I love shopping at Harbor Freight, where the tools are cheap and plentiful. But you get what you're worth. In fact, there's a merchant adage you'd do well to take into account: "If your job or life depends on it, don't buy from Harbor Freight." This recent reminder from the jack booths really brings us back to that point.
On March 20, 2020, Harbor Freight recalled six-ton jacks manufactured between June 2013 and November 2019. "... it was determined that the quality of the product had become inconsistent due to aging tools," says NHTSA Recall 20E-016. As the recall specifically describes the security risk:
Then on May 3, 2020, Harbor Freight recalled the three-ton crutches for the same reason. (See recall NHTSA 20E-027.) So in total, 1,708,000 crutches are potentially affected.
And frankly, after hearing this, how do you feel about using the larger HF feet? That's what I thought. Get rid of them.
For those of you who don't know Harbor Freight, this is America's best-known discount hardware chain. (I guess if you don't know HF, you may not know what a crutch is: it's a safety device that keeps a car in the air so you can go under and do mechanical work).
With a few exceptions, HF sells its own private labels of everything from jacks to saws to ratcheting. The hallmark of these products, in general, is that they are inferior to their rivals in terms of build quality, but so much cheaper that many people don't care or care.
And for a lot of things, it doesn't really matter. For a Sunday handyman like me, it's normal to run screwdrivers and hand saws a little messed up, when they are actually offered for free. And they're often free! HF loves gadgets like throwing away free waste with its purchases. My Pittsburgh-branded wireless drill has served me well for years of light work, as have many other hand tools I've recovered from HF.
For some, the logic is that you can burn a lot of drills at $40 before you have justified the spending of $200 for a nicer one. This logic works very well when applied to things you don't use often.
Of course, the real goal of savvy buyers is to get high-quality used tools that will last a long time and won't cost you a fortune, but it's not always practical.
But it's not always practical or practical. Here's the moral of the story: If you have port jacks that have been recalled, check out the cases above to find out what to do. If you have other Harbor Freight jacks, I strongly recommend that you abandon them or relegate them to tasks that are not likely to preserve life. Being run over by your car because cheap cricket failed would be such a terrible way to be killed or mutilated, why take the risk of saving a few dollars?
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