Categorized | Floor Jacks

The Best Jack Stands Reviewed

If you’re looking to elevate or “jack up your vehicle” you need to ensure your safety by adding the support of jack stands. With this in mind we thought we would give you our recommendations as to what the best jack stands are on the market today.

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What is a Jack Stand?

Contents

A jack stand is an adjustable height stand, usually made of aluminum, steel or a combination of both. Its primary use is to help support the weight of a vehicle once it’s been elevated, usually by using a car jack.

Jack stands are a vital safety measure you simply must take if you’re going to be jacking up your car and working under it.

When working under a vehicle, you cannot rely solely on your hydraulic jack to support the weight above you.

Jack stands are relatively inexpensive and they could literally save your life.

The regular jack that comes with your vehicle is usually a scissor jack. A scissor jack is purpose built to hold your vehicle in a relative sturdy and safe position, their mechanical nature means they rarely if ever fail. You should only use your scissor jack for changing a tire, never to work under your car. Always place the spare tire under the vehicle when changing your tire.

Hydraulic floor jacks on the other hand can and DO fail. In particular if your jack is old or warn or damaged, hydraulic fluid can leak, pressure can be lost and may ultimately lead to failure.

You can safe guard against any potential failure no matter how small the odds by preforming regular jack maintenance and ALWAYS using car Jack stands to support the weight of the car.

Adjustable jack stands usually come in two variety’s, ratchet jack stands, which as the name implies uses a ratchet mechanism to lift the stand to a certain height and the more common manual pin locking stands, which you lift to the desired height then place a pin through the appropriate hole in the jack stands shaft.

Some people prefer the pin mechanism as they feel it’s more secure and less likely to fail than a ratchet jack, but in the jack stands we use and recommend we have never had one fail yet.

Using Jack Stands

the best jack standsUsing a jack stand on face value may appear straightforward. Simply jack up your vehicle to the desired height, place the stands at the correct point, adjust the stands height and then ease the jack off until the load of the car is carried by the stands.

There are however a number crucial things we need to take into consideration number of things we need to take into consideration when using jack stands, in particular we need to make sure we are using them in a safe and secure manner.

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Jack Stand Safety

Using your jack stand in a safe and correct manor is vital, you are after all going to be using them to support tons of heavy machinery in an elevated position, possibly while you are underneath your vehicle.

  • Always use Jack Stands

    No one should ever consider working under a vehicle that is relying solely on their hydraulic jack, jacks rarely fail, but once is all it takes to become severely injured or worse.

    You should also ensure you use a stand for each corner of the car that is elevated i.e. of you have two wheels off the ground, be sure to use 2 stands for support.

    Make sure your floor jack is also maintained and operating safely. Read more about floor jack safety here.

  • Where to Place Jack Stands

    Jack stand placement is paramount. A crucial part of using your car jack stand safely is to make sure you place your stands at the correct points on your cars chassis. These points have been structurally reinforced to bear the load of your vehicle.

    Your owner’s manual will point out these areas, often referred to as lift points or jack points.

    Using areas on the chassis other than the lift points can lead to damage to the chassis or floor of your vehicle and even lead to your car dropping off the stand.

  • Use the Correct Weight Rated Jack and Jack Stand Combo

    Both your jack and jack stand should be able to easily bear the weight of your vehicle. This will obviously vary from vehicle to vehicle, a 2 or 3 Ton jack will be more than enough for most vehicles (we recommend 6 Ton for added safety) but other vehicles, in particular off-road vehicles and trucks may be better suited to a weight rating of 6 ton or even more.

    Check the weight of your car and make sure you’re jack and jack stand is able to lift and support the vehicle.

  • Place the Stands on a Flat Secure Surface

    Where possible make sure your stand base is sitting on a stable, flat surface this will prevent any possible slippage caused my movement of the vehicle when you’re working on it.

  • Make Sure the Car is Stationary

    Make sure your car is in park, turned off with the hand break on. We also recommend you use wheel chocks to “chock” the wheels that remain on the ground, this prevents any chance of the car rolling.

