Testing Jack Stands with a hydraulic press.

I don't remember the members name, been so long, but he was lucky to some how drag himself out from under his 914. After the jack stands failed and the car fell on him. It messed him up good. I learned from him. Thanks for this video

His name is Mike "The Human Jackstand" Ginter. The jack stand was a ratchet type, and it dumped to minimum height when the ratchet handle was bumped. His wife was able to jack the 914 back off of him.

He was lucky. Always use safety pins in jack stands with ratchets.

Clay

Those were some pretty nice jack stands. It would be nice if he tried the test again but this time with Harbor Freight style jack stands

That was cool, thanks for sharing it! The "ratchet" stands I'll never use, but will say impressed the one held up well. Although strength isn't their weak point, it is the slipping of the ratchet mechanism and others have already said.

My garage still will only have pin-through jack stands with little safety clips. I also always toss inflated tires under whatever I'm working on.

I do use the ratchet stands, been using that version for 40 years, and never had an issue. in fact my experience is no matter how hard you hit the ratchet releases, its not releasing as long as that stand is under load. i always have to jack it back up a bit to release the load, before i can release the ratchet arm. i'm sure you guys noticed the forces required to make the ratchet style - even W?O the pin fail right? about 5800 KG - about 12,000 lbs. thats 6 914s stacked on top of each other.

But I'm sure they fail, just like everything else, so be extra safe!

I used them for years. I no longer do. There are better/safer options now.

There was another youtube video that tested ratchet type failure, and how much pressure was needed to make them fail. One of the things that they thought would happen was that the shear pin for the handle would do its job and shear before enough force was put on the lever to make it move. That did not happen, and the shear pin failed to shear as designed which let the jackstand collapse under load.

That said, it took a lot of load. Like 600 lbs IIRC, to lift the handle.

A properly made ratchet should be very strong under load.

Poorly cast or old worn ratchets and YMMV. I just use pin types now.

Zach

Pin style , jack still under car if doable for the task,wood blocks under car and chalk wheels.

I have a set of ratchet stands that I use as a backup, in addition to my pinned stands, because overkill is good.