I got into trouble a couple years ago on another forum for talking about the Harbor freight recall on jack stands. I simply asked the op to check the recall list & see if his jack stands were listed. I also wonder if the same over seas company that makes them for Harbor freight, makes the same jack stands for others & just put a different label on them? Only makes sense to me that a manufacturing company would have more then one customer. My point was, Harbor freight had the recall, I bought mine from Tractor supply. Were they made by the same company that builds for HF? I was only suggesting the poster to be cautious using his newly purchased jack stands. A forum moderator accused me of spreading fud & fear .... it was unwarranted. Yeah I'm not welcome to that forum anymore
Here's the Harbor Freight Recall Warning. Open and scroll down. DIY Home Mechanics Beware, These Jack Stands Are Dangerous (motorbiscuit.com) NOTE: Harbor freight is not currently offering a replacement for these jack stands affected, but rather store credit or a Harbor Freight gift card for the cost of the jack stands and sales tax. This can be done at your local store when quarantine restrictions have lifted and there is no set end date for the recall.
Back to an earlier questions someone asked. Who makes a good quality jack stand currently available on the market?
Here's a question. How many people examine their jack stands for cracks or damage before use? Even the older style with the tube and pin can fail eventually. How about wrenches, pry bars, and hammers? Do you check them for cracks visually before use? Sure, some things that we rely on for safety aren't built to last anymore and some things fail prematurely or without warning, but if we don't take care of our tools and check them for defects we can't be too surprised when those same tools fail "without warning".
I think an important lesson to learn here is to take time when setting up your car raised in the air, you can have the worlds greatest axle stands but if they are under the wrong spot or the whole setup is on a slope/uneven ground then you are risking some serious injury or at best trashing the underside of your vehicle.
As a teen, I bought some Jack stands from a guy for 10 bucks a pair (still have them) when I got home I wanted to show them to my dad “look what we have now”. Not like the OPs stands, thin wall tubing inside of tubing. My dad said “give me one”. He extended it, gave it a quick and not drastic shot over his leg (like a ball player snapping a bat) and tweaked it. Then told me to go out back and grab a length of 2 inch and 1-3/4 pipe. He got me busy cutting pipe, measuring and drilling holes, he did all the welding and bending up of the leg stands. Then once done he said “use these for your truck, use the other ones only what you can pick up and put on them” But as mentioned before, I always shake the vehicle when up on stands, then use my floor Jack with a bit of tension on it as well if I have to go under the vehicle. For my kids imports I made wooden drive on ramps from 2x8’s for oil changes. I have my kids 3500lb OT car on stands right not with no engine and transmission in it, but am going to make up a set of wood blocks like shown above when it comes to install the works.
used Snap On YA-875 stands are around...but the new ones that Snap On sells look like they came from the same place that makes the ones that broke. These look promising. Although the base is too small for my liking https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NLE7915230
I bought mine from tractor supply .... I have the 3 ton & a set of 6 ton. I'm sorry I bought the 3 ton because of their size & height .... need to fully extend them to get under the truck lying on a creeper. With the 6 ton I might extend them up a few notches, if they did fail the stands are tall enough that I may be injured but not crushed. The 3 ton extended all the way up, if they failed I would be crushed. So from Tractor supply they are reasonably priced, "Red Ball" is the name .... made in China. They are pretty beefy compared to the other photos shared here .... I'm comfortable with them. I wonder what Napa sells? Or maybe bite the bullet & buy professional Snap On or Matco.
I use pretty much exclusively the big 6 ton stands. They are just bigger everywhere and I feel better about them. Plus they are taller which is an obvious perk. I remember when that HF jackstand recall came out. I went out and checked mine and they weren't of the offending type IIRC. I have tried to get way better about wearing gloves and eye protection. I get little cuts on my fingers or smash them, and I just think to myself, a glove here might be the difference between a bruise and the ER one day. Im not perfect about it, but it is something I have tried to get better about. A while back I dropped a driveshaft and tried to catch it. It pined my finger between the shaft and a dead 90* piece of steel on the corner. Im sure it broke my finger tip. I had a very literal dent in that finger for close to a year.
