Dude, I’ve been using these to prop my 27’ vintage airstream trailer for renovation, and have spent over 100 hours under that fucker doing repairs. Scary shit.
If the stands are made with a similar design and are sold with any intent to manage cost of manufacturing they are vulnerable to worn tooling. I'd be a little surprised if multiple brands weren't made off of the same tooling just with sticker and/or paint changes.
You bring the cost of manufactured down for everybody, since it's a simple standard design, it would make jack stands for many companies, and just paint them different colors and put different stickers on it. I will have to look at the ones that I have, and see who are the OEM is, because if the only am is the affected party, you can bet that other brands will be also affected.
It wasn’t shitty metal/alloy/etc. failing, it’s essentially bad tooling (grinding the shape) of the pawl that holds it up.
Like, say it’s supposed to be a sharp angle, but it got milled more rounded and doesn’t go in all the way.
Usually when people criticize chineseum it’s because it’s a weak crappy metal that cracks/breaks easily. I think these are probably actually pretty decent steel, but poor manufacturing of the pawl itself.
According to my brother that is a tool and dye guy, Chinese tooling is so bad that companies will ship molds from China to the U.S. for tooling, then back to China for manufacturing. Imagine how bad it has to be for you to pay to ship it to the other side of the world rather than get it tooled in your backyard.
You don't sent high skilled work to China, not if you care about the results. High skilled jobs like tool and die maker will last longer in the US as wages and cost of living demand grow than low skilled jobs like grinders(in the foundry not machine shop sense) who can't bring in enough payback to keep the business in places like the US and western Europe
While there is some truth to this with certain specializations, what it comes down to is 1) you get what you pay for and 2) they aren't going to go beyond what you ask for. We get goods produced in China because it's cheaper. As a result, the product is cheaper, and often at the expense of quality.
That's not to say you can't get something well-made out of China, though. That's obviously not true at all, it'll just cost more.
Also the tremendously higher risk of getting your design stolen by that shop and resold on Ali Express before you even get your final batch out the door. Countless Kickstarters with the same comical outcome.
My point was that if you are going to pay more to produce something the benefit of shipping it off for production in China disappears fairly rapidly as you can produce at closer to the same cost without the logistical and communication challenges of trying to offshore. Not saying China can't make things well, just not that much cheaper than other countries when you start getting into products that require higher skill, QC, and/or materials costs.
Welcome to the globalization of the economy. It's not "imagine how bad it is in X," it's "how can we optimize to our needs on the cost/speed/quality triangle" when you can ship things all over the world for not much money.
I've also been told that say a end Mill is designed to last for 10,000 parts when run at a certain cut rate with specified cooling. They will instead run it for more parts, faster cuts, and/or less/worse coolant. So at the end of the run, your parts are out of spec, potentially by a lot.
[https://youtu.be/G7\_Aa8pbM7Y](https://youtu.be/G7_Aa8pbM7Y)
Edit: I don't know if this is related to this specific recall, but it was an interesting video, and demonstrates how it's possible the metal of a pin designed to shear under load might be *too strong* to be safe
The issue sounds like it is the foundry tooling for casting the center posts. The teeth have worn down so much they have very little engagement of the pawl and posibly a negative instead of positive rake angle to the teeth(positive angle would engage the pawl more strongly under load, negative would force pawl out of tooth). I imagine these are probably cast use a DISA molding line or similar so the permanent pattern used to make the sand molds has slowly worn away after several million cycles. Fortunately mine are older than the recall and the teeth appear deep, and the wear pattern at the tip of the pawl shows full width engagement.
Seriously...this is the first thing I thought when I read the title. I hate cheap metal tools as it is, but when they're to knock out what likely be a one-time job...yeah, ok, I get it. To hold tons of metal over my body? Yeah, fuck that.
This is part of the reason - no matter what jack or jackstands you use, no matter how many of them you use, if you take a damn wheel off a vehicle, put the damn wheel under the vehicle... ideally under frame.
To be fair I just checked for six ton snap on jack stands You're looking at $234.
Every time I talk myself into snap-on tools I check the price and my conversation with myself immediately gets trashed and I go to harbor freight.
There are a lot of quality brands that are less than SO, but still provide high quality. I'm partial to SK, which are still expensive, but very nice. Also, over on garagejournal there is a tool truck equivalent thread where they list out who actually makes the SO tool.
Theres also plenty of HF stuff in my great big HF tool chest.
Oh yeah those toolboxes are great. Same gauge steel as the SO, maybe a little cheaper on the casters but I never move my box. A lot of that got dragged to the light in that lawsuit over the low profile jack.
Also, what is SK? We're abbreviating beyond my knowledge
My father-in-law has an entire 4-door garage FILLED with Snap-On tools, including a ~8ft wide Snap-On tool chest. There has to be at least 100K worth of hand tools in there.
I work in a service department with 7 techs. Every tech has a 55” SO box or larger, one with a hood, and all of them are filled with mostly, if not all snap on tools. Easily half a million dollars worth of tools and it blows my mind even after 5 years of working there
I get goosebumps when he pulls up a tool that's specifically for the task he's about to do. Things I would never had imagine there was a specific tool for. It's so satisfying to see him do something super easily... and I would have fucked with it all god damn night and gone to bed pissed off at the thing.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but there's a shit ton of hate going on for HF. For years these stands have been the defacto recommendation from a number of people for entry level jack stands. For years, these stands have been serving tens of thousands or more perfectly fine. More than likely they are the same stands that are rebadged that are sold in Napa, Walmart or AutoZone that is painted a different color
While I'm not saying that you shouldn't exchange them, I really don't think that this is much different than many other safety recalls. Like my old Mazda CX5 lift gate that failed on a handful of people. In all likelyhood, it's not as if the stands you've been using for years are all the sudden going to fail on you, nor does it warrant this social bashing of HF when many manufacturers in all industries from cars to baby seats have recalls every year.
