PSA: Harbor Freight Jack Stands

[SD-KC]

I searched and didn't see a similar post but sorry if this is a repost.
i was at Harbor Freight to return some items including an unopened box of 3 ton jack stands. I said that I just didn't need them. They said they are recalling all Jack stands whether they were initially part of the recall or not. The people there said they are requesting that anyone who has these to return them. They said they are prone to failure in multiple ways. They will accept these and offered me either $29.99 store credit or $24.99 cash.

[2mAn]

scary! I heard about this... they issued a recall and then the replacement ones were also recalled... I wouldnt buy anything from them that I would trust my life with

[mike.bmw]

Hmmmm. Mine are not part of the original recall. but they are HF. I guess I should return them and buy something else.

What's a decent 3 ton jack stand brand these days?

[roguetoaster]

Personally, I'd keep on using your stands if they are not officially part of either of the two recalls, but inspecting them is a good idea. If you want to keep using them simply add a safety stop, like a wheel or similar under the rocker panel before you go under, and let the jack down just slightly beyond where the jack stand had the car supported when you are setting up. Of course you'd be well advised to do this in any case, no matter what gear you are using, when you have the car in the air and are working solo.

[mike.bmw]

Personally, I'd keep on using your stands if they are not officially part of either of the two recalls, but inspecting them is a good idea. If you want to keep using them simply add a safety stop, like a wheel or similar under the rocker panel before you go under, and let the jack down just slightly beyond where the jack stand had the car supported when you are setting up. Of course you'd be well advised to do this in any case, no matter what gear you are using, when you have the car in the air and are working solo.

I generally leave the floor jack loaded under the front subframe or rear diff as well as a wheel/tire (if possible) under a rocker. A bit paranoid, but better than having a car fall on me. I'll inspect the stands and see what's what. Thanks!

[15Michaeljoseph]

Hmmmm. Mine are not part of the original recall. but they are HF. I guess I should return them and buy something else. What's a decent 3 ton jack stand brand these days?

I returned my recalled set, exchanged for another set that they later recalled... After all that I settled on a set of Evercraft stands from NAPA, on special right now for $29/set, regularly $49. Going to put the HF rubber pads on them and they should be good to go. I checked out the stands at Walmart because they have a flatter "cup" on the pawl which is less prone to digging into the car, but honestly they looked like the exact same design/ build quality as the HF ones so that kind of freaked me out. Plus with the rubber pads I guess it doesn't matter. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[rturbo 930]

I can't understand why anyone would go for the cheapest available option for something like jackstands, which is keeping your 2500+lb car from falling onto you while you're under it. Everyone knows HF is cheap junk.

[roguetoaster]

I can't understand why anyone would go for the cheapest available option for something like jackstands, which is keeping your 2500+lb car from falling onto you while you're under it. Everyone knows HF is cheap junk.

They might be cheap, but they're often not the cheapest out there. Further, many of us have years of experience using them with no problems, and they are probably the most common stand in the US. So, given that experience set, and the fact that they decided to replace all of the extant units, why spend more on a less well known product?

Not trying to make HF out to be great, but they do offer some items that have proven cost effective over time.

[dnguyen1963]

I buy all of my tools from HF because my rate of usage is extremely low. I really have not had any issue with their tools. But, I'll be bringing my jack stands in for a replacement.

[Das Delfin]

I picked up a pair of 6 tons just before the recall email came out. I used a 20% off coupon and spent $44. They ended up being a bit too big to fit under my car so I brought them back in and the girl working the counter gave me $63 in store credit!

[phillipj]

I searched and didn't see a similar post but sorry if this is a repost.
i was at Harbor Freight to return some items including an unopened box of 3 ton jack stands. I said that I just didn't need them. They said they are recalling all Jack stands whether they were initially part of the recall or not. The people there said they are requesting that anyone who has these to return them. They said they are prone to failure in multiple ways. They will accept these and offered me either $29.99 store credit or $24.99 cash.

Thanks for the heads up; just found I have a couple friends using these who were unaware when I just mentioned it.

Other friends/shops using Hein Werner, also Esco. Im using some older craftsman

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I still don't quite understand what the failure mode actually is on these stands? Seems like maybe HF is just not taking chances and recalling everything? Their stands are pretty much the same exact design of like 95% of all jack stands out there... they're all probably made in the same china factories.

[roguetoaster]

I still don't quite understand what the failure mode actually is on these stands? Seems like maybe HF is just not taking chances and recalling everything? Their stands are pretty much the same exact design of like 95% of all jack stands out there... they're all probably made in the same china factories.

Pretty sure you nailed it. As to why, they might be out 20+ million over the recall, but that's the price of just a few settlements.

[varg]

No. The initial failure that caused it was apparently down to a specific fault with the teeth being rounded off due to worn tooling. The stand could collapse easily because the inherently self locking nature of the mechanism was prevented by the rounded teeth. Then the superseding part apparently had a batch with bad welds.

[roguetoaster]

Yeah, but not completely. This is an organization, and their intermediaries, getting caught napping on QC more than just once. The upside is that they went beyond what they needed to for liability and consumer confidence reasons. If there was any earlier desire, or even after reported failure one, to do it right, how they could not have been doing daily or weekly batch testing prior to packaging.