Quick tip: Use locking jack stands for maximum safety 

Relevant links (from the description): Amazon US: amzn.to/2iqQPsj | Amazon UK: amzn.to/2hB5cJM

I binned a set of axle stands a few years ago as the rachet teeth were only catching by about a 16th of an inch. I was hoffified when I took a look at them. Got myself a nice set from Halfords with the extra pin for security. Always stick a couple of wheels and wood under as a backup - never rely soley on stands and a hack.

I was talking to an ambulance driver who regularly gets called out to incidents involving failed car jack stands and he was saying it's the pawl part that fails, because every time you lift the ratchet up the teeth shaves a tiny bit of the tip of the pawl off and eventually the worn down pawl cant engage far enough into the teeth and under the immense weight of the car it fails. Obviously this takes years upon years of regular usage to build up enough wear to fail, but just be careful if you buy second hand or your old ones are getting a bit long in the tooth.

I took this advice to heart and ordered a set of "3-ton" jack stands from Amazon. They were garbage -- the welds looked awful, the paint was damaged, the swinging arm was tight, etc. So, I went to a local auto parts store and paid much more for a set of 4-ton jack stands that lack the pin. Even if all else were equal, I think I'd rather have double the rating without a pin than half the rating with a pin.

That triangular pin on the Black Jack stand is a great idea, giving an extra margin of safety.

Always leave jack incorporating also as secondary security measure.

Don't assume you are safe because you have an extra safety pin. A bad weld could crack open under load which would make the stand collapse. Always use both stand & floor jack.

very helpful, thanks!!! I was thinking the exactly same thing that you were thinking when I was looking for new jack stands, except I went with Sunex 1003AJ 3 ton jack stands

I totally agree with you - just purchased a set from CT but I do not feel confident about using them - probably taking them back

Thanks Craig, I'm looking to get some Jack Stands soon.

I appreciate you making this video. It was very informative and helpful to me!!!

Thanks for sharing that info.

Thank you - very helpful!

I just bought a set today with the locking pins similar to those

Back- up a good idea. Just heard some of the typical kind have been recalled in USA You were right ! Thanks.

I wonder how many lives this video has saved? If it's just one, the video has served it's purpose. I suspect the number is much higher!!

Thanks for making this video, I've never seen a racheting jack with a backup pin like that. Also, too funny about the 2 different load claims (3T from the Chinese manufacturer, vs 2T printed on the box by the American company).

a precise demo sir, thank you 👌

Bro ,, I agree 100%,,, I just bought, 6 ton stand's, with the pin,,, N kinda mad at myself, ever using without,,, have a Family member, year's back, killed under a car, with B.S. set up,, I set stand's, use pin, and keep floor jack as back up,,, Love saving $$$ but not loosing life !! your 100 % right !! no pin, ? not worth chance !!!

This is exactly why Ive not brought this type. Not seen the type with the locking pin yet but I think they deffo need it !! I wouldnt trust any type of stand without it !!

Thanks Sir, very helpful and informative, Safety is a my priority and concerns. Thanks again sir.

i like the old style, a steel pin going through the center of the jack stand, the only way to drop the jack is to remove the pin. that wont be happening when under pressure.

Whose here after the harbor freight recall?

Totally Agree Ive got the same set

Hence it why is beneficial to lie your tyres underneath the car when not on the vehicle, or that PLUS your floor jack.

I confirm these jack stands are sold by different brand name, e.g. in Italy these are sold under the Norauto brand name. I found the security pin to be quite loose and can come out of its hole quite easily, so I strongly advise you to drill a hole on one side of the pin and insert a security locking ring or a cotter pin (that's what I had available) in the drilled hole. Costs cents and improves a lot the safety of the stand!

This video turns out to be very much applicable to today with the Harbor Frieght jack stand recall..

Interesting, apparently Habor Freight just had a recall on a couple of their 2 ton series and a 3 ton series for exact same reason. Apparently the Chinese OEM never replaced tooling so the pawl forming part over the years has become quite out of spec. I'm looking to update mine with either some US-made ones or some over-rated quality chinesium ones.

Yes so helpful, thx

I always put at least one jack to support the stand just in case… 🙌🏽

All my 35 years of using stands from junk to expensive, ones used daily, i have never seen a failure of the teeth or cog. Yes it may happen somewhere. But for your average person, i really feel it is a none issue.

great video bro thank you!

The old style with pin is very unlikely to fail, These new ones don't look very clever or robust The small Pawl ratchet is holding the weight of the car, if that fails then it could be end of you. Also be careful with cheap (on-line) Chinese copies. Be safe folks.

Safety first ! Nice observation ! a👍from India !

