I was referring more to Lincoln than to the countries of Japan or
China. China (in terms of general export merchandise quality and
selection) right now is where Japan was about 20 years ago. Lincoln made
the business decision to produce and market the cheaper jack. The Lincoln
"100% made in the USA" is no longer. I have nothing against China, I just
realize they make generally inferior tools than what's made in the US. I
also know enough to qualify that with "generally" and that exceptions exist
(like my Norma jack :-).
I've always maintained that when buying tools (or anything really) you buy
a "good" one if it will receive lots of use , will receive hard use or is a
precision tool (impact gun, breaker bar, crowbars, torque wrench, flare
wrenches, etc...). The added trust in a Snap-On breaker bar (when standing
on the end of it and trying to break torque) is not there when it's an $8
cheapie from Harbor Freight. When it comes to other tools like Vice-grips
and welding clamps and such, I'd rather pay the $3 for a knock-off that
works 95% as well.
Personally, I'd return the IR sockets. For their price, I'd want the "real
thing".
One more thing, you don't need to send me a personal copy of the mail when
you send it to the list. I'm on this list and will get the one sent to the
list. Don't need two copies.... :-)
At 10:24 12/5/2000, William M. Gilroy was inspired to say:
>Richard Beels wrote:
> >
> > It's the cheesy, no longer made in america jack. that's why it's 199
> > instead of 299. I bought a Norma jack. made in china but with japanese
> > seals. $125 or so. has been very nice to use. Only mod has been to weld
> > a square tube to the top of the "cheater bar extension" but I've done that
> > to ever floor jack I've ever owned. Also got the floor jack stands and
> > they've done well. Welded a plate for the flat bottom effect.....
> >
>
>First off I don't want to start a thread about China bashing, Japan
>bashing,
>etc. Now, with that said, I have been thinking about jacks. I have a
>jack that was made in china. The supplier was Harbor Freight. Yes I
>know, you get what you pay for, but I debated long and hard before I
>bought this jack. It was the only jack I could find that had such a
>high lift, so I took a chance. The thing goes from 7 inches to about 32
>inches. That is a lot of lift. The problem I have with the jack is the
>seals started to leak after about 20 to 50 lifts. I live with the
>problem.
>I park it over cardboard (just like my MG) and add jack oil when needed.
>
>Someday I will replace that jack and I want a good old made in the
>USA jack, with good seals and a high lift. Any idea how to avoid
>cheap junk? I also looked at the Lincoln Jack at Costco, but it seemed
>to cheap (price wise) and it did not lift high enough.
>
>There seems to be a trend of quality manufactures, such as, Lincoln,
>Miller, Ingersoll-Rand, putting their name on cheaper products and
>selling
>them to the mass market. A couple of months ago I bought some IR
>impact sockets. I was quite surprised to find that they only had the
>IR paper packaging, but the sockets themselves were stamped with another
>name and were made in Taiwan. I figured that IR would be IR. I guess
>I was wrong.
>
>I think when it comes time to buy a Mig welder I will go to the local
>welding supply house and pay the extra dollars.
>
>Bill Gilroy
Cheers!
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