Comments on: Jack and Stands

By: Turbobrick

Turbobrick — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:57:55 +0000

Also, remember to move the jack stands far enough away from the car before lowering it, even if you’re in a hurry. Otherwise you might end up with a dent in the rocker panel.

By: Mad_Science

Mad_Science — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:41:35 +0000

I’ve done some incredibly dumb jack and jackstands moves in my days…very lucky I was never squashed.

That said, let me reiterate that it’s worth the extra time to think everything through when it comes to where the car will be, how high you want the stands, etc.

It’s no fun getting a good ways into the project only to learn that the 9″ pumpkin won’t fit between your chest and the floor of the car.

By: JayP

JayP — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:53:45 +0000

Learned the hard way, not by me: Keep a cordless or cell phone close by. If something were to shift and you’re pinned you can call for help. Happened to a pal who thought he had to wait until Monday’s mail delivery to get help. His Corvette dropped on him, pinning him on Saturday evening.

By: Brian DR1665

Brian DR1665 — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:56 +0000

Short of being crushed alive by the object of your mechanical frustration, what others might deem just a tiny bit ironic, few things suck more than trying to work under a car which is not raised high enough, not being able to find one of your stands, and the once-a-project box wrench gravity check into facial region. Of course, holes in floorboards are up there too.

I might also suggest keeping the hood closed or at least down when raising or lowering the vehicle. Lowering the vehicle on those jacks requires a Midas touch to rotate the handle at just the right rate to avoid the “NASCAR style” dropping of the vehicle like a retard. If the hood’s still up when you do this, your hood prop will not be happy, and it’s no fun trying to straighten it back out. (sigh)

By: 42 Ford

42 Ford — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:17:44 +0000

A couple of extra points (some learned through hard experience). Use the hand brake and transmission in park (auto) or gear (manual) to help lock the wheels still in contact with the ground. The pictures show chocking the wheels, this should always be done on all the wheels in contact with the ground. Bricks, rocks, a board are poor chocks, the can slip. The kind shown grip tighter as you rotate the wheel, that is a good thing. Work on a hard flat surface as much as possible. If you must work on grass, use a wide board or plywood under the jack or stand to spread the load and prevent sinking.

Finally, never use cinder blocks or bricks for stands. They can crumble, shatter, etc., instantly dropping the car.

By: TV's Paul Y.

TV's Paul Y. — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:01:06 +0000

Even with ramps, one must be careful– the set of ramps I have (the brand name rhymes with “Albino”) don’t clear the front bumper of my modestly lowered xB (it’s an entire inch lower than stock).

The next natural step, of course, is to get a bunch of 2x8s, and build super-long ramps by merely stacking pieces of them, like so: Build Yourself Some Ramps – MustangWorld