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Harbor Freight Jacks?!? LoL..

The only floor jack I bought new ,I got at a swap meet back in the 80's,at Stafford Springs CT raceway...a Cineese guy had a large box truck full of new tools,and he was tossing floor jacks out onto the ground for sale,I asked how much,he said "65 dolla"...it was a heavy looking jack for a 2-1/4 ton one,and I only work at home ,soI figured it would be good enough for what I would do with it--so I bought one...it was a yellowish orange color,had a decal with a bow & arrow on it,and some chineese hyroglifics,only thing I could read on it was
2-1/4 ton"...I figured if it lasted me 5 years I would be happy with it..

Well,I still have it today--never had to add oil to it,it always worked fine,and the only issues I had with it was the rear wheels had snap rings that would come off and let the wheels come off--a quick zap with my welder solved that permanently!...

This jack has an overload device that prevents it from pumping up,if the weight is too much for it to handle too..my brother got a brand new Lincoln floor jack at his work,and a truck driver tried using it to take weight off a Mack's front tire that had gone flat one day,and he just kept pumping until he realized the truck wasn't going up,but the jack was folding itself over to one side!--JUNK!--the tool guy refused to warranty it too..so buying a "quality" jack might not get you a good one either--buyer beware...

I've put some "china" cheap tools thru hell and had them hold up prety darn good,but of course some of them failed miserably too...its kind of a crap shoot nowadays,trying to buy "good" tools,you never really know where they came from,even Snap-On and other tool truck brands sell a lot of China and Tiwan tools now...often they just cost more and are no better than what Harbour Frieght or similar discount stores sell...
 
tho I've had the exact same experience with my swap meet floorjack, I'll take on that last bit...

there isn't an item on a Snappie truck that is even remotely the quality of ANYTHING you buy at HF... not even close.. and thats the worst item in the truck and the highest quality you can get from HF...
 
I can only speak of the trucks that come to my friends shop,they are the only tool dealers I have a chance to see and get on their trucks..,maybe they are supplementing their stock with some "bargain" tools...a few months ago my friend got a new stud remover tool that looks like a drill chuck from the S-O guy,and after he left he was showing it to me--I noticed it said "made in Tiwan" on the package!--a week later one Sunday while my friend was at a flea market with his wife,he sees table full of new tools,and there was the same exact tool,for 15 bucks less!...he was not happy,but so far the stud remover works good,and the S-O guy will warrantee it if it fails,the flea market guy might have been there that one day only!..

..but it does suck to know he could have got it cheaper...:rolleyes:

Remember when brand names stood for something ,and they lived up to their expectations??.nowadays its a crap shoot...
 
I can only speak of the trucks that come to my friends shop,they are the only tool dealers I have a chance to see and get on their trucks..,maybe they are supplementing their stock with some "bargain" tools...a few months ago my friend got a new stud remover tool that looks like a drill chuck from the S-O guy,and after he left he was showing it to me--I noticed it said "made in Tiwan" on the package!--a week later one Sunday while my friend was at a flea market with his wife,he sees table full of new tools,and there was the same exact tool,for 15 bucks less!...he was not happy,but so far the stud remover works good,and the S-O guy will warrantee it if it fails,the flea market guy might have been there that one day only!..

..but it does suck to know he could have got it cheaper...:rolleyes:

Remember when brand names stood for something ,and they lived up to their expectations??.nowadays its a crap shoot...

well, I'm talking Snappie and Bluepoint, not other stuff they carry.. my Mac guy carried all kinds of other brands, plenty made in Taiwan, but mostly decent...

most Snappie guys will hardly ever do that from what I've seen.. I think corporate "frowns" upon them carrying other brands, except what's in their catalog....
 
my brand new 20ton hb fr shop press is workin good so far. used it 1-2 times now. not holdin my breath tho. . . .

oh ya i pimped it out with my own stickers. :whistle:

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I've had the same exact one for about 12 yrs now... other than the 2 adjustment bars bending and needed to be replaced with some round tool stock, it's still working fine..

it's at work, used it today as a matter of fact doing a cutlass bearing...
 
cool then i got the good one. 12ton was to dang short and flimsy.

20 ton was welded top and sides and much better. and taller for me.
 
yeah, and the bars bending was us beating the snot out of it... maxing out the jack trying to press a cut shaft out of coupler...

ended up sending it down to our prop guys and his 50 ton barely got it.. said it sounded like a 50 cal going off... :haha:
 
my 1 good friend worked in a fab shop. firsr few days there 1 time he flet the floor shake and heard a huge band. guy in the back corner was punchin 1" holes in 1" plate steel. :eek1: thats a bang. :popcorn:
 
Any of you folks ever hear of Globemaster? I don't see them any more, and its kinda a shame.
You saw their display in hardware stores and grocery stores next to the check out counter.

Always the same. Large table with raised sides filled with all kinds of tools. Almost all of them for 1$.
The table was the best quality item there.

It was all junk, of course, even the stuff you would not think could be made cheaper than it was.
The only things remotely good, was the flexible gripper, the magnet on a flex shaft, and the rubber hammer.

But, you would be amazed what some of the other tools would do, once.

If you needed a metric socket, back when they were unusual, or a 3 foot Phillips screwdriver, it was globemaster all the way.

Just use it and chunk it. Because it would likely break the next time.
 
buy another one, return the old one with the new reciept...done


Sounds like my wifes tactics:waytogo: Mine is usually to let managers/employers(and customers in line) know how much word of mouth matters and what words my mouth will be using to help them advertise...maybe not the best tactic but I feel alot better :pimp:
 
Bought a 3 ton powerbuilt jackstond.bottle jack combo from tractor supply about 6 months ago, never used it. One of the bottle jacks wouldn't seat the valve closed all the way, so it would pump up to the front axle, then back off the valve and not raise the vehicle. No receipt, no box, but it still looked like new and only used it once. Took it back to tsc and the lady at the counter said no receipt, let me get my manager, so the guy john comes over, looks at it, I tell him whats wrong, he walks with me, grab a brand new one, We pull it out of the box look it over, I leave him the box (Since I didn't have one) so he could send the messed up one back and told me that if there was anything wrong with it just bring it back for another. Plan to do more business at that store, even though its across town.
 
Been using my craftsman 3 ton jack for about 22 years, still works awesome. need fluid every so often but it works great. And you should always put jack stands under it to hold it up even if you are only under it for a second.
 
my 1 good friend worked in a fab shop. firsr few days there 1 time he flet the floor shake and heard a huge band. guy in the back corner was punchin 1" holes in 1" plate steel. :eek1: thats a bang. :popcorn:

Must have been a heck of a press, that'd take north of 80 tons depending on the setup...:woot:
 
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