Art & Inspiration Yikes! I don’t think I’d do it that way

I call Photoshop. Why can we see light between the bottom of the drivers side cowl and the top block?

If the pic is legit, I wouldn't trust it even if the blocks were turned. Cinder blocks are brittle as hell. It only takes one unseen hairline crack and boom! As Los Control said, one block goes and that whole thing comes down like a house of cards.

 

What's the problem???
The way those blocks ate orientated it looks like he's about to roll the frame underneath.

I doubt whether anybody will be crawling underneath while it's like that.
Those blocks are more trustworthy than some Chinesium Jack stands

 

I robbed the photo off of fb, looked legit as there was a few other pics to go with it.

 

What does a 55 body weigh, 1500 lbs? Even if it’s 2000 lbs, that still only 500 lbs per stack. Would be better with the holes up though.
Mobile homes in my area are set up with blocks .on dirt, not concrete pads. So is my 100 year old house.

 

Anyone that thinks this is OK I say go for it. It just helps out the gene pool by removing the stupid.

 

Anything is possible. I should have been clear, you cannot finance a mobile on blocks with a conventional, FHA, VA or USDA loan. Cash talks.

 

Fords are okay.

 

Just last week I was relocating a dozen or so 10" blocks that I keep around for utilitarian purposes. As I was restacking, one of them crumbled into several pieces. It only served as a reminder to me how dangerous they could be in some situations.
Used as intended in construction they are set in mortar as a one time permanent installation and should withstand the test of time.
I don't trust them for supporting a vehicle, especially if they've been kicking around for years.
My jack stands are all 30 or 40 years old now, never had a problem but I still stuff a spare tire or something else under the vehicle if possible, in case of jack stand failure. It only takes one mishap to end it all.

 

I guess it’s like everything else, it probably varies by area. Our first home was a 12x60 mobile home set up on blocks, financed through a local bank, but that was 45 years ago. Things may have changed since then, probably have.

 

The cinder blocks turned that way looks dodgy. But stacked as high as those are really sets up a red flag to me.

 

45 years ago I was in high school. I have leant mortgage money for 33 years, I actually have dreams about taking loan applications!! Do you know how depressing that is? And no, the tent pole is not raised in the morning.

My point was that cinder blocks are not strong enough for anyone on here (well, I can think of a few, present company excluded) to risk their lives using them and trusting them as proper support.

30 or so years ago, I did both write and perform a song about mobile home lending for a talent show at a mortgage banker event. After the show, I was in the men' s room urinating, and the president of the company chose the urinal adjacent to mine and politely "asked" that I never sing that song again. Period!

 

Its called natural selection !

 

Don't know if sawhorses would have been any cheaper.

 

They're financed around here all the time. FHA, VA, etc. And the blocks are not simply for wind shear. They are sitting directly on them.

I never suggested it was ok. I only mentioned I'd seen some that way. Many in fact. And some of the ones I've seen have been inspected by a structural engineer.

Cement blocks should never be placed on their side though. That is true. Nor should they be placed vertically. There is only one way to properly use them.

 

Two things I've found about blocks: Holes vertical, like others stated. But just as important is isolating the concrete from extreme point loads, like a pinch weld seam. I always use a piece of 2xsomething between the block and load. A small load-bearing area and a shock by movement, like when prying on the body while working on it could cause an instant failure.

OTOH I'd never work under one on blocks, just storage.

 

That's high tech. I once dropped an engine out of a dodge van set up on 55 gallon drums.

 

Could be real his has what looks like big zip tie holding the frame together ( below the rear edge of the door and above the front tire) or am I seeing things.

 

On a technical note, those blocks are actually "concrete blocks", not 'cement blocks' or 'cinder blocks'.
Cement is a powder (portland cement) that is mixed with water and various aggregates and the blend of materials is technically "concrete" or "concrete mix". Some folks fudge the line a bit and call the viscous liquid mixture "cement" until it is hardened into concrete.
So what's a "cinder block"? Well, back in the days when HAMB-friendly vehicles roamed the Earth in large herds, there was another "block" that is presently extinct. Cinders, a waste product of industry, were mixed with cement power, instead of sand and gravel, to form a lighter, less dense, and thus less strong, type of block. Folks liked to use cinder blocks because they were cheap, easier to transport, and were often leftover from various projects. But that light weight meant that they were proportionally less strong which resulted in blocks in general getting the rep as prone to failures when used as jack stands.
Now, I'm not making the argument that the concrete blocks we have today are strong enough to be undeserving of the negative reputation. They continue to purposely be made a bit fuffy-ish, water can penetrate and freeze causing cracks to develop and other issues from being bumped around, and are totally the wrong material for the jack stand job. Why take the chance when there are other, safer options?

 

LOL , I had to ask……

 

.....with a little bit of seriousness tho....I think that floor jack handle and posts (laying in front of the blocks) had something to do with him getting it up there.

 

I would have tapered the front frame rails, like this ! Oh, I guess you were thinking about the building blocks.

 

SHHHHHH..... (Don't tell no one!) It sat like this the entire weekend (notice the chip off the corner of the block under the left side)?
But this one was only one block high, I had to be able to get my cherry picker out from under the cab.

 

It looks like it, but they are not really. The exterior wall of a mobile structure can bear no weight. The decks and awnings must be supported by footings to the ground and not hung from the home as the outside perimeter cannot bear weight. Trust me, 33 years of lending on mobiles in this state, I know which I speak. In Washington state the department of Labor and Industry in Olympia must certify every addition and alteration. Most improvements are not approved. Prove me wrong, and the next round is on me.

 

Don't need no stink'n permit!

 

The guys quick to claim Photoshop make me laugh. No, it doesn't look like Photoshop. Also look at the stack of big round logs in front of the body, he has or had some plan to either roll the body onto the frame with them or moved the body with them already.

The bottom line is that there are much better materials to support your body at that height. You might get lucky and not have a failure, but why take the chance with something so brittle to support it?

 

Photo shopped .

 

Reminds me of something I saw a few years back.

 

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

 

That should work OK, unless you're working around one of those pesky "gravity hot-spots".

 

Reminds me of when I had my nicely painted body for my 64 GTO sitting up in the air. It always made me nervous, but it sat inside my shop in the corner about 3’ off the ground on a sawhorse in the front and two axles mounted on wheels under the rear lip for probably 6 months or more. Being out of the wind was a plus, but it also wouldn’t have taken much to knock it off. That be was back when I was younger and more energetic (and dumber).