TECH Warning: 3 footed jackstands can kill you

Just an add on to Bugmans post.....
The OEM jacks that come with your late model vehicles, are totally unsafe to even use to change a tire with......... -so it sure to hell aint any good to work on your car lifted up by one of those!

 

I'm about done with jackstands period.
I got a damn lift. I'm tired of crawling around on the ground like an animal.
I think the lift has two or three safety cathes that have to be relased before you can lower it.

 

Yup, I had my Ranger lifted with the factory jack to fix a flat. POS jack tipped on level ground! I bought a 15 dollar 2 ton jack to use instead much safer when I dont have the big floor jack handy.

 

i only use the 3 footed jack stands for rearends and bare frames. thats it.

there is really no reason to use them for a rolling car since heavy duty industrial 4 leg jack stands can be baught at swap meets for about $8-$10 per stand.... im not talking about the new Made In China junk either, im talking about used pieces of shop equipment.

 

Since my garage won`t allow the use of a lift, I must work on the ground. I broke down and spent 125.00 a pair [X2] for some Snap-On YA875 5 ton stands. Yeah there big bucks but I figure I`m worth it! Heard WAY too many stories about people getting crushed by cars falling on them! Squirrel has a good point in that I always give the car a good push/wiggle before I ever get under one! Don`t use concrete blocks either!

 

My 3 Jackstand adventures...

1.
I was working on one of my first cars, and I didnt own any Jackstands yet.
And my "big" jack was a scissor jack off a fullsize Chevy or something like that.
My safety fearure was the wheel under the rocker.
The Jack kicked out, and the suspension just bearly kissed my chest.
Knocked all the wind out of me, knocked some sence into me as well...
I had Jackstands the next day.

2.
I was working on a useless piece of shit French Car, with somebody else.
I was under the car working on it, he was working from the top.
The car was on some stout, oversize Tripod stands.
The other guy loses his temper, and starts shaking the car.
Fucking piece of shit nearly came down on me ( dont know why it didnt, the stands looked like they were overcenter already...)

3.
This one is more recently.
Brand new garbage Chinese Jackstand.
Gave way after I put the weight of a Car on it.
That really surprised me, untill I looked a little closer.
The castingflash wont let the lock fully engage...( see pic )

Thats enough scary moments for me...

Be safe. Take your time...

 

Thanks I've been warned about this and still have'nt thrown mine away yet. I'm going to destroy my set at work in the morning. Thank you for the visual effect it worked. I like to work on my junk safely and I love my girl and boy very much. Thanks again.

 

Okay! Now that one scared me!! I have some jack stands I bought from Autozone ("2-ton" Duralast) real cheap just to have them. Couple weekends ago I was under an old, heavy ass, 1953 chrysler with those things! I always put my big ass hydraulic jack under it for a third support just in case, but if I would have read what I just read before I did that I probably would have thought twice about using them on that Chrysler!!! Glad I'm still here now! I tell ya', even being under that car with the three supports gave me some serious shrinkage!!

 

Years ago, I was working underneath a Model A that was up on four heap tin 3-legged jack stands. I went into the house for lunch and heard a crash in the garage. Went out and found two of the four stands were crumpled and bent. I missed getting hurt real bad, by about 5 minutes.

I also lost a co-worker, who knew better, but was in a hurry, when his motor home fell off of cheap jack stands on him.

Today if I have to work under a car that's up on jack stands, I have a couple of oak blocks that are 16"x16"x24" under the frame as back-ups.......just in case.

 

well now im just plain old happy my giant driver/boat of a car didnt land on my face yesterday when i was under it fuckign with some exhaust and brakes. i have 2 really heavy duty 5 ton jack stands...i think my other "3 tons" will be used for holding up the model t from now on. this was a good wake up call or a good dont trust what you buy thing.

 

This is scary and irritating. They won't let burger joints give away toys that are too small, but they will let this cheap crap sell. I have two sets. When I started reading this, I thought, "I'll sell 'em at the swap cheap." Now I won't do that. I will keep them for light jobs only. I will buy some good ones. I will say they made me nervous enough that I always kept one or two hydraulic jacks in place to take some load, and always threw wooden blocks or spare tires with plenty of air in them under the car too. But who needs even one of the backups failing? Not me! I also have used ramps for oil changes, but they don't get some cars very high off the ground.

 

Very true. And thats why radio towers are all 3 legged (that includes self supporters). Pure physics at work.