After seeing the recall for the pittsburgh 3ton jack stands i had from harbor freight, i dont want to take a chance of failure. Im getting big red 3 ton version of locking jack stands.

Very cool.

I will try using my current jack stands with wooden blocks under the frame.

thanks a lot

I've never been under a car for this worry, It is shared. I'm sure you're not alone

Hi Craig, I ordered a pair of these and had a warrantee issue amd returned them after I found 2 of the feet were bent. These things happen, no big deal. But I also examined them just before I returned them and I noticed there were no welds as depicted in the photo on the box where the feet meet the legs on the outside join. I see there are no welds there either on your video. They are only joined on the inside of this join by two small spot welds on each leg on the ones I ordered. Makes me wonder if they are really rated 3 ton. I will likely only lift up to 1.1 tons at most at present. I’ve seen on other brands that are the same but without the pin there is a full weld where the feet meet the legs on the outside join. Which would make them much stronger at this point. I’m in Thailand as you can see by the following link of these stands I’m talking about without the pins. You can see in the pictures those if you zoom in there are welds where the feet and legs meet on the outside. s.lazada.co.th/s.3AIGY If you truly lift up to 3 tons regularly (which I doubt most would) you are relying on a couple of spot welds to support that weight on the outside feet and leg join. I’d recommend whoever gets a set of these that are likely made in China to check your stands for all welds when you get your delivery. I bought a set in a shop earlier and returned them when I found the welds were not full along the main joins of the stands. They are made in mass production in China I would think and you get what you pay for, but safety is important. I think the locking pins are the most important thing and I may get the joins at the feet and legs welded if all the stands are like this when I get mine returned for the warranty issue on the bent feet. I also may get holes drilled at the other end of the locking pin made and put a split pin through it to secure the pin. I know under the weight it would be probably impossible for them to slide out but hey that’s just me. I think they are fine but I just got a bit of a fright when I found the feet were bent and it made me doubt if the the build quality of such an important tool. And I am in Thailand where shortcuts are the norm over safety. But I think these all will be made in China 🇨🇳 Thank you for your video, I think it is a great review. 🙏 I’m not knocking it, like I said I got a bit of a fright when the stands arrived to me with bent feet and that’s just a production issue with quality control. And as I said I live in Thailand where safety is not the main concern here. You see electrical workers all the time climbing bamboo ladders 🪜 to check power lines of the street without ever turn the power supply off so you become suspicious after a time when it comes to safety. I think for the price they are a great stand, you can’t expect perfection for that price. Otherwise you would have to spend maybe over £100 to get a set of esco stands from the states 🇺🇸 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BZKZD3ATfrM.html I trust your reviews and love your channel Craig, are your axle stands still performing well? All my best and thanks Craig. Chrs Pete

i never trusted the jacks without pins ,,glad almost all have them now

Yeah that's why when I wanted to lift a ~1.3ton car, not only I got 3ton rated jack and stands but also these better ones with the security pin. I mean, I know building design and that's designed at least at 200% the load required in its lifetime, so never go for "near capacity".

Links seem not to work. I am in the UK. Thanks.

Thanks, yes that was helpful.

Great tip. I wonder how much load the safety pin can take. Pin is in double shear and material is pretty thick...should be good.

i wanted to get this with that safety latch but there aren't any 12 ton jack stands that have them.

What was that big CAUTION sticker on about? Are you supposed to bend that little tab?

What do you do about that Caution sticker that says: Bend tab after inserting ratchet bar? what is that about? thanks in advance. informative video, btw!

Actually the weigh doesn't all rest on either "pawls". Most of the holding force is friction. The pawls being opposing inclined planes, the force gets exerted outwards and wedges the bar into the body of the jackstand.

Just bought teq correct 3 ton a week ago, wish I saw this video as I was reviewing jack stands for a month prior to my purchase

Always have a fail safe like another jacks or some bricks. Better to replace bodywork that is ruined than a ruined head.

Can I use this instead of a car jack to change a tire or do I need both?

i noticed you didn't bend the safety tab on the side of the jack.. did you leave it on purpose?

🙏 Thank you

I also have some similar to the first ones in the video and it gives me anxiety how easy you make the teeth drop by accidently kicking the lever if your under the car, imma get some extra ones with the pin and put them across each other like one by the FR tire and the other on the RL tire for extra security.

Hey! Can you teach how to fix the problem of adjusting the electric seat of a ford mondeo mk3? Keep up the good work!!

That's whaT im talking about! Safety..!! other brands should consider...

The first ones you had were fine

Never used stands in the 30 years i have been fixing cars, far to unstable and easy to push off, use very large wooden blocks or small home DIY type car ramps with wood on top to rest the car on. Never ever get under a car on axle stands.

