DIY/Wood Car Stands(Cribbing)...Let's see them!

[Just Puttering]

It's pretty easy to get my car up on the cribs with just two lifts of the floor jack.



Nice and stable. Particularly when I jacked the back up really high to drop the engine out the bottom a few years ago.

 

[Old Man Roger]

But at some point that block is kinda tall, which seems dangerous.

You’re only lifting it high enough to add one layer of cribbing at a time.

 

[cmandp]

Nice Mondial @Just Puttering

 

[dscheidt]

I’m not worried about the cribbing, I’m worried about the 6-12" block I have to put on top of my jack to get in the next level of cribbing.


Where did they place the jacks? On top of other cribbing next to the corners? Apologies if I’m being dense.

Jack goes on its own pile of cribbing. that's why you use a jack with a vertical lift, because you don't want the jack moving horizontally.

 

[FTG-05]

...

.

These are my preferred methods.

 

[logical]

Be careful Googling this topic, apparently also a verb.

 

[Old Man Roger]

That’s one reinforced crib.lol

 

[Jacko264]

This is what you want
G

 

[mrvm]

Made some mid-height wood cribbing today with some 2x4s and 2.5”-3” construction screws. Built them 16x20 to handle the large Jeep tires 32”-35”. Appreciate any comments for improvement. I may add a center 2x4 at the very top for tire support when used with smaller vehicles in the fleet. Need to pickup a few more 2x4s to finish the last one.

 

[mrvm]

Added one 20” center 2x4 on each crib. Probably don’t need it but it looks more complete. The bottom of the big tire barely touches the center.

 

[sz0k30]

Just wondering why some guys are making the stands twice as wide as the tire?

 

[atch]

Just wondering why some guys are making the stands twice as wide as the tire?

I am guessing stability.

Two of mine are 2x8 and two are 2x10; thus 7 1/2" and 9 1/2" wide. They work just fine and when I made them I never considered that they might or might not be stable enough. Of course mine aren't nearly as tall as some shown here.

 

[mrvm]

Just wondering why some guys are making the stands twice as wide as the tire?

For my tasks 16” for a 12.5” wide tire assures more stability when I torque to spec any suspension components at ride height. More height is optional and can be added later if needed.

 

[Just Puttering]

I am guessing stability.

Yup. The closer to square the better for stability, but totally square cuts into work space underneath and tripping hazards beside the car. These 16"x20" ones look super stable. When you see cars up on really high, 4' + cribbing, it is usually much closer to square and considerably wider than the tires.

 

[Demon69]

Love the optionality of wheel cribs, made mine stackable and use odd blocks as required

 

[no4njunk]

4x4's

 

[75gmck25]

I'm going to hijack this thread with another question.

I want to replace the rear leaf spring bushings on my '75 GMC K25, and I've been trying to figure out how to safely lift the rear high enough to get the rear tires fully off the ground by about 5", then let the axle droop so I can remove/replace the leaf spring bushings. It worked on the front springs with a fairly short stack of cribbing under my hydraulic floor jack, but the frame and crossmember there is much lower than in the rear of the truck. I do not have a high lift (or farmer's) jack and probably wouldn't want to use one.
Removing the old bushings will require drilling out the old rubber bushings and then working under the truck beating on the bolts until they come out. Its not the kind of work you want to do under the truck unless things are very stable.

Possible choices for lifting the rear enough to have the axle hang free.

- Lift at the end of the truck with the jack under the receiver for the Class 3 trailer hitch. However, the bottom of the receiver is about 18" off the ground, and since its at the far end of the truck it takes quite a bit of vertical movement before you get the wheels off the ground. It will require a lot of cribbing to get my floor jack to lift high enough to bring the tires off the ground. It also raises both rear wheels at the same time from a single point, which is not very stable from left to right.

- Lift it under the frame, forward of the front spring eye. I have to go quite a distance forward of the axle to ensure I have space to place the jack and then remove/replace the front spring bushing. The one advantage is that it should allow me to do one side at a time, which keeps the truck more stable.

Thanks. I'm open to any input.

 

[ATC]

I'm going to hijack this thread with another question.