 

I want to mention car ramps also since they are often considered a safe alternative to jacks. Be sure to chock wheels to prevent sudden departure if you happen to rock the car enough to get it past the detent. Guess why I mention this . Also be careful on blacktop in warm-sunny weather. I've seen floor jacks tip due to sinking into soft blacktop.

I use some large heavy duty truck stands I picked up at a swap meet. They won't fit under a regular "tire change" height lift but when you need it way up there, they're something that would hold a school bus!. I also have two big- ancient screw jacks that are solid steel and have been loaned occasionally to straighten house foundations. I inherited a pair of ratcheting stands with pressed steel bells on the bottom from an uncle who was a USAF mechanic. And of course, I have a selection of 4X4's, 8X8's and assorted larger wood pieces that are indispensible when you need blocking or support for work .

I bought a pneumatic "end lift" jack to supplement the floor jacks in the shop. They won't work on a modern fascia-plastic car but they're great for real frame cars and trucks. It will lift my full size P/U without any unpleasant bending (on my part) and will put my little Falcon about 3' in the air. I tried it on the side rocker but I thought it would flip the little thing right over!.



Powerband

 

Those China stands are all cast iron, at least the ones Ive seen. I did buy a set of four 6 ton after checking the quality of the welds as well as the depth of the locking detent. Some on the market are welded out of square and/or the detents barely catch. I figure using the 6 ton at 2 ton ratings should be about the right ratio! Ive been using them on pickups, vans and smaller stuff.

When I had to drop the Dana 70 out of my box truck I made a few stands using 16" truck rims and steel gas line pipe, then bent up some 1/4" plate and welded to the top of the tube. Also welded three 1/4" strapping braces from the top of the tube to the flat outer lip of the rim. Even with that overkill I still had 2 quality 3.5 ton shop jacks in place.
Dont use black iron or galvy water pipe, its a brittle cast iron, about as good as concrete in compression. Gas pipe or DOM steel tubing is the only safe choice and can be found in industrial scrap yards.

 

Very good advice all around; so what do you guys make of these plastic ramps they sell all over the place?! I can't see getting under something held up by plastic!

Powerband, I think if I were lifting one end of the car that much, I'd go ahead and lift the other to make it level. That much angle is bound to push the stands sideways.

 

Okay. They throw out all kinds of stuff in this neighborhood, so I too have a set of these things. They still had a sticker on one from when it was sold new, probably 20 years ago, in K-mart. Do I need to say any more?


I figure they're good for modifying the top to use with like a rearend housing or something smaller that you need to support, but I think I only used them to get under one car with and that was the little front wheel drive beater I had a couple years ago. Even then, I leave the jack under them when I go under, and I have a pair of the big 6-ton stands now.

Chevy pickups come with a decent hydraulic crank jack that probably can be gotten cheap in junkyards and is pretty compact to carry in your car for changing tires. I think Dodge has a similar deal, too. (The one that came in the Dodge I had was a POS though, didn't work).

 

I wasnt gonna say anything but Ive a set of 4 of those old red ones too. Bought at either KMart or Sears out in Chicago area around 1970. Still have them and they are just fine for holding up a lawn tractor! Might even be good to support some lawn art.
And to think of the literally hundreds of times I used them under a car for probably a good 20 years! One even has a leg with a welded on brace!

 

I still got a pair of those I use for light stuff, holding rear ends and stuff like that but I got the good square base units I use under the car. Plus I always shake the shit out of it to make sure that mutha ain't gonna move before I get under it.

 

H O L Y S H I T . . . . . . . .

 

I dont know about you guys, but when I want it done right, I dont goof around...

 

PLEASE DONT EVER TRY TO SAVE MONEY BUYING CHEAP ASS, ASIAN SLAVE LABOR CAMP MADE JACKS OR JACKSTANDS!!!!! Why......

In addition to the example pic in this thread, I recently had a cheapo floor jack pop apart while I was taking a last jackstand from under the car. Once the axle and wheels popped out, it immediately tipped over causing my 2+ ton ride to slam to the ground, resting on the sideways jack. I was luckily kneeling right next to the car, and it really scared the hell out of me. If I was under it, i'd of been crushed.

"Damn Im Stupid" lesson #4893 for me....

