Did they buy the patent for power hooks or is this a chinese knockoff? They look exactly the same except with a black coating. I've had my hooks for about 10 years and they are one of those things...
A good smith machine will have guide rod bearings. A lot of times the bar will be counterbalanced, so it is essentially weightless when you don't have plates on it(for easy height adjustment).
Off the top of my head, why not cut down an old threaded standard dumbbell handle, so you have a threaded end to tighten plates on for inertia setting.
Meanwhile : In a local story - Dollar Tree basement floods out and destroys several thousands dollars worth of merchandise. The store manager believes someone sabotaged their plumbing system, likely...