Jack stands

[russlaferrera]

Needed tall jack stands. Something to work on 4X4 trucks. These are made of 2-1/2 SS pipe about 36" tall.

[Moose-LandTran]

are you looking for some or purely stating what they are?

[russlaferrera]

Now for the pict Sorry"

[Moose-LandTran]

ok, that makes more sense.

very nice. i'm going to get a set of 760mm stands. aren't set up to make my own unfortunately.

[ar2stp48]

If those are the jackstands in the thumbnail you are considering, I would reconsider. Are you planning to support a vehicle with these? Or a part under the vehicle while it is on a more substantial support? The base of those stands is far too small for the height to support any vehicle for a person to work under it.

I speak from experience on this. I had one of my FJ 40's up on jackstands, I had it on what I thought was good quality stands and about 14" in the air---stand under each corner under the axle. I barely bumped it with another of the Cruisers and it fell off the stands.

[russlaferrera]

If those are the jackstands in the thumbnail you are considering, I would reconsider. Are you planning to support a vehicle with these? Or a part under the vehicle while it is on a more substantial support? The base of those stands is far too small for the height to support any vehicle for a person to work under it.

I speak from experience on this. I had one of my FJ 40's up on jackstands, I had it on what I thought was good quality stands and about 14" in the air---stand under each corner under the axle. I barely bumped it with another of the Cruisers and it fell off the stands.

Good point. They are used to keep the car body high when removing gas tanks and bumpers. I still use 6 ton jack stands under the frame.

[kwb210]

I usually stick a couple of pieces of 2x6, scrap lumber, under the wheels as an extra precaution. Recently reading a few horror stories of older jack stands failing. Yikes! I have decided to look over each one and maybe just purchase higher quality ones. I usually work alone in garage and would rather spent a few bucks on a better stand than risk getting squished like road kill. I have been looking at Automotive Service Equipment jack stands.
http://www.asedeals.com/index.html
here are some stands, page down to see the big boys.
http://www.asedeals.com/jackstands.html

[Colin-Roberts]

I work for a truck repair company. You wouldn't wanna trust a small jack like that with your life. If you think 2 jacks will do.. go for 4 always nice to have a backup. Homemade alternatives really aren't worth your life. By the warrantied and tested stuff.

[russlaferrera]

I work for a truck repair company. You wouldn't wanna trust a small jack like that with your life. If you think 2 jacks will do.. go for 4 always nice to have a backup. Homemade alternatives really aren't worth your life. By the warrantied and tested stuff.

You are absolutely right. If your workmanship is piss poor I would not recommend you get under a vehicle.

AS far as a back-up goes How much safety should/would you use? ie change a tire. chock the vehicle, jack the vehicle up , get the jack stand slide it under the vehicle with a rod (vehicle could fall) , get a 2nd jack stand go under the vehicle to place it in position, lower the vehicle on to stand, remove tire.

Road call... chock, loosen, jack, remove replace, tighten spin tire to make sure it's straight, lower, get tools, gone. This works for me. For you?

[nissan_crawler]

I work for a truck repair company. You wouldn't wanna trust a small jack like that with your life. If you think 2 jacks will do.. go for 4 always nice to have a backup. Homemade alternatives really aren't worth your life. By the warrantied and tested stuff.

I would, and have trusted ANYTHING I build with my life. If you can't build a set of jackstands without having a doubt they'll fail, you need to put your welder away, IMHO.

I'm currently gearing up to build my own jackstands, which will have coarse and very precise adjustment for fabricating. I have NO DOUBTS that they will hold up. I've seen plenty of "warrantied and tested" stuff that has failed, and I've had to rebuild.

I'm just a farm taught hack, I've cut, lengthened and welded back together frames on a semi with a 24' box capable of hauling over 40,000 lbs. I've stretched a frame on a f-600, chevy one ton, and shortened a frame on a 3/4 ton. I've cut trailers in half, and lengthened them. I turned my dovetail trailer into a flatbed, and will soon be putting a gooseneck on it. All were used and abused, none failed. I've welded plenty of equipment, never had a weld fail, never thought one might.

[oldgoat]

I would, and have trusted ANYTHING I build with my life. If you can't build a set of jackstands without having a doubt they'll fail, you need to put your welder away, IMHO.

I'm currently gearing up to build my own jackstands, which will have coarse and very precise adjustment for fabricating. I have NO DOUBTS that they will hold up. I've seen plenty of "warrantied and tested" stuff that has failed, and I've had to rebuild.

I'm just a farm taught hack, I've cut, lengthened and welded back together frames on a semi with a 24' box capable of hauling over 40,000 lbs. I've stretched a frame on a f-600, chevy one ton, and shortened a frame on a 3/4 ton. I've cut trailers in half, and lengthened them. I turned my dovetail trailer into a flatbed, and will soon be putting a gooseneck on it. All were used and abused, none failed. I've welded plenty of equipment, never had a weld fail, never thought one might.


The problem is that too many people think that they can weld good enough, but don't really have the knowledge to know how to do the job right. Maybe they have welded stuff together for years without a problem, but that doesn't mean that they were done right and it doesn't mean that the next time when you are under it that you will find out that you were wrong.

[nissan_crawler]

The problem is that too many people think that they can weld good enough, but don't really have the knowledge to know how to do the job right. Maybe they have welded stuff together for years without a problem, but that doesn't mean that they were done right and it doesn't mean that the next time when you are under it that you will find out that you were wrong.

That I won't argue. I've seen some scary crap. :wtf: Still, to say anybody should buy "warrantied and tested" equipment is ignorant in my mind. We've had it fail, and had to modify it, etc., many times to make it work right. I'm sure there aren't many people on this forum that haven't done that exact thing. Heck, almost everything HF is "warrantied and tested", do you trust all of it?

A good welding class does help. When I took it, the instructor had everybody run a bead on a corner butt weld, then was going to break it apart in a vise with a hammer. I questioned him on that, but he ignored me, and went on to beating on people's pieces until the weld broke, so he could look at them. When he got to mine, he broke the vise. :spit: To be fair, almost all of them had never welded until a few days before that, and dad taught me to weld at 10 years old.

I'm weird, but I like oxy/acetylene welding. I don't do it much, because I have a port-a-torch setup with small tanks (hardly used due to the plasma), but I love it.

[russlaferrera]

The problem is that too many people think that they can weld good enough, but don't really have the knowledge to know how to do the job right. Maybe they have welded stuff together for years without a problem, but that doesn't mean that they were done right and it doesn't mean that the next time when you are under it that you will find out that you were wrong.

Your point is well taken. However the line is not clear. Any weld can fail. Structure design, trying a new welding rod, condition of the metal being welded.. Short of having all welds X rayed. You do the best job you can and should you feel the job is done to the level it is intended to function at. It's a done deal. Life is unsure. Products are tested, yes, WAS the item you bought tested?Why so many recalls? It is your call. If it don't look safe DON"T DO IT! WE all know the drill. "Hold my beer, I'm going to try something" Get ready to call 911!

IMO Safety can go too far. You are getting ready for work,. You cut yourself shaving. What do you do? Go back to bed. God has sent you a warning. Today is going to be an unsafe day? On the flip side. Stand in the center lane on the interstate changing a tire. No one hits you. Today is going to be a safe day!