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Another question regarding your jack stands. How big is the flat portion of the pad where the jacking pucks sit? Does yours sit flat?
Thanks!
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
The jacking pucks are flat, but the top of the jack stands are U shaped. The jacking pucks are slightly larger than the tops of the jack stands and you can see this a little in the second photo in post #7 of this thread.
I was a little concerned about the car sliding off the jack stands since the pucks and stands are both aluminum. So before I took the wheels off and got under the car, I went all around the car and tried to push the car off the stands. Everything was pretty stable -- the U shaped jack stands got a pretty good bite on the pucks. These worked better than the steel jack stands I started with (also shown in post #7 holding the exhaust extension tubes instead of holding up the car).
If you want a better look at the jack stands, there is a link to the Northern Tool web site in post #9 that shows them better.
The jacking pucks are flat, but the top of the jack stands are U shaped. The jacking pucks are slightly larger than the tops of the jack stands and you can see this a little in the second photo in post #7 of this thread.
I was a little concerned about the car sliding off the jack stands since the pucks and stands are both aluminum. So before I took the wheels off and got under the car, I went all around the car and tried to push the car off the stands. Everything was pretty stable -- the U shaped jack stands got a pretty good bite on the pucks. These worked better than the steel jack stands I started with (also shown in post #7 holding the exhaust extension tubes instead of holding up the car).
If you want a better look at the jack stands, there is a link to the Northern Tool web site in post #9 that shows them better.
Bert
Bert,
Thanks for the information. Your hit the nail on the head - I wanted to know how stable the jacking pucks were sitting on the stands if they weren't resting flat on them. I might be ordering some soon!
What brand jacking pucks do you have?
Still pretty crazy trying to purposely push your car off!
Ryan
Anybody know what happened to the Part II, hope naschmitz is okay.
Yea me too. My C5 fell off the stands once getting it up on 4 stands and I've been skittish about jack stands ever since. Hope he's ok.
If he is and reads this, I had to bend the floorboard pinch weld by the passenger header, it was too close and would hit once on a while. A BF channellock pliers made easy work of it.
Indeed aluminum pucks on aluminum stand perches is a scary proposition.
But what scares me more is having the entire car sitting on stands that have VERY LITTLE lateral support. I think if you were to give the car a decent little sideways shove, all four stands would simply tip over.
You should really have stands with a WIDER FLOOR BASE... either that or back up your stands with something additional... like even just leaving an extra hydraulic jack under the crossmember (front and rear), just to prevent the car from crashing right to the floor if the stands were to tip over, and/or to add lateral support.
I greatly prefer these below stands... they are rated at 7-tons, have a pretty wide base area (will not tip over easily), and also have nice flat perches which accept pucks... though I would greatly recommend a rubber or nylon puck for this so there is some "grab". Since these photos, I have added some 3M "anti-skid" tape to the tops of the stand perches, now my nylon pucks stick like glue... slippage is impossible.
Indeed aluminum pucks on aluminum stand perches is a scary proposition.
That is what I thought at first as well. However, the aluminum stands got a much better bite on the pucks than my steel jack stands.
Originally Posted by Vet
But what scares me more is having the entire car sitting on stands that have VERY LITTLE lateral support. I think if you were to give the car a decent little sideways shove, all four stands would simply tip over.
It is harder to tip over the flat base aluminum stands that it is to tip the triangular steel stands I have. I shoved the car pretty good with my weight behind it before I took the wheels off and got underneath it for the first time. Laterally, this setup was rock solid.
The biggest weakness I did find was that the jacking points are close to the center of the vehicle from front to back. So a lateral push at either the nose or rear quarter of the car would twist the car on the jack stands. I was comfortable that I could not generate a force like that from underneath the vehicle, but you would want to tell anyone hanging around not to do that while you are underneath!
I think the only way to make that better is to use the two sets of cross-beam adapters and put the jack stands there, rather than the puck locations. Of course, I am thinking about your post here http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1301555 If you look at those pictures I think you can see what I am talking about.
If he is and reads this, I had to bend the floorboard pinch weld by the passenger header, it was too close and would hit once on a while. A BF channellock pliers made easy work of it.
Hi Joe,
Great tip! The GM High Tech Performance article talked about that too. They cut theirs back with a sawsall to get more clearance.
Mine is pretty tight too, but so far I haven't heard it hitting in only very limited driving. What conditions did it take for yours to hit?
me and a buddy did the removal last night for a back to stock thing.Took about 6-7 hours total.We had to do a couple of things twice because it was a learning experience for me and him as well.
...The biggest weakness I did find was that the jacking points are close to the center of the vehicle from front to back. So a lateral push at either the nose or rear quarter of the car would twist the car on the jack stands...
