Recall: HF Pittburgh jack stands

[Mooseman]

I just received an email from HF about this recall because I have bought four of the 6 ton version. And I had just used them recently too.

Since we don't have HF in Canada, what am I supposed to do with them? The closest one is in Pottsdam NY and the border is still closed for at least another month, and I don't plan on travelling to the US just for this or anything else.

Anyway, if you have these you should stop using them and bring them back. According to this article, there about 450,000 of them in circulation.

Harbor Freight Jack Stands Recalled for Risk of Collapsing

Check yours immediately.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[aaserv]

I been laying under 4 of them for the last 6 months. I didnt trust them because Id have em on say the 3rd notch and slide em over a feet and they would drop...Seemed to me if they would drop like that they would drop if the car got bumped or something. I backed them up with house jacks , glad I did...

 

[Mooseman]

I think it has to do with the flats on the ratchet notches that if the lock doesn't fully engage inside the notch, it can just drop. Otherwise I can't see how they can come out of the notch if it's in properly.

Princess Auto (Canada's version of HF) has their Pro Point brand that looks very similar however, their newer version now has an additional safety pin that goes across the next notch above so even if the ratchet were to fail somehow, the pin will prevent the collapse.

And I remembered seeing this video.

 

[Mounce]

Took my pair of 3 tons back today. Need to replace them but they didn't have any in stock if you could imagine..

 

[Beacon]

I feel lucky that my laziness has saved me. I just bought another pair of jack stands last fall, and was too lazy to drive all the way to if even though I knew I could get them cheaper there.
I wonder how many people have been hurt by these?

 

[Mooseman]

There is a lawsuit but sounds looks like a feeler to attract those that have been injured.

Harbor Freight Jack Stands Lawsuit (Jun 2025 Update)

Harbor Freight recalls three models of Jack Stands over fall or injury risk. Contact our law firm immediately for a FREE evaluation if you’ve been affected.

www.schmidtandclark.com

This article says that there is no mention of actual injuries or deaths with them.

Harbor Freight recalls over 1.7 million jack stands that can suddenly collapse

Harbor Freight is recalling over 1.7 million Pittsburgh-branded jack stands that can suddenly collapse due to a manufacturing flaw. The recall campaign includes three- and six-ton stands wearing item numbers 56371, 61196 or 61197. Harbor Freight told the National Highway Traffic Safety...

ca.news.yahoo.com

I've noticed many similarities to Princess Auto's stands to the HF. I just fired off an email to them to see if they happen to be from the same source.

 

[Mooseman]

Here's another video that came up and shows the difference between the new replacement ones and the defective ones and how it can collapse.

 

[Mooseman]

And another one compared to the replacements:

 

[Mooseman]

Got a response back from Princess Auto:

We are sorry for the delay in response due to the volumes of email correspondence being received,

The stands carried by Princess Auto are produced in a separate facility, and purchased from a separate vendor to the one that impacted items carried by Harbor Freight. Quality assurance testing, continues to pass on the product being purchased/received, meaning that there is no current reason to doubt their safe use within the application that they are designed for.

 

[Mounce]

Went to HF today for something. Forgot to look at the display so I asked the cashier and he said they had no idea when they'd get some back in stock.

Anyone have experience with the aluminum models? I need some more desperately right now but I'm not sure I trust aluminum. Haven't looked at other options yet, so I'll do that now lol.

 

[Redbeard]

The replacement JACK STAND now has a recall per email received 7/7/2020:

To the Harbor Freight Community:
I'm writing to apologize. I often reach out to tell you about Harbor Freight's commitment to quality and all the investments we've made to deliver quality tools at the lowest prices. Your trust matters deeply to me and I'm proud of how far we've come. So when we have a product recall, it hurts.
A few months ago, we recalled our Pittsburgh 3 ton and 6 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56371, 61196 and 61197) due to a manufacturer's defect. We asked customers to return them and receive a gift card that could be used to purchase replacement jack stands. I felt terrible about that recall because you should never have a concern about the safety of any of our products.
Today, I feel even worse. I'm disappointed and embarrassed because we've identified a welding defect in a small number of the Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKU 56373) that replaced the recalled jack stands. We're now adding these jack stands to our recall. Unfortunately, this defect wasn't discovered during the initial recall investigation. If you own these jack stands or any of the jack stands in our original recall, whether or not you have had an issue with them, please stop using them immediately and bring them back to your local Harbor Freight Store for a full cash refund or store credit (see details here).
We have investigated all of our other Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56371, 56372 and 57308) as well as the Pittsburgh 6 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56368, 56369 and 56370) and Pittsburgh 12 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56374 and 56375) and did not find the defect. Although none of these other jack stands are being recalled, if you own any of them and have any concern whatsoever, please bring them back and we'll give you a full cash refund or store credit for those as well.
I want to apologize to all of our customers. While we've dramatically grown our team of engineers and inspectors, and intensified our tests and inspections, I assure you that the lessons learned from this will drive further improvement.
As the owner and founder of Harbor Freight, I want you to know that we stand behind every product we sell and that safety will always be our top priority.
Sincerely,

Eric Smidt
Owner and Founder
Harbor Freight Tools

 

[Mektek]

From the video, the design of the old ones is not the greatest, but they are good enough. Kicking the release lever to release the ratchet mechanism is not something you would normally do. He said himself that he put heavy trucks on the stands with no issue.
Nonetheless I'll take a look at my old stands - similar design but did not come from HFT...

 

[Mooseman]

I think the issue with the original recall is that rocking the jacked vehicle back and forth can make the pawl walk out across the flat tooth until it comes out of the tooth. The teeth are flat as opposed to the angled up teeth on the new ones where the pawl practically can't come out without taking the load's weight off.

On two of my 6 ton HF's, I can see that the pawl only engaged on one corner with paint worn away there and not the other end so it's not straight. The teeth are flat. On a pair of replacements I just bought from Princess Auto, the teeth are angled slightly upwards which makes it impossible to lift the release arm with a load on, as well as a secondary safety pin that goes across the teeth and also prevent the main pawl from lifting.

 

[Mektek]

Yep. Simple low/no cost design change causes a significant improvement. Our GMTs could benefit from such consideration