Apparently Harbor Freight is recalling some 500k jack stands.
I'm guessing almost all of us have at least "a" pair of stands from there.
I just checked mine, and the tag is gone entirely. Of course, no dates were released, and the recall is based on sku numbers, because HF rotates sku numbers according to manufacturer/date. I guess I won't be using them anymore...
In reply to Crackers :
We just had a thread on this...probably down there somewhere vvvvv
There are some online comparison pics of very shallow teeth vs normal. The difference is pretty striking, so you'd be able to tell if yours are bad or not.
Oops... I did look for an existing thread before I posted, but must have missed it.
No worries. For a minute, I thought there might be even more recalls. Never apologize for a safety heads up.
Thanks for the reminder I still need to get mine back to HF for replacement.
Harbor freight can suck it. Go in today and ask about swapping out my jack stands. They say sure bring them in. So I grab a cart and bring them in. The nice guy said leave them by the front and they will get me new ones. I say cool I will just run down to get some grinding disks and a welding helmet and a couple magnetic squares. Come back and the stands and the guy is gone. I ask the new guy where are my new stands and I get the 1000 yard stare. He calls in and there is a moment.
Finally the guy tells me that they are out of of stock and I am getting a monetary credit and I can not have my old stands back. There next store restock is this Friday with no guarantee that they will have stands.
I do not like a bate and switch and this is what this felt like. Had they told me that they were out of stock I may not have brought them in. I got the feeling they new this but we're doing it to get these out of circulation at the cost of pissing me off. The dumb ass lack of giving a E36 M3 clueless way they handled this really has pissed me off. I also suspect that I actually paid more for these than what they gave me for them AND what is to prevent them from jacking the price of these up when they are back in stock. So those that trade them in get a even trade but I will have to pay more. And since I actually need them at the moment I am going to have to find another source locally that will most likely cost me more. The whole experience has really soured me on Harbor Freight at this point.
SO. MAKE SURE THEY ACTUALLY HAVE JACK STANDS IN STOCK BEFORE YOU HAND OVER YOUR STANDS ESPECIALLY IF YOU NEED TO USE THEM.
The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way. I was completely getting the feeling that I was being treated with dishonesty from the HF staff and that is the fastest way to piss me off. No matter how good or how cheap your stuff is if you lie to me I am done with you. HF just potentially crossed that threshold. Had they told me they were out of stock but said please bring them in as we want these out of circulation and you can have a voucher for replacements or a cash refund I would have been ok with that but they way they handled it was deceptive at best and I walked away from it feeling like I get fleeced.
$40 card, $50 new stands. I gotta make sure I go on a coupon day or I am out $10.
Just checked mine. Don't have the part numbers they list. The 3-ton pair is the aluminum one. Didn't want the aluminum but needed jack stands and aluminum was the only ones they had the right size. The 6-ton pair is one of their taller kind. Bought it when restoring the Opel GT. Put one end on ramps and needed a taller set for the other end to make the car level. The other set I have that is the same size as the aluminum pair I've had for years. Used them on the axles of my old K5 Blazer, I think they are rated over 3-ton. If I remember right I got them at NAPA 25 years ago. Routinely check the welds whenever I use them.
I took my two in today and got a $21 credit. I planned to just swap them out but the new ones were more expensive and I didn't have the time/patience to get a coupon on my phone. The world is telling me to upgrade...so I am.
I have a set of the 6 ton stands affected by the recall. I still need to get them swapped out. I had my C10 sitting on them for almost 2 years and my Mustang on them over the winter.
If you don't want to mess with Harbor Freight I have a couple sets of the AC Delco stands from Oreilly's and they get the job done and are reasonably priced.
Last time I checked Tractor Supply had good prices on the 3-ton stands.
I just watched a youtube video on the HF jackstands. At least in the ones in the video the latch that locked the stand in place was off-center so the latch was only making partial contact with the slot. It only took a small movement of the handle to collapse the jack.
Hoondavan said:I just watched a youtube video on the HF jackstands. At least in the ones in the video the latch that locked the stand in place was off-center so the latch was only making partial contact with the slot. It only took a small movement of the handle to collapse the jack.
That is interesting. Mine were not doing that. Maybe it is actually a small number with in the lot that really are a problem but since they don't have a way to tell them apart with in the lot number they are having to recall all of them.
In reply to dean1484 :
They are only recalling specific part numbers. I have a set that weren't recalled, and another set that were. I never had any issues with any of them.
They've added another SKU: 56373
"Today, I feel even worse. I'm disappointed and embarrassed because we've identified a welding defect in a small number of the Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKU 56373) that replaced the recalled jack stands. We're now adding these jack stands to our recall. Unfortunately, this defect wasn't discovered during the initial recall investigation. If you own these jack stands or any of the jack stands in our original recall, whether or not you have had an issue with them, please stop using them immediately and bring them back to your local Harbor Freight Store for a full cash refund or store credit (see details here).
In reply to slantvaliant (Forum Supporter) :
I was just making sure this got posted somewhere at GRM. Staggering. The jack stands to replace the recalled jackstands are recalled. Well, some of them. But still. It was a pair of 6-tons I had and swapped out, so mine aren't subject to the re-recall, and I'm wrestling with myself over whether to take them up on the "yeah, we messed up so bad we'll basically take any stands back" bit of the letter.
Ha! I just ran out to get the part number off my new 6-tons so I could triple-check... and they don't have a part number on them. While I did verify that these have much more robust tooth engagement than the ones they replaced, I'm out. This isn't an item to be rolling the dice on. Hope the local HF doesn't give me grief about crediting me for them, but at least I know I just need to go buy a set somewhere else.
(Yes, logic dictates that since only one 6-ton stand was recalled, and I had those and replaced them with obviously-different ones, the new ones must not be under a recall. I think, however, that at this point it's fair not to trust them at all in general, AND supposing they issue another recall next month I have no way of knowing whether these would be part of that without a visible part number.)
I just ordered the Northern Tool version. No Northern Tools around here, so $20 in shipping, but the 6 ton stands were only $40 after a new customer $5 discount. The Northerns have a lock pin to prevent the quick adjust from releasing. All in all, I am $10 over replacing the HF version, which is a worthwhile upgrade, still.
I cracked and bought a pair of ESCOs; the "kit" version with both flat rubber pads and axle cradles, from Northern Tool. I don't think they were much more than Amazon, if any, and it sounds like Amazon doesn't know how to work with ESCO and a bunch of folks weren't getting the full kit when they ordered it (they were just getting one of the posts, either the cradle or the pad). They ship from ESCO either way, so my Prime doesn't do me any good.
I figure almost everything else is coming out of four factories in China, and there's no reason those can't be great for such a simple device with ease of over-building, but I can't figure out who's on top of quality control enough to know for sure, and I don't want to be the case that tells a stand-up company that it's time for a recall.
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