Not exactly a jack stand story. A few years back I had a '70s model Holden ute, similar weight to '60s Chev Belair. I used to drive forward onto a pair of car ramps and then jack up the rear of the ute and put jack stands under the diff tubes out near the springs. Normally I didn't worry about it rolling backwards because the front wheels sat in a dip when the vehicle was fully forward. As I slid under to put the stands in position the ute started to roll backwards. So here's me looking at a 2 ton ute looming over me. I had the reaction to grab the jack handle and the towbar and slid along on my back as the ute came off the ramps and luckily stayed on the jack. It was a pucker moment for sure. What I hadn't done was check that both front wheels were in the recess in the ramps.
My neighbor had worked for the Jones Beach carpenter shop when I lived at home still. He brought home pieces cut from the old-style light posts. He gave us some, cannot get any better than that. Unfortunately they were left outside for too long and started to rot.
My dad's driveway was in terrible shape, 30 years will do that to an asphalt driveway. I was under my '68 Chevy installing a trailer hitch, using good jackstands. Well.. it was windy that day and I was drilling holes in the chassis. I heard that telltale CREAK and slid myself out, down it came. I'm lucky that one of the stands did not puncture the gas tank.
Actually demonstrating redundant safety protocols mentioned in this thread.....a second 2X4....and a rock tire chock.
Real safety is in having redundancy. Jack stands and a jack, jack stands and a tire/wheel, jack stands and wood crating, You get the idea, double up on what is holding the car up. We need to have something to catch the car if the 1st safety item fails, before our body becomes that something. The problem is, we get so used to getting under lifted vehicles it almost becomes a non-thinking deal. Jack the car up, throw the stands under it, go to work. We don't even think about those stands failing. Some of us have used that extra catcher for many years and have never had any issues, so we get lazy, or complacent (you pick). We start thinking we have doubled up for years and never had a problem so we see no reason to continue doubling up. Then we get away with that for years, and the concept of doubling up is no longer on our minds, until we see something like this. I'm thankful the OP got out of this one uninjured, and then sent out the reminder to return to safer practices.
When I was 17 I replaced the rear springs in a '50 Olds with 1 bumper jack. Thankfully, I am here to talk about it.
After Sandy in 2012, they were raising a house up by the water in Babylon... and... they dropped it. Part of it fell into the canal. The road was blocked off, people came far and wide to see the debacle.
I use a pair I got at Sears in 1983, very good quality and only like $20 each back then. I have a similar pair I got at a garage sale later, almost the same stands. I have an even bigger set of stands someone gave me, one had a bad roll pin that needed to be replaced. Most important is that they have to be used as level as possible. Use them in matched pairs too. With my back issue, I will use ramps first then jack the car up and slip stands under the car.
Have you tried adding more hydralic fluid. You could also take apart the cylinder and replace the o ring.
Since he was rotating the tires, I 'm guessing both were on the same side which probably put some side stress on the stands when he let the car down onto the stands. Seems like no matter how hard you try, there's always some blunt force to the stands when you're trying to turn the handle and let the car down slowly.
The OP talked about sitting on the ground with his legs under the car and I'm assuming he was using his legs to lift the tire and then working it into position. Do yourself a favor and build a tire lift. Set tire on lift and roll it under car. Rotate until holes line up. No more exposing your legs under car.
I made two sets of these 25+ years ago and they haven’t failed me yet. I’ve had my f350 on them which weighs 6000 or so pounds. One thing I always try and do is leave the floor-jack under the axle, you know, just in case.
For years I used my grandfathers home made stands from banjo rear. I have some 3" channel iron ones he made that are for my high work when needed to get under. I have some ac delco ones that are the ratchet ones, the stationary ones always are the best ones.
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