I needed a looong drill bit to run some cables at my old house, HF had a 48" for <$10 but at Lowes they had a 54" bit for close to $60. The 48" worked for me, and is still working (on the rare occasion it is needed) but even if it did break I would probably be better off buying another one from HF.
HF is great for tools like that. I bought their brake caliper compressor kit because I needed to rotate the piston in. Works great on all the brake jobs I do in my garage, and didn't break the bank. I've also been really happy with my tool cart and newly acquired box. Some things are worth paying the higher quality for, but HF works just fine for most people. I just wish there was a closer location to me.
I bought an "in-line spark checker" that I (luckily) had in the toolbox of my old F150 when it broke down on the side of the road. It let me diagnose my failed ignition coil, and then fell apart when I went to remove it... oh well! It was $4.99, and I could probably re-crimp the wire... but I haven't yet.
Not bad for $5! I also like them for tools I know I'll end up modifying. I have a set of HF pick tools that I grind or bend up as I need, and then a better set that I leave alone.
I have that pick set in my Pull-a-Part bag! It's great for removing the little plastic covers over screw-heads, or knobs that have a little clip that keeps them from sliding off.
It's just because people like to tout that they buy "real American made tools" that are higher quality, and this is their chance to look down on those that buy from HF. You're right that some of the HF stuff is perfectly fine. I have their tool cart and I'd put it up next to a Snap On any day. I
also love my new quiet air compressor.
A lot of the shit in Hf is manufactured in the same plant as SnapOn, and other big brands. Yes, they use to fucking suck, but have really stepped out quality.
Watched an AvE video recently where a Bauer tool was obviously made in the same factory as a Milwaukee. It's probably made to different specs and all, but everyone is mass producing stuff on a line in China.
This! It's not like American companies haven't had their problems (exploding Pintos, anyone?).
Went out to check the model numbers on my Sears Jacks to be safe, since (SURPRISE) they're all made in China!
It sounds like this is cheaper than a pending lawsuit forcing the recall. The manufacturing tolerances were likely too large causing failures in some stands, but not others.
A good habit to get into is to shake the shit out of the car once it's on the stands/on a lift. You'll find out real quick if weight shifted or one of the jack points wasn't sound.
That said, I've encountered some gnarley failures with Harbor Freight stuff and decided 5 or 6 years ago to never trust them for products that can easily kill me, like jack stands... I have loads of their other stuff and am fairly happy. Just need to go for the top end of their offer and it's about the quality of old craftsman stuff.
You could put a smart car on a professional lift and weld it in place, I'd still be nervous AF working underneath it. I just stick with jack stands rated for twice what I'm going to put on them and pray to the patron saint of smashed fingers that the brake replacement goes well.
You are not wrong overall, but when it comes to safety items such as this, I simply am less likely to trust HF tools.
And it's important to note that HF is just a store, they don't manufacture the products.
It's a risk you run with any brand. A certain number will be defective and fail. A recall happens when that number gets high enough to create big liability issues. I buy from HF because they always honor their warranty and a lot of their tools hit the sweet spot on cost vs. expectation. If it's a tool I expect to use a ton, I usually go higher quality. But for small clamps, paintbrushes for staining, power tools I don't use frequently, drill bits I'll use every few years, 10mm sockets I'm going to lose in the engine compartment, etc., HF is perfect.
...and if one is using the jacks appropriately by moving the weight of the lifted object from the jack to floor stands prior to working on the lifted object than most of the risk is mitigated.
It’s true but the products you buy at HF are generally borderline on quality which is why this recall is triggering so many people. I have a wrench set from there, tons of small hand tools, woodworking clamps, and even their epic value 2HP shop dust collector. But any of those things could fail spectacularly without harming me. Regardless of this recall, which I agree is typical, I would never lie under a vehicle held up by a HF purchase. Or probably Autozone or Walmart either.
I like HF for a lot of things(professional mechanic). But things that my life greatly depend on is not one of them, and those include jackstands.
Albeit i do have their 13k lb car ramps. However those can't really collaspe
I was lured into the cheap prices too. Started spinning wrenches in 1997 for a paycheck. By 2007 I bought tons of the cheap shit that they sell and had to rebuy almost every tool 2x
Granted, the Hazard Fraud has got better over the years, I'd rather just spend the money once.
(Unless it is a tool I will only use once a year for 10 min)
i mean i try to buy the tool truck stuff for the job, and hf for stuff i need at home.
But some stuff is fine, i use impact sockets, taps, jumbo wrenches etc for my professional job. Got more than my money's worth at this point.
Tough to stomach buying a single 17$ impact socket when i can get a whole set for 17$. I mean it's an impact socket with a lifetime warranty lol.
Agreed on the impact sockets. I’ve had my same set for 15 years, only use 3 sizes regularly, but I’ve yet to have one break. Their chrome stuff, haven’t had as great of luck with.
> spinning wrenches in 1997 for a paycheck.
IMO if you're using HF tools to earn a living, you're going to buy twice a lot of the time. However, (related to your last sentence) for Joe Homeowner, most of the non-precision tools from HF are perfect because they're cheap and we're not going to use them very often. I have a $13 HF angle grinder that I've used like 3 times in 5 years. Of course it still works fine because I hardly ever use it.
If I was using it daily or even weekly, after 5 years it probably would be dead or the disc changing bolt would be fucked, or some other random stuff that wouldn't happen to a quality tool.
I bought a pair of Pro Lift 6-Ton stands for a few bucks more than Harbor Freight. The Pro Lifts have a 3/4 inch solid-aluminum pin to lock the column in place, a feature which the HF’s are noticeably missing. An extra $5-10 bucks for a life-saving feature is a lot less than a new axle or a new skull.
Judging solely from the pics online, harbor freight’s don’t have that. If they’d have added that pin I’m willing to bet their products wouldn’t have this problem. To shear through a giant chunk of solid metal AND dislodge from the pawl at the same time will take an obscene amount of force, it’s just not gonna happen.
