold more jack stands at retail than anyone, and if someone had been hurt we would have heard about the lawsuit already.

If you ever used cinder blocks as jack stands, you had one foot in the coffin already - you're going to throw rocks???

 

[JRC3]

It's a serious screw up, but lots of companies screw up. They seem to be doing the right thing about it the right way.

Well, sorta. The problem is the replacement seem to be failing too. It's a double whammy.

To be fair there are plenty of HF fanboys out there. One example is how they will defend something like that ****** 90 day warranty tooth and nail. LOL

 

[nh_yota]

Everyone is cooing over how great the Chinese ESCO jack stands are, and how terrible the HF stands are. One company has specified and designed a better product than the other.

I have a pair of the popular Esco jack stands and can testify that their QC is just as bad as other stands made in China. I had to return the first pair I ordered because the pads on top were welded crooked and the pads on the replacement set were also crooked but not as bad. The rest of the welds look like **** too but that's how they all look on every jack stand I own.

 

[nh_yota]

My anecdotal evidence suggests that when a Chinese manufacturer says a pair of their jack stands is good for 3 tons it means 3 tons on a good day vs. an American manufacturer who might test theirs to 2-3x rated strength for a margin of safety.

 

[M635_Guy]

Well, sorta. The problem is the replacement seem to be failing too. It's a double whammy.

To be fair there are plenty of HF fanboys out there. One example is how they will defend something like that ****** 90 day warranty tooth and nail. LOL

I guess - one guy having a replacement fail isn't HF being a low-quality monster. **** happens.

I'm guessing, but as much as anything, the 90-day warranty is about keeping the balance sheet tight. I see enough comments here and other places about successfully posting a negative review that I don't think they police their reviews/rating for anything other than racist/disruptive stuff, and a lot of their stuff has seriously good ratings, and what I've bought from them is pretty consistent with the ratings. If they were building to 91 days of quality their reviews would be garbage and YouTube and other media would be flooded with complaints. But it's not happening. The Pass/Fail thread here is vastly positive, for example.

-------Begin Rant----------
I've watched HF evolve for a long time. Early on, they had a lot of incredibly crappy stuff. The only things I'd buy were things cheap enough that I didn't care if they didn't last long, and I guess I was grateful to have that option rather than buy a better whatever for more $$$ that I didn't need for very long. But in the last 4-5 years or so it's pretty clear they're focusing on better quality. There are still some turkeys - the Project Farm channel is a great resource on consumables like drill bits, grinder wheels, etc. but when even AvE is giving them high marks for some of their power tools you've got to ask yourself whether the people hating on HF are just parroting what they hear or more of an anti-China thing. On the latter, I think a lot of people should add up the money they spend at WalMart and a wide variety of other places before they step up on the podium to shout about HF.

I don't like HF for everything. Two examples I'd offer are I don't have good vibes about their consumables and I wouldn't buy a battery-operated tool (impacts/etc.) from them because I don't trust them to keep the same battery platform or even stay in the business for as long as I keep my tools.

But my Icon 3/8" ratchet is pretty damn nice, and seems awfully close to my Snap On F80 that is 4-5 times the money. My USG box and cart are better than the **** you see at the big box home stores for similar or more money with brand-names like Milwaukee on them. If it weren't true, I'd absolutely have a Milwaukee/Husky/whatever box.

I'm just a DIY guy who has gotten old and busy enough that I'm replacing a fair number of my tools over the last six or seven years and doing more stuff on my cars. I don't have any real predefined loves or hates when it comes to tools or stores. HF has earned a fair bit of my business strictly on their delivery of quality in most cases or value-for-money in others. They've slowly gained share-of-wallet with me over the years because they're executing well in those categories. If they don't, or somebody offers better quality/value-for-money I've got no issues buying from them. But all this big-man/'Murica talk pisses me off when (A) there aren't really viable MiUSA options for many of the products we're talking about (B) when there are they tend to be far beyond the price point of the DIY/amateur crowd (C) a lot of those folks seem to have mainly racist or at least xenophobic motivations and (D) most of them almost certainly buy many, many things not made in the USA every single month (if not more often) and not a few drive a car/truck that wasn't made here either. I don't mind having a difference of opinion, but I hate chest-thumping hypocrites.
-------End Rant----------

 

[dogdog]

Well, sorta. The problem is the replacement seem to be failing too. It's a double whammy.

To be fair there are plenty of HF fanboys out there. One example is how they will defend something like that ****** 90 day warranty tooth and nail. LOL

As many fan boy as the give me da made in the USA tools or I won't do da work crowd.

 

[zendriver]

Well, sorta. The problem is the replacement seem to be failing too. It's a double whammy.

To be fair there are plenty of HF fanboys out there. One example is how they will defend something like that ****** 90 day warranty tooth and nail. LOL

Not much to "defend", it's just not really an issue, since personally, I probably still have and use 98% of every type tool, I ever purchased there.

Pretty much the same rate, as the tool products I purchased elsewhere, that may have had longer warranties. Almost never used their warranties.

Seems like those that worry most about the HF warranty, are those that don't even shop there. Still wondering what that is all about.

 

[Ign]

have a pair of the popular Esco jack stands and can testify that their QC is just as bad as other stands made in China. I had to return the first pair I ordered because the pads on top were welded crooked and the pads on the replacement set were also crooked but not as bad. The rest of the welds look like **** too but that's how they all look on every jack stand I own.

This. And there were threads here about stands from US Jack (which I think actually was built domestically?) where the welds were atrocious. I mean maybe technically acceptable , but any instructor would expect better from a first semester welding student HALFWAY thru the semester. Not kidding.

Here's one:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181644

 

[Ryan]

Don't rely on HF stuff if your life depends on it performing.

Done.