Recomend me some jack stands.

[Prospecter]

My house was jacked and placed on cribbing to install a new foundation. Worked well until we went to set it on the new foundation. One of the cribs collapsed and dropped the house a foot or so. The problem was a spruce block mixed in with mostly hemlock blocking.

The point is that not all cribbing is created equal. Cribbing is a good, but not perfect solution.

 

[The Fall]

Chicago Pneumatic jack stands--I own both a 3 Ton and 6 Ton set. Both have locking pins and plated feet. Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9HNPIJ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Thanks. These are the ones I'm going to buy next. I like ratcheting stands and the pin adds peace of mind.

 

[visionguru]

....

So again exactly, Why was Harbor Freight the first choice for jack stands in the US?

Price, convenience, and quality. Except online, jack stands are only sold at auto part stores and Walmart, mostly store brands or Torin. I have Torin and Craftsman stands, in terms of finish and the details, Harbor Freight is not bad at all. I think that's why people get stands from HF, shipping a set of stands cost about $20.

 

[SweetD]

Without reading the whole thread...

After much internal debate with myself for months, I finally bought a pair this week. Heaviest vehicle I'm lifting is a Tacoma quad cab. These are what I chose:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074R17GL4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Great reviews, and for me should do the trick. Good luck!

 

[PugetDude]

I'd be willing to bet that with Sears circling the drain in a leaking rowboat that Harbor Freight has become the leading single US retailer of jack stands.
YMMV

 

[Steve_P]

...So again exactly, Why was Harbor Freight the first choice for jack stands in the US?

Because they're cheap, and Americans like cheap sh!t. To be fair, I have some HF stands but I replaced them with Esco as I prefer pins.

 

[The Fall]

Because they're cheap, and Americans like cheap sh!t. To be fair, I have some HF stands but I replaced them with Esco as I prefer pins.

Americans can't buy high-quality, domestically produced jack stands at a brick-and-mortar store. That's not a reflection of their buying habits; it's attributable to offshoring. Most of the people on this board have tens of thousands invested in tools; many place a premium on American-made tools. If US Jack makes a ratcheting stand with an added pin for safety, they can take my $200.

 

[gayler]

Of course it will be alright. If somebodys first choice is Harbor Freight, any jack stand made in China and sold by anybody else will be fine.

The point being , Why did you consider or buy from Harbor Freight in the first place? Price, convenience or perceived quality.

Sometimes you have to buy what you can afford.

 

[WittHay]

Price, convenience, and quality. Except online, jack stands are only sold at auto part stores and Walmart, mostly store brands or Torin. I have Torin and Craftsman stands, in terms of finish and the details, Harbor Freight is not bad at all. I think that's why people get stands from HF, shipping a set of stands cost about $20.

The quality part is what separates Canadian thinking and American thinking. When somebody walks in Princess Auto or Canadian Tire they are not expecting commercial quality on cheap imports. They are expecting a reasonably priced stand that will work on most cars and smaller pickups on level concrete for diy use. There is no compare to marketing stuff up here

Sometimes you have to buy what you can afford.

A honest answer and I will try to give a good reply.

Both our discount count type chains up here have the regular stand that looks like any other (1st picture) and the safety pin type like the Chicago Pneumatic, Pro-Lift and others (2nd picture) For that extra peace of mind it doesn't hurt to have that pin in there

If you got taller vehicles or big boats like old Cadillac's. There is something called a 6-ton HD. Napa's is called a 7 ton. Sometimes have little pads welded on the bottom (3rd picture) Larger handle, bigger pawl and about 5 to 10 lbs heavier than the standard 6 ton. They are about 3" taller and have wider bases. Hein-Werner is another example of the 6-ton HD. About double the price of the discount type 6-ton stands

 

[greg13]

I've had a set of Mac 6 ton for over 30 years, never a question of quality. Not sure of the actual manufacturer look like either Lincoln or Hien-warner.

