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Harbor Freight recall


tufftom4

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WOW, 1.75 MILLION jack stand sets is gonna put a crimp in the budget.

 

I had looked at getting their 6T a number of times but never managed to pull the trigger. My home made stands are way stronger than the HF or any other commercial stand I have seen.

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I wonder who the manufacturer is. They may have made those same stands for other brand names.

 

Harbor Freight Tools is recalling more than 1.7 million Pittsburgh Automotive 3 Ton and 6 Ton Heavy Duty Steel Jack Stands. The jack stands may collapse under load, which can increase the risk of injury to people near or under a lifted vehicle. ... Injuries have been reported due to this issue.

I can't find it now but I saw where someone with one of the stands took pictures illustrating the issue. He applied white paint to the teeth on the ratcheting engagement pawl, applied weight (he stood on it), and the photographed the result. There was just a very tiny contact patch of white transfer to the mating tooth on the main support. It appeared to be maybe 1/16 of an inch. As a contrast he did the same with a know good stand and the transfer to the adjoining tooth showed full engagement

Edited by vzuden
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I am in NO WAY trying to downplay just how dangerous this malfunctioning product is, OR the Recall, but I did want to mention that I have several sets of these Jack Stands, and because of the purpose I use them for, I do not have to extend the adjuster at all. With the adjustable saddle in it's shortest position I don't see any reason why these Jack Stands could not be used

in the fully compacted position. After reading this post, I won't be using them in the extended position any more, I assure you. Some of my sets are many years old, and the stickers are long gone.

I'll be visiting HF this weekend for sure.

Earl

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Harbor Freight Tools is recalling more than 1.7 million Pittsburgh Automotive 3 Ton and 6 Ton Heavy Duty Steel Jack Stands. The jack stands may collapse under load, which can increase the risk of injury to people near or under a lifted vehicle. ... Injuries have been reported due to this issue.

I can't find it now but I saw where someone with one of the stands took pictures illustrating the issue. He applied white paint to the teeth on the ratcheting engagement pawl, applied weight (he stood on it), and the photographed the result. There was just a very tiny contact patch of white transfer to the mating tooth on the main support. It appeared to be maybe 1/16 of an inch. As a contrast he did the same with a know good stand and the transfer to the adjoining tooth showed full engagement

With only that little amount of tooth contact, it is easy to see that it would not take much wear for either in the teeth, pawl or pivot pin to have a failure. Having been pinned under a car that fell on me and barely lucky to survive, just thinking about it gives me the jitters.
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Vehicles falling are scary indeed. I used to be an auto tech and later, service manager, and through 25 years in that business I personally experienced 4 cars/trucks fall off lifts. Fortunately, nobody was injured in any of them but some were very close calls.

 

As far as using these jack stands in only the fully lowered position, while it is true there would most likely not be a failure, it is conceivable that at some point in the future, and possibly in the hands of another future owner of the stand, someone could unknowingly extend it during use. Glad to hear Earl is still going to pursue replacement of his.

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Just picked up a set of 6T's out of an auction and had to go look again to see where they were made. Whew!! Performance Tool's. I've never owned a 6T before and almost got a hernia picking one of them up... I do have a couple of 1.5T's wandering around here somewhere so I guess I'm safe. :backinmyday:

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