12 ton jack stands arrived

[Kernal]

After reading a bunch of threads about jack stands including one that failed crushing someones chest I pulled the trigger on a set of 12 ton double locking Torin jack stands from Home Depot, and they were a smokin deal. These are not stocked at the store and you have to special order them.
Don't order them online cause they list for $99 a pair there and have a different number, T412002C, but are the exact same model. Instead go into your local Home Depot store and tell them you would like to place a special order for a set of 12 ton Double Locking jack stands using this number; T412002A. My cost out the door was only $56 for the pair including 6% tax. Only drawback is that it took over two weeks to get them as they are shipped to my local store from the Torin warehouse in California.
They are for sure hefty at 30 pounds each. The triangular shaped safety pin is one of those mods you wish you had thought of yourself. You slide it in after you get the ratchet bar to the height you want; it locks the handle and bar in place by catching another tooth in the bar. I'm guessing it also acts as a backup to the pawl.

Specs: (actual measurements)
min height: 18 3/4"
max height: 28"
base: 12 1/2" x 10 3/4"
wgt: 30 lbs each

 

[medtro]

Where are they made?

 

[NLXTACY]

Where are they made?

Far more important than price.

 

[Kernal]

Yeah, like 95% of all jack stands, the Big C, but they look well made, better than HF quality using the eyeball test. The main reason I posted the price is cause I think it may be an old price someone forgot to update, so maybe get your order in before they catch it, but the main advantage is no shipping charges from Home Depot. Advance Auto carries the Torin 3 ton and 6 ton if you want to check out the build quality, but they can't order the 12 ton double locking, I looked into that route before finding this deal at Home Depot.

Northern tool sells the same stands at $59.99 a pair, but with $36 shipping.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200330725_200330725

I might also get a set of 6 ton stands made by US Jack, 100% American made, they're on sale for about $80 a pair. Their 10 ton stands (most sold to the military) list for like $400 a pair. The US Jack stands are rated per stand, not per pair, and have a double pawl/lock system.

http://usjack.com/catalog/Page 10.pdf

 

[SBFJ60FIG]

After reading a bunch of threads about jack stands including one that failed crushing someones chest

Huh, tell us more on this tale? Credible source for your info? Never heard of such a thing...which does not mean it did not happen, but now you've got me thinking more about safety...and I like to be recklessly safe! Whatever that means.

 

[e9999]

Huh, tell us more on this tale? Credible source for your info? Never heard of such a thing...which does not mean it did not happen, but now you've got me thinking more about safety...and I like to be recklessly safe! Whatever that means.

been discussed here, happened to a member. smallish stand that folded under a cruiser.

 

[retrofive]

Nice find

I'm thinking of going with something like this

 

[agomez]

good luck finding anything that is not made in china...I bought some 12 ton stands from Oreilly's they were AC Delco I had to special order them.

 

[BrotherRob]

Huh, tell us more on this tale? Credible source for your info? Never heard of such a thing...which does not mean it did not happen, but now you've got me thinking more about safety...and I like to be recklessly safe! Whatever that means.

Defective HF stand gave out on someone. As everyone knows, 12 ton stands with a different label are never defective.

 

[super90]

People do all sorts of silly things working on trucks. While helping a friend work on his Rover brakes (OK, I felt sorry for him !) I found this pic actually on one of the Rover sites and no one even commented on how dangerous this is.

The whole corner of the truck is held up by a bottle jack which is on three pieces of rock ! No jack stands or anything. Unbelievable !!!

 

[Marc311]

You mean you guys don't just lift it with one hand and work on it with the other??? OK, I realize sometimes you need both hands . . . so in those cases I support it with my knee. In a pinch, I also use a cinderblock.

 

[Kernal]

The main reason I went with the Torin 12 tons, as suggested by some mudders, was due to the larger more stable base and the ability to get it higher in the air. I like the idea of the safety pin as a back up to the pawl, which is the part that failed on the smaller jack stand. I also bought a set of large rubber (to grip on concrete) wheel chocks and put them behind my rear wheels and then tried to back up for a test, my transmission started to complain before I could go over them so I stopped.

Chocks: Your One Source For Wheel Chocks, Chock Blocks, And Wheel Stops

 

[TomH]

Thought I would link the thread about the jack stand failure.

 

[Kernal]

TomH; good idea. Another reason I went with the 12 tonners was due to the possibility of exceeding the rated capacity if the rig is accidently dropped onto the stands (I know, were not supposed to drop it, but sheet happens). I don't know squat about how to calculate it, so went to a mechanical engineering forum and asked them to calculate the forces involved and it easily hit 12 tons (and more) by dropping 4000lbs onto the stands just a couple of inches. The main factor they said that sent the numbers really high was that jack stands are relatively rigid and when sitting on concrete do not give much when they are struck. This also assumed the stands were under the frame; they said the forces would be much less if under the axles cause the springs absorb a lot of the impact.