 

[M635_Guy]

Princess Auto has the safety pins as well as the regular ones as does the 3 Canadian Tire stores in my area. The five Lordco parts stores in my area carry at least 5 brands of jack stands. There is Napa and at least 6 other parts stores that have about the same selection of stands. Never mind Walmart, Home Depot along with real tool stores/ industrial places that carry there own brands about the same price as HF most expensive and go up from there to Gray and Canbuilt 30 ton stuff

So again exactly, Why was Harbor Freight the first choice for jack stands in the US?

You're awfully worked up...

Here's the net of it - nobody knows exactly how many stands of the first recall were sold with the defect. It's a quality-control escape, not a product defect IMHO - my semi-educated guess is a mold on one of the production lines was used (well) past it's intended life-span and the result was a very compromised casting. And to cap it off, whatever inspection/quality control that should have happened didn't, for who knows how long. I think everybody (including HF) agrees that's a big problem and should have never happened. Ford sold Pintos that were prone to catching fire in minor rear-end collisions. Firestone sold tires that would spontaneously delaminate and killed several dozen people. In both of those cases the companies weren't all that forthcoming or willing to recall their products at first. HF seems to be doing the right thing without any news I've heard of failure/death/injury.

My guess is the actual number of stands that were shipped with the issue was relatively small - there haven't been very many pix/YouTube videos/etc. in the wild and this topic has gotten enough press that you'd expect people to run to the internet with pix. But it hasn't really happened. HF doesn't serialize their stands, so they've got to recall all of them.

My HF stands aren't among the recalled batches, but I decided I wanted something with a secondary safety. I saw a mention of Pro-Lift here, saw they had good reviews on Amazon and ordered them.

Oops

I'm 100% fine with the new stands. Frankly, if HF offered this design from their supplier, I would have happily traded my old ones for them. I would have inspected them in the store before I left, but...

 

[On-Wheel]

Funny how those two jackstands both have weld voids in the same spot.

I punch those tabs down so the neck doesn’t come out.I pick them up by the head.

 

[PugetDude]

Funny how those two jackstands both have weld voids in the same spot.

Robotic repetitivity.

 

[WittHay]

You're awfully worked up...

HF seems to be doing the right thing without any news I've heard of failure/death/injury.

Harbor Freight to me until about 4 years ago was that mail order company you seemed to remember from years ago in the old car magazines. Was mentioned up here in the past decade very rarely as a cheap source for tool boxes and carts.

Was considering buying a cart from them at one time. The learned about how they were sued for illegal pricing. My thought how a company could operate without understanding such a simple retail business concept as you cant have sale prices on one item constantly

Then after they were sued they switched to the compare their cheap imported item to the most expensive USA made item for marketing purposes only. Nothing to do with the actual quality or usability of the item

The first thing you see when you google HF is Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

Basically one man Eric Smidt imported and sold over 2 million pieces of Chinese scrap metal. Does absolutely nothing for anybody in Canada

if Harbor Frieght sold way less stuff, there is a possibly that some smaller US company could invent a better mouse trap (jack stand) to be sold in North America. Also maybe US companys could source a more heavy duty jack costlier stand from China to be sold in both Canada and the US

 

[pat9198]

I punch those tabs down so the neck doesn’t come out.I pick them up by the head.

Thank you, it never occurred to me to do that.

 

[XJSuperman]

Unsubscribing since this thread has gone to hell in a handbasket. We aren't here to argue about Harbor Freight as a company. We came for jackstand recommendations.

 

[Qualitytools]

I've had a set of Mac 6 ton for over 30 years, never a question of quality. Not sure of the actual manufacturer look like either Lincoln or Hien-warner.

And most certainly 30 years ago they made better products

 

[autobon7]

US Jack. I have both their 3 and 6 ton stands. Very nice!!!

Another vote for US Jack....have had their 6 tons for 10-11 years and they are top shelf.

 

[bw77]

I have 2 pair of the 3-ton US Jack stands.

