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

This is just harbor frieght.. that engine is a BEAST! any cherry picker is going to sway around with the weight of that thing, hell mine did when i dropped my 430 in 2 summers ago.

 

As a old Union man I could never see myself buying anything that wasnt USA made. I have seen to many things go wrong with Chinese crap from bending to actually breaking. Thats why everything I own in my tool box says Snap-on, Mac or Craftsman. One of our club members was killed a few years back from a car falling on him and he was using a China made piece of shit jack and stands.

I hate like heck that happened to you and I wish you a fast recovery. Just be thankful that your daughter was home!!

 

Another thing you could do to improve your design is to use an ACME thread rod (its the same thread style as a C-Clamp) it is HARDENED so you dont have to worry about raping the threads off when under a heavy load. And you can order it from McMaster-Carr.

 

Hope you heal up to 100%!

This is the exact reason why I built my own cherry picker... I know how mine is built, and I also only use chain, never found the need for a leveler, but that's just me.

 

that's really scarey. Quick recovery!

 

There is a whole movement growing called A Year Without Made in China.
Google it. Very interesting.
I am seriously thinking about doing this for my family / country.
Wil Sakowski
www.sakowskimotors.com

Glad your hand is okay. I have that same leveler, and it is junk for sure.

 

I can feel the pain just reading it. I hope everything heals up ok. I can not imagine you standing there with your hand stuck untill the Fire Dept. showed up.

which bring to there engine stand that I (had). I had a small block ford on the stand as I was pushing over to were I was going to hook it up to the hoist to put it in the car. As I was pushing it the front wheel hit a piece of metal setting on the floor. At that point the base of the stand broke sending the engine crashing to the ground with me behind it. I ended up hitting my head on the top of the engine.

The next thing I remember was my girlfriend standing over me asking me if I was ok. I figure I was laying there for over a 1/2 hour. I have a scar on my forehead and lip to prove it.

I was ok but the engine was not. when it hit the floor it destroyed the oil pan. Broke the front off a new Ford Motorsport racing crank.

No more cheap staff in my garage.

 

I had a 7.3 Navistar on the stand, USA made for diesel engines, but it was old. It had built many an engine (including a V636 3208 Cat), but this one had finally had enough and began to fold down. Blocked it with a 4 banger block and got the cherry picker. It didn't just frag, but it was a lesson. Imagine if it had been a third world POS and just dropped that 1000lbs on me? And talk about stupid, I had an all iron 366 tall deck big block Chevy on it a week or two before and I crawled under it to get something I had dropped.

I fiche plated it and put it back to work trussed like a hog, but I'll never trust another engine stand. Always keep your hands and legs out of harms way as much as possible. I shudder to think about all of the cheap jack stands out there now.

 

Thanks all for the nice words. To answer a couple questions:

1) Yes, the motor is fine. Even though i was in major pain while it was crunched up in the leveler, I was a good HAMB'r and made the fire department move the motor in the compartment a bit and put some wood blocks in there so that nothing would get damaged before they set it down and freed me. The fire dudes were car guys-- they understood.

2) The hand looked really bad when it first got free. My wife wanted to take a picture, but i was not in a picture mood at the time (wish i was now.) Anyway, by the time i waited two hours in the ER icing it, it came back to a good shape and im about shocked i didnt break anything (old boxer guy, my hands usually break up pretty easily.) Only problem i have right now is the my pointer finger is numb on the tip.. must have damaged nerves. No matter the case, im lucky.

3) Nah, im not going to sue. Talking to a lawyer for me is about as painful as getting my hand crushed--- and i got lucky and it's fine. Believe me...... i learned my lesson.

No more Harbor Freight for me.

Thanks again all.

-scott noteboom

 

Scott,

sorry to hear you got hurt, glad your daughter was there to assist.

Get well soon man.

 

Words to live by. Glad to hear you are ok.

