By Colin Wood
Dec 13, 2022
Does spending more always equate to more safety when it comes to jack stands?
To find out, YouTube channel Project Farm compared jack stands of various price points–from $31 to over $200–from brands like Husky, Pittsburgh, Hein-Werner and more.
12/13/22 11:54 a.m.
The HF aluminum held up better than I expected. That's nice to hear since the front of the Bentley is sitting on a couple of them.
12/13/22 12:06 p.m.
The different design of the Big Red worked much better than i thought it would.
12/13/22 12:35 p.m.
I've been categorically avoiding this channel because his stuff on engine oils is largely trash. Is the other stuff good?
12/13/22 1:44 p.m.
If I am under a vehicle on Jack Stands with tires removed I also slide the tires under the frame just in case.
12/13/22 1:45 p.m.
I wouldnt put a lawnmower on the HF red one. Similar design to that rolled over and killed a guy and its an inherently crap design even with the improvements.
12/13/22 1:45 p.m.
Personally, I do not use 3 Ton Jackstands to support a car.
I have for years been using HF 6 Ton stands for my car.
The two advantages:
1) height. I can get the transmission out from under the car on the 6 ton stands.
Can't do that with the 3 ton stands
2) The 6 ton stands are solid as a rock. The 3 ton stands are kind of wobbly, and don't really inspire confidence.
12/13/22 1:57 p.m.
As a guy who spends a significant amount of time under cars supported by jackstands similar to the ones in the middle of the pack he tested, seeing how much they exceeded their weight ratings by was rather comforting.
12/13/22 2:34 p.m.
I think so, but I don't see the problem with his oil stuff, either. He's not an expert, he's an enthusiastic amateur with a knack for coming up with interesting/creative tests for various things. I don't take anything he says as gospel, but it can be interesting information.
My takeaway from this test is that all of the jackstands performed well above their weight limits, and if used correctly all are more than adequate to the task of holding a car up, even with my fragile human body underneath it.
12/13/22 5:28 p.m.
I've always wondered about this design. I think I may buy some now.
12/14/22 12:18 a.m.
Is there a "rule of thumb" for how long you can safely use jack stands before you should replace them? The engineer in me says that I'm probably worrying about nothing since they are not rusted, I'm probably nowhere close to using them enough to even think about fatigue failure, they're rated for 3 tons and the heaviest car they've supported is 2 tons (and a pair only supports one end of that total) but one of my sets is probably 20 years old so I really wonder if I should just toss them especially since new ones are fairly cheap. But why toss away a perfectly good tool if it's still working?
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