Warning about HF 12 Ton Jackstands

[wild cowboy]

I use the 3 leg, pin jack stands.....

drop the 2 ton 3/8" and stack BIG wooden blocks under the frame rails, and then shake it

even if the San Andreas Fault lets go I'll probably be OK

ugh....earthquakes

remind me not to get under any lifted cars in the states of California, Oregon, Washington or Alaska!

 

[Jason280]

And still, not a single pic of a failed HF stand...

 

[wild cowboy]

Let's see, 76 post up to yours, and I read about 2 different people's HF failures. Maybe you should read more and write less.

All I have read is a couple of "operator" failures. You readin' a different thread?

 

[bob15]

All I have read is a couple of "operator" failures. You readin' a different thread?

Go back to the beginning of this thread and start reading. You might find something.......






Hint.....there are pictures with it as well.

 

[alan camby]

Some of the "failures", operator errors, I have read about with the ratchet style have to do with the cast ratchet bar set on top of the pawl. The ratchet stands I have seen will have a small metal tab that the directions tell you to bend to prevent over extending the bar. To make the shipping cheaper, the bar and stand are shipped apart. You are supposed to put the bar in the frame than bend the tab to keep the bar from coming back out.

When I see a picture of stands with the pawl bent all the way pointing down and the rest of the frame does not appear bent. First thing I think is that someone wanted a extra click that the stand does not have. If the tab is not bent, it is possible to pull the bar past the teeth in the bar and place the bar end on top of the pawl.

I think someone with common sense would know this is wrong but we all see some crazy things done in life.

Edit: I am not saying that is what has happen here. Just something to think about and look for in the stand failure threads.

 

[logixjock]

Go back to the beginning of this thread and start reading. You might find something.......






Hint.....there are pictures with it as well.

 

[rusty65]

Well I posted in the wrong I thread I blame technology.


Sent directly from the Snap On Kool Aid factory.

 

[panknuckshovel]

yeah, you're right, about 1 in 400 million have had harbor freight jack stands fail catastrophically, that's why you have never heard about it here on GJ as being a problem, because it is not a problem, or you would have heard about it!

Exactly. Much like the it is putting faith in junk.

 

[venturesomerite]

Reminds me someone I know that is a mechanic. He constantly is working under F350.450.550 size trucks, typically mason dumps. ALL THE TIME I see him under there, dicking with something with no more than his HF 2.5/3 ton floor jack. I constantly yell at him, but he never learns. Guess he's gonna learn the hard way one day.

 

[Jason280]

Now that is scary!

I weighed my F550 yesterday, 10220 lbs without me in the cab..and my truck is a relatively low weight 550, I've seen some over 13-14k lbs. No way in hell I'd be climbing around under it resting on any floor jack, much less a 2.5-3 ton model.

 

[scw1991]

Just looked up the rating of the HF 6 ton jack stands. I didn't realize they are technically only rated for 3 tons each as they're is an asterisk that states "12,000 lbs evenly distributed across (2) jack stands". You'd think they'd emboss "3 ton" on each stand since it's the actual rating.....hmm!

 

[SMKS]

These threads are always interesting to me.

It shows many people here don't know at all how your basic ratcheting jack stand works. As previously mentioned, once the pawl is engaged into the tooth on the post, it can't release with weight on the stand unless the frame falls apart or the pawl crumbles, neither of which I've seen pics of.

A couple people mentioned the roll pin. It just connects the handle to the pawl. It's a safety point so the roll pin will shear if you try to released the stand with weigh on it.

The pins sometimes fall out or break, meaning the pawl and handle are no longer connected. You really shouldn't try to use the stand in this condition, but the pin falling out or breaking with weight on the stand will not drop the stand.

More info here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4036005&postcount=20

In the OP's case and a couple other claims in this thread, it's likely the user of the stand didn't have the pawl fully engaged in the tooth on the post. This has happened to me once or twice during the years. Make sure the pawl is fully engaged on any jack stand before you use it. Once you do that, you're good to go.

