Do you sleep easy knowing your jack is made in China?

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jos51700

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I don't.

I've used this one maybe a half dozen times even though I bought it years ago. It's only been under my Neons, only on level cement. I might have used it on the wife's Caliber once to do a rear strut. I always use my jack stands, unless the jack folds before I can get a stand under it!

I had this one at about 3/4 lift, turned around to grab the stand and when I tried to slide it under, it wouldn't clear the car. WTH?

Looked at the jack and it was doing three-wheel-motion like Ice Cube.
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Spend the coin if you can, and get an American-made jack. If I'd had my hand in between the hard spots, my hand would've become a soft spot. This is a Larin jack that lived in the trunk so I wouldn't have to use the factory jack, but looks the same as the pawn-store trash I see at lots of autoparts stores. I ended up using the factory jack with a ratchet for the time being.

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ya, even sliding the stands underneath i'm careful about getting in the bite
 
Yup in and out quick, I always have the jack stands ready to go. I actually had wind blow the car over off the jack stands fortunately I had blocking under it also.
 
I dunno. I have a pretty heavy duty big assed 2&1/2 ton Chinese made floor jack that I have had since around 1987. I use the **** out of it all the time, even toss it in the back of my truck for junkyard jaunts. Sure this thing is a hernia maker, but it has never let me down. I plan on buying a china freight 3 ton Daytona jack. It's got that super low front for getting under front spoilers. Has that nascar 2 pump lift style valve in it.

I dont think its necessarily where the jack is made, but how it's made. If this jack you have is a cheapie hydraulic jack with stamped steel sides, then well I would say I sure wouldent use it. However something like the one I have that uses 1/4" thick steel side plates, and a wide wheel stance for stability then why not. Not all floor jacks are created equal. Theres junk **** jacks from china, and good jacks from china. Find one that's built with thick steel with a wide stance and not look back.
 
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$29 china freight cheap ****. Notice the stamped side frames and weak assed manufacturing. Not sure if this is what your using or not.

Last pic is the china freight Daytona 3 ton. $129. Apparently this jack was compared to a Snap On 3 ton jack. Now being I am a hobbyist I will go with the $129 over the prob $600 snap on jack.

I guess you get what you pay for.

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Thats why I block my car with big 3 x 10 blocks. I dont trust those cheap jack stands with the ratcheting teeth made of cast imposter metal. I have heard stories of the teeth shearing off and the car dropping.
 
I have had a 2-1/2 ton jack from china for 20 some odd years.
Cheap stands too.
Not the 3 tons, but the 6 ton stands. I prefer the heavy stands and the larger style floor jack.
The toy jacks are good for lifting atv’s and little trailers.
 
I never get under a car without two forms of support. Jack & jack stand, and maybe tires under the frame. Figure it will take two Chinese to kill me.....
 
I sleep well knowing my old cheapie is in the scrap metal pile, but it's been hanging out with a blown up 904 so I'm a little concerned about it's morals.

X2 on two different types of support.
 
Last pic is the china freight Daytona 3 ton. $129. Apparently this jack was compared to a Snap On 3 ton jack. Now being I am a hobbyist I will go with the $129 over the prob $600 snap on jack.

Per Eric Simdt, CEO of Harbor Freight, the Daytona jack is built at the same factory with the same features as the Snap-On. Snap-On buys their jack from a distributor that buys the jack from the factory.

You see an awful lot of shops with Daytona jacks... and not just one, but several of them.

It's a moot point for me. My Sears jack that I bought about 1975 is still going strong.
 
My jack started leaking today, right out of the blue! Harbor Freight 2.5 ton model. I have kept my old Craftsman jack I have had since the 70's. I am going to try and rebuild the pump. ALWAYS use jack stands, I had a friend die under a Duster. Not worth it.
 
