Would you buy HF Jack Stands?

[masraum]

Or would you get something from a FLAPS, or...?

[aschen]

I use them all the time. Generally Way Way Way under their rated capacity however.

[speeder]

Yes.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by aschen

I use them all the time. Generally Way Way Way under their rated capacity however.

That's always how I've bought them. Back in the day, I think I had 3, 4 or 6 ton jack stands. My reasoning was "buy more than you need and they are less likely to fail". Since most of the time, most jack stands are lifting 1000# or less (for an avg car), then having some rated for 6000# seems like a great safety margin. And that's one of those places where you want safety margin.

[dad911]

Yes, however I will say I never work under jacks or jack stands w/o a back up. I also welded a square piece of metal to the base/legs of my jack stands so they cannot sink into dirt or stone

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

Yes, however I will say I never work under jacks or jack stands w/o a back up. I also welded a square piece of metal to the base/legs of my jack stands so they cannot sink into dirt or stone

I was thinking of getting this style, and then if used on anything other than concrete, they would be on 3/4" ply or something similar.

[Bill Douglas]

I've got a set something like that Steve. Another plus about them is they tend to go a bit higher than most others.

[Steve Carlton]

If you have a $20 head...

[porsche930dude]

I wouldnt use 3 legged stands especially up high. 4 legged ones are sketchy enough as it is. I have some big red stands that are 6 ton I think I use those when i want to go high because they have a much bigger stance. Im not afraid of them collapsing. Tipping over is a much bigger threat

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I had a car drop off it's jackstands and drop straight at me while I was under it.

Fortunately, I had a second set of stands to catch it. I Watched a 901 transmission drop straight at my face.

This was before HF I think, (but I try not to think about it)...

[herr_oberst]

Always throw the tires that you took off under the car as a backup to the jackstands.

I second the trepidation towards a 3 legged versus a 4 legged jackstand.

Project farm has tested jackstands, maybe even a couple of times.

[gduke2010]

Originally Posted by masraum

I was thinking of getting this style, and then if used on anything other than concrete, they would be on 3/4" ply or something similar.

I have these too. Worth a few extra busks

[pwd72s]

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

I have watched several of this guy's videos. I will continue to watch them from time to time, but the way he talks bugs me a little bit. I feel like I'm listening to a small business owner that's making his own low budget TV commercial and shouting (why do they all do that?). Or maybe he could double as a carnival barker.

I'm not very far in, but he said "when I put a car up on jack stands, I put it on the highest setting so I have lots of room" or something very close to that.

Yikes! When I'm working under a car on jack stands, I put it just as high as I need it to be able to comfortably work under it. I don't think I've ever put the jack stand as high as it would go because they are always going to be the most stable at the bottom of their range and the least stable at the top of their range.

Seems like most of the jack stands that he tested were the same basic design Chinese jack stands. Some of the failures under his hydraulic press were interesting.

[JackDidley]

Harbor Freight recalled several million jackstands a couple years ago due to a few failures. I doubt they would let something like that happen again. Ive had 2 pairs for 25+ years so I doubt I'd ever buy more. If I did they would likely come from HF.

[Tobra]

Yes, I have HF jack stands

[Matt at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by masraum

I have watched several of this guy's videos.

He talks quite fast but you can't deny how much detail goes into all his test. I always find myself watching the latest Project Farm video. Sometimes the results are surprising like when they test things like Amazon oil

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Matt at Pelican Parts

He talks quite fast but you can't deny how much detail goes into all his test. I always find myself watching the latest Project Farm video. Sometimes the results are surprising like when they test things like Amazon oil

Yep, that's why I continue to watch some of his videos. His tests aren't always great, sometimes with some glaring flaws, but there's usually still some good/interesting info in them.

One of those glaring flaws was that in the test of the jack stands, there were 2 jack stands that had extra safety pins (the Daytona, and another, I think) and for the hydraulic press test, he tested them without the extra safety pin (which is fine) but then he should have tested the second stand to failure WITH the extra safety pin. What's the point in testing to failure without the maximum safety features engaged?

You should listen to him at 50% speed. It's pretty funny. He sounds like a normal person at 75% speed.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

Harbor Freight recalled several million jackstands a couple years ago due to a few failures. I doubt they would let something like that happen again. Ive had 2 pairs for 25+ years so I doubt I'd ever buy more. If I did they would likely come from HF.

Yep, that's what I was thinking about when I posted this thread.

I had one of their low profile Al "racing" jacks many years ago when they were $299 (before they dropped to $150). It worked really well for many years. I eventually sold it when we downsized.

[masraum]

One of the things that would be nice for the boxster is having jack stands that are fairly low at their minimum height. Obviously 6 ton jack stands aren't great in that regard, and even most of the traditional looking jack stands have minimum heights around 15"-16" (which is great if you want to go that high, because, as I said before, I prefer to have my jack stands as low as possible and still comfortably work for maximum stability. I think most of the 3 ton models have a min height of ~12"

WHat I hadn't considered were the "aluminum jack stands" which are pretty unconventional.

But project farm tested the 3 ton jack stands, and while the ones that he tested weren't HF, they were the same basic design, and they came out really high in the ratings for tipping and crush failure. And the HF version have a minimum height of 10.4"