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

Good solid blocking under jacks or jack stands is the safe method. Blocking on top of jacks or jack stands is sketchy to me.

 

You guys should work on a 4 degree pitch floor, talk about interesting ways to jack things up securely without them rolling backwards.
Then there's the issue of jack stands which also lean back at 4 degrees, the higher they go the sketchier it gets.
When I mentioned earlier about putting your cribs under the back tires, the front on the jack stands and slide the trans in from the rear, it's coming from the voice of experience.
You could of already had the trans swapped 20 times by now.

 

I never trust jackstands alone ..wood blocking for me....always,,,,,no exceptions....

 

I thought I had a picture of the wagon with the lift up, but I guess not. I bought this scissor lift just to do this car, it was a life saver. Just the ticket for body work, no more laying on my back or crouching on my knees to do rockers, change tires, brakes, exhaust work. Safe and stable.

 

Just cut 1/8" off the front legs of your jack stands. Should compensate

 

I agree with @squirrel however at some point you just have to do it, in the safest way you have on hand.

 

My jack goes to 11 (31.5").
https://esco.net/product/compac-1-5-ton-jack/

I made 4" wrought aluminum comum that bolts to the top, and takes the cup.

Then the vehicle goes on these:
https://sunextools.com/products/1410-10-ton-high-height-pin-type-jack-stands-pair/

These go from 28.1" to 46.5".

 

Word. If I work in the garage alone, I'm more confined and if things do go bad, there is less chance of an escape. Out on the driveway... I got more options.

In my youth, I did a lot of careless things. We had no money to do it right and safely. It was the summer of '76. I was going to help a buddy change a clutch on a hot early afternoon. He got started and had the car on stands... on an asphalt driveway on an incline.

I walked up as the car fell on him. All he could do is yell GET ME OUT OF HERE. I whipped the floor jack around and got him out. He was 6'6" tall and weighed around 270... no fat all muscle. His nickname was Bullwinkle.

No broken bones, but he went to the ER anyway. He had the imprint of a bolt deep into his bicep and his SIL who was a nurse suggested the ER thing. It turned out that the crushed area was on an artery and kept it from being a gusher. They had to resect it and put in a drain. BUT.. we had learned something about safety that day. A few of us came back the next day and finished the clutch for him, albeit with more safety.

 

Yikes! That's why I always want a backup in case something fails.

 

Yes, I could have had it done by now, but why rush something like this? Did I mention that I saw my friends dad almost get killed when a vehicle fell of a jack with him under it? Luckily someone (i.e., me) saw that it was sketchy and put a cinder block under the frame rail.

 

That's some serious height on that jack! I'd like to find a 3 ton one that will lift that high.

Thanks

 

Glad to hear he was ok. Lots of stories out there like this. Thanks for sharing.

Scott

 

Got the car up on the cribbing today. Got front up on jackstands first. Then lifted the rear high enough to put the cribbing under the rear wheels.

Then back to the front to lift and was surprised that I was able to just barely get the cribbing under the front wheels using only the jack. Unfortunately, it's still 1" too short to slide the trans under the frame rail on the trans jack, so I'll have to do that with a wood block on the jack.

Car is quite stable and didn't hear any cracking or groaning from the cribbing as the car came down off the jack.

I have 6 ton jackstands under the car front and rear just in case. The floor jack is also still under the front crossmember.

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it.

Scott

 

I made wood cribs for my 66 Spitfire they have really been helpful. I jacked it up in stages, repositing things as I went higher.

 

I bang the bases of all 4 stands on all 4 sides.... sometimes they will shift a bit and then set flush

Then I push on the front and back of the vehicle on both sides hard fore I get under


Ricky.

