Originally Posted by Dave9
^ That had nothing to do with whether they were cheap.
That happened because you were irresponsible in examination or use.
The HF jack stand situation is about defects, and defects can occur with any stand no matter the price.
It is on you to inspect them, the same whether they are cheap or expensive. There is nothing wrong with cheap jack stands if they are manufactured properly. Steel is not that expensive. On the contrary, after a certain point a person would have to be foolish to pay a premium to get the same job done because they relied on marketing rather than common sense and real life observation. However, cheap doesn't necessarily mean the cheapest possible, in that case something has to give to end up at that lower price point and quality control is the usual area where that happens.
Plus, those Sunex 3 ton are a bad idea. Not only overpriced, but their base is too small a footprint so they are more dangerous than the average lower cost 3 ton stands using an A-frame. It is so pathetic when they make something like that and don't give customers a larger base to save on metal, yet still charge way more than appropriate for what a little more metal would've cost, and yet they go and paint them red. Ridiculous, someone who never used a jack stand in their life was on the marketing department team and suggested that.
There is nothing at all wrong with the standard A frame design used on the HF jack stands. Millions of people have used them safely for decades. The problem is when there are manufacturing defects, as with any product.
You're very quick to jump to conclusions. For the record the stands I had never failed, but after lots of use the engagement pawl got loose enough where they would creak under certain conditions. The jack I had failed due to a seal internally, and it failed while I was lifting something up. Thankfully I'm not irresponsible as you suggest and nobody was hurt and no damage was done to equipment. Be careful how you word things in the future, sorry I touched a nerve.
Buying quality products that are overbuilt for your needs in the case of jack stands DOES have to do with if something is cheap or not.
I don't have the Sunex stands, I have 22 ton stands I use for cars, and farm equipment. I simply used those as an example of what pin style jack stands looked like.