-scott noteboom

 

ive got a pair of 15x7 wheels i use to support any car ill be working under. they give plenty of height for almost anything, and are easy enough to transport

ive dragged them all across town to work on friends vehicals, and they always ask me why

um well ... its a wheel ... its designd to support the car !

i never do anything that will rock a car to much if its supported on normal stands, but if the cars on wheels, theres no worries because the lip of the wheel wont let the cars tire slide of, if anything the entire wheel will slide

 

Probably safe enough if everything is perfect, like a solid flat floor, no side pressure, no overloading ect. Still junk tho. I used to have 2 sets made from A axle housings. Best jackstands I ever had and cool to boot.

 

30 years ago, I was taking a 74 Mercury Marquis wagon off the stands. I was using the three legged cheap stands. The lift arms broke on a brand new US made Hein Werner 2 1/2 ton floor jack. That dropped the car on the stands, which collapsed. The whole deal came down on my right hand crushing it under the jack handle. Fortunately for me, the doctor was able to put it back together, and it still works, but it took many stitches and over a year to recover. There were 60 stitches in my index finger alone. It still hurts in damp weather.

I designed my own stands, and made a jig to build them. I have 5 sets here, and I gave sets to most of my friends and relatives. They are 16" or 24" tall, and non adjustable. The legs are 12" square at the base, and braced to each other. I have had 15,000 lb trucks on them. The first one is yet to fail.

 

As far as ramps go the plastic "Rhino Ramps" are excellent. They are actually made of fiber reinforced plastic like the bumper rebar and header panels on modern cars. They have a rubber gripper pad to stop them slipping but you still need to be careful on a wet floor. Sometimes if I'm using stands I'll slip them under just in case if they aren't going to be in the way.

I won't use cheap stands and I leave the floor jack in where practicable too. Stu

 

It's interesting to read that a bunch of guys still have the cheap ones in the shop, and only use them for light-duty stuff.

Um...why would you grab the cheap ones for a light duty job, rather than the good ones?

I guess my point is, you can use the good ones for the light-duty jobs. I realize as rodders (and therefore scavengers), we don't like the idea of just throwing something that's useful away, however, just having these cheap stands in the shop is dangerous. For instance, say your kid is going to change the oil in his first car. Sure, you've told them a dozen times not to use those cheap ones, but A) our dad's told us dozens of times not to do something, and we still did it anyway because Teenages know everything; B) your "good ones" are currently holding up another car, and it'd be a hassle to put the other car on blocks of wood or on it's tires for this quick job; C), the good ones are in the back row against the wall, the cheap ones are right in front, and it's much easier to grab the ones in front than move them out of the way to grab the good ones.
OR
You're not home, the neighbor comes over and asks the kid/wife if he can borrow a jackstand because he needs to change the oil, or whatever. You're not home, but you and your neighbor borrow things back and forth all the time. Wife/kid says "Sure--you know where they are." He grabs the cheap ones because he's not really much of a car guy so he doesn't REALLY know the difference, they look just like the ones his dad had 25 years ago, and they're in front of the heavier ones so they're easier to grab.

The kicker is, if he borrowed them and gets squashed, his widow sues you. And probably wins.

Throw the cheap ones away. Don't even bother keeping them in the shop. If you REALLY feel the need to get a little something for them ($$), pull the pin out and throw it in your metal cut-offs bucket because it might be handy for a project in the future, and throw the stand in the scrap metal pile to be recycled.

-Brad

 

i've got the "good" ones, but here's what i did anyway:

1. i went to a buddy that has a saw mill and he cut me some 6"x8" timbers.

2. i took them home and sawed them into 2' lengths.

3. when getting under a vehicle i put these on the shop floor and then shim the difference up to the frame with more solid wood, such as lengths of 2x8 or 2x6.

you could withstand the san francisco earthquake with these things under your car. they aren't collapsing and they aren't tipping over.

also another buddy welded up some "cubes" of HEAVY walled 2" square tubing. 12 pieces for each stand; the 12 edges of a cube. seems like they are about 16" x 12" x 18", but i don't see them very often and can't remember exactly. normally he uses them with the 16x18 side on the floor and 12" high, but they can be used in any configuration needed. you put these babies under a car and you can't push it hard enough to tip them over.

and i still keep the cheapies you're talking about too, but they NEVER get used to hold up a car that anyone's going to get under. mostly they get used under stored cars to hold the tires up off of the concrete. they are also occasionally handy to position stuff while fabbing.

 

I made mine into lamps