I was looking for a geared engine stand, and based on my research there really only seemed to be one basic model, but sold under different names and model numbers. Looking at the many different reviews, and especially the Summit, JEGS and Sunex models it appeared that while they were all clearly nearly identical (probably from the same Chinese factory), the only model that consistently got 5 stars was the Sunex, so I decided to pay the extra. So far I'm very pleased with that decision: Packing was very good (nested cardboard boxes), but had still somehow got punctured in shipping - one bolt fell out the hole as it was delivered, but once I opened it up nothing was missing, and no damage. Assembly was easy - one hole had a slight weld splatter on the edge, but a quick run through with a drill removed that. Welds all appear perfect (reviews of the other manufacturer's models all seemed to refer to substandard welding) I had bought a geared engine stand because I'm usually working on my own, and flipping a motor over at the same time as removing and inserting a locking pin is near impossible. I also expect to put some large motors (Mercedes 4.5L v8 and various Jaguar engines) on this over the years, so needed something robust. A local restoration shop strongly recommended this, telling me they use it for V12's all the time. The wheels are steel (with one set locking, the others castoring). The ends of the legs have the plastic inserts, a minor cosmetic touch, and the paint or power coat looks good, though it does crack off when tightening a few of the bolts. But, there are a few things to watch for. The first motor I'm using this with is a small Mazda motor, and that requires slim (M10) mounting bolts to mount to the stand. The 'fingers' are very long (110mm) which is good - on a large motor it means you can usually fit this to the motor with the flywheel or clutch in place. However, trying to find the 140 and 160mm long M10 1.25 bolts required for the Mazda engine was impossible, even online. I did consider cutting the fingers down (so I could use shorter bolts), but in the end decided to buy hardened, threaded rod and use that.to attach the motor. However, the M10 diameter leaves a lot of slop (flex) inside the 16mm Internal Diameter fingers, so I then bought some 16mm steel M10 bushings to go inside the fingers when mounting the motor. They fitted perfectly, but between the rods and bushings that added a lot of cost to the stand. If you're using this exclusively with larger motors (and larger bolts - say M14 or M16 size) you shouldn't have a problem (and there are bolt kits available for most big blocks - nothing comes with the stand). Be aware that you may need to do something similar to mount smaller Asian or European engines. That said, it means I don't need two engine stands taking up space in the garage...which was the alternative. The worm drive seems to work fine, though it doesn't really have much load on it at the moment. The real test will come when I mount a V8 or V12; I'll update this review if there's any issues - but at the moment I'm very happy with my purchase. -Steve