Yes, good point... wasn't even thinking about that earlier, but very true.
Especially with the rear puck locations, a very large portion of the car hangs PAST the rear puck area... more than makes me comfortable usually. If you ever jack up the car from the rear "preferred" points with a cross-beam adapter, and then lower the car onto a pair of stands at the rear pucks, it will nearly horrify you how much the back end of the car flexes downward AFTER the car touches the puck stands... you'd swear the back end of the car was going to snap off. Tremendous amount of flexing.
This is why I generally prefer to use the "preferred" jacking points only for both jacking AND supporting, less stress and less severe flexing of the body / chassis... for whatever it's worth.
Of course sometimes you need to support the car from the puck locations (like the dealers do), in order to remove / install certain things, but... generally not desireable if not necessary.
Your jack stands look cool, but, as I mentioned earlier, I'm just concerned about lateral support. Regardless of design (assuming nothing will crack, bend, flex or sink into the ground), it all has to do with the actual footprint of the base of the stand.... the wider the base footprint, the more lateral support... period.
The Blackhawk jackstands shown above have a footprint of 8.5" X 8.5" (square)... not amazing, but not too bad either. What is the max footprint of the aluminum stands you have? Perhaps the footprint of those is larger than I am thinking... hard to tell in photos. If the footprint is nearly the same, then in theory, they are just as good (again, assuming they'd never crack, bend, flex, sink, etc).
I was even thinking of having some 12" X 12" squares of steel diamond plate welded to the bottoms of my stands for even greater lateral support... but they seem quite good as is... and I almost always leave a hydraulic jack under the car too as a back-up.
While of course you can plan on making sure that nobody will walk by and lean against the front or rear of the car while it's up in the air, you cannot guarantee it. Many times when I was working on something I thought, "nobody will be home, nobody will be coming by, I need not worry"... and then, almost every time, someone WILL come home unexpectedly and cause a disaster... so I learned my lesson... NEVER leave anything in such a way that it can be disturbed by an outside force even if you THINK nobody is around... because as much as you assume or plot or plan, the worst CAN happen... and often does... very easily... and in your case, your life is at stake, not something to gamble with.
Next time, in addition to your aluminum jack stands under the puck locations, maybe just leave one hydraulic jack pressing up against the front or rear cross member of the car... just for a little added stability... and to reduce any potential "twisting", etc... this way if 350 pound Uncle Otis stops by, comes barging in and immediately goes to lean on the rear quarter panel of your car despite your cries, you won't be squashed.
I like to stick a short section of doubled up 4"x4" lumber under the car when its on stands. We basically use these (hardwood)to rerail 420,000 lb locomotives on the Railroad.
The steel wheels ride right up. Cheap protection...
Glad you're ok and got the job done. Mine hit pretty often and made a lot of noise, particularly at idle. But I had a very early set of the AR headers. They might have adjusted the production jig since then. If it's not hitting you should be good!
I use the alum. crossmembers to jack my car up and I put jackstands there too. Ever since my car fell of the stands (the jack pulled the car back and off the front stands while trying to get the back up) I keep the jacks under there too if at all possible and put the tires under the rocker panels. I'd rather lose a rocker than a rib!
With some rain last night to wash off the road salt I was even able to take the car out for a quick shakedown run today. Car runs and sounds great. No exhaust leaks. No rattles. No check engine lights.
I am very happy with the headers.
Bert
I am about to venture off and do the same thing with my 09 C6. American Racing is my primary header choice. You made this look easy and it encourages me to push forward. Great job!! Thanks again
Drivers side can go in thru the top, but I just do both from the bottom! This is assume you don't have the 2" primaries, which you shouldnt. If you have 2" primaries you will have to drop the cradle a little or raise the engine / remove the motor mount. You should use heavy duty jack stands, at least I felt a lot better under the car with them.
Jack up the front first, so technically how I do it is I have 2 jacks, I use 1 jack on the driver side OEM lift point, jack it up enough to get the other jack under the front K-Member from the front, then start jacking that. Remove the jacl from the OEM lift point and place jackstands in both front locations.
I then lift the rear with one jack from the rear on the cradle. and Then insert jackstands in OE lift rear location.
nice write up! I installed my ARH headers about a month ago, with the tune the car is noticeably faster and sounds freaking awesome with the NPP open! Jack stands can work but the Max jack I have has paid for itself about 10 times over with this job and the stuff I have done to my other cars. I also recently put a Moser 12bolt solid axle in my '69 Vette. I could not imagine having tackled that job with the car on jack stands!
Hands down one of the best investments I have made!!!!
12-29-2007, 08:05 PM
