Stop using these immediately--Harbor Freight Recall

[R Clark]

This is getting resurrected...HF announced new recall on some jack stands that replaced defective jackstands...

Linky


I heard about it because I got an e-mail from HF just now telling me about it.

[Robert Adams]

This is getting resurrected...HF announced new recall on some jack stands that replaced defective jackstands...

Linky


I heard about it because I got an e-mail from HF just now telling me about it.

     There was one that the welds broke on. You would think that they would have the best welds in the world since they get way more practice than everyone else. But... The welder wasn't set hot enough to penetrate into the steel and the welds just sat on top of the steel. Usually the issue you see is porosity in the welds as they don't stop welding when the run out of gas. They are using Co2 for their mig welds since it's cheaper than Co2 Argon and works fine on that stuff as long as you don't run out.  

      It's unfortunate but they are handling it very well. Other tool importers just ignore quality and safety issues. You can be sure that in the future they won't have any issues as they will come down hard on the factories and often the local Govt in China gets involved when it becomes a big issue that harms a large customer.

[Cooler]

Our company produces welded D-rings among other items.  When we test them the welds break at about 1,400 pounds of pull. 

We decided to import some from China (a mistake that has not been repeated).  The D-rings were within spec, and the welds looked beautiful.  But the welds popped open between 200 and 400 pounds of pull.  We had to trash the entire shipment.

We sent the D-rings to a testing laboratory to see what kind of steel they had used.  The lab said, "It does not conform to any known specification.  It seems like they just melted a bunch of scrap steel and used whatever came out." 

It had a high silicone content.  Welds on steel with a high silicone content are always suspect.

So the question I am asking, which cannot be answered by anyone without a laboratory for testing, is "What kind of steel did they use?"

If it were a nondescript steel like on our D-rings, no matter how carefully they set the welder the welds will be suspect.

The Chinese are capable of turning out quality goods.  But when a job seems simple they don't ask for engineering help and just wing it.  I am wondering if that is the case here.

[Robert Adams]

Our company produces welded D-rings among other items.  When we test them the welds break at about 1,400 pounds of pull. 

We decided to import some from China (a mistake that has not been repeated).  The D-rings were within spec, and the welds looked beautiful.  But the welds popped open between 200 and 400 pounds of pull.  We had to trash the entire shipment.

We sent the D-rings to a testing laboratory to see what kind of steel they had used.  The lab said, "It does not conform to any known specification.  It seems like they just melted a bunch of scrap steel and used whatever came out." 

It had a high silicone content.  Welds on steel with a high silicone content are always suspect.

So the question I am asking, which cannot be answered by anyone without a laboratory for testing, is "What kind of steel did they use?"

If it were a nondescript steel like on our D-rings, no matter how carefully they set the welder the welds will be suspect.

The Chinese are capable of turning out quality goods.  But when a job seems simple they don't ask for engineering help and just wing it.  I am wondering if that is the case here.

 
                If you are having a company make your products there you have to have someone there in house at all times to keep an eye on what is going on. As for the welds if you look at the pics of the broken one the weld bead looks like a bead of RTV on top of the steel. It looked more like an attempt at pad welding than trying to weld pieces together. A very cold weld. Who knows what they used for welding wire. Could have been old coat hangars... Course guys have been known to use them here for TIG welding etc...

[mad_planter]

"The Chinese are capable of turning out quality goods."

As long as a third party or the company buying the product provide independent product quality control.  Their manufacturing process seems to be 'whatever you can get away with'.  Same goes for their software.

[Cooler]

"The Chinese are capable of turning out quality goods."

As long as a third party or the company buying the product provide independent product quality control.  Their manufacturing process seems to be 'whatever you can get away with'.  Same goes for their software.

Years ago India was exporting to the USA.  It was not a problem because everything they produced was junk and they pretty much disappeared.  The Chinese bring in outside expertise to set up and they are capable of quality products. 

The bigger issue occurs when the product seems so simple that they don't feel that they need the outside help.  That was the problem we faced.  They thought, "How hard is it to make D-rings?" and they went at it on their own. 

They looked at the jack stands and said, "How hard is it to make jack stands" and they went at it on their own. 

I am fairly well convinced that with the correct outside expertise that the Chinese can make satisfactory jack stands.  I mean 90% of Harbor Freight tools are Chinese-made.  Some of the tools are bad, but many are acceptable, and some are good.