I Hate Jack Stands

[Sam Buchanan]

For the past few months as the '48 P15 has been returned to road duty after a five-year hibernation I've been working under the car. I'm one of the poor slobs that doesn't have a lift in the shop and I hate having my life dependent on somebody having a good day on a jack stand production line (even though I always leave the floor jack in place). Enough already....time to put something substantial under the car that I won't have to think about.

 

Some quality time was spent this afternoon making 10" lengths of 4x4 treated pine out of longer lengths of 4x4 treated pine. They were stacked up semi-neatly and secured with scrap plywood and #7 coarse-thread drywall screws. I now have something to put under the P15 frame rails that can't be easily kicked out of place and won't tip over.

 

 

Four courses of 4x4 yield a stand that is ~15" high which I what I've found works well with the floor jack I use.

 

 

As you can tell, no effort was wasted on making these "shop stands" cabinet-quality......relied on the Gorilla method of construction......ugly but strong....... 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Sam Buchanan

[Plymouthy Adams]

those look like they will do the job...but I think I will stick with my jack stands...at least they multi-positional...lighter and if  you worried about marking concrete...thin piece of plywood to the rescue.....I have not seen a jack stand failure, not saying it does not happen...just not seen one...only failure I have seen was the absence of a roll pin (think PO lamebrain here he had a nail there and not even bent to lock in)...it would only prevent the release of the latch, not that the latch would not work or fail with weight on it...

[MarcDeSoto]

Looks like a great sturdy design!

[keithb7]

They do look good. Lack of adjusting is the one thing I’d miss. Along with jack stands I too place a hydraulic jack under the vehicle as a backup plan. For big jobs that will be jacked up for a while,  I gather up big  beam chunks of wood. Say 24”x24”. Then I feel good and safe while pulling, prying and poking at stuck car parts. 

[Sam Buchanan]

50 minutes ago, keithb7 said:

They do look good. Lack of adjusting is the one thing I’d miss. Along with jack stands I too place a hydraulic jack under the vehicle as a backup plan. For big jobs that will be jacked up for a while,  I gather up big  beam chunks of wood. Say 24”x24”. Then I feel good and safe while pulling, prying and poking at stuck car parts. 

 

I still have three sets of jack stands available when adjustability is needed. The wood stands are the same height as the regular jack stands when I have the floor jack up all the way. Yep, it's the tuggin' and yankin' that makes me very nervous when the car is on regular jack stands,...our wood solutions should keep us safe. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Sam Buchanan

[MackTheFinger]

I've personally known three people who died under vehicles, two under cars and one under a friggin' riding mower. I personally won't get under anything that doesn't have redundant support.

[greg g]

Take out 1 course of wood add some HD casters and your have roll around stands

Edited July 31, 2019 by greg g

[Dodgeb4ya]

Nothing wrong with using Commercial Grade USA made jack stands.

I've used them on hundreds of jobs over the years.

Of course knowing how and where to use them is a must too.

[pflaming]

There are times when jack stands aren’t tall enough.  I would not do ir this way again.it fell against the wall one time. 

[Eneto-55]

1 hour ago, pflaming said:

There are times when jack stands aren’t tall enough.  I would not do ir this way again.it fell against the wall one time. 

I used the same cross beam support idea, but on 15 gallon drums.  AND "redundant support" - I left the two chain hoists with which I had lifted the body connected.  (I'm a strict fan of lifting from the top when ever it is remotely possible.)

[pflaming]

If I had used my shop i could have used hoists which would have been much easier and very much safer. But i thought I needed the shop space to work on the frame.

[Eneto-55]

3 hours ago, pflaming said:

If I had used my shop i could have used hoists which would have been much easier and very much safer. But i thought I needed the shop space to work on the frame.

Yeah, I was working on the body itself.  Did most of the work on the frame outdoors, and my Dad had a shop that was 2 cars wide & 2 deep, so we had space to spread out.

[Bingster]

I think those would make good back-up protection. I'm a little nervous about jack stands, so I plan to put railroad tie-like timbers on either side next to the wheels whichever direction I'm working, so if the car slips off the stands, it will land on the timbers and hopefully save me from being crushed. In theory.

[Jerry Roberts]

I give the vehicle a good shake before I crawl underneath . 

