I had a 6 ton jack stand fail on me today!

[Lug1]

OP, it's a big story with very small detail.

What's the brand of the stands? Can you post any pictures of them - teeth ?
If a stand should give up even to the pressure of your hand there must be some visible defect.

If they failed on you and you can reproduce the failure and still keeping them ?
You're out of your mind. I would not even keep them around - destroy and throw them, otherwise someone will find them go "Yippee. scored me free stands" - and you know what follows next.

 

[Yukon4Runner]

He might not be able to answer...he did say he was going to keep using them.

 

[JayRolla]

OP, it's a big story with very small detail.

What's the brand of the stands? Can you post any pictures of them - teeth ?
If a stand should give up even to the pressure of your hand there must be some visible defect.

If they failed on you and you can reproduce the failure and still keeping them ?
You're out of your mind. I would not even keep them around - destroy and throw them, otherwise someone will find them go "Yippee. scored me free stands" - and you know what follows next.

Ive used Harbor Freight jacks and stands for over 15 years with zero issues. I now have two sets of old 6 ton jacks that are tanks but I still have the cheap harbor freights and would not be scared to use them at all.

The OP sounds like he made a user error. He had the jack stand pushed up against the gas tank and the handle was not in the down position which caused the jack to fall. Thats the only way this can happen. The notches on the stands are made to stop this type of failure. Only way it could happen is if the teeth sheered which is pretty slim to none.

 

[Lug1]

^ I get what you are saying. I'm the local HF sympathizer among my friends (and get laughed at).
You know when a HF tool screws up on you and you nod your head saying "well.. it's HF after all",
I can take that with many tools - jack stands won't be one of them.

 

[Dropzone]

you seriously need post some pictures of this jackstand.
I have been using the ratcheting style for 30 years. I have 8 sets of varied sizes and have never had an issue.

 

[nc-grayson]

I read this last night before anyone responded, and I didn't then, but I'm glad now I'm not the only one who is thinking operator error.

 

[BrianSD_42]

[MENTION=101985]ShooterMcGavin[/MENTION]

What brand of Jack was it?

Post a pic please of how this failure works.

 

[nevada]

Ive used Harbor Freight jacks and stands for over 15 years with zero issues. I now have two sets of old 6 ton jacks that are tanks but I still have the cheap harbor freights and would not be scared to use them at all.

The OP sounds like he made a user error. He had the jack stand pushed up against the gas tank and the handle was not in the down position which caused the jack to fall. Thats the only way this can happen. The notches on the stands are made to stop this type of failure. Only way it could happen is if the teeth sheered which is pretty slim to none.

that's what I was thinking also.

 

[mtbtim]

I also don't trust those rhino ramps as stand alone means of lifting... Just does not seem secure enough having a truck sitting on plastic... I always reinforce the frame with jack stands when on the ramps...

I've used plastic ramps for years with no signs that they are developing cracks and could fail. If I'm just doing an oil change on my rig, I drive up on the plastic ramps instead of using my hydraulic jack and 6 ton stands. I regularly inspect them, and they are in perfect shape. But, maybe using the jack stand backup isn't a bad call. Redundancy is a good thing, especially when rock climbing.

 

[ben550]

I've used plastic ramps for years with no signs that they are developing cracks and could fail. If I'm just doing an oil change on my rig, I drive up on the plastic ramps instead of using my hydraulic jack and 6 ton stands. I regularly inspect them, and they are in perfect shape. But, maybe using the jack stand backup isn't a bad call. Redundancy is a good thing, especially when rock climbing.

I agree with you. I use them too. Especially for oil changes. But I reinforce them with a jack or jack stands. I do not trust them by themselves. Mine show no wear after a few years but I still won't trust them by themselves holding up the front end of my truck with me underneath... Redundancy is a must for any lifting system.

 

[I_bRAD]

Thats scary, I'm always working on my truck alone & where I live is rural, no one would hear my screams...

If it makes you feel any better, there probably won't be much screaming with a truck on your chest!

 

[Lug1]

If it makes you feel any better, there probably won't be much screaming with a truck on your chest!

And if it makes you feel any worse, a truck on your thighs with your torso outside will make you scream quite a bit.

 

[I_bRAD]

And if it makes you feel any worse, a truck on your thighs with your torso outside will make you scream quite a bit.

Fair enough. My plan is to try neither, although I do usually go in head-first.

 

[StreetCreeper]

I'm always afraid my fat-ass will inadvertently kick one of the jackstand release handles while I'm shuffling along underneath.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

I will never crawl under a car without putting as many jack stands, hydraulic jacks, tire stops, and wheel underneath. This habit was driven home all due to my dad. I remember he would literally yell at the top of his lungs when he saw me working on the car with just one jack.

I would not use Harbor Freight jacks or jack stands. Their quality control is no where near to the US brands.

 

[jeremyc74]

I stick to 4x4 posts!:dance:

 

[nissanh]

Always slide the removed tire under the car.

 

[csp]

I'm always afraid my fat-ass will inadvertently kick one of the jackstand release handles while I'm shuffling along underneath.

With weight on them that shouldn't be possible.

 

[TheDurk]

With weight on them that shouldn't be possible.

I like to pull up on them as hard as I can before climbing under. Then I rock the truck. Never had one budge.

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been away from my computer all day.
To answer some questions...
I lifted the support piece in the jack stand fully until it touched the frame and then let it down onto the next lowest latch tooth. The handle was in the down position and it appeared to be locked into place. When I put slow pressure on the jack stand, it held weight. My guess is that, because I had pushed the jack stand to the side, and up against the gas tank, the side-pressure was preventing the latch from fully engaging the tooth it was on.

I do not like trusting HF jack stands, and that's why I bought these. They are made by Power Zone. I'm keeping them to try to figure out what happened. I don't know if I'll ever use them to support the truck for anything that requires me to get underneath again, but I do want to know what happened. Pictures are coming.