Recalled: throw away Harbor Freight jack stands.

herm0016

Diamond Member
Feb 26, 2005
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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.
 
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repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
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There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:


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

Diamond Member
Feb 26, 2005
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There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:



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

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
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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.
 
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NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
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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

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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Guess I'm not working on the car this weekend.
 

snoopy7548

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2005
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Guess I'm not working on the car this weekend.

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

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.

 
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local

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2011
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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.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
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'Just' jack stands? I thought that was the 'safe' way? What is the 'correct' way? putting solid blocks in or something?
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,033
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A lot of folks slide the wheel underneath too. I only use jackstands when I'm doing suspension/brake work. Otherwise I use ramps.
 
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jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
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'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

Platinum Member
May 31, 2005
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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

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
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There’s nothing wrong with getting under a car supported by good jack stands. I use four of these:


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

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
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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

Diamond Member
Sep 1, 2010
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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!
 
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mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
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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

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,033
545
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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

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
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^ 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.
 
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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
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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

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
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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.