One last humor post....anyone for a game of Jenga??

Back to seriousness....some good lessons here today. I have not had jack stand issues before, but I have had to reposition stands as the first placed stand can shift when jacking another part of the car. I also use 2 separate support devices whenever possible, typically a jackstand, but also a jack which has virtually no load on it, but is snugged to keep it from moving. I have changed a tire with only a jack, but I stay very clear of the car, as much as I can.

Also, its better to have others around if you can. I had a friend who was working under a car with only a jack, and he got stuck under the car and was there for 45 minutes till his dad came home! luckily, the jack held fine.

good topic. »keith

 

If you look close at the pic you can see the nailer and the Chop saw. New lumber always looks good.

 

It is 2x12's for the ramp and I just made more supports for those sections. The rest of the ramps ar 2 - 2x8's wide. Not much of a termite problem in the frozen north.

 

I just made similar supports for the 2x12 ramps like the ones for the center sections. Just one 2x4 higher on one end of the support. I would have to go measure but I believe the 2x12's were 10 ft. long. Sorry no good side pics.

 

Do your wife a favor and put a floor jack under it when your working on it,it looks like a house of cards don't get hurt.

 

House of cards? There is more strength and stability in this than any floorjack or jack stand can provide.

 

Pine is stronger than steel?Hey what ever works for you and as long as it does the job

 

this shows me that I put way to much security in jack stands and a backup jack...............Thanks for the ideas and info

 

This is the first time I have seen this thread although it has grown very long. I have a short (well maybe long) story about a stupid thing I did as much younger person than I am now. I guess the term "Young & Dumb" applied to me and my buddies back then. I was working on a friends 340 Duster, back in the day. The car was pretty new then. He had driven the car up onto the old style steel ramps and "secured" the rear wheels with cinder blocks

The next day, without really inspecting his arrangement, I went under the car to remove the driveshaft while he was at work. I did have someone else working up top with me, but they were no help when the whole car came down. A couple of things I should have known or checked.
1) I didn't realize there was no emergency brake 2) the cinder blocks were doing little to nothing to hold the car back from rolling, only the depression in the old style steel ramps, and 3) I didn't really know how to remove the drive shaft safely without jerking the car. After removing all of the Ujoints from the driveshaft yokes, I still could not get the driveshaft free. I had planted my feet somewhere under the car on some frame structure and started pulling on the driveshaft with everything I had. I think the car was in gear or something because I couldn't get the shaft off. On one of those giant tugs the car popped over the depression in the ramps and rolled down the ramps with me under it. The driveway had a little grade to it so the car drug me about 10 to twelve feet at least before coming to a rest with me wedged between it and the ground. I was very lucky because part of me wound up inside the driveshaft tunnel next to the very beast that caused my pain. I fractured my hip and two vertabrae from the initial impact of the car coming down the ramp. The pavement abraded through my leather jacket, a flannel shirt, t-shirt, and down to the bone on one of my shoulder blades. I had a huge bump on my head where it had rebounded off the bottom of the car and something else that was harder than my head (almost impossible). Even a beast like the Duster didn't have too much ground clearance, at least not for me. The emergency room doctor told me that this was not an uncommon accident and that most people come in DOA with a crushed head, or chest, or suffocation from not being able to breath. Also the buddy that was up top - totally panicked and kept trying to lift the car off of me. Except every time he tried to lift it, the car would move down the driveway a few more inches every time, and at that point I remember one of the header flanges being about five inches from my face and getting closer with no wiggle room to move out of the way. Additionally, we had no jack handy to get the car off of me, and I had to wait under the car until the fire truck and emergency responders got there. I was just sitting there trying not to hyperventilate from the overall expericence (pain) and trying to keep my breathing real slow until they got the car off of me.
I think this is the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life (I think) and thank the Lord I am still here today to talk about it. Today 25 years later I make sure that car is secure and not going anywhere. So nothing is overkill as far as I am concerned. Hope I didn't bore you - but stuff happens!
Be Safe
Merry Christmas

 

That's bad ,I don't like hearing about accidents like this especially avoidable ones. That is somrthing that I would always triple check and when I do have it up were I like it I ALWAYS would shake on the car to see if it is trying to move. Always buying jack stands that are rated beyond my needs as well as floor jacks, having more than four and floor jack on it when the car is off all fours. Even with the precaution I take anything can happen , I try my best to increase my odds ....that's all.

 

I really like 86Pacecar's design, but where do you store all those sections when not working on your car? Can I assume you have a large garage?

After reading all of these posts, I think I'll go buy that Kwiklift this spring!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Bill

 

Actually it does come apart in sections. They stack nicely in the corner of my shed. Except for the long ramps it stacks up in an area about 2' x 3'. One thing that does not show is that the set-up is secured together very well before driving on and off. After it is up on the ramps I secure a 2x4 behind the two front tires to eliminate any rolling possibilities. Also the pic shows first time on the ramps, since then I have slightly shortened the middle section so the rear tires are centered and I also secure the rear tires wtih 2x4 wheel chocks. Last summer I had to swap out my tranny and this is what I came up with to get under the car and do the work. It cost about $175 in lumber.

 

Taylor

I have had a kwiklift now for about 6 years and love it.
I hear that they now have a lite duty $800 kit, but I didnt see it on their website recently. Maybe give them a call.

The one I bought was the full kit with the jack bridge.
Anyway, check it out.
It is REALLY nice and SAFE !!!

www.kwiklift.com

 

Looks like that would be easy to fab up if a person had the equipment.

 

Mr nice
I might argue with you on that.
This thing is pretty well built, and what surprised me is how relatively light weight it is.
I can move it by myself.

I f I remember correctly, they told me about the steel that it is built with, is supposedly not available unless you order it from a mill. A very high strength material.
I think that is what they said.

And for 800 or 900 bucks, why screw with building it.

 

Ron I NEVER put the A arms on the stands. Bad.... Just inside from the jacking points there are nice "pockets" that you can put the stands in and they wont slip. But then again I don't use stands because I built ramps that get the whole car 16 inches off the ground (at the bottom of the tire) and if I need to get the wheels off I use scissor jacks at the jacking points just to get the car high enough to get the wheels off.

Glad to hear that you were not under it or that it did not hurt that car.

 

 

i done a similar ramp before but i used lam beams for the ramps they are very sturdy and is no chance of them snapping glad everything worked out ron

 

A lot of good advice in this thread. Please follow it everyone.

I get under the car with 4 jackstands quite frequently, and here's my little tidbit of safety info...

I remove two wheels and place them under the frame centered midpoint. In the unlikely event a stand fails, it will give me room to crawl out. I also use 6 ton stands, and shake the car vigorously before crawling under it. And I NEVER work under the car unless the wife is home, and I leave the door between the garage and the hallway open so she can hear if there's a problem. I've also trained her on how to use the floor jack in an emergency.

Some other safety tips....

1. Try never use to jack stands on anything but level concrete. If you must raise the car on ground, use a large piece of 1" thick plywood under each stand.

2. Redundancy is good. Use multiple stands under the car. The more the merrier. Six stands are better than 4. The front crossmember makes a good support....I put a Rhino ramp under it.

3. Never work alone. Never.

I'm 42 and have worked under cars since I was a teen without incident. That's caution, not luck.

The Kwiklift sure looks tempting though....