i got a new jack two weeks ago, used it some, but today the jack seized up and leaked everywhere. im going to try to rebuild it, but just warning you guys

Should be warranteed? Mine was for 60 days, paid another $12, for 2 yr warranty. Have had mine for 5 months no problem, sorry bout your luck, try the warranty???....LOL

oh, i just fixed it. it was air, and the hydraulic release bolt was way too loose. i changed the seals, and bled it. works ok now. its just that sucha new jack shouldn't be giving me problems. but i got working.

I have one of those aluminum low-profile jacks from HF.

In general, I've had zero problems with the hydraulics of off-shore jacks. What I look for now are decent casters. The wheels on these jacks are crap.

i gotta say im not to surprised most harbor frieght tools are throw aways. But i would assume it last a little longer then it did.

I have a 3 ton jack from them and never liked it from the get go, as soon as I touch the handle to let my car down it just drops the damn thing. As a matter of fact there are several things to stay away from, such as their hammers, drills or anything hydraulic. But what it all comes down to is their stuff is cheap and you get what you pay for.

i admit i have bought stuff from harbor freight . most ( 99% i think ) of their stuff is made in china . they have little if any quality control . you get what you pay for . if possible BUY AMERICAN !!! good luck .

can you help me im new to this websitre and i cant figure out how to post questions im having prpblems with my wiondows that i need help with and im looking for the 85 and up gta front and back bumper ground fx for my 84

The 85-90 Trans Am/GTA bumper ground effects are actually molded into the bumper.

it take a few minutes but you can figure this site out its pretty easy



anyway, harbor freights stuff is strange, someone will get parts and tools that last 40 forever, others have no luck, some have 50/50 luck

just pay real good attention to the tool and its how its packaged aslo, that can tell you alot

I have no idea why anyone would risk getting under a car With a $10 jack anyway. Think I paid close to $300 for the blue monster (cornwell). I would do it all again too. Been 4 years and its still like new. Car had a flat one time. I was pissed off about it, & just slapped the jack half on the curb, half off the curb. It didnt give for anything, even with a huge slant.

which cornwell jack did you buy?

The "cornwell blue monster" Tried to google some pics, but didnt find any. Ill take some later.

Details on Cornwell Tools "The Blue Monster" can be found here. (clicky-clicky)

Yep that's it. Thank You.

The price might be high, but I bet, I never have trouble out of it. Well worth the price to me. I trust it with no jack stands sometimes. Only cause the parts car is using all four right now. Yes, its that good.

NAPA has the same jack for 239.00. Part number is 791-6402. Two year warranty. Floor Jack, 2-Tons
Front
Part: NLE 7916402 Product Line: NAPA Lifting Equipment List Price
Your Cost
Unit
:
:
:
411.76
239.00
Each
Qty
Features & Benefits Dual Pump Mechanism Which Reduces Handle Strokes Up to 50 Percent While Not Effecting Handle Effort, Nylon Wheels & Casters to Reduce Damage to Coated or Painted Floors & Reduced Noise During Transport Attributes Jack Closed Height : 2-3/4"
Jack Lift Distance : 18"
Jack Raised Height : 19-5/8"
Jack Saddle Diameter : 5"
Lift Capacity : 2-Tons
Unit Weight : 90 lbs
Air Operated : No
Dimensions : 31" L x 16" W x 8-1/4" H
Warranty 2 Years

thanks guys

Back to the HF jack. You shouldn't be complaining. After all you bought it from a store notorious for having junk at real cheap prices.

Glad you could fix it yourself!

I bought and exchanged 3 Dual action pnematic sanders, all junk, But iv had a Pnematic right angle grinder from them and have use the hell out of it and still works great.

yeah its junk, and fluid everywhere. i guess you were rite. sorry i flipped early, i m glad it failed. later i can go down to kragen get a better jack. but im still mad. remember people dont ever buy "active" products(jacks, airtools,) from habor freights. they cause injury or even death.

Your example shows you crying.

But like I said, glad you got it working!

transam85dudeman gave a honest review of bad product and you bash him.

i think it is time for this thread to be locked before it gets out of control

i picked up the 2 ton folding cherry picker from farbor freight, granted its only been used once, it work well, my only complaint is the boom is about 10 inches to short to pull a motor over the nose of a firebird, so we went over the fender instead.

i imagine that is an issue with most production cherry pickers tho. a friend has one that his cousin built years ago as a school project and its got plenty of reach but it doesnt fold and it is probably double the weight of mine


as for the harbor freight units quality the paint looks terrible, but the welds and hardware look decent, as do the casters, it uses all swivel casters even on the tips of the legs, this could be a downfall to some as the swivels could present issues trying to push it in straight to the car and are likely to take a beating under the weight of engines if you use it frequently, but mine wont get used enough to worry about it, and i like the extra mobility. i was able to steer it and push it where i wanted on my own with a 350 hanging using the handles on the back of the mast.

after seeing about this fellas jack failing i will be keeping close watch on the jack

I buy quite a bit of stuff from HF. I've got an air compressor, impact, air ratchet, die grinder, sockets, wrenches, grease gun, timing light, and jack stands. I'm broke, live in walking distance of a HF and when I need something quick and don't feel like spending a crap load of money on something that I won't use very often, I go to HF. The only thing I've used and abused are my air tools, had that stuff for about a year and have never had any problems with them.