[RobertKB]

I use good quality stands all the time. I usually have a back up as well such as the floor jack I used to jack the car up or I'll put a second set of stands as back up. I was under my car yesterday and felt safe with the stands I use. You can get killed crossing the street but if you use common sense it is a whole lot less likely.

 

Doesn't matter if the stands are North American made or Chinese. If Chinese, they are made to the specs of a North American company, like most products made in China. Do you like your iPhone which is made in China. Mine is well over seven years old and working well.

Edited August 1, 2019 by RobertKB

[Dodgeb4ya]

Chinese electronics safe to use... Chinese tool maybe not....

Edited August 1, 2019 by Dodgeb4ya

[westaus29]

Whoops a daisy ....... I have two of those orange and white ones still in use. They were a gift and always thought they were indestructible.

[rallyace]

I bought a pair of 6 ton stands from Harbor Fright and will probably get another pair on my next trip there. They appear to be of good quality and I rarely put over 1,500 lbs on one stand and never go under the car unless it is on at least two stands.

[pflaming]

I was very fortunate on this mishap. I was lowering one end and lost it. By lifting under the forward corner I was able to right it and get control.  I was not close so it wasn’t a dangerous situation. 

[keithb7]

I’ve done one jack under a car. For example: You jack up the front corner of your vintage Mopar. You take one wheel off to adjust a brake, tie-rod whatever. You just pulled the wheel off. Slide it under the car. At a low point at the end you are working on. It’ll help hold the car off you if the jack stand fails, and if the backup hydraulic jack fails too. 

 

Take a couple minutes before you dive in. Ask yourself, “What could go wrong here?” Take a minute to come up with a better option, or a back up plan.

 

32 years under cars so far for me. 6 jackstands in my collection. 3 hydraulic jacks. All see regular use. So far so good. Knock-on-wood. 

[TodFitch]

5 hours ago, westaus29 said:

Whoops a daisy ....... I have two of those orange and white ones still in use. They were a gift and always thought they were indestructible.

 

I don’t thing the orange and white paint was the issue.

 

Looks like a brittle fracture, I wouldn't be surprised if they were dropped onto a hard surface or hit with a hammer. Cast iron can do that fairly easily as it is not a good material for things like impact. At least that is how I recall it described all those decades ago in my materials class. I think you should be careful about dropping or hitting a Harbor Freight (or other imported) jack stand for that reason. But cast iron should be fine when loaded in compression.

 

It would be nice if that style jack stand were available for a low price but made with forged materials. Seems unlikely as forging is a much more expensive process than casting.

 

3 hours ago, rallyace said:

I bought a pair of 6 ton stands from Harbor Fright and will probably get another pair on my next trip there. They appear to be of good quality and I rarely put over 1,500 lbs on one stand and never go under the car unless it is on at least two stands.

 

Going for a large safety margin is always a good idea. Not sure how to load test a jack stand though as the heaviest thing I've got to put on them is my car so it isn’t easy to load them up enough in a home shop environment to see if the rating is anything more than words on paper.

 

That said, I've got the same jack stands that you have and will continue to use them.

 

5 minutes ago, keithb7 said:

. . . Take a couple minutes before you dive in. Ask yourself, “What could go wrong here?” Take a minute to come up with a better option, or a back up plan. . .

 

Absolutely! Best advise for working around anything remotely dangerous and cars fall into that category.

[maok]

I usually throw my wheels under for a fail safe.

[greg g]

Now after all this discussion, you would thought that some of our rich uncle's would have stepped up and bought us all new 20x40 garages with a two pst bend pack in one bay.....

[Eneto-55]

27 minutes ago, greg g said:

Now after all this discussion, you would thought that some of our rich uncle's would have stepped up and bought us all new 20x40 garages with a two pst bend pack in one bay.....

24 x 48

[Dodgeb4ya]

I started to search out these common ratchet jack stands made these days...DIY'er brands ...are all off shore and can be be prone to failure even if not over loaded in some cases.

Cast iron being used in them is the same as using a cinder block....fractures and will explode...

shown is a ratchet tooth that sheared off!!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/339127-jack-stand-accident-while-under-porsche.html

Edited August 2, 2019 by Dodgeb4ya