[dataway]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

Dataway, please delete your link to USA made jack stands as my computer software says that it has a Trojan virus attached to it. Mods for your info.

Tom V.

Too late for me to do a delete on it ... site comes up clean as a whistle for me.
Mods feel free to delete it.

What browser are you using? Just showing up as a basic website on my end.

PS. Just ran it through three different website scanners .... no malware so far.

[Tom Vaught]

I have a bad boy stand alone Virus Scanner that catches almost everything.
I turned off the Windows stuff.
Tom V.

[sdbob]

Just came back from HF, guy said the stands are redesigned in the latching to prevent slipping.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by sdbob

Just came back from HF, guy said the stands are redesigned in the latching to prevent slipping.

Hopefully not by the same four year old Chinese kid who designed the first run of thousands of "HF death stands". I think I will stick with the cross pin style.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Hopefully not by the same four year old Chinese kid who designed the first run of thousands of "HF death stands". I think I will stick with the cross pin style.

X2 ON ANY THAT Mike. I MAY BUILD OR BUY IN THE FUTURE BUT
I will say my 20 year old, "T" manufactured, Toothed rack 6 ton stands have served me well for many years and the Rack Teeth still look like new and the clearances are nice and tight. The cross pin design is still a lot safer.

The US decided to put the hurt on China with Tariffs and HF just raised the prices of the 4 draw tool carts by $50 and the 5 drawer stuff by $75 that the American buyer has to pay. WE are paying for the Tariffs, not the Chinese.
And that was for the more well made stuff (vs Sears today).

The Jack Stands are really poor. Death Traps. Hope the replacements under the recall are much better. Sorry for the rant on pricing.

Tom V.
Tom V.

[dataway]

Tariffs are a drop in the bucket compared to what our country pays as a whole for moving all our industry overseas. Every Chinese product bought helps finance their economic and technological war on the US.

By from ANYWHERE except China, many choices, India, Mexico, Europe, Taiwan, South Korea. Unfortunately Tariffs are the only way to level the playing field with a country that pays slave wages and that subsidizes most of their industry. US consumers don't HAVE to pay the Tariff .... if a person doesn't buy Chinese, they don't pay the Tariff. Initially it's the importers that pay the Tariff, then raise their prices to the distributors, who raise their prices to the retail market. Simple solution is to find a new source for the products, then no one pays the Tariff .... which of course is exactly the point, to put a hurtin on the Chinese.

[Tom Vaught]

Now I might build some new Jack Stands myself vs buy them from Harbor Freight but in reality I buy very little from HF. My Comment was based on Garage Journal surveys over the last 15 years showing that Sears and other US companies were building more junk vs an actual better built part from the offshore guys.

Hard to bash all Chinese products when many crankshafts for Pontiacs come from offshore. Kind of like talking out of two different sides of your mouth at the same time.
And that is happening, be it Molnar, Scat, Eagle, RPM, and a bunch of other ones.
You have to do your homework so that the piece you buy has a lot of good features that will do the job vs buying a dirty steel product made in a hole in the wall shop.

Tom V.

I buy Moldex Crankshafts for my higher HP needs. I haven't paid the tariff and don't plan on paying it for Chinese products as I have not bought from Harbor Freight the last 10 years. This thread is about Harbor Freight.

[dataway]

Good point ... there are actually some decent products being produced there, and getting better every year ... which makes them even MORE of a danger to us. There are times I still pretty mucy have to buy a Chinese product because there are no other sources ... or sources that cost literally five times as much.

But ... if we all just made an effort to check that label ... heck even a 20% drop in their imports to the US would be a huge blow to them.

[i82much]

i use like six jack stands, two old tires, a bunch of 2x4’s, and at least 8 cinder blocks every time I jack my car up. It’s pretty safe, but there’s no room to slide under the car!

[Schurkey]

If you're buying "Tool-Shaped Objects" at Hazzard Fraught, you deserve what you get. The entire world knows they specialize in bottom-feeder garbage.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by i82much

i use like six jack stands, two old tires, a bunch of 2x4’s, and at least 8 cinder blocks every time I jack my car up. It’s pretty safe, but there’s no room to slide under the car!

