Question about jack stands

I have no problem crawling on a car that is properly supported by jack stands, but not cheap ones, and not when ramps are far easier to use.

I never called you a girl.

I called Heather Storm a girl.

Tester

I recommend Craftsman or better quality

Better yet, Craftsman professional . . . the yellow and black . . . or better

Not sure Iā€™d want to rely on it at the shop, but for diy use, itā€™s probably okay

And I recommend 3 ton jack stands, versus 2 ton

Iā€™m not getting under a car supported by $9 jack stands

OK Girlio, lets play golf, come up to pequot Lakes late June or early July :laughing:

Not Fair Barkydog, Pequot Lakes one of my favorite areas.
Now if you have lakeshore on the Whitefish chain Iā€™ll be there for opening dayā€¦lol

I donā€™t even know where my clubs are its been so long but can I use the ladies tee?

As long as you wear a dress, wth, if you are in it is fine with me :heart_eyes:

I stuck my head under the car to look at the points where I have used the jack before - which hasnā€™t been for a couple of years - and found that it looks like the repair place I have taken the car for a couple of things since then have pretty much bent/crushed/destroyed the metal surrounding those indentations just behind the front wheels. The metal there - which is about the thickness of a butter knife - is all fubared now. My concern is that unlike the scissors jack, which fits nicely around those narrow pieces of metal, the jack stands are really wide and I can easily see the thin piece of metal giving way and collapsing. And even after an exhaustive internet search on the subject, I still am really unclear about where I am supposed to put the jack stands, regardless of how I get the car raised or what kind of jack I use to lift it. The conflicting information is astounding. I am going to have to take some photos and post them here. Because using words to describe what I am looking at under there is almost pointless.

About 6ā€-12ā€ deeper under each side of the car - towards the center and the cat/exhaust are what look like two long hollow metal rectangular boxes that are both the lowest point under the car. These are what would come in contact with a shopā€™s lift - if you can picture the big kind that are shaped like a ā€œYā€ or ā€œXā€ and raise the entire vehicle up high overhead. They are totally separate and different from the butter knife thin piece that are basically in line with the tires on the sides. My original question in my first posting was asking how I could use the jack to raise the car and get it from there onto the jack stands - IF both were occupying the same place. That question is now changed for a couple of reasons - first like I wrote, the entire thin butter knife metal and indentations are all crushed and bent, and second - are those long metal hollow boxes really where the jack stands are supposed to go anyway? It looks to me like the top of those jack stands would just punch / poke right through the bottom of these things with the weight of the car on them. I am more confused, upset and depressed than ever - and I am running out of time to figure things out.

So you really are not concerned with your safety, I take it?

So scissors jack it from the pinch weld just far enough back from the jack point so you can get the jackstand in beside the scissors jack onto the jacking point. Repeat on the other side.

If the rocker panels crush from being jacked at that point, the car is too far gone for the safety of the OTHER folks on the road and it is time to send it to the great junkyard in the hills.

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Give up, do you not realize the danger you are putting yourself in for a lousy oil change on a vehicle that is well past its sell date.

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VOLVO_V70, you might as well stop posting on this thread as nothing you have added has been anything close to useful and is just a waste. I think I have been pretty clear with the parameters I am confined to stay within, and donā€™t see why anyone wastes time posting things that donā€™t directly address or answer the specific questions. I have worked on many projects on this car over the years and now simply have moved on to a new series of repairs that require the use of jacks stands - whereas previous repairs did not. Thus, the question. You keep focusing on a simple oil change like it is the only thing that needs to be done.

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Because the parameters you have decided to stay within might kill you and we are trying to stop you from doing that.

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I did what @MikeInNH did and made ramps out of wood. Cheaper that stands, easier to use and strong. The only problem is finding a place to store them

I didnā€™t ā€œdecideā€ anything - except to buy the jack stands. The reason I bought the jack stands was to be safe when working under the car.

Thatā€™s why jack stands are called SAFETY DEVICES.

Tester

I had a 1984 Cavalier that rusted out along the rocker panels, and I know what you mean by those weak perforable jacking points behind the front wheel wells.

The box shaped metal you describe should be checked for integrity - tap with hammer. Those might be good places for a jack stand. For actual jacking points, consider where front suspension components join the body, or underneath the steering knuckle/hub.

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@Tester are you under the impression that weā€™re telling him not to use jack stands? Thatā€™s not the case. Weā€™re telling him not to use the scissor jack that came with the car to lift 2 wheels off the ground to get jack stands under the car.

Btw, Iā€™ll see your vehicle supports and raise youā€¦

:wink:

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You might want to consider using large gooseneck pliers to try and straighten out some of that pinch welded metal so that you can at least get a place for the scissors jack to work properly.

Are you sure there are no frame rails as shown in the Autozone link I posted before?

I think his contribution, basically saying, ā€œWhat you propose is unsafe, donā€™t do itā€ (Iā€™m paraphrasing of course) is very useful. Itā€™s just not useful to you if you choose to ignore it. Ignore it at your own risk.

Your car as you describe it is unsafe to be worked under using anything other than ramps. Buy some ramps if you value your life.

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It sounds like the OP is just starting out doing their own auto repairs.

Care to elaborate how the OP is suppose to do brake/steering/suspension work, or for that matter, a simple tire rotation while the vehicle is sitting on ramps?

Tester

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