On Wed, 31 Jul 2013 13:54:45 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:19:57 -0500, "SRN" wrote:

I've used the Chinese floor jacks from Sam's Club & Harbor Freight for over
20 years and never had a problem. Just bought a return spring for the handle
after 17 years of use.
Harbor Freight currently has coupons out there for a 3 Ton steel floor jack
for $69.99, or an aluminum 1.5 ton floor jack for $59.99. Just don't trust
your life to ANY jack - use jack stands.

Don't trust jack stands that much either. I had a pair of 3000,
iirc, pound stands, and my 150 pound friend was sitting in the
driver's seat of a Reliant, I think, same size as a Lebaron compact,
when the jackstand just crumpled. Went down 5" or more.


A good forged steel jackstand won't crumple. and nor will one made
with real angle iron legs. The cheap chinese crap made by splitting a
piece of "tubing of unknown origin" WILL fail eventually.

Of course you do need to make sure they are not terminally rusted.

"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
On 07/30/2013 08:53 AM, Home Guy wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:

Why are you asking for recommendations for a specific brand, make
or model of an item for which the availability will be regionally
variable?

Just go to princess auto or TSC and buy something that's on sale.

The question makes perfect sense to me, after a friend bought a
"Michelin" branded 3 ton jack and it failed within a year. I'm
assuming that Tony is trying to not have a similar experience.

Unfortunately, it seems like the only way to get a quality jack is
to spend lots of money, or else find a good old one (Lincoln,

(insert arcane brands of jacks here)

Lincoln is arcane?

Holy ****.

Are you ****ing kidding me?

Lincoln. Is arcane.

Clearly you're not qualified to comment in this thread if you haven't
heard of Lincoln.


Look.

I picked up a 3-ton garage floor jack from Princess Auto (roughly same
as harbor freight) about 7 to 10 years ago. It was probably on sale for
1/2 off, which means I paid $75 to $100 for it.

It weighs 77 lbs, steel wheels, built like a tank.

Simple rule: Durability of a floor jack is directly proportional to
it's weight.

as 99% of the jacks available in the US retail market are made
in China.

Yes, mine was made in China.

If you use enough steel, even the chinese can make a durable floor jack.


Not if the hydraulics are not chromed well/use inferior seals etc. The
jack itself may last but if the hydraulics crap out and you can't get a
seal kit for them, it's still a worthless POS.

IME NONE of the current production Chinese jacks are worth a ****,
although I've read that Norco are acceptable, I haven't tried one.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel