I'm another one who has used a Harbor Freight floor jack for about 12 years with good results. I use auto-parts store ratchet jack stands rated for about 5000 lbs, I figure even if they're not really up to that kind of weight they should be plenty strong enough to hold up a corner of any of my cars.

When I take a wheel off to go under the car, I put the whole wheel under the car too at a spot the car could theoretically rest on if the jack fails. Once I get the car sitting on the jack stand, I put the floor jack back on somewhere nearby so it can support the car if the jack stand fails.

__________________
Charlie

---------------------------
'66 VW 1300 96K miles
'97 E300D 239K miles
'85 300D 203K miles (sold Sep 2012)