 

[nuclearlemon]

After reading a bunch of threads about jack stands including one that failed crushing someones chest

sadly, same reason why you should use jackstands instead of just a floorjack. a good friend of mine lost a cousin when his floorjack failed...he wasn't using jackstands.

i'm guilty of it, i'm sure many others are, but a good reason to think about a quality set of stands and actually using them for something besides collecting dust under the workbench.

 

[super90]

I've always thought about upgrading to this style:

Pelican Parts sells them for $65 ea. Part #TOL-10497. That is a six ton stand, rated six tons for a single stand ! I don't know this brand, but AC Hydraulics makes some. I bought one of their floor jacks and I love it.

Any thoughts on this style? Looks pretty solid.

Update: Looks like AC stopped making them and Esco is a ............Chinese copy. See this link:

http://www.ultimategarage.com/shop/part.php?products_id=2420

 

[Kernal]

Super90. I considered that type also and it looks solid, I just went with the doubling locking (pawl and a pin) for piece of mind. If I had money to burn I would have gone for the US Jack 10 ton stands with double pins (see link above).

 

[sandcruiser]

safety is good
12 ton stands for a cruiser is clearly overkill. Not that many (many!) of the things we do on this forum aren't overkill, many are, but... 6 tons per stand is still a pretty solid 5x safety margin.

Just to stir the pot a little: if you are really trying to be super-safe, it would probably make much more sense to use 2 jackstands ( you could get away with 2ton) on each corner vs. 1 big one.

Finally: I see a lot of safety ignorance down here. It is as if local mechanics lead a charmed life. One of the things that I point out all the time to them is that chocking AND blocking the wheels you aren't working on is pretty darn important. Even if you have a 12ton jack stand, it isn't going to hold if the truck rolls 1 foot back or forward.

 

[Kernal]

sandcruiser: agree 12 tons may be overkill weight wise. My plan is to always use two sets of stands at the same time, like the 12 ton under frame and the 6 ton under axle, and as you say chock and block (chocks in front of and behind the wheels) so it can't move either direction. Here is the link to a formula the engineers sent me, it lets you calculate impact forces. You can see by changing the distance traveled after impact has a large effect on the final number. Like if you plug in 0.01 meter, then plug in 0.001 meter, the forces increase ten fold. (Disclaimer; I'm not an engineer, just a web surfer).

Energy of falling object

 

[Ebag333]

safety is good
12 ton stands for a cruiser is clearly overkill. Not that many (many!) of the things we do on this forum aren't overkill, many are, but... 6 tons per stand is still a pretty solid 5x safety margin.

Couple of things here....

These are not rated by a working weight and a breaking weight, we're only told a number. If 12 ton is the breaking weight rather than the working weight, and the breaking weight is usually 4-5 times the working weight, that'd mean that the working weight was 2.4 tons for a 12 ton stand, and only 1.2 tons for a 6 ton stand. 2.4 tons I'd be very comfortable with, but 1.2 tons is starting to get down there.

The second thing is that many stands are rated by the pair, not individually. So those 6 ton stands just became 3 ton stands. Combine it with what I said above, and the working weight is now only .6 tons, or about 1200 lbs.

Just to stir the pot a little: if you are really trying to be super-safe, it would probably make much more sense to use 2 jackstands ( you could get away with 2ton) on each corner vs. 1 big one.

The problem is that it is very difficult to have both stands fully supporting the vehicle. So lets say that you have your 6 ton stands (which are really 3 tons each) both under one corner. The first stand fails (because it's only really a 1200 lb working weight), and the vehicle drops a quarter of an inch or so onto the second stand.

Now if this happened, then the first stand could not handle the weight of one corner of the vehicle (which could easily be 1500+ lbs in a built 80). Now that weight is coming down on the second stand, but that force is greatly increased by downward momentum of the vehicle. Even a fraction of an inch would cause the downward force to skyrocket.

If the first stand fails because it can't handle the weight (not because of a part failure), that second stand (if rated the same) doesn't stand a chance.



After reading about this and doing the math, I see some 12 ton stands (with the extra locking pin) in my future. Having a second stand as a backup is all well and good, but if it's too small to begin with it won't make a lick of difference. I have always used a jack stand then kept my floor jack under the vehicle as well to be there to support the vehicle should the stand fail, and that will continue to be my backup.