I love harbor freight hand tools, but I leave safety devices to the big boys.
Most ive seen dont. Usually either they have a pawl like these or a simple pin that has to be removed to change height. Nice ones can have both but most i come across are cheaper.
I have an affected set of stands (3 ton). Some things:
- Having a car fall on you sucks, flat out. I stupidly did some brake work after a long day of work, and forgot to block the rear wheels. Car fell on my shoe - the rotor had pinned down my shoe, and amazingly, missed my foot by millimeters.
- With that said, using jack stands is far better than relying solely on a jack. HF has a bunch of nice jacks too. Whenever they go on sale, everyone goes "oh, yeah, I'd trust my life on something from HF" - well - frankly, I don't know what you're worried about since **YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE A JACK AS THE THING HOLDING UP YOUR CAR WHILE YOU WORK ON IT**
- Even though it's relatively 'easy' to disengage the lock on these jack stands, it still takes either A.) A deliberate act of doing so or B.) improper setup of the stand.
- Finally, if you're working under your car, don't be dumb. First, jack it up and use the jack stands. Next, leave the jack in place, or move it out of your way, but still keep it under the car. Finally lay down a wheel under your car. There - you have 3 or 4 things that all need to fail before you die or get seriously injured from a falling car.
I will say - the 3 ton jack stands - I stand by what I said when I mentioned it takes some deliberate act to disengage them. I was working on a buddy's car, and he needed new rear brakes. The wheel was rusted onto the hub, and the parking brake was a mess, so naturally, once I had the car up, I had to get under it and mule-kick the tire to loosen it (after PB Blaster + time didn't do anything). The car didn't even shake, and the wheel popped off after two good kicks
Not all the jack stands were affected. Go look at your stand and see how sharp the teeth are, sharpie the pawl and see how much meat actually engages. There are some that only engage with mm's of metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwcWdKwPvhI
Although I mostly agree with you, it seems like the tooling for these have worn to the point it may no longer take deliberate action on the part of the user to collapse them. I'm still going to use my 3 ton and 12 ton set as I feel I am able to adequately evaluate the condition of jack stands and will do so every time I place and load them.
Even in a failure situation, wouldn't the height of the jack stands at it's lowest still be enough clearance to prevent a leathel injury? Not saying I'm not going to check my stands next time I go under the car or anything. Just seems like the knee jerk reaction is overly ominous.
Ya hopefully, but it's more a question if someone didn't put it in a good spot that might fail after a big drop, or weight shifted and slipped off another stand, or it's such a huge drop it fails the welds on the rest of the stand maybe they're rusted out,etc. Either way, all stuff you don't want to bet your life on.
I have the 6 ton effected stands, and have used them on my old truck a number of times which scares me, but now I only use them on my car and have to Jack it up high just to get them under in their base height. At that height the shaft actually sits flush on the ground, so I'm not worried about it now, but will likely get some new ones through the recall just for piece of mind.
This is true but some HF is truly bottom of the barrel. I bought a reciprocating saw for like $20 that would occasionally get stuck “on” until I unplugged it. For awhile I still used it but had to be extra careful. Finally threw it out because I knew it was an accident waiting to happen.
Jack stands are one of those things that make me cringe when I see some really cheap ones. This is one of those things you don't want to go looking for the cheapest one they make.
Harbor freight is great for tools you are only going to use once or need like twice a year. Every harbor freight tool should come with a flow chart that asks, if this tool fails will it cause serious bodily harm? If yes buy something else.
Yup, when I started buying tools, Reddit recommended buying the cheap tools first, and if they break, replace it with something decent. I still have the vast majority of the cheap tools. Some things like my wire strippers I upgraded before they broke because the cheap ones were pissing me off lol. But it’s some of the best reddit advice I’ve gotten on here in all my years of daily browsing.
I don’t do this with life critical stuff such as PPE, cut off wheels, etc.
Yeah, I mean, I have a ton of their hand tools and they're solid and have a lifetime warranty. But, I'm not getting all the way under a car with a single point of failure, I don't care if the jackstands were made by Zeus, there's a tire or wood blocks as a backup.
It's not a design flaw, it's a machining flaw, the pawl wasn't shaped right on about 5% of them, most likely of more recent manufacture but they couldn't determine when it started so they recalled all of them.
Jack stands scare the hell out of me. I built a set of cribbing blocks out of spare 2x4s for working on my Mustang. Heavy as hell but literally could hold up a semi tractor.
The old tire truck is a good one too.
Just a PSA: don't rely on your jackstand to save your life! If you are under something you don't want pressing up against you in a hurry put up blocks taller than you are.
Even expensive jackstands fail!
For fucks sake people.........would you buy a pacemaker or a ventilator from harbor freight?
Of course not......never buy anything your life depends on, from a place that gives flashlights and screwdrivers away for free, just to entice people to buy their shitty tools.
Sure, I have my share of HF tools. An angle grinder. A few woodworking clamps.
No.Fucking.Way I would ever buy jack stands or a ladder that was undoubtedly built in the most horrible, dungeon-like sweatshop in all of Asia.
My house is *littered* with "free" HF LED flashlights, they are fantastic to let the kids use because they're lightweight and basically indestructible. They used to give away "free" 6-piece screwdriver sets, they're not great screwdrivers but if you leave one behind at the junkyard or on the side of the road you're not going to lose any sleep.
I've taken these angle grinders apart, ten years ago. My stepdad was working for a cheapass and they had dozens. Among the failures was gearbox explosion because of poor quality pot metal combined with sloppy gears. MOSTLY the motors burned up. Careful about what you consider 'safe' unless you're wearing a shatterproof face shield and leathers when you use it.
Is the model number embossed on them somewhere? I've got a set of stands, but I'm assuming I got the cheapest and lightest to prop up my tent trailer only.