If you want a stand with a pin, you can get these Torin double-locking stands, but they're just as junky as all the other Chinese stands and the post is actually flimsier than some other cheap stands. Here's a photo review:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=195045

And, this thread has gone exactly the same as every other jack stand thread, so I'll just re-post this here:

(NOTE - I'm not trying to make light of any of the couple examples of injuries posted online. It's always a shame to see someone injured in the garage and they have my deepest sympathy.)

And, I can already predict how this thread will go, since they're all the same:
-Someone will claim that you'll surely die if you buy a low-priced jack stand because they sometimes have ugly welds. They may even point to one of the few failures, or claimed failures, posted online.
-Someone else will point out that low-priced jack stands are sold by the millions and there are very, very few reports of failure, and some of those failures don't even really appear to be failures.
-Someone will say you should spend big money on Hein Werner or US Jack stands. They'll claim you're cheap if you don't buy the expensive stands and you shouldn't try to save a buck on safety equipment.
-Someone will point out that there are complaints about the quality of the welds on both US Jack and Hein Werner stands.
-Someone will show pictures of stands they made.
-The thread will end with everyone thinking everyone else is stupid.

 

[SMKS]

On one of them, the holes through the J-handle and pawl were so misalligned that the roll pin securing them together eventually sheared. Before letting my jack down, I checked the placement of the stands and noticed this stand was all the way down. I knew I had put it up to the axle. I did. It's just that the pawl did not fully engage and it dropped while I was placing the other jack stand.

Hmm, it would be interesting to know what caused the pin to shear. the misalignment explanation doesn't fully make sense to me. If the holes were that misaligned, how was the pawl installed in the first place?

For all we know, that pin may have done it's job and sheared when you accidentally bumped the handle with a jack under load, if the stand was dropped, etc.

The shear pin falling out or breaking isn't encouraging, but it's something that can happen to any stand of this design. Make sure the pawl is fully engaged in the teeth of the post on any ratcheting stand of any brand before you use it.

I have a couple pair of the jack stands that use the roll pin to position the pawl, and on a couple of them, the roll pin has sheared. These are jack stands that I have owned for at least 30 years or more, and I believe that they are USA made. I removed the broken pins, but have yet to replace them. Now, I am thinking that I might just be better off putting them into the scrap pile, because of an inherent design flaw. Can the pins be replaced with a pin that is strong enough not to shear?

No, no, no! DON'T REPLACE THE ROLL PIN WITH SOMETHING STRONGER

I'm not criticizing you, as I'm sure many people have had the same thought after the roll pin broke or fell out.

Replacing the roll pin with something stronger defeats the main safety feature of the jack. With a solid pin in there, you may be able to release the stand under load by accidentally hitting the handle and disengaging the pawl.

When the roll pin breaks or falls out, either replace it with another identical roll pin or junk the stands. I would not recommend trying to use them without the roll pin or with something solid in its place.

 

[ajchien]

Just looked up the rating of the HF 6 ton jack stands. I didn't realize they are technically only rated for 3 tons each as they're is an asterisk that states "12,000 lbs evenly distributed across (2) jack stands". You'd think they'd emboss "3 ton" on each stand since it's the actual rating.....hmm!

Most manufacturers use this type of rating for jack stands. in other words, the rating is "per pair".

(The only company I know of that is different is US jack who rated their stands "per stand". I.e. a 6 ton US jack is equal to 12 ton other brands. FWIW, I had a phone conversation with a US Jack rep, who verbally told me their stands get tested at 2x their listedweight limit before leaving the factory. )

 

[Arps]

I'm not getting a good picture of what happened, the pawl should seat on the tooth and be close to impossible to move under load, contact area doesn't seem to be a factor, either it seats or it doesn't.

Picts would help.

yeah, it doesnt seem possible.

 

[alan camby]

Most manufacturers use this type of rating for jack stands. in other words, the rating is "per pair".

