Hot Rods How to Safely Jack a Vehicle Past Max Height of Floor Jack?

Also, let me clarify a bit. I saw this post just before leaving for work yesterday, I saw the cribbage blocks, etc

There was no reason for me to comment.

But as I normally do, I get home from work, look at the threads, and see talks of using floor jacks and blocks of wood, etc.

The OP has a transmission jack, my reply wasn’t targeted at him, but for those using a floor jack.

Keep in mind the thread was “how to raise…” and veered towards floor jacks and wood.
That was really what I intended my reply for.

 

I have done automatics and manuals with just standard jack stands to hold the car up. I usually get some help to take the transmissions down and put them back up. Now I will first drive the car up on ramps to make things easier on me.

I have cribbed up my old Sears jack with some 6" x 6" pressure treated wood a couple of times. Get the car up so far with out them, swap out my usual stands for my taller ones.

 

The floor jack extensions make me nervous as well. You can buy these at the jungle site for about $100.



I have one of these on the way from the jungle site; supposed to give 5.5" of lift, and that might just be enough.

 

Yeah, given the subject of the thread and lifting the car, It seemed maybe you were saying to use the ATV jack for that.

 

Why not lift the front of the car as high as you can, put conventional jackstands under it on both sides, then jack up the control arm enough to get the cribbing under it, adding a block of wood under the jack if needed, then repeat on the other side. Go up in stages like that might make it a little less sketchy.

 

If you don't want a lift in your shop, I would watch for some used air lift jacks like they used on cars and trucks in the 50s etc. I'm thinking not only for the transmission but for future excursions under projects. They are very stable and lock at height when raised. I bought two (even tho I have a lift). They are very handy for making back breaking work become waist high work as well as elevating vehicles for transmission changes. When I use mine, I put some spare wheels/tires under each wheel to prevent the project from possibly falling. Your wooden stands would accomplish the same thing. I'd take the wooden stands and cut them so they are only half as tall, then insert them under the wheels in stages. By that I mean........raise project 1/2 way and insert stands. Then raise the rest of the way and put the rest of the stand in place. These Jacks are really handy especially if you don't have a lift and they store against a wall or in a shed when not needed. Prices vary but usually $250/$300 will buy one. If you get just one, you can move it back to front as you raise each end of the project and insert the stands.



In the picture below, I had raised back and front and had already placed some homemade tall jack stands under the rear. Was going to do the same thing at the front and then start working on some frame and suspension details. As you can see ther is plenty of room under the frame to work and I didn't have to raise it this high, but wanted a waist high work height rather than bending over to do things. When the jack is raised, it has interlocks to hold different heights.


These are so easy to use, even I can do it..............

 

I have thought about doing it that way. I'll definitely start off with going as high as I can with jack stands.

Thanks

 

I feel you're overthinking this, but good on you to be thorough. I've always done transmissions on regular cheap little jack stands and a floor jack, or a transmission jack, and usually by myself. One thing I always do when working on a vehicle sitting on jack stands, cribbing, etc. is I put something under the vehicle as a safety barrier like wheels/tires or a bare engine block, or some 12" tall by 4' long sections of aluminum I-beams I have. If the vehicle somehow slips off, I have less chance of being crushed with those safeties in place.

 

Put the jack under the A arm (usually where the shock is mounted). One wheel at a time.

if I need the jack to lift the vehicle higher that it will fully extended I use a block of wood. 2x4s, 4x4s or 6x6. I have also put something under the jack as well, but I won't suggest that to you. My neck is not worth much but yours may be.

 

Yes, I am absolutely overthinking this, but that's what I do.

Thanks for the input.

Scott

 

Good points. Thanks for the input.

Scott

 

• Build a second set of crib towers.
• Drive the car forward up on car ramps.
• Jack up the rear and place on crib towers.
• Jack under each A arm, replace ramp with crib tower.
• Place rim/tire stacks under frame as catch blocks.