Funny! All kidding aside I would stay far away from Cinder Blocks to hold your vehicle up. I have seen them fail under the weight of a car without the normal concrete fill in the openings. It was not pretty.
The guy was white as a sheet when I saw him later and talked about his cinder
block failure fixing a clutch issue.

Tom V.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

Heck over 45 years of working on cars and lots of those 3 legged jack stands(when we used jack stands in high school) never had one collapse, but have heard of that potential. But mine are old enough they are probably USA made. But I generally use the newer cast ones-and do have a HB pair I'll have to check out. Several AC Delco,

I have a pair of the three legged stands that I got in 1980. They have always worked just fine. They appear heavier duty than Brad's photo. Definitely not made of exhaust system pipe!

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

I have a pair of the three legged stands that I got in 1980. They have always worked just fine. They appear heavier duty than Brad's photo. Definitely not made of exhaust system pipe!

I never thought holding up a stripped out 69 GP was too much for it to hold either, until it folded up just like in the photo from the H.A.M.B. I linked to. Between the 2 stands, they couldn't have been holding more than half a ton (1000#)..................

I know that there were a bunch of those stands around garages, and DIY guys had them because they were cheap to purchase. I know after that one folded up, I'd never trust one.

I inspected all 4 sets of the stands I have, and probably because they're all older stands, the teeth and pawls are way better designed than the HF ones that were recalled. The teeth are close to 3/8 inch deep engagement, and the pawls are straight across the ends, and sit in the bottom piece parallel to the teeth on the upper part.

If I'm just lifting a vehicle, and won't be removing the wheels, I just use a 6X6 under the tires. Only use jackstands if I have to remove a wheel. I also have chain falls hanging from the ceiling, and will sometimes throw a chain on a vehicle as a backup to jackstands.

[dataway]

I once had my car up on some old school metal ramps .... while I was under it, it seemed to be getting lower and lower, I squeeze out from under and see that the ramps had squished almost flat .... the lesson here, don't use ramps that were in a barn fire. The fire had annealed them to a dead soft condition, you could bend them with a pair of pliers. Some lessons you learn at 17 stay with you forever

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by dataway

I once had my car up on some old school metal ramps .... while I was under it, it seemed to be getting lower and lower, I squeeze out from under and see that the ramps had squished almost flat .... the lesson here, don't use ramps that were in a barn fire. The fire had annealed them to a dead soft condition, you could bend them with a pair of pliers. Some lessons you learn at 17 stay with you forever

I have a pair of old school ramps I use to change the oil on the GTO, Drive on/Drive off. I drilled 4 holes in the things and added 1/2" x .125" steel straps on both sides to keep the stands from deflecting.
If you put a heavy vehicle on the stands they did spread a bit until I did the metal straps. Barely any time to add them to the metal ramps.

Might have Technosports make me some "Heavy Duty? stands I can use when I store the car above the floor during the winter months. I will copy the leg design of the ESCO 10498 Jack Stand but built with a bigger footprint.

Tom V.

[dataway]

That is exactly what they did .... like a horse with a fat rider the legs just spread out until the tire was almost on the ground.

[Tom Vaught]

Very, Very, Glad you are still with us, dataway.
Tom V.

[dataway]

Luckily it was in slow motion ... must have been 15 minutes I was under there with the header flange getting closer and closer

[Va68goat]

Has anybody used the Duralast jack stands from Autozone? I was in a pinch and had to buy them. I’m currently looking to buy some new ones but I have the Duralast ones in my garage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Va68goat

Has anybody used the Duralast jack stands from Autozone? I was in a pinch and had to buy them. I’m currently looking to buy some new ones but I have the Duralast ones in my garage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Joe, they're all made in chicom china, some brands are better than others. There are 2 major defects to watch for, shallow teeth where the pawl engages the teeth. The other problem is a leading edge on the pawl that isn't parallel to the teeth and engages on only a small portion of that edge into the teeth. If the teeth are of sufficient depth, and the pawl is straight with the teeth, you're probably fine.

I just checked my 4 pairs this past week for those defects, and mine are made correctly.

If you want more info go to YouTube and search defective jackstands, many videos of failures, and what makes them defective.

Amazon has some that are made in the US, and are of the removable pin type instead of the ratchet design if you still feel uneasy about using the ratchet type design.