(The only company I know of that is different is US jack who rated their stands "per stand". I.e. a 6 ton US jack is equal to 12 ton other brands. FWIW, I had a phone conversation with a US Jack rep, who verbally told me their stands get tested at 2x their listedweight limit before leaving the factory. )

US jack does not test every stand. You have to pay extra to have your stand tested. That is from my conversation with the plant manager. They use a hydraulic press with a pressure gauge to test them.

 

[rlitman]

Just looked up the rating of the HF 6 ton jack stands. I didn't realize they are technically only rated for 3 tons each as they're is an asterisk that states "12,000 lbs evenly distributed across (2) jack stands". You'd think they'd emboss "3 ton" on each stand since it's the actual rating.....hmm!

Jacks are rated in lifting capacity. A 4 ton jack should lift 4 tons.

Jack stands are rated in capacity of weight per pair, so each stand is only made to support half of the rated capacity. 4 ton stands should support 2 tons each.

Ramps are rated in quarters, since each ramp is only designed to go under one wheel. 4 ton ramps are designed to support 1 ton each.

In all cases, the rating is designed to be matched with the vehicle weight.

 

[stikman56]

Here's a picture I promised. He got a broken rib from this thanks to fiberglass body on the bottom of this cutaway style bus that fell when this broke.

 

[scw1991]

If this truly were a manufacturing defect then I'd assume the individual injured would have lawyered up to collects his $six figure+ settlement.

However, the fracturing of the post could have been due to severe abuse by the OP by allowing vehicles to constantly slam down hard on the post/pawl when lowering the floor jack.

I'll go out on a limb here and say the rating of devices such as jack stands and floor jacks are based on static loading only and not dynamic loads imposed due to rapid acceleration of a vehicle dropping onto them. Or as stated above, perhaps the pawl was not fully engaged.

I by no means am trying to defend Harbor Freight here. I will say though the location of the pawl should reside much lower down inside of the fabricated steel stand in the event of a catastrophic failure of the pawl or post. At least the post would still be held in a vertical rigid position within the rectangular portion of the stand.

 

[stikman56]

If this truly were a manufacturing defect then I'd assume the individual injured would have lawyered up to collects his $six figure+ settlement.

However, the fracturing of the post could have been due to severe abuse by the OP by allowing vehicles to constantly slam down hard on the post/pawl when lowering the floor jack. The rating of devices such as jack stands and floor jacks are based on static loading only and not dynamic loads imposed due to rapid acceleration of a vehicle dropping onto them. Or as stated above, perhaps the pawl was not fully engaged.

I by no means am trying to defend Harbor Freight here. I will say though the location of the pawl should reside much lower down inside of the fabricated steel stand in the event of a catastrophic failure of the pawl or post. At least the post would still be held in a vertical rigid position within the rectangular portion of the stand.

I like Harbor Freight and have some of their tools. This is maybe hard for people to wrap their heads around, but not everyone is "sue happy". It was and he didn't. I know him, I work with him. He's an independent contractor now, not a co-worker. He still comes in and helps us when we get behind. He doesn't work sloppy. He's very thorough. This failed, plain and simple. I don't care who believes and who doesn't. I'm spreading what is true, what you choose to do with it is your choice. You've been warned.

 

[wild cowboy]

I like Harbor Freight and have some of their tools. This is maybe hard for people to wrap their heads around, but not everyone is "sue happy". It was and he didn't. I know him, I work with him. He's an independent contractor now, not a co-worker. He still comes in and helps us when we get behind. He doesn't work sloppy. He's very thorough. This failed, plain and simple. I don't care who believes and who doesn't. I'm spreading what is true, what you choose to do with it is your choice. You've been warned.

Here is the problem with your theory that this just failed due to manufacturing defect. Manufactured items fail due to factory defect in a statistical form called pattern failure - this is why we have recalls and the whole basis for the firm Identifix.