Or go this route instead of building a second pair of crib towers; I have four, 4" x 8" x 5' chunks. I place 2 of them side by side and slide each pair under the ramps for added height.
Sure as hell, as soon as you sell your lift, you need the SOB. That's why my old Craftsman/Atlas lathe stays in the corner. Last time I thought about listing it to gain some floor space, and a month later I needed to turn down the I.D. of a pair of wheel adapters to clear the hubs they were going on!

 

I crib the jack to get extra height. I have some three and four foot long 6x8 beam pieces that I put down and set the jack on them. I use these for just this purpose and have never had a problem. They're very safe and I've never had a problem using them. Would not use a jack extension...ever.

 

I mis understood the replies using blocks of wood. I see where you were coming from.

 

Damn, that does look like a good piece of gear. I can see how they would be really handy.

Thanks for the input.

Scott

 

This worked for a team at Speed Week this year. What could go wrong? They were at tech inspection if you can believe it.

John

 

That's pretty sketchy, but I have seen worse.

Thanks

 

I've used jack stands and cribbing boxes to sit under my frame as I raise it. Once the floor jack maxed out I built another single cribbing box with a solid 2"x6" wood top and large enough to allow my floor jack to sit on top. Then just jacked it up a 2nd time, and then with spare blocking I keep around I built up the jack stands or cribbing boxes higher to finally get where it needed to be and still be safe and solid.

 

One other possibility is to use a cross beam like this. I have one, don't use it much now (although I added bolt on saddles to jack up a rear end). Spread out, you would catch the A Frames and the tires wouldn't drop as much to put cribbing under them.

 

I do similar but jack front of car up, put jacks under front then move to the back, jack it up and put jack stands under it so car is level. I then repeat the process with the floor jack on planks high enough to get the cribbing under wheels when I jack it up.

 

I actually have one of those. I need to pull it out from under my bench and see how wide it will spread.

EDIT: It's 30" center pad to center pad. That'll be sufficient to catch my frame rails.

Thanks

 

Is your jack able to roll on the 2x6 box as you jack something up?

Thanks

Scott

 

One thing I do before getting under a car on stands, I go around and give the car a gentle shake on all 4 corners. Any movement and I look to see why and fix it.

I also like to stack a few tires and rims up under the wheels if I have enough on hand.

 

Man sometimes I’m amazed people get anything done…just jack the thing up, put a block in the jack, jack more…don’t overthink everything. I use my floor jack on a gravel floor. So far I haven’t died but exercise a little caution with picking stuff up.

 

This arrived yesterday. It's rubber and 5.5" tall, so it'll give me a bit more of a lift. The problem is that the rubber is hard and slick, so I'm worried about it slipping. I'll clean it off to see if it that helps.

 

Overthinking things is what I do. I also plan to be wrenching for the next several decades, so whatever I can do to make things easier and safer will pay dividends in the long run.

I hear you on the gravel floor; been there. I started off wrenching in the mid 1980's, working on a 1969 Camaro on a dirt floor in a pole shed. Car only fell off the jack once; luckily I wasn't under it when it happened.

 

Somehow I survived my teenage years of working on cars with bumper jacks, bottle jacks, come-a-longs, and cinder blocks.

I don't mind taking the time to make sure I'm safe, now.

 

Not to harp on the subject, but what I found over the years was that I often spent quite a bit of time and effort not only jacking cars up, but locating the things I had squirreled away for jacking them up..........then often I had to find something else that would work because what worked on the last car didn't work on this one. Then there is the need to let the car back down for some reason and then raise it again going thru all the steps needed to get it up again. I decided I wanted some air jacks and I'm very happy with that choice. I simply roll the jack out from under the workbench, spread the arms, and raise the vehicle. Takes just a few minutes. Any subsequent lowering and reraising only takes a few seconds.........well, maybe a minute for both front and back. Yes they cost a little money to acquire, but if you plan on working on old cars for a long time...........they save a lot of wasted time and effort. And as I mentioned before, they can get projects up to waist high which helps immensely as you get older.

 

They had a couple air jacks at high school auto shop, and also at the transmission shop I worked at. This was 40 or so years ago. I don't know if they work on modern cars that don't have bumpers.

 

I sure wouldn't trust jack stands!