Habor Freight jack stand recall

[MyronL]

That settles it. No way I use my factory jack anywhere-- will you look at that insane, unsafe toy thing! What were those GM guys thinking?--OK--maybe in the garage, but only with back up. Concrete blocks not safe, floor jacks much safer, wood blocks even more safe. Carry a scissors jack and wood blocks for on the road.

[Raspy]

Fortunately, with the Black Series ground clearance, I can go under on a creeper and zoom all around while it is sitting on it's wheels. For tire changing, the tandem axles work well. Drive up on a ramp, or blocks, until the other wheel is off the ground.

Another potential problem is using the stabilizer jacks to lift the trailer. I have a pile of them here that were broken by people doing just that. Darwin might pay you a little visit while doing that.

Oliver used to say the jacks could be used to change tires. But a few of them broke the jack mounts off the frame and dropped. Now, and maybe not related to that situation, they are strict about not lifting the trailer with the jacks.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Raz

At one time Hein Werner were made in the U.S. I see now they are assembled here. Gotta wonder on that.

It figures, I bought mine almost 50 years ago from a Snap-on dealer who was coming to the dealership I was working at at the time. The jack was nearly $300. I'll have to look at the stands to see what the tonnage is.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

It figures, I bought mine almost 50 years ago from a Snap-on dealer who was coming to the dealership I was working at at the time. The jack was nearly $300. I'll have to look at the stands to see what the tonnage is.

That's the jack stands, i didn't look at the jacks. When I was in the market, the jacks were just too heavy. I needed something I could carry without needing a truss afterwards.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Another potential problem is using the stabilizer jacks to lift the trailer. I have a pile of them here that were broken by people doing just that. Darwin might pay you a little visit while doing that.

Oliver used to say the jacks could be used to change tires. But a few of them broke the jack mounts off the frame and dropped. Now, and maybe not related to that situation, they are strict about not lifting the trailer with the jacks.

The bal stabilizers are designed to break away with any horizontal movement. The idea is if you catch a root or forget to crank them up, you won't damage the frame of your trailer. The design works.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Raz

The bal stabilizers are designed to break away with any horizontal movement. The idea is if you catch a root or forget to crank them up, you won't damage the frame of your trailer. The design works.

Yeah, I get that, but the loads I'm referring to are stationary vertical loads. Not catching it on something while driving.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Yeah, I get that, but the loads I'm referring to are stationary vertical loads. Not catching it on something while driving.

They are rated at 1000 lbs. My point was if you lift the trailer with the stabilzer and there is horizontal movement, it will fail. Floyd used to service his trailer using the stabilizer. I assume he had it connected to the tow.

[mary and bob]

I have a pair of Hein Werner jack stands that I have owned for about 20 years. They are fairly large and heavy but only rated for 2 or 3 tons. I checked the label yesterday, Made in China

[Defenestrator]

The problem with the HF jack stands seems to be a combination of design and construction. The design didn't have a ton of overlap between pawl and teeth in the first place (and even less when it wobbled to the side because there was so much plan in the mechanism), and when the tooling at the factory wore out it dropped "just enough overlap" to "no overlap when shifted to the right angle"

[Doctor Harold]

Originally Posted by Alex Adams

Guess I'll buy a pair of the old school jack stands where you had to put a pin through the holes to hold it. Not as convenient but you'd have to shear the pin to have them fail.

Maybe not. I had one come apart where the brace is welded between the legs -- the weld broke and the leg bent outwards. It was about 30-years old.

--Harold

[k corbin]

Good thing I have my trailer up in the air on stout wooden cribbing stacks. I had thought about buying jack stands but did not want to spend the funds on them as I had so many other things I needed to purchase.