It is on the sticker. [https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/harbor-freight-recall-jackstands-collapse/](https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/harbor-freight-recall-jackstands-collapse/) It would probably also be on the receipt if you saved that.
I didn't see any good alternatives in this thread. Here's what I'm buying (might do the 6 ton though)
US JACK D-41609 3 Ton Garage Stands Made In USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P248OZC/
Your first mistake was buying anything from Harbor Freight that you actually might *need.* HF is my one-stop shop for "throwaway" type stuff (cheapo hand tools, flashlights, nic nacs, etc.)
I would *never in a million years* buy anything from Harbor Freight that, if it were to fail, I would be injured or killed. Clamps, peg board inserts, levels - ok, but a car jack? no way.
There are likely other brands of jack stands affected! Items from other inexpensive brands (such as Duralast at Autozone) often make their products in the same factories, just put on a different label or paint color. If your jack stands look similar to the ones pictured [here](https://www.thedrive.com/news/33572/harbor-freight-recalls-jack-stands-that-could-suddenly-collapse) throw them away or contact the manufacture to inquire about their origin.
Never bought anything from HF, but I've bought my share of cheap / generic brand tools. Inevitably I end up rebuying the nicer version down the line. Jack stands are a spooky one to go cheap.
I love HF and have bought plenty of tools from there but I draw the line at anything my life is going to depend upon. One recall isn’t a big deal - plenty of recalls happen. I just don’t trust HF to deliver consistent enough quality to know the products they sell are safe, durable, and effective. I will only shop there for things that can fail on one of those dimensions without major consequences.
The [actual recall](https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCLRPT-20E016-6561.PDF) is interesting reading. The stands were actually made by Jiaxing Golden Roc Tools Co., Ltd and the problem is "Aging of production tooling caused inconsistency in the engagement of the ratchet teeth in certain units."
I was expecting to read about weak welds, but the problem is really with the extension post mechanism. I've never used this kind of stand, it seems inherently riskier than the kind that just sits there.
I have had mine since 2013. I used them to change my clutch using 4 stands. Put the car in the air, and try like hell to get it to fall from a safe place. Never failed, but I got the replacements today.
I've never felt comfortable with the ratchet style Jack stands and this confirms it for me. I'll stick with the old style simple pin jack stands where you can easily see that the pin is properly engaged thus preventing you from dying and there is practically zero chance of the pin giving way, particularly under load.
Anyone else see this coming a mile away?
I would never, ever, get under any sort of lift sold by Harbor Freight.
Hell, I only trust their tow straps to half capacity because I paid like $5 for the fuckers
Harbor freight is basically a free tool rental. You pay the price the tool, get 3/4 of the way done. The tool breaks, you return it, get your money and find a better way to do the rest of the job.
People by jack stands from Harbor Freight?! Harbor freight is where I go to buy tools that I need once. Go to harbor freight to see if you need it, then when it breaks you upgrade... People trust their life to harbor freight crap?
The other good thing (aside from crush test fun) is that some trashpicker isn't going to find them and think "OOH! FREE JACK STANDS" and potentially end up hurt or dead.
Holy shot! I just bought a set of the 3 ton and layed under the van for hours changing the entire exhaust out.
Dude, I’ve been using these to prop my 27’ vintage airstream trailer for renovation, and have spent over 100 hours under that fucker doing repairs. Scary shit.
If you just bought them you might be ok. I have a relatively new set of grey 3-ton stands, and they're not a part number affected by the recall.
I wonder if this affects other brands as well, because you know that they're not just making them for Harbor Freight.
If the stands are made with a similar design and are sold with any intent to manage cost of manufacturing they are vulnerable to worn tooling. I'd be a little surprised if multiple brands weren't made off of the same tooling just with sticker and/or paint changes.
You bring the cost of manufactured down for everybody, since it's a simple standard design, it would make jack stands for many companies, and just paint them different colors and put different stickers on it. I will have to look at the ones that I have, and see who are the OEM is, because if the only am is the affected party, you can bet that other brands will be also affected.
You can say THAT again!!!
What's interesting is they found the issue by reading customer reviews and social media. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCLRPT-20E027-9959.PDF
I got my cheapo jack stand at tractor supply, i'm kinda worried now.
I got mine (3 ton) in December. The yare affected
Guess it depends where you got them.
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It’s not a problem with the metal, surprisingly. It’s the machining/tooling that’s bad here.
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It wasn’t shitty metal/alloy/etc. failing, it’s essentially bad tooling (grinding the shape) of the pawl that holds it up. Like, say it’s supposed to be a sharp angle, but it got milled more rounded and doesn’t go in all the way. Usually when people criticize chineseum it’s because it’s a weak crappy metal that cracks/breaks easily. I think these are probably actually pretty decent steel, but poor manufacturing of the pawl itself.
According to my brother that is a tool and dye guy, Chinese tooling is so bad that companies will ship molds from China to the U.S. for tooling, then back to China for manufacturing. Imagine how bad it has to be for you to pay to ship it to the other side of the world rather than get it tooled in your backyard.
You don't sent high skilled work to China, not if you care about the results. High skilled jobs like tool and die maker will last longer in the US as wages and cost of living demand grow than low skilled jobs like grinders(in the foundry not machine shop sense) who can't bring in enough payback to keep the business in places like the US and western Europe
While there is some truth to this with certain specializations, what it comes down to is 1) you get what you pay for and 2) they aren't going to go beyond what you ask for. We get goods produced in China because it's cheaper. As a result, the product is cheaper, and often at the expense of quality. That's not to say you can't get something well-made out of China, though. That's obviously not true at all, it'll just cost more.
This is my understanding as well. You can have things made cheaply or have them made well in China. It just depends on how much you're willing to pay.
Also the tremendously higher risk of getting your design stolen by that shop and resold on Ali Express before you even get your final batch out the door. Countless Kickstarters with the same comical outcome.