I would never buy a jack from them though.

how about Sears and Roebuck then for jacks

check this fella's. i was upset that my investment was sour, but noooo, i rose above that. i was determined. I had to. i found out the defect and fixed it. it was the release valve. the gear assembly completely came out. Long story, but it took no time to fix it. i learn a lot about hydraulics and used common sense to finally fix the mother. i would get under the car to prove that its fix. Habor freight is awesome, just next time, ill get a USA MADE jack, because USA ROCKS. I think it a concidence that this happen the same week im going to do my complete brake system rebuild. i mean everything is getting rebuilt. Calipers; front and rear with the new GM #18019028 that fixes the recalled rear calipers, new hoses, new rotors, master cylinder rebuild, new bearings seals, brake pads. just all new. im sick of hearing growling in the rear along with jingling pads, and worn pad-to-rotor noise in the front. its like a brake system thats seen it all. but come tomorrow, with the jack i just fixed and the knowledge of the Hydraulic knowledge, im ready. only one thing. i got to napa 20mins after closing, damn rear rotors are warped from not having anti rattling springs. but come tomorrow, its on

My dad had a craftsman jack. He had it for about 13 years. It was a good jack till about 3 years ago. It started bleeding, and when it did, it would pop, then the car would drop very little at a time. It would do this over, and over. No one ever got hurt, but still didn't feel safe at all . I made my dad promise to use jack stands, and expressed my concern. He later bought a new jack.

None the less, 10 good years, out of a jack that didn't cost an arm, & a leg is pretty darn good. I may have bought one myself, but I like the wide wheels my monster has.

Nobody should EVER be under a car without jackstands. It doesn't matter how much you trust your jack.

Is that the in-store price? I checked NAPA online and it shows it for $374.

Sorry bout the price. That is the wholesale shop rate. Now that you know what the shops pay for it you can bargin with them.

I just bought a couple little dinker (not really needed but could be used) things.

Battery Terminal Cleaner
Waste Oil Storage Container (Holds 8qt)
Oil Pan with Spout (To transfer to container)
Oxygen Sensor Thread Chaser (My headers were coated so...)
10mm/14mm Spark Plug Thread Chaser (New plugs, might as well clean the threads)
4 Piece Anodized Aluminum Valve Set - Black (Someone stole mine?)
1/2" Drive Click Stop Torque Wrench (Needed for a couple little things)
3/8" Drive Click Stop Torque Wrench (Needed for a couple little things)
1/4" Drive Click Stop Torque Wrench (Needed for a couple little things)
Siphon Pump Kit (Removing my gas)
6 Piece Panel/Trim Removal Tool Set (Mainly to remove my hood latch cover thingy)
Power Steering Pump Puller Kit (Want to remove from bracket to sandblast and clean acc. brackets)

So, anything I should be cautious with. If I buy serious I go name brand, craftsman, clarke, snap on, dremel and the likes.

i got one of the harbor freight aluminum jacks.it lifts well.i always use it to jack up just one tire.the problem with it is the front wheel is centered instead of on the sides.i stuck it under the rearend of my van and jacked it all the way up to install six by six blocks under the tires and it rolled off the jack sideways before i could.it ended up not hurting anything other than breaking the carry handle off the jack because of the vans ground clearance.i have another floor jack but its very heavy and doesn't roll well through the grass to the concreted part of my driveway.

i've been using my $25 advance auto jack for about 4 yrs now without issue, but i've also got a couple sets of jack stands doing the major work. i'd love something lower profile, but no need for now.

as for HF, I love them for oddball tools that I only plan on using once or twice. got a few allen wrenches and sockets along with a few drill adapter parts. If I get more than a couple uses out of them, they more than pay for themselves to me.

my aluminum low profile 3 ton from HF has been working flawlessly for the past two years. even on my 7000lb Tahoe. if you take care of them and don't misuse them, they will last. only paid i think $140 for it on sale.

Don't know about Harbor Freight, but I'd imagine they are similar in quality (as they are in price) to the Mack jack I was given as a HS graduation present because I was always borrowing my neighbor's jack. That Mack lasted about 2 years. The handle was too short, so I lengthened it with a bar I had from some garden tool or another. That was the first thing. Second was the bracket, which was made of sheet steel only slightly thicker than our car bodies, that connected the handle mechanism to the hydraulic piston, broke right in half one night. That was the end of that. One of the jack stands that came with it had one of the handles break as well...

