I think there may be a difference in the $17 set at Walmart and the $160 set other places. Just me but I don’t like jack stands and only use them as additional support, not the only support. Plus I really would not get under a car on jack stands unless they were huge. Then you’ve got to think about the sheet metal the jack stands may be supporting depending on where they are placed. I know you like them but I’d use ramps and jack stands together.
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How do you go about replacing brakes, wheel bearings, tie rod ends/ball joints, struts, etc… if the vehicle is sitting on ramps with the tires on?
Tester
I think I found the thread the guy was talking about in the video
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=77414f8421fe41af7e456c97f62a9d40&showtopic=70117&st=80
it has pictures showing the jack after the car fell on him.
Personally, I don’t fully trust any jackstand ever made. I ALWAYS leave at least one jack underneath a car with a small amount of pressure applied as insurance.
Note in post 86 in that link that someone made some heavy duty blocks out of wood. That’s exactly what the wife of a long time friend of mine was using until a few years ago.
Some may remember my mentioning on this this forum that she was crushed and killed almost instantly when one of those blocks rolled and her '65 Thunderbird came down on her one weekend.
Are they heavy duty? Yes; just not ever heavy duty enough to be 100% sure.
even the lift at auto shop give me the creeps,guys up under car and truck all day.
In the picture the release handle appears to be up against the tire, he should have positioned the jack stand with the handle away from the tire.
Was she using 2x4’s or 4x4’s? The one in post 86 looks like it could slip but I think wider ones like like in the video or putting the blocks horizontally would be safer.
The ones she was using was made of 4 X 4s. They had been in use for many years without any problems. It’s just that day things went terribly wrong. Being as it was after the fact, no one ever knew exactly what went wrong. It’s only known that one of them apparently tipped a bit and the car went down suddenly on one side; crushing her.
She was a nice lady. I’ve known her husband since high school and her since the mid 70s.
I will mention that many years ago I had pair of stands like those in the pic that Tester posted.
Most of my work is on lighter, smaller cars but one day a smaller lighter car started causing one of stamped steel legs to bend so those stands went to the dumpster.
I concur with that advice. Besides the jack stands, which are the main safety item, and the jack with just alittle pressure on it for added margin, I usually place a tire on the ground under the car in the area I’m working, and if there’s space between the tire and the car frame, , a combination of 4 x 6, 2 x 6, or 2 x 4 lumber across the tire.
I’ve never had to test whether all that works b/c the jack stands have never failed. But I do live in earthquake country, so need to take some extra precautions. I also keep my cell phone with me if I’m working alone, thinking might give me a chance to call for help in an emergency. My with all the dangers involved, maybe it is just easier to take the car to a shop:? hmmm … Nah … lol …
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I have both types… with the pin and the ratcheting ones. They are all well built…not the split legs as shown that @Tester posted in his example. They are all heavy to use, but I’d rather have that than a stand colapsing on me. And as @Mustangman said, I also keep the jack in position with a little pressure just as a safety.
I only have a scisors lift and even that has a safety, but I still throw a stand under a car…depending on the job at hand.
The safety needs to be released before lowering the vehicle or it will only drop a few inches and the safety stops it.
Even the lifts at auto shops has some form of safety. Normaly it is a ratchet mechanism that locks every 4-6 inches and you can hear it click as the vehicle is raised. Then when you want to lower the vehicle…you need to unlock both safetys before lowering. So even there a vehicle would only drop to the last safety position and stop there if a hydraulic hose broke.
It always gives me the Willy’s seeing someone under a car that is not supported in the proper way.
My nephew has a girlfriend that was doing her own brakes. She needed something and I dropped by with the tool/part for her. When I walked up she was sitting on the ground…legs straddling and under both sides of where the front wheel would have been. The scisors jack was so far tipped that one good wiggle and the car would have dropped on both of her legs.
I gave her a good swift kick in the butt and made her get out to show her the tilted jack. I gave her a good lecture and she now comes to my shop to do this kind of work.
I’m just lucky…she could have taken me!!!
Yosemite
Knowing nothing about metallurgy myself, I always use a back-up. If the car is on jack stands, I slide metal ramps underneath. If the car is on ramps, I place jack stands underneath where they can catch the car if the ramps collapse.
I’ve left things on a hydraulic jack, like my motorcycle while I’m changing a tire, and they aren’t reliable enough to be trusted. When I return to the motorcycle to mount the tire on the bike, it’s often sitting lower than I left it.
I’ve used ratcheting jack stands and pin jack stands, and I’ve never had a problem with either. If you feel yours are unsafe, don’t use them. Buy jack stands that you feel safe using and that exceed the weight capacity of the vehicle you’re putting on them, but don’t think that you’re going to be safe working underneath a car that is held up by a hydraulic jack. That’s not what they’re made for. Jacks are made to lift a vehicle, and jack stands are made to hold a vehicle while you work underneath it. I even use a jack stand to change a flat tire.
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