In the words of Aldo Gucci:

"Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten".

 

[driftpin]

Funny how those two jackstands both have weld voids in the same spot.

I punch those tabs down so the neck doesn’t come out.I pick them up by the head.

Thank you, it never occurred to me to do that.

They say to do that in the info included w/the jackstands. Of course, you have-to read it.

You could throw a machine screw and nut through the hole at the end of the stanchion. That way, you could periodically remove it completely to check for deformities, stress cracks & etc., while bending those tabs would prevent you from removing it.

I suspect these HFT 6-ton stands are ~5+ years-old. They do-not have the tooth or pawl deformities displayed in the CPSC-PSA safety bulletin. Note the inside-the-leg reinforcement gussets.

I did return another set of 6 ton stands I had, which had seen little use. I took store credit.

 

[pat9198]

They say to do that in the info included w/the jackstands. Of course, you have-to read it.

Guilty as charged!

You could throw a machine screw and nut through the hole at the end of the stanchion. That way, you could periodically remove it completely to check for deformities, stress cracks & etc., while bending those tabs would prevent you from removing it.

Thanks, I think I'll do that instead.

 

[M635_Guy]

You could throw a machine screw and nut through the hole at the end of the stanchion. That way, you could periodically remove it completely to check for deformities, stress cracks & etc., while bending those tabs would prevent you from removing it.

That's a good idea - I'll do that.

I suspect these HFT 6-ton stands are ~5+ years-old. They do-not have the tooth or pawl deformities displayed in the CPSC-PSA safety bulletin. Note the inside-the-leg reinforcement gussets.

The 2-year-old HF stands I'm replacing, and the P-L replacements (apparently from the same supplier/factory) have gussets also

 

[bubinga]

You're awfully worked up...

Here's the net of it - nobody knows exactly how many stands of the first recall were sold with the defect. It's a quality-control escape, not a product defect IMHO - my semi-educated guess is a mold on one of the production lines was used (well) past it's intended life-span and the result was a very compromised casting. And to cap it off, whatever inspection/quality control that should have happened didn't, for who knows how long. I think everybody (including HF) agrees that's a big problem and should have never happened. Ford sold Pintos that were prone to catching fire in minor rear-end collisions. Firestone sold tires that would spontaneously delaminate and killed several dozen people. In both of those cases the companies weren't all that forthcoming or willing to recall their products at first. HF seems to be doing the right thing without any news I've heard of failure/death/injury.

My guess is the actual number of stands that were shipped with the issue was relatively small - there haven't been very many pix/YouTube videos/etc. in the wild and this topic has gotten enough press that you'd expect people to run to the internet with pix. But it hasn't really happened. HF doesn't serialize their stands, so they've got to recall all of them.

My HF stands aren't among the recalled batches, but I decided I wanted something with a secondary safety. I saw a mention of Pro-Lift here, saw they had good reviews on Amazon and ordered them.

Oops


I'm 100% fine with the new stands. Frankly, if HF offered this design from their supplier, I would have happily traded my old ones for them. I would have inspected them in the store before I left, but...

Just don't be drilling no holes in I'm trying to modify them.........
Lol...... Just kidding now.
What if they would have told Alexander Graham Bell not the fool around with phones?

 

[RickyPetite]

I like US Jack for its wide base and double latch mechanism. Not crazy about how skinny the edges of the feet are (end of angle-iron) since I worry that they could dig into asphalt. I actually find pin-style jack stands easier to use as the latch mechanism on the US's gets locked in really tight after use and is sometimes hard to disengage.

Gray's are heavy beyond belief. I doubt that there is a sturdier unit out there.

With all that said, my favorite stands are Rennstands from Safe Jack. The mechanism of use is brilliant. You lift at the jackpoint (with custom adaptors that fit each car brand) with a cross piece and then put in the legs. Not only does it eliminate the need to lift at a potentially non-approved liftpoint but you can leave the floorjack in place for extra safety. I reach for these all the time and really love them.