Awesome garage with a floor thats letting the rest of it down

 

I don’t like going underneath the car that’s only supported by jack stands. I use Race ramps wheel cribs if I want to crawl underneath the car.

 

There are a lot of good products and techniques you can use to make working under your car relatively safe. You can use any combination of stands and jacks and accidents can still happen. Even with a lift, there is no such thing as complete assurance the car won't come down. Beyond that, if you're not comfortable being under the car you're prone to making mistakes or simply not enjoying the process of working on the car. If you're not comfortable being under your car, don't do it. Get someone else to install that exhaust.

 

Not digging my floor eh?
thats a winter project...car mods done, garage mods next.

 

I've done so much work on Jack stands you cant believe it. Hundreds of hours under various cars over the years. Its very safe as long as they are positioned properly. The only real danger is somthing else, such as a different car, running into the subject car and knocking it off the stands. I watched that happen once in a shop I was working in when another tech did a brake job on a truck, put it together and went to pull out of his stall. Except he didnt pump up the brake pedal before he put it in gear and ended up plowing into the car on stands in the flat stall behind him. Anyway you probably wont have to worry about that sort of thing.

 

When I built my shop the contour of the land lended to install a pit, not full length but its about 4-5ft wide by about 8ft. long. Use it for a lot of applications, oil, cleaning underside, lawn mower blade maint. etc. I would pay someone to do the pipe change and be done with it. Good luck and b safe either way.

 

Take your time jacking these low riders up.Rushing one step could not only kill you or it will cost you Broken skirts or body damage.Some cases the time spent making it safe will be longer than what you want to accomplish.
Unless you invest roughly 1k-3k on a lift or Race ramp complete kits.or that side hydraulic 2 piece set.
If your not Completely Confident in your vehicle be Safe? Don't get under it.
Another avenue to look at:Is your investment in proper lifting equipment and your time worth it. The horror stories on a simple oil change are well documented here.
Bottom Line.It is Your Decision

 

Thanks!

The notches are just deep enough for the head of the jack stand to lock in. This accomplishes a few things:
1) distributes the weight - the factory stand locations are on a hollow aluminum subframe, even the owners manual recommends a "block or pad" to be used here to spread the load
2) almost all jack stands are made with a slot to fit the pinch weld on a unibody car, thus not applicable to the C7's composite frame much less the flat subframe locations
3) the notch ensure the stand can't be misaligned or rotated, they are always perfectly square to the subframe and once the weight of the car is on them they can't slip out
4) protects the subframe from metal on metal contact which leads to scratches or other damage. The softer wood surface also grips the metal better reducing the chance of any slipping.

Here is another picture, the red arrow is pointing to another block of wood screwed to the top. This block fits into the hole in the subframe. This guarantees the piece is always aligned perfectly.


Height shown is just for brake pad change, car has to be much higher for other work.

My lifting method is using TWO floor jacks. I start in the front by placing wheel chocks, plus the parking brake (and transmission) to ensure the rear wheels don't move. I lift the driver's side a little, then alternate over to lifting the passenger side. I bring each side up slowly to keep the car as level as possible. Once high enough my notched wood and stands are placed. Then I repeat the process on the rear.

Wheel cribs or those JackPoint stands are also excellent options. My track buddies swear by home made wood wheel cribs. They have interlocking sets that allow you to lift the car in stages to reach a height you would never attempt with normal stands. The car can't roll off them and the load is distributed naturally as if the car was just sitting on the ground - thus you are free to use impact tools or big breaker bars - the car ain't moving!

My brother has a Quick Jack lift for his Porsche which is very strong and seems safe, however I have seen it leak down making the car sit unevenly and honestly its hard to align with the pucks under a lowered C7 with skirts like mine.

To me the best commercial solution out there are the Jack Point Stands - they allow you to lift with a standard floor jack then use the same location to fit the stand on the pucks. This saves a step plus you are never under the car until its secured. In addition the underside of the car is wide open given you plenty of space to work.

 

What's the process for getting the car high enough to get these under it? That seems like where the danger moves to.

I want to do this, but I don't like stacking wood on a floor jack to gain height. Scary stuff.

 

I use two low profile floor jacks and slowly jack up each front point at the pucks, alternating about 4 or 5 pumps until I have the front high enuff to slip the wooden cribs under the tires. Lower front onto cribs then I move to the back and do the same thing.
ALWAYS checking the jack/puck interface to make sure they maintain position, i.e jack rolls inwards toward car when lifting so pucks stay centered in the jack lift pad.

 

Good grief, I have never seen so many people afraid of jack stands. Guess what, this is exactly what they are made for! There is absolutely nothing wrong or unsafe about getting under a car with jack stands, THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE FOR.

 

All of these were "made for" supporting a vehicle.

 

That is what jack stands are designed for. Been under thousands of times.

 

All appear to have been tremendously overloaded for their design capacity and otherwise misused.

Yes, bad things can happen when any tool is misused

 

I think it was answered above but I use two low profile harbor freight jacks to lift the front evenly using the side jacking locations and pucks making sure that the jack's are perpendicular to the car so they roll easily as the car is lifted , the harbor freight jack extends to 19 3/4 inches , add the jacking puck and you are raising the car over 20 inches I then put the cribs under the front and then let down slowly . I then move to the back and repeat the process.

Any time you lift a car , I dont care what you use , a hydraulic jack , a two post lift or a Quick Lift there is always a chance that something will happen if you are not careful . If you take your time and dont rush you will be fine . I like the fact that the car is supported by the wheels while I am under it and it would take an earthquake to knock it off the cribs
Dave

 

if you mis use any tool bad things can happen thiese were not twisted up like that just holding the weight of a car ...

A jackstand just is not going to fail if properly located, every one of those I bet failed because the load was not centered or the vehicle was lifted from one side and then the other which caused a side load on the stand

Dave

 

Agreed...I have been under more cars than I care to admit that were supported by jackstands , I also would leave the hydraulic jack in place for an extra measure of safety , if taking the tires off i always place them under the car by the floor boards , an old habit from the days when cars had frames . Would rather bust up a rocker panel verses getting crushed

Dave

Dave

 

Would hate to see how some of you would feel working under this then.

 

I have actually put the forks of my tractor under it also. But most of the time I am under a car at my house I am on dirt. Had a old saturn fall almost got me because the jack stand sunk in the ground and the car fell.

 

JMO, but this looks like the safest, and easiest option to me.