buckmeister2

They will not release with vehicle weight on them. Even with just 100 pounds, they will not release. Lots of things can happen with any car in the air. Service techs have died when a full-size lift failed, and they had not rotated the locking bar to prevent collapse. You need to have a fall-back system. I use jack stands on my pickup, but leave the jack in place, after relieving the pressure, and raising the jack so the puck is lightly contacting the truck.

If you think it through each time you lift your vehicle, and have a fall-back in place, you will be fine.

Bruze

To pile on the "never get under a car" warning . . .

I was doing something to my car when I was a teenager with only a jack, don't remember if I was actually under it or not, but my father saw me and gave me a real drilling: NEVER trust just a jack.

Since then, every once in a while I'll see on the local news about somebody who was crushed to death by a falling car that obviously wasn't being held up properly.

I used to work on die cast molds that weighed up to 6,000 pounds, and you have to keep your wits about you or you'll lose a foot, arm, or your life.

Considering that I am by nature paranoid of everything -- helped along by age -- I do not get under a vehicle unless it has jack stands, AND wooden blocks elsewhere, AND the jack itself still in place. I am even paranoid of putting the stands in place while the vehicle is held only by the jack; I make sure no part of me is underneath anything until it is safely blocked up.

Am I overly-paranoid? -- probably, but I still have all my limbs and my head nor chest has ever been crushed instantly, lol. It takes less than one second for that to happen.

JJLAI724

Nothing wrong with a HF jack to raise your car and block it up properly before getting under it. I would not crawl under any car that is just supported by a jack. Even it it's a Snap On floor jack. They can all fail. I like to use raise the car and block it with stacks of 2x6 wood under the tires. Then lower the jack on them and crawl under. Of course making sure the parking brake is set and the car is in gear.

Your not paranoid, you just want to be safe and there is nothing wrong with that.

needdlex

That's good to hear that some of you have actually tested the release bar on the jack stands. I feel a lot better knowing that.

Bruze

Here's an example of how **** I am about this: Jack stands, wood blocking, and the jack itself still in place:

BlindSpot

I'm taking it you probably won't want to go hang gliding with me then?

duckvett

I have the 56" Race Ramps and they work just fine with our C6. Your air dam will rub as you drive up the ramp, but that is not hurting anything. Just set the bottom edge of the Race Ramps against your tires, line up the ramps and carefully drive up. You might want someone to spot for you and let you know when you reach the stop on the ramp.

Bruze

Probably not. FWIW, I live about 3 miles from a hill people used to hang glide from, when the sport was invented in the '70s. A couple people were killed there so they turned it into a park and won't let anyone jump there anymore. So now they do it a couple of hills over which is privately-owned. No fatalities from there (maybe one or two?) but they've learned a lot more about the sport and how to be safer I suppose. Maybe you can expand on that.

This is the actual spot, which is still known locally as "The Jump Off." (I don't know who the guy is)





I made up a saying some years ago: "Gravity is a bitch." It kills and maims thousands of people on a regular, unrelenting march.

Physics tells us that the center of a mass is the center of gravity. Mother Earth is always scheming on how to pull us closer towards it.

We see elderly people (I'm not there yet) who sit more than they used to, stoop over when they walk, eventually cannot walk at all, and many spend their last days horizontal -- which eventually becomes the permanent position -- all of this is caused by gravity.

Planes crashing, elderly people falling, kids falling out of trees, roofers falling off roofs, others involved in construction who fall off structures -- thousands of people every day are killed or maimed.

BAN GRAVITY!

BlindSpot

I've flown the mountains in the background of my kite. These are the Sandias in Albuquerque. I actually had a "little" crash one year and broke an arm. I haven't flown kites in at least 25 years now, and just gave up gliders a few years back.

User Omega

I use 2 HF low pro jacks. I leave the car on the jacks but do put jack stands under the car while I'm under it just in case. I have left the car on the jacks for months with no issues.

torquetube

The lever design sucks. They're not supposed to release with weight applied, but many are made to such loose tolerances that they can seem engaged when they're not.

Also, a sudden weight shift (such as when lifting a motor that's hung up on something) can momentarily release the load on a stand, and hence its means of locking. Add to that some lift on the column from sticky undercoating or something pressing on that short-throw lever...

The worst thing about the lever stands is that their lock mechanism cannot be confirmed visually. You can't see the pawl with the column inserted. In my book, that is a no-go for a last-line-of-defense piece of safety equipment.

The pin type are better. People unfamiliar with the shear strength of steel imagine that the pin is going to break (no way). In choosing the lever type instead, the same people are relying on the shear strength of a tooth protruding from a crude casting full of stress risers.

However, most of the pin types you'll find have the old-style stands with the sheet metal legs and the spot-welded spreaders. Most of those look like a corrosion failure away from doing the splits. Plus the footprint is usually pretty narrow. Best to avoid.

Check out the Norco 81205.

gilhuly

I like stands cause it gives you more freedom under the car

ramps are okay but get in the way when changing oil and storing them and forget removing wheels.

Not So Fast

I like the Race Ramps also but for my needs I just couldn't justify spending that kind of cash, how many times do you actually get under your car should be the guide line IMHO.
I chose to make my own ramps and cradles all for about $20 and a little time. Its your choice of course, have the latest neatest high $$ stuff of make it your self.
NSF

LS14ME2

I, like some of the others here, did the wood ramps.. Mine have 3 levels and are 2x10 I think? Can't remember, store on end and work just fine.

Dano523

HF has the low profile floor jack that for most vets, is low enough to get under the front of the car to center lift the front end with just a spreader bar on the jack to the span across the front cradle to center lift the front.

So front end gets jacked up with the E brake on, and once high enough, standard drive up stands can be put under the front wheels or standard floor jacks with lifting pucks instead.


From here, change the floor jack cross bar to work with the wider rear cradle to center lift the rear of the car, then place jack stands on the rear lift points with pads to level the car out on the stands.

Once the car is level and up, then getting under the car for such things as oil changes are a snap.


Bluntly, the long drive up ramps make getting the front of the car up easier, but all depends on what you are into the ramps for to begin with.

Truth is, when I have the car up, I pull the rims to clean and re-wax the barrels of the rims when its up, so for me, it just easy to take the car up high enough on jack stands with just a low profile jack, isntead using drive up ramps isntead (which would have to be pulled anyway).

ncvette_1FUNRIDE

I have the 87" two piece Race Ramps and they work like a champ, even though my carbon fiber splitter is fairly low (around 4").

duckvett

Tell me more about the yellow steel crossbars shown in your photo. Did you buy those? Or make them? Thanks.

cmonkey713

Same thing that I have been doing for years.

ncvette_1FUNRIDE

I bought them (had them made). They weren't cheap though (over $200 for the pair)

Sorry, I can't remember the website at this time.

Dano523

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-ton-l...ump-60678.html



http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...eam-60762.html




If you check around, you can find other long reach low profile floor jacks for a cheaper price, but the rub is finding the cross beam that will work with them isntead.

Hence on the HF long reach low profile jack, you remove the jacking point plate, and the cross bean has the same connector to just go back in the plate channel instead.