Used correctly jack stands make working under your vehicle an extremely safe task, so make sure you take the time and extra effort you are using your stands in a safe manner.

All the jack stands we recommend on our pages will do the job of supporting your vehicle safely.

What to look for in a jack

When it comes to choosing the best jack stands the stronger and more stable the better. The main way you can discern this is by looking at the weight rating and size of the base of a jack stand, the wider it is, the sturdier (more stable) it will be.

Below you will find a comparison table of the 4 best jack stands we prefer in order of preference.

Comparison Table of the Top 4 Jack Stands

  • BESTOOL Jack Stands 4 ton
  • Manufacturer
  • BESTOOL
  • Material
  • Steel
  • Max Capacity
  • 4 ton
  • Min Lift height
  • 13.4 inches
  • Max Lift Height
  • 19.9 inches
  • Weight
  • 10.4 Kg
  • Price
  • $$$
  • Country of Origin
  • China
  • Rating
  • 5 star
  • Torin 3 Ton AT43004B Aluminum Jack Stands
  • Manufacturer
  • Torin
  • Material
  • Alloy Steel
  • Max Capacity
  • 3 Tons
  • Min Lift height
  • 10.75 inch
  • Max Lift Height
  • ‎15.63 Inches
  • Weight
  • 10.01 Pounds
  • Price
  • $
  • Country of Origin
  • China
  • Rating
  • 5 star
  • Jackco 3 Ton Capacity Aluminum Jack Stands
  • Manufacturer
  • Jacko
  • Material
  • Aluminum
  • Max Capacity
  • 3 Ton
  • Min Lift height
  • 9.5 inch
  • Max Lift Height
  • 15.25 inch
  • Weight
  • 5 pounds
  • Price
  • $$
  • Country of Origin
  • China
  • Rating
  • 4.5 stars
  • HPDMC 6 Ton Jack Stands Pair
  • Manufacturer
  • HPDMC
  • Material
  • Alloy Steel, Iron
  • Max Capacity
  • 6 Ton
  • Min Lift height
  • 15-3/8 inch
  • Max Lift Height
  • 23-13/16 inch
  • Weight
  • ‎14 Kilograms
  • Price
  • $$
  • Country of Origin
  • China
  • Rating
  • 4 star

If your budget allows choose one of the 6 Ton jack stands, we also advise buying two pairs as you may wish at some point to do extensive restoration or repair work on your vehicle. which requires you to have 2 wheels off the ground.

Best Jack Stands

Hein-Werner HW93506 6 Ton Jack Stands

Sitting at number one on our best jack stands list, Hein-Werner is without a doubt the produce the leading made in USA brand of steel jack and jack stand combos on the market. The Hein Werner HW93506 jack stand is in our opinion the pick of the stands currently being manufactured.

Best Jack Stands

They are USA made and built of rugged steel, these stands will last you decades.

These Jacks are super tough and will take any amount of punishment you can give them, which makes them perfect for both workshop and home garage use.

Being USA assembled means they are designed to the highest saftey specifications, you should keep this in mind in particular if your looking to lift vehicles up to 6 ton in weight.

A neat feature of the Hein Werner HW93506 is it has a dual purpose handle. It works both as a convenient carry handle as well as being the saddle column release mechanism.

This stand also features a multi position ratchet bar, the ratchet design provides superior strength and stability.

All the features combined with the fact this stand will safely hold 6 ton, makes this jack number one on our best jack stands list.

They are a little pricier though than the Powerzone 380037, which are also very good quality, steel composite, jack stands.

Powerzone 380037 6 Ton Jack Stands

Whilst the Hein-Werner HW93506 jack stands are by the best jack stands on the market, many people find them a little pricey for their budget.

Well fear not, sitting at position 2 on our best jack stands list is the Powerzone 380037 6 Ton Steel Jack stands and its a more than reasonable alternative.

powerzone 380037 6 Ton Jack Stands

The main difference in these jack stands, is the Powersone 380037 is manufactured and assembled outside of the USA (namely in China).

Despite this, the Powerzone jack stands are still extremely durable and sturdy, made of heavy duty steel, these Stands will last decades, taking all the abuse you can dish up to them.