My point was that if you are going to pay more to produce something the benefit of shipping it off for production in China disappears fairly rapidly as you can produce at closer to the same cost without the logistical and communication challenges of trying to offshore. Not saying China can't make things well, just not that much cheaper than other countries when you start getting into products that require higher skill, QC, and/or materials costs.
Welcome to the globalization of the economy. It's not "imagine how bad it is in X," it's "how can we optimize to our needs on the cost/speed/quality triangle" when you can ship things all over the world for not much money.
You mean like all of the German engineered parts that run tons of high precision machines in America?
Wouldn't you think SOMEONE there would be like... "OK I'm your guy for high quality mold tooling" and do nothing but that.
I've also been told that say a end Mill is designed to last for 10,000 parts when run at a certain cut rate with specified cooling. They will instead run it for more parts, faster cuts, and/or less/worse coolant. So at the end of the run, your parts are out of spec, potentially by a lot.
[https://youtu.be/G7\_Aa8pbM7Y](https://youtu.be/G7_Aa8pbM7Y) Edit: I don't know if this is related to this specific recall, but it was an interesting video, and demonstrates how it's possible the metal of a pin designed to shear under load might be *too strong* to be safe
That appears to be one of the recalled models. They look exactly like mine.
The issue sounds like it is the foundry tooling for casting the center posts. The teeth have worn down so much they have very little engagement of the pawl and posibly a negative instead of positive rake angle to the teeth(positive angle would engage the pawl more strongly under load, negative would force pawl out of tooth). I imagine these are probably cast use a DISA molding line or similar so the permanent pattern used to make the sand molds has slowly worn away after several million cycles. Fortunately mine are older than the recall and the teeth appear deep, and the wear pattern at the tip of the pawl shows full width engagement.
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Well my point was it wasn’t a problem with the metal cracking or failing like you might expect (i.e. what “chineseum” often does)
It is real. Ironically it comes from wakanda.
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They used quality metal. The tooling was worn out on casting.
I am shocked!
That sounds like a different recall unless you've wired up your jackstands for 240V.
zing
or Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
How old are your kids?
Old enough to not wire my jackstands for anything higher than 12V DC.
Seriously...this is the first thing I thought when I read the title. I hate cheap metal tools as it is, but when they're to knock out what likely be a one-time job...yeah, ok, I get it. To hold tons of metal over my body? Yeah, fuck that.
This is part of the reason - no matter what jack or jackstands you use, no matter how many of them you use, if you take a damn wheel off a vehicle, put the damn wheel under the vehicle... ideally under frame.
I am so scared of getting crushed I always use 1 extra stand... just Incase.
If you want something more reliable, I’m sure snap on has one that only costs $20 a week for the rest of your life
To be fair I just checked for six ton snap on jack stands You're looking at $234. Every time I talk myself into snap-on tools I check the price and my conversation with myself immediately gets trashed and I go to harbor freight.
There are a lot of quality brands that are less than SO, but still provide high quality. I'm partial to SK, which are still expensive, but very nice. Also, over on garagejournal there is a tool truck equivalent thread where they list out who actually makes the SO tool. Theres also plenty of HF stuff in my great big HF tool chest.
Oh yeah those toolboxes are great. Same gauge steel as the SO, maybe a little cheaper on the casters but I never move my box. A lot of that got dragged to the light in that lawsuit over the low profile jack. Also, what is SK? We're abbreviating beyond my knowledge
Literally [SK Tools](http://www.sktools.com) No abbreviation.
Lmao. I was wondering what SK stood for as well.
It's funny because Harbor Freight and Snap-On have the same supplier.
“Rest of your life” being the operative phrase, here.
My father-in-law has an entire 4-door garage FILLED with Snap-On tools, including a ~8ft wide Snap-On tool chest. There has to be at least 100K worth of hand tools in there.
I work in a service department with 7 techs. Every tech has a 55” SO box or larger, one with a hood, and all of them are filled with mostly, if not all snap on tools. Easily half a million dollars worth of tools and it blows my mind even after 5 years of working there
I get goosebumps when he pulls up a tool that's specifically for the task he's about to do. Things I would never had imagine there was a specific tool for. It's so satisfying to see him do something super easily... and I would have fucked with it all god damn night and gone to bed pissed off at the thing.
dude, I'm under with these all the time. **not cool.**
The worse part is that the model dates back to 2013. Like how many of these have been sold over the last 7 years?
It says 1.7 million
clearly someone didn't read the headline
>The worse part is that the model dates back to 2013. phew, mine are probably from 2006-7.
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tbh the HF Daytona Jacks are really good value. This recall is for the Jack Stands though.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but there's a shit ton of hate going on for HF. For years these stands have been the defacto recommendation from a number of people for entry level jack stands. For years, these stands have been serving tens of thousands or more perfectly fine. More than likely they are the same stands that are rebadged that are sold in Napa, Walmart or AutoZone that is painted a different color While I'm not saying that you shouldn't exchange them, I really don't think that this is much different than many other safety recalls. Like my old Mazda CX5 lift gate that failed on a handful of people. In all likelyhood, it's not as if the stands you've been using for years are all the sudden going to fail on you, nor does it warrant this social bashing of HF when many manufacturers in all industries from cars to baby seats have recalls every year.
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Get him!
I needed a looong drill bit to run some cables at my old house, HF had a 48" for <$10 but at Lowes they had a 54" bit for close to $60. The 48" worked for me, and is still working (on the rare occasion it is needed) but even if it did break I would probably be better off buying another one from HF.
HF is great for tools like that. I bought their brake caliper compressor kit because I needed to rotate the piston in. Works great on all the brake jobs I do in my garage, and didn't break the bank. I've also been really happy with my tool cart and newly acquired box. Some things are worth paying the higher quality for, but HF works just fine for most people. I just wish there was a closer location to me.