Few months later, I find myself having to replace my driver's side brake rotor because the wheel studs broke while I was driving to Ohio (major ). Bought a small Torin red/black jack because I didn't have the emergency jack in the hatch. Worked fine for a couple months, and I haven't used it since about 2005 because it sprang a leak for absolutely no reason.

The one I use all of the time was bought at Wal-Mart. My father bought it for $65 after the Mack broke along with a set of their cheapo Road Gear jack stands. It's a Torin Black Jack, 3 ton. Only thing I wish it had was the short second pump handle next to the other one for pumping it up with no clearance, and that it was a little shorter because of the front air dam.

Seeing as how this thread is about Harbor Freight... Here we go.
1. Sheet metal flanger lasted exactly 5 minutes before the head broke off of one of the handles.
2. Windshield glass sealant cutter lasted a couple hours. Was dull as no tomorrow when bought even though it looks sharp, couldn't cut through the sealant on my windshield. Sharpened the blade with my grinder and it still didn't do anything. Ended up breaking the blade off.
3. Grinder used to sharpen the windshield remover thing lasted about 8 months or so... Burned out being used with a wire brush attachment to remove the rest of the windshield adhesive/sealant after I said "screw this" and broke the windshield out. Replaced with another one, one model up. This one vibrates like crazy, WAY more than the other one did with the same attachments, and the gear case screws came loose after a few minutes of use and it leaked out some gear grease.
4. Wire brushes for angle grinders: Had 2 of them. The first was a standard disc-type. The second was a cup-type with the bristles parallel to the grinder shaft. DO NOT BUY EITHER unless you feel like wearing either heavy leather clothes in the middle of summer or Kevlar. Both of them shed bristles, ON THE TOOL THEY WERE DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH, like an animal sheds hair in the middle of summer. Especially the cup brush, and those bristles are THICK and hurt like a bee sting when they enter your skin. I looked like a porcupine when I got done cleaning the body filler and paint off of the roof bow of my car. I still occasionally find bristles from both brushes in my clothing that I was wearing while using the brushes.

just bought a diesel compression gauge from hf a couple months back. right about the time you got the engine rolled over 3 times the quick disconnect would lose its grip and pop off of the adapter fitting. piece of crap.

had a set of hf taps that were unable to thread some thin mild steel plate i had. their threading teeth just rolled right off. maybe useable for aluminum or plastic?

had a hf air drill that had absolutely no balls. i started using a roto pad on it instead. thats all it was good for.

had some hf 4 1/2" cutoff wheels that would randomly fly apart.

hf hand trucks will roll the tires off the wheels with a 100 lb. electric motor sitting on it.

their stuff LOOKS like useable tools, and sometimes is.... but if you are going to be spending ANY money on something, you at least need it to do the intended job. otherwise you are getting nothing accomplished.

2 useable tools from hf are 1/2" impact sockets, and hammers. if it has moving parts in the tool, i would rather buy somewhere else.

Those disc got worse and worse quality wise over the years.

I use to buy lots of them. They are made in russia and Im pretty sure they don't have a proper 4 1/2 in disc maker, as it seemd the first 1/2 just ate right off. [they also made 4in disc]

but then it go even worse where they would just come apart.

Menards has em cheap enough and they last long noeugh to pay $1 each

i've got a lot of "moving parts" tools from HF that are lasting me. angle grinder, air impact wrench, air buffer, 3 ton aluminum jack, and lots more. all has been working great for me.

i have bought alot ofstuff from hf...worst thing was a drill..i think it had plastic gears and stripped out easily..the best things.the red and black pliers in many styles and come as singles,they work great,another is the larger jack stands,i have several set of them,no problems.

on the jacks,i bought the on sale alum jack,rated to 3000 i think..it had a short life.i now use a suv jack rated to 7000 from tractor supply.

i have the same jack,had it for 8 years and its been great, gets used almost every day.cornwell tools blue monster is the way to go

you are lucky.
i also have a hf cherry picker and 20 ton press. the cherry picker has been ok, other than the crappy swivel casters that dont roll all that well and DO NOT want to turn so you can change direction. i have to use a 6ft. bar shoved into the baseleg to get it to turn where i need it. (while its got weight on it)

the 20 ton press has worked well, my only problem with it has been overall height. its on the short side, and makes it difficult to work on axle shafts. i also bought a hf bearing seperator with it, and it is only good for small jobs. the material is too weak for the heavier stuff, and it will bend/flex in the area that squeezes the bearings. i have one at work that was made in the usa that popped a stuck bearing race right off like butter after i had bent my hf one at the house.

a friend of mine bought 2 of them in one year and they both crapped out on him at the same time. he fixed one, and it died again a couple of months later.