Jack Stand Catastrophic failure

[gonefishin]

These jack stands were lightly used on my Camaro only since ownership. The plan was to change out my differential fluid. I lowered the rear end axle onto the stands and the right stand collapsed. The dowel pin securing the pawl broke. Notice in the picture the release arm is down and the pawl is vertical. I’m extremely lucky I wasn’t under the car! Harbor Freight refunded my money. I will not own any jack stands that doesn’t have a safety latch for the toothed post going forward. I realize there millions of jack stands out there today without a safety latch, but will not trust my life to a tiny slotted dowel pin!

 

[ripcord]

There was a big recall on HF jack stands this year. Did you purchase these recently?

 

[fsdork]

Glad to hear you weren't injured. I wouldn't recommend getting under a car without redundant support in place. If I'm under a vehicle that's on jack stands, you can bet the floor jack is also there just in case.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Happy you're ok. I own older ones with the "tooth" setup, which I greatly prefer to a metal rod holding up my car.
But the jack is ALWAYS underneath also, with some tension on things to be a backstop.

 

[atikovi]

ALUMINUM jack stand?

 

[Jetronic]

looks quite thin material, no?

aluminum jacks are a thing too

 

[Tifosi]

There was a big recall on HF jack stands this year. Did you purchase these recently?

Not just one recall, there was another recall issued to recall the replacement jack stands.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Scary.

 

[atikovi]

aluminum jacks are a thing too

Yea, but you don't get under a car supported by a jack.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

Safety tip. Get yourself a set of old steel car rims, any brand doesn't matter but they need to be thick and sturdy. When getting under a car using jack stands, always slide a set of steel rims in underneath. They won't crush, and they are a emergency crush prevention device giving you ~9 inches of life saving clearance.

You could also use some other items that won't crush, but rims are easy to source and store.

I also always double or triple up on jack stands at each position.

 

[ripcord]

Also, jack stands should only be used on hard concrete. If you have an asphalt driveway (or gravel), and must use jack stands, at least put them on a base of thick plywood because if one of the corners of the stand sinks in at all, it creates a lot of side loading on the stand that can lead to greater stresses than it's designed to handle and it can buckle or tip. Better yet is to not use them at all on softer surfaces. Ramps or blocks are a better choice in that case.

 

[doitmyself]

This will be hard to explain. When I look at the design of one of these jackstand, they are engineered so that the tiny roll pin is not what holds the weight. The weight is held by the way the pawl engages the toothed ratchet bar and they are wedged together. The jack should work with a broken roll pin IF the pawl is fully engaged with ratchet teeth.

My assumption is that your roll pin WAS broken, so the lever never positioned the pawl to be engaged in the toothed ratchet bar. That was the failure mode. Not the roll pin itself, but the fact that the pawl was not fully engaged due to broken roll pin. The only way the roll pin could break is if extreme force (abuse) was applied to the adjusting lever, ie. someone stepped on it or other heavy force. Or, it was a defective roll pin from the factory???

Still, it was failure. I imagine safety procedure would be to insure that the pawl and ratchet are fully engaged before and as the weight is being set on the jackstand. The OTC instructions state " Ensure lock handles are completely engaged in ratchet grooves."

Dangerous because we always just assume everything is working properly.

 

[atikovi]

Also, jack stands should only be used on hard concrete. If you have an asphalt driveway (or gravel), and must use jack stands, at least put them on a base of thick plywood because

My conventional stands have feet, so no problem there.

and I also use this style but not for that reason,

 

[Propflux01]

I use these:

 

[AutoMechanic]

At work we have a guy that has some really nice Jack stands they are TEQ Pro and they are hydraulic all you do is hit the lever they go up or go down. Really handy and show no signs of failure. At home I just have some older Craftsman Jack stands and some made from Model T Ford axle housings which are way cool.

 

[wpod]

Harbor freight , , , you get exactly what you pay for.

 

[RyanY]

That is scary! I'm glad no injuries.

I returned my HF stands last year during the recall and went with the Pro-Lift T-6903D 3 ton stands. These are built well and have the extra locking pin but are still inexpensive.

Nevertheless, if I remove a wheel and plan to crawl underneath, I still shove a wheel under the car just in case things go awry.

 

[gonefishin]

Like it was said above, it had to be a bad roll pin. These weren't part of the recall that I could tell. They were just shy of two years old and definitely not abused. A good reminder for me to work methodical and remember to have multiple backups.

 

[simple_gifts]

Probably might be prudent to file something with the national consumer product safety commission. If they get enough complaints perhaps a recall might be issued; you dodged a bullet, with a little more effort, you might enable someone else to also.

 

[mk378]

Even with the pin broken, as long as the pawl is fully engaged into the rack notch, it won't fall-- though you should not use the unit with any parts broken.

When using stands of this type it's essential to confirm the position of the pawl itself, not just the handle.

The OTC instructions state " Ensure lock handles are completely engaged in ratchet grooves."

which isn't exactly clear. You can't just check that the handle is down.