Quick Tips: US Jack 6 Ton Jack Stands
These high quality jack stands may be the last set I will ever need to buy.
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Welcome to Quick Tips, where I will share tool or parts tips that have saved me time, money, and often, headaches. I will only share tips on tools or parts that I use myself.
If you work on your own cars I am sure you have heard of the infamous Harbor Freight jack stand recall, where they recalled approximately 1.7 million jackstands. Per this HF link, if a shift in weight occurred, the single-tooth pawl could disengage causing the lifting post to drop. Fortunately I never had an issue. HF stands held my 911 up in the air for 3.5 years during my engine rebuild and they even survived a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on July 5th 2019. Still, my confidence in my old stands was “shaken” and I promptly traded them all in for store credit.
Since most big box and online store jack stands were of the same single-pawl design, I decided my best bet was to see if there were better designed units out there.
I found this pair of impressive 6 ton stands from US Jack. They are American made, powdercoated, have a wide square base, and have a pawl with 2 teeth per stand. This double pawl design means that each tooth is supporting 50% of the load on that stand, while on a single pawl design, the tooth is supporting 100% of the load on that stand. There is a solid steel reinforcement rod welded around the perimeter of the stamped legs to prevent the four legs from spreading outward and collapsing the stand. They meet ASME PASE-2014 which is a national testing standard for automotive service equipment. The last selling point for me was US Jack states on their site that 60% of their business comes from government contracts including some aerospace defense suppliers. Based on my prior career stint in aerospace, that tells me that there is a high chance that their quality standards are higher than your typical consumer-level jack stand.
With these impressive specs, I went ahead and ordered a pair in 2020.
After using them for over a year and a half I can confidently say that I love these stands. They are rock solid, heavy, and fit perfectly under the rear torsion bar covers or under the front caps of the front torsion bars.
One tooth from their lowest position, they can hold the 911’s rear wheels off the ground for a tire change or gearbox oil change. At the 25 1/4” max lifting height, they were tall enough to hold up my Tacoma for front suspension work and are tall enough for a 911 engine drop. The tolerances between all the moving parts are tighter than on most of the off-the-shelf single pawl stands I have used. On most single pawl stands, the higher you go, the more the lifting post rocks back and forth. That doesn’t happen with these.
I like the short, heavy finger loop to disengage the pawl rather than the long rotating lever arm on the single pawl stands. The rotating lever arms always sketched me out anytime I accidentally kicked them or bumped them with a hand tool. It is very difficult to disengage the pawls when there is a load resting on the lifting post.
To be completely fair to HF, their revised 3 ton stands now meet ASME PASE-2019 and have many similar safety features such as reinforced bases and a locking pin that acts as a second pawl and prevents the rotating pawl from disengaging off the lifting post. Great to see HF pivot and revise a very popular product.
I still support HF. I bought a pair of their 3 ton aluminum Daytona stands with the locking crosspin, to use under the lightweight front of the 911 as a more compact and secure alternative to the old single pawl stands. Ultimately, make your own comparisons and draw your own conclusions. US Jack proactively created a stout stand design and it won a new customer in me.
Why am I still messing with stands and why don’t I just get a lift like a MaxJax or Quick Jacks. As much as I would love a lift, I can get my 911 off the ground and onto 4 jack stands in about 8 minutes, at a comfortable pace. When I am finished, my 4 stands are out of the way and take up very little space inside a cabinet. Ill keep living the jack stand life as long as I am in my 2 car garage and still able to maneuver underneath cars. Now with these US Jack stands I can continue to do so with greater peace of mind.
I hope this helps!
Note: As always, please please please be safe around any car lifting equipment and follow the manufacturers’ instructions to prevent serious injury or death.