 

Oh crap man that sucks.Harbor fraight does sell junk.Another thing that scares me is seeing those cheep junk jack stands used that Checker auto parts sell.Getting crushed by a car could also ruin your day. I just saw a magazine article showing a couple dudes under a caddy with those cheep thin metal stands ,no wheels on the car. Man that sucks them showing stuff like that.I am sure someone out there sees that and follows there stupid ways. Glad your OK.

 

I think you're making a mistake. You didn't do anything stupid (like spill hot coffee in your lap). This could've been a lot worse, ya' know, like losing mobility of your hand or losing the hand altogether.

I'd see an attorney. The GOOD ones will not take a case unless they think THEY can make $money$. The consultation costs you nothing but time. Avoid any attorney that asks for a fee up front.

Take pictures of your screwed up hand.

This isn't so much about money as it is about principle. Makers of this cheap shit need to get educated. AND guess what, education costs money. You said you learned a lesson. That means you got educated that cheap Chinese shit caused you a bunch of suffering, pain, time, medical expenses, etc. Did Harbor Freight or the makers of this junk get educated. Hell no!!!!!!!!!!!!

How many of us on here have had some Chinese shit that was half-ass welded and we had to re-weld to make it useable, little alone safe to use?

A buddy of mine gave me a Chinese made 5" side grinder, brand new in the box. I took it out to shapen my lawn mower blades. That fucker came apart (not the abrasive disc) in my hands and the safety guard broke right off 'cause it was tack welded together. Fortunately, I didn't get hurt. This PoS didn't last long enough for me to sharpen three mower blades!!! I saved the power cord from this PoS, to use on my old USA made stuff, and tossed the rest in the scrap steel barrel.

There was a thread on here awhile back about a Chinese made engine cherry picker that buckled. The pics showed a design flaw in the truss.

Again, do what ya' want, but these folks profiting from peddling Chinese junk tool & equipment need to get educated.

 

Damn, that sucks out loud! There otta be a law.... Glad your gonna heal ok

 

The bench vice I got from Harbor Freight failed the first time I usd it. The casting cracked and broke and the jaw fell to the floor. I will no longer buy any items made in china. Life is too short and this country needs our support.

 

Hot Rods are an American invention. They were never built with Chinamen junk. Ever. Glad you are O.K.

 

Another "glad your OK" comment, but it's true. We all know it could've gone worse.

Only on the HAMB can you get the support of hundreds, and a tech article to go with it! Thanks DragginGTO! I'm gonna make one of those.

I'm not a "go sue 'em" kind of guy, but thats how they learn their lesson. Might save the next guy's life. We're in a similar quandry regarding the hospital and misplacing my brain tumor lab results for 5 weeks, possibly setting my recovery back.

Anyway, enough of that, today's my daughter's Nash transmission install day. I'll be teaching her safety and paying special attention to everything we do.

Glad you're OK

 

Not spin this thread away from everyone's well wishes on Scott, but I did make my own very crude load leveler about a year ago. It involves a lot of angle steel and a very heavy section of a chain. It doesn't crank, (no screw) but it is adjustable to vary the pitch of the motor while hanging. Down side is that I need to get it set real close to where I need it and like it then run with it. Up side is I built it out of the strongest, heaviest stock I had. Serious over kill. I figured if I over build it, it won't break; so far that theory is holding. I've used it three times with not so much as a flex out of it.

Get back on the horse Scott. We'll miss your work too soon.

 

Holy shit, dude!!!!!!!!

I'm glad you're okay - if you get around to it, could you post a pic of the busted up load leveler? I'm in the mood for some gore!

Hell, show us your hand, man!

~Jason

 

my buddy wayne is an older fella who i always thought , and still do think, is ocd about the stuff he does...to the point of madness! but a few yrs back he bought a cheap ass engine stand froma place like this..........really nice paint on it, but he told me the welds didnt look to be that thick! i laughed and gave him hell ......he hits it with a grinder,,,WHOLE THING IS TACKED AND BONDO! wouldnt have held a 5 horse briggs!! i never gave him shit again!!!!
glad your hand will be okay scott!

