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Extra-tall Jack Stands?

19K views 36 replies 14 participants last post by  JRubin 
#1 ·
Just curious now, are these even available? I looked around on the 'net and didn't see anything but pipe jacks. Too late for me, as I've already started fabbing up a set that will adjust up to ~ 30" tall. I'm building a set that will work with standard HF jackstand bottoms using inverted scaffold jack bases, but will end up having over $120 in the four...

Russ
 
#15 ·
I have a pair of those, classic. But I have never gotten under a car with them. A bar frame or something, ok but no way am I going to get under a car using them.

Brian
 
#8 ·
Exactly! The Harbor Frieght ones with a stack of 4x12" lumber so you dont extend the stand so far it becomes unstable. I've had my car nearly 3' in the air and could'nt shake it.
Squeeling under a car calling for your wife to figure out how to get it off you sounds like fun.
 
#13 ·
I've thought about the (in)stability, I may tack weld some 1" square tube between the tops if it doesn't interfere with my work. Or I may just leave the rotisserie's end pieces in place.



Over $100 each is what's wrong, then there's the storage issue. I finished mine yesterday, the inverted scaffold jack base has an acme threaded wing nut that will allow me to fine-tune the adjustment.

Russ
 
#11 ·
safety first

I have an old tree stump with a smilley face painted on it, He's my buddy, He always goes under-neath with me when I am working with jackstands or ramps. We had 2 cars up with all 4 wheels on ramps When the Big 89 earthquake hit in California, I was tired when I came home from work, was lying down, resting in the house and IT shook the car I had been working on and It rolled it off the ramps. I would have been seriously injured If I had been under it.
 
#14 ·
I used to work in a boat shop. The rule was we did not go under a boat, not fully on a trailer, unless it was supported by TWO independent ways, each one capable of supporting the boat by itself. Most of the boats we worked on had lifting rings, and we has a pair of chain hoists that used the lifting rings, and we would build a crib or box of longer 4 x 6 timbers to also go underneath the boat.

If you have the rotisserie, it would seem a no-brainer to leave it in place, and also use the taller jack stands in place. I too think is is a very good idea to tie then both together, ideally with a strut going diagonally from the bottom of one to the top of the other.
 
#16 ·
Guys, this is a very serious subject, I personally have had two guys I knew personally die under a car because of stupid mistakes. What ever you use, be sure it's properly done and if you have the wheels off the car, slide them under it. It's the best no brainer safety measure ever. You need a place to store them anyway right? Slide them under the car and that gives you a foot or so to save your butt if something fails.

Brian
 
#17 ·
Brian, Excellent suggestion. I always use jack stands, no matter how quick I think the job will be. It only takes a second to fall. I usually leave the jack under whatever I jacked the car up by (rear housing, crossmember), but let the weight onto the jack stands.
 
#19 ·
Sometimes I used to drop a 13 in rim with no tire Into a wheel like Brian said to have a little more height.
Hold on here, I didn't say to put a jack stand on top of a wheel, is that what you are saying because that is a HUGE no-no!

What I described was simply sliding the wheel and tire under the car AFTER it's on the stands as a back up in case the car falls it falls on the wheel that is laying under the car hopefully saving you from a broken leg or arm.

In no way would I ever suggest putting a wheel down and then putting a jackstand into the wheel or something like that. That would be EXTREMELY dangerous. :pain:

Brian
 
#20 ·
We have some dedicated heavy duty (6 ton I think) jack stands that we added 1/4" wall tubing instead of the adjustable part. This is welded permanently to the base. They are about 40" tall and have a piece of channel to bracket the frames.

These are used for building our trailer frames and not for supporting cars or trucks.

We also use the double support method when using jack stands. Some of the trailers we get in for repair are barely able to support them selves. Some are wired together, some are just falling apart, some are already worse. needless to say not a real joy to work on. I like to say we charge once for the repair and once for endangering everyone on the road.

I always put something else besides a jack stand under vehicles too. I had a 4 ton stand shatter the top end as I lowered the jack on the front of my one ton dually. Scared the living death out of me. Luckily the jack caught the truck and I was not under it although I had already put an extra wood block a ways back on the frame. It only dropped a couple inches before it hit the jack and there was only another inch before it would have hit the support but it still made me stop and re-think the jack stand situation.

I don't trust them, especially since the great majority are made out country.

You simple can't be too safe when crawling under vehicles or anything heavier than you are.
 
#22 ·
Like I said, I have been to a funeral of a friend who had a car fall on him and a co-worker of mine left and went to another shop dying just a month or so later under a car there. I know a guy who was there and tried to revive him but his head had been crushed like a watermelon. This is SERIOUS stuff here. All it takes is some common sense and MORE safety than you think, that is now how you look at it, when you think it's safe enough, take another step.

Brian
 
#23 ·
A few days ago I saw a picture of a friend of mine working under a car raised only on a jack - I gave him some flak about it, and mentioned it to his father-in-law whose shop he works in, so he can 'remind' him to always use jack stands. He doesn't know it, but I am having a set of 6-ton stands sent to him. It won't make him always use them, but hopefully it will make him think about it. He is a young man with a wife and four lovely daughters.
 
#24 ·
Right on Bob. I walked into the shop today to see one of my co-workers welding up an inner quarter on a Subaru. He had no fan on, no respirator, and he was inside the car that was full of smoke, this is ZINC on a late model car, weld thru primer is ZINC, all panels on a late model car are galvanized, and here he was breathing a LOT of ZINC fumes. Fumes= "A dispersion of solid particles in a gas. Fumes are often produced from high heat, such as during welding."
He was BREATHING ZINC! Zinc particles filling his lungs.

I had to go get a fan and he still didn't want it thinking it would suck away the shielding gas! :drunk:

Damn this life is so wonderful, I am going to do anything I can to lengthen it, not shorten it. Taking a chance for an experience like sky diving, that's one thing, but breathing Zinc when you don't have to, come on now. :pain:

Brian
 
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#28 ·
S10xGN, I can see where you would need something really tall to assist getting a body up on your rotisserie. No criticism intended, I don't have a lot of experience working with a rotisserie, but why would you need to use a creeper under it? Why not just rotate it? I have only put one body on a rotisserie, but we used a pair of engine hoists.
 
#30 ·
Yeah, that does kinda make you scratch your head. :) I'm going to be removing most of the rear flooring for a Chris Alston triangulated 4-link setup and cutting out the front sheetmetal for an M-II front clip. All this (at least in my mind) should be done with the car as level as possible. Once it's cut and tacked in place, I can then roll it for finish welding. My rotisserie has an indexing head, but there's a couple degrees of slop in it...

Russ
 
#31 ·
I don't know what I'm talking about here, but it seems like you would want it at the same angle it would be at ride height. If the back was 2" higher when it's done (for example, because I don't know what your intentions are) it seems like it would simplify measuring where the suspension components will go, and what sheet metal stays or gets cut, if it was that same 2" higher on the rotisserie. But like I said - I don't know what I'm talking about, just trying to help.
 
#32 ·
S10xGN, those stands you made look fine for a pretty much bare body like you have. I wouldn't put a car with a full drivetrain on them though. That's what most were thinking -- getting a complete car up to work on.
 
#33 ·
Frank, I wouldn't even trust them (alone) on just the body shell. I used them only to level everything up and after that, readjusted my rotisserie so nothing is in a bind. I've about got my seats mounted, once that's done it'll be time to drop some serious cash with CA Chassisworks!

Russ
 
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