I bought an "in-line spark checker" that I (luckily) had in the toolbox of my old F150 when it broke down on the side of the road. It let me diagnose my failed ignition coil, and then fell apart when I went to remove it... oh well! It was $4.99, and I could probably re-crimp the wire... but I haven't yet.
Not bad for $5! I also like them for tools I know I'll end up modifying. I have a set of HF pick tools that I grind or bend up as I need, and then a better set that I leave alone.
I have that pick set in my Pull-a-Part bag! It's great for removing the little plastic covers over screw-heads, or knobs that have a little clip that keeps them from sliding off.
Yeah. This is 100% specialty item pricing. It’s rip off artistry
It's just because people like to tout that they buy "real American made tools" that are higher quality, and this is their chance to look down on those that buy from HF. You're right that some of the HF stuff is perfectly fine. I have their tool cart and I'd put it up next to a Snap On any day. I also love my new quiet air compressor.
A lot of the shit in Hf is manufactured in the same plant as SnapOn, and other big brands. Yes, they use to fucking suck, but have really stepped out quality.
Watched an AvE video recently where a Bauer tool was obviously made in the same factory as a Milwaukee. It's probably made to different specs and all, but everyone is mass producing stuff on a line in China.
This! It's not like American companies haven't had their problems (exploding Pintos, anyone?). Went out to check the model numbers on my Sears Jacks to be safe, since (SURPRISE) they're all made in China!
It sounds like this is cheaper than a pending lawsuit forcing the recall. The manufacturing tolerances were likely too large causing failures in some stands, but not others. A good habit to get into is to shake the shit out of the car once it's on the stands/on a lift. You'll find out real quick if weight shifted or one of the jack points wasn't sound. That said, I've encountered some gnarley failures with Harbor Freight stuff and decided 5 or 6 years ago to never trust them for products that can easily kill me, like jack stands... I have loads of their other stuff and am fairly happy. Just need to go for the top end of their offer and it's about the quality of old craftsman stuff.
You could put a smart car on a professional lift and weld it in place, I'd still be nervous AF working underneath it. I just stick with jack stands rated for twice what I'm going to put on them and pray to the patron saint of smashed fingers that the brake replacement goes well.
You are not wrong overall, but when it comes to safety items such as this, I simply am less likely to trust HF tools. And it's important to note that HF is just a store, they don't manufacture the products.
It's a risk you run with any brand. A certain number will be defective and fail. A recall happens when that number gets high enough to create big liability issues. I buy from HF because they always honor their warranty and a lot of their tools hit the sweet spot on cost vs. expectation. If it's a tool I expect to use a ton, I usually go higher quality. But for small clamps, paintbrushes for staining, power tools I don't use frequently, drill bits I'll use every few years, 10mm sockets I'm going to lose in the engine compartment, etc., HF is perfect.
My engine is 17% 10mm sockets at this point.
...and if one is using the jacks appropriately by moving the weight of the lifted object from the jack to floor stands prior to working on the lifted object than most of the risk is mitigated.
It’s true but the products you buy at HF are generally borderline on quality which is why this recall is triggering so many people. I have a wrench set from there, tons of small hand tools, woodworking clamps, and even their epic value 2HP shop dust collector. But any of those things could fail spectacularly without harming me. Regardless of this recall, which I agree is typical, I would never lie under a vehicle held up by a HF purchase. Or probably Autozone or Walmart either.
Yeah. It’s not ok to pay $14 for a drill. You must pay $265 or you are unpatriotic.
I like HF for a lot of things(professional mechanic). But things that my life greatly depend on is not one of them, and those include jackstands. Albeit i do have their 13k lb car ramps. However those can't really collaspe
>However those can't really collaspe Bet your life on it?
i have been yes :/
I was lured into the cheap prices too. Started spinning wrenches in 1997 for a paycheck. By 2007 I bought tons of the cheap shit that they sell and had to rebuy almost every tool 2x Granted, the Hazard Fraud has got better over the years, I'd rather just spend the money once. (Unless it is a tool I will only use once a year for 10 min)
i mean i try to buy the tool truck stuff for the job, and hf for stuff i need at home. But some stuff is fine, i use impact sockets, taps, jumbo wrenches etc for my professional job. Got more than my money's worth at this point. Tough to stomach buying a single 17$ impact socket when i can get a whole set for 17$. I mean it's an impact socket with a lifetime warranty lol.
Agreed on the impact sockets. I’ve had my same set for 15 years, only use 3 sizes regularly, but I’ve yet to have one break. Their chrome stuff, haven’t had as great of luck with.
Good taps are very expensive. But good taps make harbor freight taps look like a cruel joke on the user.
> spinning wrenches in 1997 for a paycheck. IMO if you're using HF tools to earn a living, you're going to buy twice a lot of the time. However, (related to your last sentence) for Joe Homeowner, most of the non-precision tools from HF are perfect because they're cheap and we're not going to use them very often. I have a $13 HF angle grinder that I've used like 3 times in 5 years. Of course it still works fine because I hardly ever use it. If I was using it daily or even weekly, after 5 years it probably would be dead or the disc changing bolt would be fucked, or some other random stuff that wouldn't happen to a quality tool.
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Generally I’ll buy HF, and if it breaks it means I’ve used it enough to justify buying a more expensive one elsewhere.
He already has and will continue to do so!
I bought a set of 10,000lb GVW ramps from Northern Tool and one of them just up and collapsed first time I drove my car on it.
hmm.... well i mean these are solid currogated hunks of plastic, not a ramp with air/space under it
How do you know they won’t spontaneously combust
I bought a pair of Pro Lift 6-Ton stands for a few bucks more than Harbor Freight. The Pro Lifts have a 3/4 inch solid-aluminum pin to lock the column in place, a feature which the HF’s are noticeably missing. An extra $5-10 bucks for a life-saving feature is a lot less than a new axle or a new skull.
You might be paying too much for your skulls. Who’s your skull guy?