You can rest easy working under vehicles of up-to a whopping 6 ton in weight as these Jacks are ansi certified.

The finish of the Jack stands themselves is reasonable, they lack the high quality finish of the Heine Werner, but they do the job.

3 and 2 ton Jack Stands

If budget is a bit tight, then look at our 3 ton and 2 ton options (the Torin T43004 and OTC 1582 respectively).

These two jacks are ideal for racing environment’s as they are made from lightweight aluminum as opposed to the steel Hein-Werner or Powerzone jack stands.

They are easy to transport and move around.

Most racing vehicles are much lighter than their on road counter parts, so 2 or 3 ton capacity Jack stands are often more than strong enough to hold racing vehicles.

These Jacks are also suitable for many on road vehicles, check your vehicles weight to see if you can use these jacks and save some cash.

Torin T43004 3 Ton Aluminum Jack Stands

The Torin T43004 3 Ton Aluminum Jack stands are the best jack stands with a 3 ton capacity, they are also extremely affordable, priced usually at less than $80 USD!

torin 3 ton aluminum jack stands

Instead of using a ratchet and lock mechanism to adjust the height of your stand, the Torin T43004 Jack stand employs an ansi standard hole and lock bearing mechanism.

Some frequent users of Jack stands (mobile mechanics, racing crew etc) prefer this mechanism as they feel its safer, In our experience the ratchet mechanism is just as safe provided you are buying a quality jack stand in the first place, such as the Hein Werner or Powerzone Stands recommended on this page.

Having said that if it gives you better peace of mind, then by all means chose these stands, if your car is under 3 ton, personally I feel more secure knowing my Jack stand can take up to 6 ton, rather than worrying about the locking mechanism, after all, every Jack stand on this page is ANSI rated, ensuring your saftey.

One thing that stands out about these jacks is they are extremely attractive in appearance. This may matter if you want to give you’re racing team a professional look or if you just like nice looking accessories for y our garage.  The Stands are much bigger than they appear in picture.

The Torin T43004 stands are built from primarily aluminum and as such are extremely lightweight at just 10.2lbs! which makes them very easy to more around and relocate. Don’t be fooled into thinking this may mean they wont take a lot of punishment, these jack stands are extremely robust and will still be working, and looking sexy, 10 years from now.

So if it’s a  lightweight 3 Ton Jack stand your looking for then the best jack stands for you are the Torin T43004

OTC 1582 2 Ton Aluminum Jack Stands

Next on our list of best jack stands is the OTC 1582 2 Ton Aluminum jack stands. We decided to include these gorgeous looking, lightweight stands as they have a 2 Ton capacity and are prefect for home and / or track use.

OTC 1582 2Ton Aluminum Jack Stand

Similar to the Torin T43004, the OTC 1582 employs the pin, ball-bearing and hole locking mechanism.

If you’re vehicle is under 2 ton then these jacks are very tempting, they are so dam attractive! lightweight (these jack stands made from aircraft-grade aluminum) and yet so robust.

If you are using them as part of a racing team, then these look serious pro and OTC is a brand that has been associated with high quality, high performance racing equipment right since the companies inception. Just look around the pit crews of serious racing teams and you will spot OC products.

They do come with a hefty price, although currently you can pick up a floor jack and stands combo for under $330 USD, a pair of these stand alone can retail for over $400! to check out this super deal click the deal below

Check out the Amazing OTC Floor Jack Stand Combo at Amazon

Final Recommendation

If your buying stands, make sure you have a good quality hydraulic car jack and some wheel chocks to go with it, check out our recommendations in our best floor jacks guide.

References

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jack%20stand

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Jack-Stands

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1632354

Last Update : 23rd April 2019

One Response to “The Best Jack Stands Reviewed”

  1. Taylor Bishop says:

    Thanks for going over some things to look for in regards to jack stands. I’m glad that you mentioned that you should know what lift points are ideal for the vehicle you have. It sounds like it could also be beneficial to do some additional research about this, so that you can apply generalizations to special situations.

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