I'm thinking about how many times I changed tires on Mopars using a slot bumper jack. Damn, I wouldn't trust those today.. so damn easy to tip. My Pa taught me well though.. get the spare out, put it under the rocker, so the wheel is under, but don't put your hands under or on top of the tire. Get the lugs loose. Jack it up with the bumper jack. Keep your hands off the top of the tire under the fender, and your feet out from under the car... kneel and pull the wheel off. Slide the spare out from under the rocker, and slide the shot tire/wheel back under. Put the new on, again, no hands on top, no body parts underneath. Get it bolted up snug, drop it enough so the tire is tight, crank the lugs on. Pull the bad tire, drop the jack.
I never go under a car with only one point of raising it. Never. Something solid underneath that will not give.. enough not to crush me. Wheels are good for that. A heavy block of oak. Something.
Pa taught me well. :)
 
My jack started leaking today, right out of the blue! Harbor Freight 2.5 ton model. I have kept my old Craftsman jack I have had since the 70's. I am going to try and rebuild the pump. ALWAYS use jack stands, I had a friend die under a Duster. Not worth it.

Dude.... that sucks, sorry to hear it.
 
I sleep just fine, because I'm not dumbass enough to use the jack to support a load, only to lift it as it's designed. Even American made jacks are not made to support loads. Use jack stands.
 
I have had a 3.5 ton Pittsburg jack for the past 8 years and it's worked great, same with my stands 2tons each one. I also built these based on a members advice and they are amazing, and they were built right here in the U.S of A

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I have had a 3.5 ton Pittsburg jack for the past 8 years and it's worked great, same with my stands 2tons each one. I also built these based on a members advice and they are amazing, and they were built right here in the U.S of A

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I like those a lot. Nice work!
 
Ever notice that folks have preconceived concerns with the quality and durability of Chinese built hard parts like hydraulic jacks and hand tools, but have no quality concerns with the Chinese built cell phones, computers and flat screen tv’s that they use every day.
 
$29 china freight cheap ****. Notice the stamped side frames and weak assed manufacturing. Not sure if this is what your using or not.

Last pic is the china freight Daytona 3 ton. $129. Apparently this jack was compared to a Snap On 3 ton jack. Now being I am a hobbyist I will go with the $129 over the prob $600 snap on jack.

I guess you get what you pay for.

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Mine is the same jack by pictures. It was purchased at a name brand store back when Larin was semi-name brand, right when the Chinese Invasion began. At the time, there were many American-made jacks that were similar, and I'd used many of them, but the metal was stronger, and I'm sure that there were other corners cut on this jack.

Per Eric Simdt, CEO of Harbor Freight, the Daytona jack is built at the same factory with the same features as the Snap-On. Snap-On buys their jack from a distributor that buys the jack from the factory.

You see an awful lot of shops with Daytona jacks... and not just one, but several of them.

It's a moot point for me. My Sears jack that I bought about 1975 is still going strong.

I don't care if it's from the same plant or not. I don't trust the Chinese stuff, never will. Maybe it comes from the same plant, just from the 'reject' pile. You never know and can't trust 'em.

Ever notice that folks have preconceived concerns with the quality and durability of Chinese built hard parts like hydraulic jacks and hand tools, but have no quality concerns with the Chinese built cell phones, computers and flat screen tv’s that they use every day.

Of the three items you list, none will physically crush a person through failure.

And I try to buy non-Chinese on that stuff as well.
 
I've had good luck with my HF 2.5 ton low profile since 2012.
 
Bought my steel one at Sears in Ocala, FL the night before I raced in Florida during Speed Weeks in 1987.

I was pissed because it was made in Japan!

Been almost flawless all those years.

Now the aluminum "racing" jack I own has been missing for three years now...

Luckily my 9000lb two post lift is too heavy to steal.
 
Harbor Fright one I had lasted about 5 years until it started leaking fluid and I could not find a rebuild kit anywhere. But the steel parts are good as new.

Summit Racing aluminum jack I bought (do not know where it's made) has lasted 15 years and has worked flawlessly. Well worth the few extra $$.
 
Mine is the same jack by pictures. It was purchased at a name brand store back when Larin was semi-name brand, right when the Chinese Invasion began. At the time, there were many American-made jacks that were similar, and I'd used many of them, but the metal was stronger, and I'm sure that there were other corners cut on this jack.

Wait a minute... Are we talking about this type of jack?
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This is a toy... It should say Fischer-Price "My First Jack" on the box. It is obviously failure waiting to happen and you can't compare it to other real car jacks and I don't care where they are made.
 
I had the K-Mart version of that small jack for decades.

Was the only thing I could afford.
 
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