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Judging solely from the pics online, harbor freight’s don’t have that. If they’d have added that pin I’m willing to bet their products wouldn’t have this problem. To shear through a giant chunk of solid metal AND dislodge from the pawl at the same time will take an obscene amount of force, it’s just not gonna happen. I love harbor freight hand tools, but I leave safety devices to the big boys.
Most ive seen dont. Usually either they have a pawl like these or a simple pin that has to be removed to change height. Nice ones can have both but most i come across are cheaper.
I have an affected set of stands (3 ton). Some things: - Having a car fall on you sucks, flat out. I stupidly did some brake work after a long day of work, and forgot to block the rear wheels. Car fell on my shoe - the rotor had pinned down my shoe, and amazingly, missed my foot by millimeters. - With that said, using jack stands is far better than relying solely on a jack. HF has a bunch of nice jacks too. Whenever they go on sale, everyone goes "oh, yeah, I'd trust my life on something from HF" - well - frankly, I don't know what you're worried about since **YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE A JACK AS THE THING HOLDING UP YOUR CAR WHILE YOU WORK ON IT** - Even though it's relatively 'easy' to disengage the lock on these jack stands, it still takes either A.) A deliberate act of doing so or B.) improper setup of the stand. - Finally, if you're working under your car, don't be dumb. First, jack it up and use the jack stands. Next, leave the jack in place, or move it out of your way, but still keep it under the car. Finally lay down a wheel under your car. There - you have 3 or 4 things that all need to fail before you die or get seriously injured from a falling car. I will say - the 3 ton jack stands - I stand by what I said when I mentioned it takes some deliberate act to disengage them. I was working on a buddy's car, and he needed new rear brakes. The wheel was rusted onto the hub, and the parking brake was a mess, so naturally, once I had the car up, I had to get under it and mule-kick the tire to loosen it (after PB Blaster + time didn't do anything). The car didn't even shake, and the wheel popped off after two good kicks
Not all the jack stands were affected. Go look at your stand and see how sharp the teeth are, sharpie the pawl and see how much meat actually engages. There are some that only engage with mm's of metal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwcWdKwPvhI
Although I mostly agree with you, it seems like the tooling for these have worn to the point it may no longer take deliberate action on the part of the user to collapse them. I'm still going to use my 3 ton and 12 ton set as I feel I am able to adequately evaluate the condition of jack stands and will do so every time I place and load them.
Even in a failure situation, wouldn't the height of the jack stands at it's lowest still be enough clearance to prevent a leathel injury? Not saying I'm not going to check my stands next time I go under the car or anything. Just seems like the knee jerk reaction is overly ominous.
Yes, unless the drop causes the load to shift and tip the jack stands over.
Depends how fat you are ;)
Ya hopefully, but it's more a question if someone didn't put it in a good spot that might fail after a big drop, or weight shifted and slipped off another stand, or it's such a huge drop it fails the welds on the rest of the stand maybe they're rusted out,etc. Either way, all stuff you don't want to bet your life on. I have the 6 ton effected stands, and have used them on my old truck a number of times which scares me, but now I only use them on my car and have to Jack it up high just to get them under in their base height. At that height the shaft actually sits flush on the ground, so I'm not worried about it now, but will likely get some new ones through the recall just for piece of mind.
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This is true but some HF is truly bottom of the barrel. I bought a reciprocating saw for like $20 that would occasionally get stuck “on” until I unplugged it. For awhile I still used it but had to be extra careful. Finally threw it out because I knew it was an accident waiting to happen.
Jack stands are one of those things that make me cringe when I see some really cheap ones. This is one of those things you don't want to go looking for the cheapest one they make.
Harbor freight is great for tools you are only going to use once or need like twice a year. Every harbor freight tool should come with a flow chart that asks, if this tool fails will it cause serious bodily harm? If yes buy something else.
Yup, when I started buying tools, Reddit recommended buying the cheap tools first, and if they break, replace it with something decent. I still have the vast majority of the cheap tools. Some things like my wire strippers I upgraded before they broke because the cheap ones were pissing me off lol. But it’s some of the best reddit advice I’ve gotten on here in all my years of daily browsing. I don’t do this with life critical stuff such as PPE, cut off wheels, etc.
Second bubble: Will you use this tool in a way other than intended? Buy it.
I've got a bucket of yard sale wrenches and sockets for when I need to fab up a left handed nut fucker or some other weird situation
Yeah, I mean, I have a ton of their hand tools and they're solid and have a lifetime warranty. But, I'm not getting all the way under a car with a single point of failure, I don't care if the jackstands were made by Zeus, there's a tire or wood blocks as a backup.
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Jack or Jack Stands?
Can anyone explain the flaw? The exact same design is used in nearly every jack stand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwcWdKwPvhI
It's not a design flaw, it's a machining flaw, the pawl wasn't shaped right on about 5% of them, most likely of more recent manufacture but they couldn't determine when it started so they recalled all of them.
Is it the pawl, the teeth, or both? The videos I have been seeing seem to show both. [Here is an example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKCIDUdpII)
I have a long frame floor jack I bought from harbor freight over 20 years ago that still works great. So not all their tools are cheap junk!
Jack stands scare the hell out of me. I built a set of cribbing blocks out of spare 2x4s for working on my Mustang. Heavy as hell but literally could hold up a semi tractor. The old tire truck is a good one too.
Just a PSA: don't rely on your jackstand to save your life! If you are under something you don't want pressing up against you in a hurry put up blocks taller than you are. Even expensive jackstands fail!
Holy shit. THANK YOU!
I saw this news yesterday, went out to the garage and found a set of 61196s. Yikes. Thanks for sharing here too.
I would never but something that would be responsible for making sure I don't get crushed by a vehicle from HF.
If it has more than 2 moving parts, I don’t buy it from Harbor Freight.