If Harbor Freight jack stands were defective, given the millions that have been sold, there would be a lot of talk about it here on GJ, as well as the national news! (some people would be getting killed) Just think of the other tool defect issues that come up here on GJ over and over, because the company truly does have a manufacturing/quality control problem.

Search this entire forum and find a single other report of a HF jack stand failure, that should tell you all you need to know.

 

[stikman56]

Here is the problem with your theory that this just failed due to manufacturing defect. Manufactured items fail due to factory defect in a statistical form called pattern failure - this is why we have recalls and the whole basis for the firm Identifix.

If Harbor Freight jack stands were defective, given the millions that have been sold, there would be a lot of talk about it here on GJ, as well as the national news! (some people would be getting killed) Just think of the other tool defect issues that come up here on GJ over and over, because the company truly does have a manufacturing/quality control problem.

Search this entire forum and find a single other report of a HF jack stand failure, that should tell you all you need to know.

Didn't state that all their jack stands were defective. Showed one that failed with much less that stated 12 tons sitting on it. AGAIN, take it for what it is. Metals get made with imperfections, and if you don't feel that is in any way true, then you simply are ignorant on the subject. This had an imperfection, why else would it break? Might say something about their quality control, don't you think? Do you want to trust your life to this? Why should anyone ever have to ask the question? Is it the only one that has failed? Ask the OP!
I'm not the OP here, he stated a failure, and a warning. Being as I knew Al had this one fail, I figured people might want to see it's happened more than once. There's always the doubters on ANY subject, even when they are shown proof. Religion is one example of this. I have been around plenty of doubters that dismiss the factual evidence. When it comes to being crushed, I have to wonder why anyone would dismiss such a thing. It's beyond me. I don't and never will trust my life to any HF tool. I own them and use them on my job and at home it situations where failure wont end my life.

 

[blown94conv]

Well, according to Wild Cowboy's other posts, the best way to look at this is as follows.

The Quality jackstand will not fail, and has a 100% safety rating. The Harbor Freight will be fine 85% of the time, no failure. The other 15% is up to chance. Given the vast amounts of money you saved, but donated to starving children in Uganda, you should be fine.

You guys are really over thinking this.

 

[SMKS]

Here's a picture I promised. He got a broken rib from this thanks to fiberglass body on the bottom of this cutaway style bus that fell when this broke.

it may have been a manufacturing defect. It may have also been subjected to too much side loading.

Notice how the break is near the bottom of the post? That shows that the post was extended pretty far. It seems when the post is extended a lot it's more likely to break like that.

I've seen pictures of this type of failure on the web before when jack stands are fully or near-fully extended. It leads me to believe that it's always safer to have a bigger jack stand where the post isn't all the way extended rather than a smaller jack stand where the post is nearly fully extended.

When you're choosing the size of stand needed for a job, choose a size where the post doesn't need to be extended all the way. I have 3- and 6-ton jack stands so I pretty much always have the size I need.

 

[VictorBravo]

it may have been a manufacturing defect. It may have also been subjected to too much side loading.

Notice how the break is near the bottom of the post? That shows that the post was extended pretty far. It seems when the post is extended a lot it's more likely to break like that.

I've seen pictures of this type of failure on the web before when jack stands are fully or near-fully extended. It leads me to believe that it's always safer to have a bigger jack stand where the post isn't all the way extended rather than a smaller jack stand where the post is nearly fully extended.

When you're choosing the size of stand needed for a job, choose a size where the post doesn't need to be extended all the way. I have 3- and 6-ton jack stands so I pretty much always have the size I need.

That's been my attitude for a long time. I don't care what the manufacturer thinks or says is appropriate, I can't quite put myself under a heavy load held up by a stand extended more than two or three notches. Just makes me queasy.

 

[Leaky88]

Truly appreciate warnings of this type. Thanks. Leaky

 

[an Automotive Technician]

Matco jack stands are not that bad in price... I don't trust my life with anything from hf