From Garage Jounal...

"Earlier I posted that I was looking at the HF 4000 pound aluminum jack. I ended up buying it and today was my first opportunity to put it to use. This thing is a huge piece of sh!t and is going back on Monday. Straight out of the box, this thing will not even think about lifting my car. I tried bleeding the pump per the instructions and still nothing. Luckily, the Craftsman Club sale flyer came today and they have one on sale next week.

Stay away from Harbor Freight. Next time, I'll take my own advice."


And a reply...

"Man, same crap happened to me with the engine crane I bought from them. "Good deal" I thought until I got home and couldn't raise the hoist. Ram was dead. Took it back.

Nothing worse than taking back heavy $hit.

Sorry to hear it was a POS..."

Another...

"Yup, my jack from HF is a piece of junk too. I wish I could get an AC Hydraulics jack. I've always thought they were too expensive........... but now I see the importance of a high quality jack. Especially on a lowered car!


If you can, skip the Sears model and get an AC Hydraulics jack!!!!!!"



BTW, the AC Hydraulics is the same one Wayne sells at Pelican.

I read that earlier today. I think it is funny how people figure they can get something quality for cheap. Doesn't work that way.

Mine has worked great for 2 years. I guess I just got lucky.
Elliot

I have lots of tools from HF and they work great. I don't own a jack from them so I can't comment on that part but the rest of the tools take care of business with no problem, all for about 1/4 the price of a comperable rip off craftsman tool.

I have two 3.5 ton floor jacks from HF. One is about 8 years old, the other is about a year old. They get a LOT of use. About two years ago, the older of the two started to "bleed down" some while in use, so I bought the other. However, even the older one is still usable.

I've also had two smaller Craftsman jacks. One stuck in the up position while I was trying to lower a 911 engine onto a roller cart. The bleeder screw then flew out of the body, across the room, spewing hydraulic oil, and the jack went THUNK. Fortunately, no damage to the engine.

Another one worked OK for about 6 months before it wouldn't even hold up the back end of a Mini (an old Mini, so we're talking maybe 300lbs here).

Maybe I've gotten lucky, but HF jacks have been higher quality than Craftsman, at least.

I also have an HF crane, which has lifted about 5 engines. Works great so far.

I have yet to buy a single item from HF that didn't work as expected.

also...
there are 2 different HF aluminum jacks out there.
one sells for 80bucks... the other for 130-ish

they are worlds apart in quality and design.
the 130 model is a knock off of a rather good jack and is actually pretty well made.

mine has been flawless
brant