I want to replace the rear leaf spring bushings on my '75 GMC K25, and I've been trying to figure out how to safely lift the rear high enough to get the rear tires fully off the ground by about 5", then let the axle droop so I can remove/replace the leaf spring bushings. It worked on the front springs with a fairly short stack of cribbing under my hydraulic floor jack, but the frame and crossmember there is much lower than in the rear of the truck. I do not have a high lift (or farmer's) jack and probably wouldn't want to use one.
Removing the old bushings will require drilling out the old rubber bushings and then working under the truck beating on the bolts until they come out. Its not the kind of work you want to do under the truck unless things are very stable.

Possible choices for lifting the rear enough to have the axle hang free.

- Lift at the end of the truck with the jack under the receiver for the Class 3 trailer hitch. However, the bottom of the receiver is about 18" off the ground, and since its at the far end of the truck it takes quite a bit of vertical movement before you get the wheels off the ground. It will require a lot of cribbing to get my floor jack to lift high enough to bring the tires off the ground. It also raises both rear wheels at the same time from a single point, which is not very stable from left to right.

- Lift it under the frame, forward of the front spring eye. I have to go quite a distance forward of the axle to ensure I have space to place the jack and then remove/replace the front spring bushing. The one advantage is that it should allow me to do one side at a time, which keeps the truck more stable.

Thanks. I'm open to any input.

Got an engine hoist? Lift truck from the hitch.

 

[csp]

I'm going to hijack this thread with another question.

Lift it via the rear axle enough to remove the wheels and tires. Once they are off lower the frame onto jackstands or cribbing in front of the fixed end of the leaf springs enough so that the brake drums are almost touching the ground once you get the jack out from under the axle. Most of the weight will be on the jackstands with just the weight of the springs/axle on the jack and you can muscle that part up enough to get your jack out. You remove a lot of the height needed by removing the tires and wheels first.

 

[Smilodon]

It's pretty easy to get my car up on the cribs with just two lifts of the floor jack.



Nice and stable. Particularly when I jacked the back up really high to drop the engine out the bottom a few years ago.

A little late on the reply, but had to give kudos...

A lot of bravery on display here. No, not the cribbing, that's fine. It's more the pulling the engine out of a *Ferrari* part!

Yes, this is a "simple" model as far as Ferraris go, but still. That's like saying "light as far as anchors go".

Cool stuff. Hope it all went okay. Obviously, it is out of the car, but that is only step one.

 

[75gmck25]

Ref my post #97 - This is one of the times where I was not really thinking about ways to simplify the problem by removing the wheels to get more clearance for the springs when I lift the entire truck. A jack under a straight axle makes it easy to get the frame up high enough for the tires to clear the ground. Then I can remove the tires and when I let down the jack I get enough axle droop to free up the spring shackles. Much simpler than the ideas I came up with! Thanks again.

 

[welder4956]

On my project car I'm currently using concrete blocks (oriented in the proper direction) with a 2 x 12 on top to spread the load. Height is about 9 1/2" and is working out ok so far. It was a little tight removing the transmission, but it came out the front with the engine already removed. It probably needed on more 2 x 12 stacked to remove it from the side.

 

[bulletpruf]

On my project car I'm currently using concrete blocks (oriented in the proper direction) with a 2 x 12 on top to spread the load. Height is about 9 1/2" and is working out ok so far. It was a little tight removing the transmission, but it came out the front with the engine already removed. It probably needed on more 2 x 12 stacked to remove it from the side.

Need more details on the car; what are you working on?

 

[4xdog]

concrete blocks (oriented in the proper direction) with a 2 x 12 on top to spread the load

Probably OK… But I’m just not crazy about seeing CMU’s to hold up a vehicle.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Probably OK… But I’m just not crazy about seeing CMU’s to hold up a vehicle.

Agreed, all it takes is one crack.

 

[welder4956]

Need more details on the car; what are you working on?

Wife's 1976 Cobra II. She's had it since we got married in 1978 and it's time for a new engine, trans, paint and suspension refresh. Slowly getting there, about ready to paint the engine compartment and start going back together.

 

[welder4956]

Probably OK… But I’m just not crazy about seeing CMU’s to hold up a vehicle.

Yeah, I know. But the blocks are brand new and they haven't been tossed around or seen any kind of movement or impact since the car was set on them.