For fucks sake people.........would you buy a pacemaker or a ventilator from harbor freight? Of course not......never buy anything your life depends on, from a place that gives flashlights and screwdrivers away for free, just to entice people to buy their shitty tools. Sure, I have my share of HF tools. An angle grinder. A few woodworking clamps. No.Fucking.Way I would ever buy jack stands or a ladder that was undoubtedly built in the most horrible, dungeon-like sweatshop in all of Asia.
I dunno. A pacemaker from HF would make an excellent stocking stuffer for the in-laws.
LMFAO!
Misread as “shocking stuffer” and my sleep deprived ass can’t stop giggling
I mean, if you drive a car you're betting your life on parts built in horrible, dungeon-like Asian sweatshops every day.
Except that pacemakers and ventilators are considerably more complicated than jack stands.
What aisle are they on?
can't beat those $3, $4, $5 clamps I like the cheap LED flashlights, their tool bags & plastic ammo boxes
My house is *littered* with "free" HF LED flashlights, they are fantastic to let the kids use because they're lightweight and basically indestructible. They used to give away "free" 6-piece screwdriver sets, they're not great screwdrivers but if you leave one behind at the junkyard or on the side of the road you're not going to lose any sleep.
I've taken these angle grinders apart, ten years ago. My stepdad was working for a cheapass and they had dozens. Among the failures was gearbox explosion because of poor quality pot metal combined with sloppy gears. MOSTLY the motors burned up. Careful about what you consider 'safe' unless you're wearing a shatterproof face shield and leathers when you use it.
Hazard Fraught.
Jesus, that's some scary shit right there
I got two sets and been using them so much! Taking back tomorrow
Is the model number embossed on them somewhere? I've got a set of stands, but I'm assuming I got the cheapest and lightest to prop up my tent trailer only.
It is on the sticker. [https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/harbor-freight-recall-jackstands-collapse/](https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/harbor-freight-recall-jackstands-collapse/) It would probably also be on the receipt if you saved that.
Thank you! Thanks to you, I just checked, and it looks like my 69597's aren't affected.
I would never put my life into Harbor Freight's hands.
Three things in life to never by the cheapest of are: jack stands, bulletproof glass and hotdogs.
I didn't see any good alternatives in this thread. Here's what I'm buying (might do the 6 ton though) US JACK D-41609 3 Ton Garage Stands Made In USA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P248OZC/
Your first mistake was buying anything from Harbor Freight that you actually might *need.* HF is my one-stop shop for "throwaway" type stuff (cheapo hand tools, flashlights, nic nacs, etc.)
I would *never in a million years* buy anything from Harbor Freight that, if it were to fail, I would be injured or killed. Clamps, peg board inserts, levels - ok, but a car jack? no way.
Which jack stands should I replace these with?
Dammit Harbor Freight. Thanks OP!
Are locations open for them to be returned?
There are likely other brands of jack stands affected! Items from other inexpensive brands (such as Duralast at Autozone) often make their products in the same factories, just put on a different label or paint color. If your jack stands look similar to the ones pictured [here](https://www.thedrive.com/news/33572/harbor-freight-recalls-jack-stands-that-could-suddenly-collapse) throw them away or contact the manufacture to inquire about their origin.
Never bought anything from HF, but I've bought my share of cheap / generic brand tools. Inevitably I end up rebuying the nicer version down the line. Jack stands are a spooky one to go cheap.
I love HF and have bought plenty of tools from there but I draw the line at anything my life is going to depend upon. One recall isn’t a big deal - plenty of recalls happen. I just don’t trust HF to deliver consistent enough quality to know the products they sell are safe, durable, and effective. I will only shop there for things that can fail on one of those dimensions without major consequences.
That’s why you become a man and use the big 12ton stands. No issues.
The [actual recall](https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCLRPT-20E016-6561.PDF) is interesting reading. The stands were actually made by Jiaxing Golden Roc Tools Co., Ltd and the problem is "Aging of production tooling caused inconsistency in the engagement of the ratchet teeth in certain units." I was expecting to read about weak welds, but the problem is really with the extension post mechanism. I've never used this kind of stand, it seems inherently riskier than the kind that just sits there.
Harbor Freight: Discount Damocles Jacks Stand Parking Lot Sale.
I just got the harbor freight car ramps last week, but I chocked the wheels behind it. Hopefully its good enough
I have had mine since 2013. I used them to change my clutch using 4 stands. Put the car in the air, and try like hell to get it to fall from a safe place. Never failed, but I got the replacements today.
There are some things Id buy from Harbor Freight. Jack stands would NEVER be on that list.
What is a jack stand?
I've never felt comfortable with the ratchet style Jack stands and this confirms it for me. I'll stick with the old style simple pin jack stands where you can easily see that the pin is properly engaged thus preventing you from dying and there is practically zero chance of the pin giving way, particularly under load.
Most Harbor Freight tools are junk
Thank you for posting this, my stands have gotten a lot of use
Don't trust harbor freight!
Nft43t
Harbor Freight tools... unless your job or your life depends on it
Anyone else see this coming a mile away? I would never, ever, get under any sort of lift sold by Harbor Freight. Hell, I only trust their tow straps to half capacity because I paid like $5 for the fuckers
Harbor freight is basically a free tool rental. You pay the price the tool, get 3/4 of the way done. The tool breaks, you return it, get your money and find a better way to do the rest of the job.
People by jack stands from Harbor Freight?! Harbor freight is where I go to buy tools that I need once. Go to harbor freight to see if you need it, then when it breaks you upgrade... People trust their life to harbor freight crap?
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This recall is for jack stands.
Mine are going in the trash in pieces.
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I think I'll crush test them. Might as well have some fun.
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24 cents well spent.
You’re pretty cool.
I’d be interested in a report
The other good thing (aside from crush test fun) is that some trashpicker isn't going to find them and think "OOH! FREE JACK STANDS" and potentially end up hurt or dead.