Baystate Jeepers

In a recall filed with the NHTSA on March 20 of this year, Harbor Freight explains that certain 6-ton jack stands have the potential to disengage their support pawl under shifting weight, causing the stand to drop suddenly. A second recall, filed May 3, extends the recall to 3-ton jack stands. The defect is attributed to aging tooling at the factory that produced the jack stands.

The recall document says that the problem could affect more than 450,000 6-ton jack stands produced between 2013 and 2019 and nearly 1.3 million 3-ton jack stands produced between 2012 and 2020. These jack stands were sold under the Pittsburg brand name, and can be identified by item numbers 56371 or 61196 on 3-ton models, and 61197 on 6-ton models.

Harbor Freight urges anybody in possession of affected jack stands to return them to the store in exchange for a gift card equal to the price of the stands. Any unsold jack stands covered by the recall have been removed from stores. Check on your buddies and spread the word around—these jack stands are ubiquitous, and a failure like this could be fatal.

I have 2 sets of 6 tons stands, One of them already broke, but they don't have the right part number listed. The break was not the pawl that allowed the stand to fall, but the release bar that allowed the pawl to open and release. the handle no longer operates the pawl so it can go up, but not down. I wonder if they will take my sets back also.

BlackKnight wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 11:58 am I have 2 sets of 6 tons stands, One of them already broke, but they don't have the right part number listed. The break was not the pawl that allowed the stand to fall, but the release bar that allowed the pawl to open and release. the handle no longer operates the pawl so it can go up, but not down. I wonder if they will take my sets back also.

Sounds like a different issue from the recall. They might do a defective return/exchange depending on receipt and how long ago it was purchased.

Just checked my stands, different SKU.

It was 5 or so years ago Purchased but broke about a year after...

BlackKnight wrote:It was 5 or so years ago Purchased but broke about a year after...

Doesn’t hurt to ask, but don’t expect anything from it unless it came with a lifetime warrantee.

BlackNBlue-ISH wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2020 5:38 pm

BlackKnight wrote:It was 5 or so years ago Purchased but broke about a year after...

Doesn’t hurt to ask, but don’t expect anything from it unless it came with a lifetime warrantee.

They may in good faith for liability reasons

I've got 4 of them here, but they're all different SKUs.

Got 2, unused, less than 4 months old on the list to be brought back.

More jack stand recalls!

HARBOR FREIGHT
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.

My broken stand is now replaceable. However, as a note, They no longer have any of the Steel Stands in inventory. they have removed all 3/6/12 ton stands. The only stand they have in stock is an Aluminum 3 ton.

I'm going to return my broken pair, as it's pretty unusable as a single, and hope that they come out with new 6 tons soon.

Bob