Recalled: throw away Harbor Freight jack stands.

[brainhulk]

Harbor Freight Jack Stands Recalled for Failure Risk; Check Yours Now

This is like the Takata airbag recall of the DIY world—it’s a certainty that at least some of you reading this own these potentially dangerous stands.

www.autoweek.com

not that anyone here would dare risk their life by getting under a car with just jack stands (especially HF stuff)

 

[herm0016]

hmm. my neighbor just bought a set. ill have to let him know.

i have the torin ones mentioned there, with the extra pin to slide in them. they work fine. the extra pin is good. I usually slide the tire under if i have one off as well.

 

[repoman0]

There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:

ESCO 3-Ton Performance Jack Stand 10498 - The Home Depot

The ESCO 3 Ton Performance Jack Stand (Model 10498) is designed with incredible quality and durability. This professional grade jack stand is perfect for the home garage or shop. Uniquely designed removable

www.homedepot.com

Would never use the cheap style that they sell at auto parts stores for 40 bucks though.

Some day when I have a bigger garage I’m putting in a real lift.

 

[herm0016]

There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:

ESCO 3-Ton Performance Jack Stand 10498 - The Home Depot

The ESCO 3 Ton Performance Jack Stand (Model 10498) is designed with incredible quality and durability. This professional grade jack stand is perfect for the home garage or shop. Uniquely designed removable

www.homedepot.com

are they a pain sometimes because of the distance between the pins? It seems like you would have to lift higher than needed or keep it lower much of the time. the regular design has a many more adjustment points.

 

[repoman0]

are they a pain sometimes because of the distance between the pins? It seems like you would have to lift higher than needed or keep it lower much of the time. the regular design has a many more adjustment points.

Not at all, it’s only about an inch and a half or two inch distance, which is plenty granular IMO. Never even thought about it to be honest, other than the fact that I like the solid chunk of steel holding them up vs. the auto parts store type where a little piece of the adjustable part sits on a small shelf.

edit: actually, notice the other hole that the pin can go through on the actual stand at half the distance between slots on the adjustable part. Makes the granularity more like an inch or so.

 

[snoopy7548]

Thanks for the heads up. I have two pairs of the 3-Ton.

 

[NutBucket]

Yeah, my set purchased at Autozone or some other parts store over a decade ago look identical. I suppose better to toss those too.

 

[ElFenix]

Guess I'm not working on the car this weekend.

 

[snoopy7548]

Guess I'm not working on the car this weekend.

You can work on it, just don't work under it.

EDIT:
I just watched this video and the guy does a good job of explaining the differences. I went to check my stands, but the teeth on all four of them are similar to the "good" stand, and I am not able to get the stand to fail as he did. The handle does rest in the horizontal position, though. Either way, I'll still return them and buy a better pair.

 

[local]

As someone who worked under OEM scissor jacks until one actually failed on me, without incident, I'll roll the dice. Besides both my jack and stands came from Northern Tool I believe... I know the jack did.

 

[ISAslot]

Glad I paranoid and used 8 stands when I did my transmission.

 

[Midwayman]

'Just' jack stands? I thought that was the 'safe' way? What is the 'correct' way? putting solid blocks in or something?

 

[NutBucket]

A lot of folks slide the wheel underneath too. I only use jackstands when I'm doing suspension/brake work. Otherwise I use ramps.

 

[BoomerD]

https://imgur.com/A0Nuvd8

 

[jlee]

'Just' jack stands? I thought that was the 'safe' way? What is the 'correct' way? putting solid blocks in or something?

I usually use jackstands and leave the floor jack in place, lowering it just enough to put the vehicle's weight on the stands but tight enough that if something goes wrong, it will likely catch it.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I either do the same thing or a spread out a couple more jack stands under the vehicle in places they bother me. Right now my Cayman has the rear jacked up and I have 2 spare jack stands and a jack all under it just in case.

 

[killster1]

There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:

ESCO 3-Ton Performance Jack Stand 10498 - The Home Depot

The ESCO 3 Ton Performance Jack Stand (Model 10498) is designed with incredible quality and durability. This professional grade jack stand is perfect for the home garage or shop. Uniquely designed removable

www.homedepot.com

Would never use the cheap style that they sell at auto parts stores for 40 bucks though.

Some day when I have a bigger garage I’m putting in a real lift.

what about earthquakes? i put a extra 20" rim/tire i have under the car also with a 3ton floor jack (which feels like its 3 tons to carry)

 

[repoman0]

what about earthquakes? i put a extra 20" rim/tire i have under the car also with a 3ton floor jack (which feels like its 3 tons to carry)

Sure, something to consider depending on the geography of your region. We only get blizzards here though, earthquakes are the last thing on my mind.

 

[EXCellR8]

Yea NH isn't exactly known for earthquakes... cuz you know, granite. Still get little ones here and there though, might rattle the house windows but that's about it.

I've been using a pair of compact Duralast stands for years now; the teeth are nowhere near that small on them. That's pretty scary stuff, don't skimp on the vitals!

 

[mindless1]

Yeah, my set purchased at Autozone or some other parts store over a decade ago look identical. I suppose better to toss those too.

There's nothing wrong with that style of jack stand. Millions of people have used them for decades w/o issues. The problem is a manufacturing defect and once you go down that rabbit hole, any jack stand could have a defect.

No matter what you own or buy, become familiar with the design and inspect them periodically. At the same time, if I had to pick a major retailer (where I do shop, so this is first hand observation) that seems to have the most defective products, that'd be...

 

[NutBucket]

While I don't disagree the problem is they likely came out of the same factory. Probably better to at least get a set with a pin in addition to the lever.

 

[mindless1]

^ No that is not likely. Even HF themselves, have multiple factories making the same "looking" jack stands, is why they have the different simultaneous part #'s.

Take a good product, but clone it to a cheaper manufacturing cost, and that does not suggest that the cheaper clone came from the same factory.

However this is somewhat irrelevant. What factory they came out of is not always the problem. The problem is the specific defect, or for that matter, any other defect that any particular jack stand should be inspected to rule out.

You can buy a completely different design of jack stand and still have this possibility of a defect, and still need to exercise due dilligence to inspect them before trusting your life under a vehicle held up by one.

A pin in addition to the lever is not a bad idea, but do still inspect them. The pin only guards against pawl disengagement, not a few other failure modes.

 

[Torn Mind]

I bought Husky when hunting for jack stands a few years back. Good thing I did.

 

[shortylickens]

Harbor Freight is just fine so long as you don't trust your life to it.
They have improved in quality, slowly, over the last 20 years. But they are far from good.

 

[MtnMan]

A Harbor Freight opened here a couple of years ago. My grandson wanted to go check it out (he was 14 or 15 at the time). Biggest scrap heap I've ever seen displayed in a somewhat organized display. Even the grandson recognized it as mostly junk. Haven't been back.

I do shop at Northern Tools from time to time.