 

Get an attorney and have him send Harbor Freight a nice letter along with your hospital bills.
It's about time this shit came to an end.

I, for one, think this Chinese Communist crap of painting our children's toys with lead-loaded paint, defective injury causing tools, lead-loaded dinner plates and cups, and who knows what kind of nasty stuff in the leather-covered furniture we've been buying for years, is all part of a test of our nation to see whether they will see us disintegrate like our Soviet "friends", that is, from our own greed and insistence on nothing but the cheapest products all the time.
Look what we have done to ourselves.

 

holly shit scott, this sucks ass.hope all is well sure dont sound good

 

Have one of those levelers from Cummins tools, and they are real junk, fortunately it worked long enough to get my 55 Pontiac engine and hydramatic back on the ground, but then again I lifted it out of my pickup bed at a relatively level setting. I can see where taking a big engine/trans will put all the weight on the all thread, thereby making it makeshift (or makesh_t if you like it) at best when the units are angled to get into engine compartment. I think I will rebuild mine with some fine thread hardened rod and a hardened nut for attaching to the hook.

 

don't be an ignoramus... American companies are buying inferior products to increase profits... our companies did the same thing for decades.

hope you make a speedy recovery.

 

I NEVER get under a car anymore, period. I just don't trust jackstands one iota, be them USA or Jap junk. If I absolutely have to, I'll lower the car down on solid wooden blocks....it's just not worth the risk. Plenty of mechanics around with lifts.

Anyone know of a QUALITY built engine leveller?

Patrick

 

i like HFtools, they add some excitement to life!, is it gonna break!? is it gonna work!? i dont know!! hahahaha... see? keep you on your toes! *twitch*

 

Every time I go to HF to pick up my latest P.O.S., I see the orange jack stands and cringe. But, I would not have tought about an engine leveler "blowin' up". I appreciate the heads up!

 

amazing people still buy the crap ( me too)takes a bad event to wake us up glad your ok could have been worst

 

I know I'm going to get a rash of shit about this but what I don't understand is why it's the Chinese ?
Who buys the stuff, American Companies do, where is there responsibility, don't they check anything when they buy it. Do the toy makers place an order without any specifications for the product ? Do they have inspectors on site, do they test what they get to be sure it is to the specifications ?

I know a bit more about this than most probably. I have been going to Mainland China since 1992, usually 6 to 8 weeks out of the year,it is not the backward country that most people THINK it is. Sure backward, shithole places just lik you can find here, but you can find some pretty damm good world class companies.
I have companies that import all kinds of metal products castings , forgings, stampings, fabrications for US companies that are very well known.

Next time you watch a Nascar race some of our parts are on the cars. Next time you buy fuel, most likley our supplied valves helped refine it. Ride a train or ship something on a train ot truck , it's got China parts makeing it go or stop.

Our scrap & reject rates with China parts are always less than 2%. We still buy domestic products,made here in the good old US of A with reject rates that average 6 to 8 %. Yes two to three time shigher than the off-shore stuff.
Well how the hell does that work ? Easy I have people in China working for me. They do my inspection before it's shipped, alll you have to do is set up your specifications and have someone loyal to you that will see that it is done. It's not hard, why woulld I want to ship scrap 6,000 miles and take 5 weeks. Then we inspect it here in our warehouse.
We are a bullshit little company but we have been getting good product out of mainland China for years.

You can find anything you want in China or other parts of the world you just have to do your home work and set it up that you ain't buying just any shit they want to send you.

Believe me China is not the evil empire most people think it is,less than 5% of the total population belongs to the Party, they piss and moan about the government as much as we do, I know , I know "But their government they can't do nothing", can we really ? Besides I have been running around to different places for many years and once you leave our borders it's an all new set of rule anyplace you go.

It's not the producers, it's the buyers, the companies,nail their ass to the wall. I'll supply the nails.

Sorry for the long rant , now I'll go back in my hole.

 

Why does anyone still buy the shit from harbor freight ?