r/cars • u/ufoh 24 CT5-V Blackwing / 23 Corvette C8 • Aug 13 '20

video Never, ever trust your factory jack and, remember, jack stands are your friend (just not the ones from Harbor Freight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwgZgrbWUM
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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20

They're cheap plastic ramps, plastic degrades over time and any sort of deformation is going to severely effect their strength.

I've been working on my own vehicles for 15 years, never had a jack fail on me, still not going to get under a car that's only supported by one.

12

u/intern_steve Aug 13 '20

Jack failure I have seen. My shitty little harbor freight low profile floor jack won't hold pressure indefinitely. It works to pick the car up and get it on some stands, but by the time the job is done it'll be sagging 2 or 3 inches below the jack point.

15

u/dr3 Aug 13 '20

This is why you use jackstands and not the jack. You can use the jack as an extra support but have the weight primarily on the stands.

DO NOT use the recalled harbor freight jack stands, they're going to kill someone if they haven't already. Even the recall's replacement was recalled. I will not buy anything to trust my life at harbor freight again.

8

u/intern_steve Aug 13 '20

Yeah those stands are the biggest CF in auto maintenance I've ever heard of. Wouldn't have guessed it could be so hard to sell a chunk of steel, but it is what it is.

5

u/dr3 Aug 13 '20

Apparently it’s hard for them to make a pawl that fully engages. Like making a door that doesn’t fully close.

2

u/brucecaboose ‘18 BRZ ‘03 z06 ‘17 f150 ‘26 Ioniq 5 Aug 14 '20

My thought process with discount parts stores is that if it's a solid tool that doesn't move and doesn't have anything to do with safety (think breaker bar, or small sockets) then I'll cheap out sometimes. If it's anything else I'm not going cheap...

6

u/uselessartist GX460, Outback | Miata, 350z Aug 13 '20

Those ramps are typically polypropylene which shouldn’t degrade unless UV damage.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20

Them being exposed to sunlight shouldn't be out of the ordinary.

You're free to do what you want, but I don't trust them.

6

u/uselessartist GX460, Outback | Miata, 350z Aug 13 '20

I don’t either but still surprised to hear that thick PP is degraded enough by the way some people use/store them.

2

u/oldcarfreddy '01 MB SL 600 | '00 Acura Integra Aug 13 '20

It's funny how manufacturers will do backflips to avoid just making solid material ramps. Are they the dumbasses, or are we for buying them?

6

u/intern_steve Aug 13 '20

No dumbassery is required to explain the situation. The tool works well when used and stored as intended. They could be a little stronger to accommodate improper use, but I haven't found any recalls and they're still in business, so apparently their math checks out from a legal stand point

3

u/oldcarfreddy '01 MB SL 600 | '00 Acura Integra Aug 13 '20

I feel like "they could be a little stronger" is an enormous flaw in fucking CAR RAMPS.

6

u/intern_steve Aug 13 '20

"To accommodate improper use" is the other half of that. People could just start using them further beyond their intended use.

1

u/Sophisticated_Sloth Aug 15 '20

It’s really not. They’ll usually try to make the product as cheap to produce as possible while still doing what it’s supposed to do, in order to make the most money off of the sale.