Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,352  
I chuckle to myself when ever Hi Lift jacks are mentioned remembering an article in Mother Earth News back in the 60's when one hippy wrote about his jack,"stand back or eat teeth"!
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,354  
Oh man whatever happened to the Whole Earth Catalogue?

The magazine changed from "How to build it" to "What to buy". I never saw later Catalogs

Bruce
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,355  
The magazine changed from "How to build it" to "What to buy".
Come to think of it, that summarized its evolution and demise. In parallel to Stuart Brand (founder) eventually taking that to the extreme. He bought the biggest Airstream trailer and married a Genuine Authentic American Indian and went out to travel the nation. Nothing but the finest. A year later he had neither.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,356  
.
It's like it wants to kill you!

Not trusting HF for that, bought a Hi Lift Extreme. Been watching training videos to see just how many ways it can kill you.....

...

Oh, heck, it won't kill you. It will just knock out your teeth, break your lower jaw or some combination of the above. But probably not kill.

The jack just auto-ratchets itself on the way down and if you are too close or do not hold the end of handle firmly 100% of the time, you'll see what I mean. 99% of the time is not good enough.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,357  
The jack just auto-ratchets itself on the way down ...
That's when its in good condition.

After it's got some grime in it the springs can't push the pins in at every stroke. When it misses one it falls all the way down.

BTDT.


That design where the pins are just pushed in by spring tension is fundamentally flawed. It should have positive mechanical engagement at each handle stroke.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,358  
I had a Hi Lift jack years ago. Used it in the desert when my jeep got stuck. Only thing it was ever good for was raising the jeep up high then knocking it over to get the tires in a better spot. Since the darn thing always wanted to fall over anyway, that was a natural thing to do with it. That did not require ratcheting down, which was always dangerous.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,359  
I always keep a nice lubricant around like Magic Tap when using my harbor freight tap + die set... they need all the help they can get but work well on simple jobs.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #7,360  
Go to an auto wrecking yard. Many older autos came with a "Bumper Jack". Does about the same job, almost always leans to 1 side. Should be very cheap.

If you are going to lift more than an old Buick or Chrysler., get a " Rail Road Jack ".

What Is a Railroad Jack? (with pictures)
 

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