 

I dont have a problem putting a block on my floor jack to get the height I need to work under the car. Floor jacks have wheels on them so they roll and stay centered under the lift. However you should raise the car evenly front to back and side to side once you get it higher. You have to be awake and pay attention to what you are doing no matter what the job is. I use 4 jack stands under the front and 2 under the back, leave my floor jack under the rear end just as a safety buffer, I dont depend on any hydraulic equipment to hold a load with out solid support while Im under it. You can also use cribbing under the frame, axles or any where you think is the safest. I have worked under all different kinds of equipment with it either cribbed or on stands. I always inspect the support before going under. I have worked under 360 ton trucks with the tires off, shovels, excavators, D11 dozers minus tracks provided they are supported correctly. Did I mention I also inspect my jack stands before use and never use any concrete for cribbing!!!!!

 

A D11 is a monster! Loves me some old Cat dozers.

 

I just grab each corner of the car and give it a good to-and-fro. I may hear some metal-on-metal as things will tend to settle as the surfaces are not very parallel. Any way you choose, it is a wise move.

Since I have a (level) asphalt driveway, 3/4" thick plywood squares go under the stands whether it is 30 or 95 degrees outside. They are marked as "DO NOT THROW OUT".

 

I ended up shooting a video of the cribbing construction and getting the car up on jack stands. Link below. Mods please delete if not allowed.

 

I used drive-on ramps to get the front end high enough to allow a floor jack (Similar to Squirrel's post) with trans pan cradle to work safely at height when I replaced the C6 in my OT 66 Fairlane. Once the front was in the air the rear axle was raised with jack stands placed under axle for stability and ground clearance. Many hands make light work. Other than that, I did the T10 in my 64 Fairlane and auto in my 35 Chevy on a hoist, the T10 was done manually, never again, whilst the700R was done with a trans jack, so much easier.

 

I'm glad that my driveway is concrete. Having said that, I'm often wrenching in the driveway and it's not quite level. I think it's probably safer just to leave the jack stands as is on uneven ground rather than put something under them to try to level things a bit. I guess I could also make some smaller cribbing for the tires to sit on, but then I can't do brake work.

 

Nice job on the video OP. Looks to be quite safe and seeing is believing.

I had a neighbor that worked at the Jones Beach carpenter shop. He would bring home these massive pieces of wood, had to be 15" square by 24" long. They were used as road dividers for years. He gave us some and they were also stout and safe. They got left outside for too long and eventually rotted.

 

Damn, those must have been heavy! But I'm sure they were sturdy as hell, too.

I'm tempted to add a sheet of plywood to the outside of these to make them even sturdier, but they're already at 31 pounds each and I plan to put them up on the top shelf in the garage, and that will require me to get out the stepladder, so I think I'll leave them as is.

Thanks

Scott

 

I have these that I use for just about everything, simple Banjo rear end axle housings. There is no way they can fail!
I used my little extended ones for under axle in this photo as I was just taking the car off the big ones that were holding the frame up while the suspension was pulled out. Second photo shows them holding the whole rear of car on the frame. When used on the axles they get it up there pretty good. Just may be a good idea for you to search for some axle bells and make your own sometime. There is a peace of mind being under a car with something holding it up that doesn't move or is made by china.



Tip for sliding a trans on the bare ground or concrete, put it on cardboard and slide the cardboard in, makes things tons easier. Then for putting on jack, its normally pretty easy to use some pry bars and lumber to get off the ground onto jack.

 

Those look really sturdy!

 

If you get out to this area north of Houston Ill try to send you home with some bells to make your own.

 

I used to put the car up as high as it would go on jack stands (about 16"), and slide the 727 Torqueflight under it, then I'd shimmy under there myself, roll the transmission onto my chest and benchpress it into the car while I'd grunt at my mom to put a couple bell housing bolts in as fast as she could.

Ahhh, the good old days. Also, possibly why my back hurts when I sneeze now.

 

You've got yourself a deal! My parents live in The Woodlands, so probably just a few miles from you. I'll let you know next time I'm headed that way.

Thanks!

 

I used to be a fairly serious powerlifter years ago, but the days of heavy deadlifts and bench presses are over. These days I'm trying to work smarter, not harder.