911 and E.R.-- courtesy of Harbor Freight

I have often wondered if the Chinese keeps the good stuff for themselves and sends the crap to the US with the intention of maiming or killing as many of us as they can. If not then everything in China must be crap. I guess with the population in the billions they aren't too concerned about loosing a few hundred or thousand ....or more of their own. Oops, this sounds like political ranting.......nevermind. Anyway, glad your not hurt too bad. I got my share of Chinese junk I should scrap myself.

 

China is the new Japan. Glad you're ok.

 

I have a HF hoist & engine stand..... & I only mess with little SBC stuff..... but still won't leave anything on either longer than absolutley necessary.

My hoist came with a leveler when I got it. That SOB was so sketchy looking that I threw it away immediately. Never even tried it. It went straight to the trash.

Glad your hand is going to be OK Scott.

JH

 

Sorry about your hand and hope it gets better soon without any future problems.

When they had the last earthquake all the officials there were up in arms about how some buildings failed due to poor quality of the materials used. I felt sorry for the victims but in the same breath said that now they know the quality of material they are shipping out around the world.

 

Yea if they put melamine in infants milk theyre capable of anything.

 

thats what I was thinking too. It sucks, but maybe thats the only way to get the point across that we dont want this cheap chinese shit here anymore! You got lucky. it could have been waaaaay worse, not to mention the potential damage to a car etc. Imagine if someone was installing an engine and had to go under the car to fasten the motor mount bolts or something and it failed. It could potentially even be deadly.
Glad you are ok.

 

China - where quality is "job none".

If equipment failure can injure, maim, or kill, don't buy it from Harbor Freight.

 

I hate to say this but I agree... Sue them...

That's what's driving away all the American Manufacturing businesses, why should cheap Chinese crap be held to a lower standard.

That's what lawsuites are for. To protect other consumers from faulty products.

.02

 

I have never used one of those engine levellers. Done fine for 40 years with a piece of good chain.

 

scarry shit, glad you came out of it ok. i gotta agree with the other sue them, i had a somewhat similar deal happen about 5 years ago when a harbor freight cherry picker broke where the bottom of the hyd jack is bolted on. engine fell on my big toe, broke it, had so scream for someone to roll the engine off, at the time it wasn't a huge deal, it sucked but i dind't really think to mess with lawsuit stuff since it was only a toe, now everytime i look at the pancake toe i kinda wish i would have sued the bastards.

 

We all know that Scott knows what he is doing but I'd think that a good corporate lawyer could argue that operator error played a huge role in his case. I'd think it would be hard to win that one.

Of course that woman that spilled her coffee in her lap at McDonald's walked away with a fortune.

JH

 

OW, OW, OWWWW... The leveler I have ALMOST came apart, I noticed the lock nuts were loose on the handle and the all thread, it was held by a whisker.

I can hurt myself badly enough without the help of cheap tools. Recovering right now from surgery on my right wrist, the result of this summers imapling my wrist on a scrap of sheet metal, ulner nerve and artery damage.

Glad you're gonna be Okey Dokey.

 

There were LOTS of Chinese companies at SEMA. They were marketing lots of wheel stuff: valve stems, studs, lug nuts, etc. Also tires, wheels, casting and forging services.
WTF!?? I REALLY want Chinese shit keeping my tires and wheels attached.
Then the Bastards had the gall to run around taking photos of all the new stuff so they can go home and copy it!! No wonder they can make stuff cheaper when someone else pays for the R&D.
I flew home hoping that the bolts holding the wings on the plane were made in the USA.
Gary

 

I have a similar leveler. Will have to take a close look at it before I use it again.

Maybe you should return the defective items to your store, through the front window...

Good luck healing up.

 

Makes me feel real good. Just bought 4 brake rotors from NAPA today and noticed the were made in China when I got them home. OB

 

sorry to hear that scott hope you heel up soon

 

Hmm so we grind up oor cars and scrap steel, sell it to Chinese, they take it and mix it with stuff they want to get rid of, and send it back to us to make new stuff out of....
Just remember we have been building really tall buildings, (probably 90 % of LasVagas) with chinese "I" beams and fasteners......

Glad you are OK. Get a lawyer and file a notice of claim. Then you put them on notice and retai your right to sue. What ever you do don't ;et them talk you into giving them the piece so they can look at it.

 

The plane you were flying on could have been made in China. When I was working for McDonnell Douglas they had a manufacturing facility in China that made 25 MD-82 airliners. That took place back in 1985.

 

ouch man, that gave me chills just reading about it. glad you're ok though!

 

Glad your relatively OK.

 

Good to hear you made it through ok. I've begun to look at the HF mailer more as a free comics more than an ad for actual tools. I always get a goo chuckle from them any more.

 

sorry to hear about your hand, one thing to remember is that China does not build anything and send it over here, someone from over here asks for it to be built and then when it arives gives it the thumb up to be sold in there stores, i have installed lots of engines, no levelers, mostly cable come-alongs, if i'm not standing up on top of the fenders i'm in a place where i'm out of the way. i agree there is alot of crap being imported, just because something says it was made in the US does not mean every part of it was, theres a formula for what percentage or parts or labor is required to be able to say a product is built in any country.

 

Glad to hear you are okay. I'd sue or threaten at the least. Why? A short time back, I was sellling a car, and a guy visited me who lived in Camarillo, and told me what he did for a living: product engineer for Harbor Freight!!!! I laughed, but he produced a business card. Upon asking him what exactly his scope of work included, he said one was tracking tool and part failures that came back on return. Hmmn? So, I ask, what do you do about it, when you see these failures? Well, he says, we let the manufacture know so they can make it better!! I would keep that leveller if I were you, and get some legal help. That shit should have never happened, but I'm glad you were not killed!!!

 

I do NOT like the idea of anything being imported into this country from China.but don't for a minute think they are incapable of making decent shit..They can,and do,but not when OUR companies like HF want to buy this shit for nothing...If our companies (importers) want the cheapest possible product that LOOKS decent,that's what the Chinese will build for them,cutting every possible corner...I'm not too smart,but I've known for years to not buy a fucking thing from Harbor Freight..Sorry you got hurt,I do agree,talk to a lawyer,HF should take some responsibility for their worthless shit...Sadly,none of us should trust even the "brand names" in many products sold today,unless we do our own homework on what we're really getting for our money...

 

damn glad your alright....I worry about that shit all the time,Im single and live alone so if something happens when Im in the shop Im fucked,maybe thats why I keep my cell in my pocket......BUY U.S.A.

 

dam!
i flinched when i read this..hope your hand gets back to normal soon.

Not that it matters now, but I have a good Engine level (read..not HF)device and its Crank and nut came off it too, lucky the jamb nut stayed on.

I welded the dam crank back on it to stop it from ever coming off.

Hope you heal up and no perminent damage

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap Scott, here's hoping your hand is back to it's old self soon.

A lot of us here can fabricate, so get out in the shop and fab up your own super load -leveler. As much as we use this type of tool in our hobby it really pays off to take some time to make up a good one.

Here's mine, made from 1/4" plate, 1/4" wall square tubing and piece of 3/4" threaded rod all TIG welded. Best of all it's made in the good ol' US of A.

 

That's what I am talking about! Nice work.

 

Glad you came out relatively unscathed. Hope the paw heals fast. Had a HF engine stand fold years ago. Did not scar but I will never buy the crap again.