Here's a crazy Dutchman testing the breaking strength of very similar stands: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GjmXQNhKCks.html ~5.5 t with each locking mechanism and ~8.5 t with both. The failure mode is more interesting than the actual strength though.

I always put and extra wheel under the car

I have ratchet ones ( without pins) but always put tyre underneath. From now on I will also put my old pin Jack under. Good warning. See so many people just using only a trolley jack. They must be mad as it is not meant for supporting vehicle only lifting it. It can and will loose pressure and go down.

I always drive my car onto a ramp if I need to get underneath it. Jacks for the most part I use for clearance to access the car on the side. Its very dangerous to use jacks to completely lift your car. If you do, make sure your using 4-6 jacks thats overrated for the car and is in good shape. I would also recommend using a trolley jack to help support thr front or rear your working on.

you could drill a hole and put in pin in a regular jackstand to get that.

Would be great in a foldable style

I never just trust the stand.. Always back up with floor jack and a block if suitable.. Just like the author stated.

As the pin has no retention backup, the same sort of random movement which might release the handle might also just snag the little chain, pulling it out at the same time. Not that impressive a backup.

What I don't understand is why we see more of these now and less of the older type that just has a pin that goes through the holes. Those were a lot safer in my opinion. I bought some ratchet ones not long ago and I don't even want to get under the car with them in use. And it seems weird to have some like in this video that ratchet AND have a pin. So, why not just a pin like the old way? Why bother having a ratchet if there's a pin?

Bro I was just thinking the same thing that's how I found this video

Be safe just use blocks of oak

Is that a british or aussie accent?

just use 2 on each side.

Just use the jack stands with double pin, it has no teeth either. Safest option available

When im under a car kicking my feet around a wrong kick could be a regrettable thing with that first one.

Want to be amazed? Extend the beam and stand on the top. Then pull up on the pall.... it will collapse. Under weight.....

I would be more worried about an earthquake. The last big quake, less then a year ago, out in the Mohave desert caused one death. Guess how.

Safest way to use these, as a door stop on the garage door when you bring out some proper axle stands. If you have ANY doubts, Don’t use

funny, clearly visible on your stands you have used for year you never bent the safety pin (3:45) as required by the manufacturer on first use.

Always put the tire under the car.

I find it funny how he chooses the one with contradictory labeling. The best thing you can do if your worried about manufacturing deficiencies is buy something not made in China. His choice still doesn't fix any of the points he brought up about his previous ones. Not one single problem was solved.. he got an extra bolt probably put their because they have a high failure rate in testing or a lower safety factor in their design or materials.

The first 2 didnt seem to consider safety very much. I understand the engineering design. But they just seem lazy to me

OMG my ASMR

Master force solved it.

DUDE THOSE ARE WALMART BRAND THEY ARE THE CHEAPEST BRAND THERE IS

I bought some of these and sent them back as soon as i lernt of the slight danger with them.

The only jack stands I trust are the jacks with the pins. Scwaben are a little expensive but worth it. I can’t believe people trust their lives with this cheap Chinese metal.

I bought a pair of home depot stands and im not impressed with the design. It has no release handle at all, instead the pawl is spring loaded and very hard to release. Not having a handle makes grabbing the stand awkward. You have to grab the stand by its frame which is imbalanced so it wants to tilt sideways. You can't grab the stands by the serrated supports because they will just pull right out dropping the stands potentially on your foot unless the locking pin is inserted which easily falls out. Stay away from this design if you can.

use more than 1 stand, multiple points of failure. a locking jack stand doesn't mean shit, that's not maximum safety at all. having 3 devices on each corner of the car, that's maximum safety. a wheel, wood cribbing, 2 jack stands. your brain is your safety not the jack

Too bad my 6 ton harbor freight ones cost $30 a pair compared to $56

search youtube for press test floor jacks to see actual failures

So you replace 3000kg rated stands with 2000kg rated stands to increase safety. Good work.

I wouldn't call jackstands safe in the first place tbh. I hate them. Sadly, I am forced to used them.

The pawl will fail when the roll pin that secures it to the shaft breaks.

I mean these small stands are sold for 30 bucks a pair... they are for that DIY guy..not for the Pros... if you are a pro you will have a car lift anyway... so a one off usage.. they will not wear that fast and the chance or risk is greatly minimal..

If your a welder just make your own I'll save money and you can be sure of the guarantee it'll last

I'm 200th commen t do I get a prize?

Especially if its from China

If you're worried about jack stands failing for any other equipment why are you in the Chinese outlet store buying it at Harbor Freight? Why not go anywhere else it is your life?

Whos here after the harbors freight recall?