So, I have 6 brand new high lift two tone jack stands. I start putting them together and the first thing I notice is that there are no instructions. None at all. I can figure this stuff out, but a bit of effort on the manufacturers part is expected. So, I figure out where everything goes before starting the assembly process, and using hand tools and no excessive force I promptly twist the head off of one bolt, and strip the threads off of two other bolts!

At this point I get on the old interweb and look up what "4.8" stamped on the end of a metric bolt means. Come to find out it is LOWER than grade 2 standard bolt specifications!
Anything I put together is Grade 5 or Grade 8 (metric equivalents are 8.8 for grade 5 and 10.9 for grade 8).

I figure it is going to cost me around $15 each for new grade 8 hardware. If I am trusting this stuff to keep a truck off of me I can afford an extra $90. My biggest beef is the delay in assembling them is a pain in the ***.

Later,

Keith

 

Most time's low grade bolts are more than enough for the job they're tasked with and everyone tends to use a higher strength bolt unnecessarliy. With that said... hardware is cheap enough that usually no one concerns themselves with what is right or wrong and just over shoots. Not a bad thing. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and had to spec out bolts for some projects before and people give you strange looks when you tell them a grade 2 bolt will work just fine. They're usually amazed when you can prove it with math too.

Regardless, the head still shouldn't have spun off. I wonder if the bolts weren't heat treated properly.

 

Can we say MADE IN CHINA????????????

 

Probably more of a quality control issue than spec issue, but the one where the head broke off was about the 5th bolt I put in, and then two more failures before I finished assembly... even if grade 4.8 bolts with proper QAQC would be fine for the jack stands, it is amply proven to me that the supplied bolts have zero QAQC and I need new hardware. I put the first one together with all metric grade 8.8 (equivalent to Grade 5 for standard) and have no doubts it is fine. I am getting more bolts locally and will get any combination of standard grade 5, standard grade 8, metric grade 8.8 and metric grade 10.9 needed to get me all of the bolts I need. I hope to stay "all metric" or "all standard" on any one individual jack stand... but even that isn't really important since I am lock tighting the bolts and don't anticipate ever hitting them with a wrench again after I finish assembly.

Later,

Keith

 

I had a EMD turbo instructor inform me about the meaning of "china" made parts. It stands for Can Hold Infinite Number or Amount. Haha!! Also if its over my head, I aint gonna let a China part hold it.