Texas Strength Systems (TSS) Equipment Review: Power Cage
[u][b]Background[/b][/u]
I've been involved in weight lifting, specifically powerlifting since 1999. I've owned a no name bench w/ a built in squat rack, upgrade to a yukon power cage, then an EFS BYO 3x3. I've been through cheap DB handles, cheap bars, moved onto Ivanko bars & PDA (fracational plate) DB handles (some of the best on the market for heavy duty lifting). There's a clear and noticeable difference in quality between certain brands and even products within that brand. This brings me to TSS.
I ended up moving in 2012 & discovered my EFS 3x3 rack wouldn't fit in the basement. This brought me to TSS for a bolt-together option.
[u][b]Ordering, Communication & Shipping[/b][/u]
I ordered from TSS sometime just after moving into my new house at that point. This was early December 2012. I believe I ordered a rack w/ belt squat attachment & 45 degree hyper w/ built in Lat row. The Lat row will not be reviewed in this thread as I have yet to fully assemble & use it.
I paid for the rack in mid Dec & was told the weight time was 4 to 6 weeks. After many excuses, I finally had my rack built & shipped to me. I received the rack on April 5th, 2013. About 14 weeks vs 4 to 6 weeks. He offered half off on all Cap cable attachments. This doesn't come close to the time wasted. I could have purchased another EFS rack (for more money) in the specified time. My training was put on hold. He gave excuses rather than way to get the rack to me faster. He doesn't seem to mind to sit on your cashed check.
The rack arrived in a wooden crate. Each & every piece was wrapped in bubble wrap. Despite this, the pieces still floated freely & ended up with some scratches, scuffs & nicks in the paint. I've had better experience on ebay this with his shipping method. The shipping was the cheapest & if he had taken more care & used a little more bubble rack, I would have had a pristine rack.
[u][b]Quality[/b][/u]
Here's where things took a turn for the worst. I've taken pictures of some of the things wrong with this rack.
[IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/34oojk0.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, the paint is readily removed from the rack. It's a poor powder coat that will eventually wear off of all contacted surfaces. My old EFS rack slightly has this problem, but looked better than my rack after 5+ years of use.
More importantly, notice how the bar is not making contact w/ the "floor" of the J-cup. Only the right side makes contact. This creates a stress point. I make sure I softly rack squats & benches as to not have a J-Cup failure.
Left & Right J-Cups:
[IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/b9dkw5.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/2v0g4k1.jpg[/IMG]
The left J-cup is square, but a chunk of the face of the J-cup is missing. Also notice the randomly weld spots or simple imperfections on the rear of the cup.
The right J-Cup is not square. This will be the side that fails if a failure does occur. I don't see how this was overseen. Same w/ the large blob of weld on the bottom left of the cup.
Wear on J-Cups (squat height):
[IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/15ixhw.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2wrm6hs.jpg[/IMG]
I have had maybe 12 or 13 squat sessions with this rack in total & the level of wear is far beyond any piece of equipment I know. The quality of paint is below even my old Yukon rack.
3rd set of J-cups:
[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2qlg3yb.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/20a55jc.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/10d86rl.jpg[/IMG]
This set was made for me after I discovered an issue with my other two sets of J-Cups.
They do not fit snuggly like a quality J-Cup should. They shift & suffer from the same lower build quality of the previous red J-Cups. These use an even smaller dowel to fit the rack holes. I am not sure how long these would hold up with heavy squats (500+). These were sent to me because his first two sets were removing paint. I will discuss that issue next.
Continued next post...