 

[snickers muncher]

Probably OK… But I’m just not crazy about seeing CMU’s to hold up a vehicle.

That's how my neighbor got killed.

 

[ctandc72]

I'm going to hijack this thread with another question.

I want to replace the rear leaf spring bushings on my '75 GMC K25, and I've been trying to figure out how to safely lift the rear high enough to get the rear tires fully off the ground by about 5", then let the axle droop so I can remove/replace the leaf spring bushings. It worked on the front springs with a fairly short stack of cribbing under my hydraulic floor jack, but the frame and crossmember there is much lower than in the rear of the truck. I do not have a high lift (or farmer's) jack and probably wouldn't want to use one.
Removing the old bushings will require drilling out the old rubber bushings and then working under the truck beating on the bolts until they come out. Its not the kind of work you want to do under the truck unless things are very stable.

Possible choices for lifting the rear enough to have the axle hang free.

- Lift at the end of the truck with the jack under the receiver for the Class 3 trailer hitch. However, the bottom of the receiver is about 18" off the ground, and since its at the far end of the truck it takes quite a bit of vertical movement before you get the wheels off the ground. It will require a lot of cribbing to get my floor jack to lift high enough to bring the tires off the ground. It also raises both rear wheels at the same time from a single point, which is not very stable from left to right.

- Lift it under the frame, forward of the front spring eye. I have to go quite a distance forward of the axle to ensure I have space to place the jack and then remove/replace the front spring bushing. The one advantage is that it should allow me to do one side at a time, which keeps the truck more stable.

Thanks. I'm open to any input.

I've done this on multiple square bodies.
What I've always done, with no issues, is jack the rear of the truck up via the rear differential high enough to get the rear wheels off the ground. Remove the wheels.

I personally use 6 ton floor jacks on the rear frame rails, then remove the floor jack. Like someone else mentioned -removing the wheels gives you more clearance for full droop in the rear suspension.

I will add - that I'm a huge proponent of only torquing suspension bushings when the vehicle is either at right height, wheels on, or suspension compressed a bit. Wheel cribs / ramps come in really handy here.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Yeah, I know. But the blocks are brand new and they haven't been tossed around or seen any kind of movement or impact since the car was set on them.

That’s what the neighbor said.

 

[twagler]

DIY/Wood Car Stands(Cribbing)...Let's see them!
With a clutch job in the near future, what better opportunity to get out and build!
What did you make yours out of?
How high up does the vehicle sit?
Do you wish it was higher?

Here is my version of a DIY car stand that I just recently completed and put in service for the first time. It differs a bit from the typical criss-cross stacked wood cribbing. The top layer is a piece of 14" long x 18" wide x 5" high piece of c-channel, that my low-profile floor jack can fit underneath. First step is to use the floor jack at the vehicle's manufacturer-recommended lift point to lift each wheel 5" off the ground and slip the c-channel piece underneath. Then each lift after that is done with the floor jack positioned underneath each wheel directly, lifting on the bottom of the c-channel. I've cut a bunch of scrap planks that I happened to have kicking around into 16" lengths of various thicknesses to give the extra final working height that I want. I sequentially work my way around the car and just slip the planks underneath the side edges of the c-channel such that they don't interfere with the floor jack.

In picture below, the bottom of wheel is 12" high and the bottom of car is about 20" high. I think I could perhaps add another 3 - 4 inches of height without worrying about the whole arrangement getting too tippy. The jack stands are then placed at OEM lift point pinch welds just to be safe (belt and suspenders approach) when working underneath the car.





If I want to work on one of the wheels in its unloaded position, then I simply drop that corner of the car onto its jack stand and remove the cribbing (see picture below).

Yes - I wish I had a hoist! But this poor man's alternative works decently to get a bit more clearance for working underneath the car.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Seems a little Rube Goldberg to me. Why not just jack one side of the van up at a time and place the jack stands?

 

[twagler]

Seems a little Rube Goldberg to me. Why not just jack one side of the van up at a time and place the jack stands?

Yeah, I have a colleague at work who is a "driveway mechanic" just like me who basically said the same thing - he always works on his vehicles using jack stands only and he doesn't see any reason to make it more complicated. For me though, it comes down to two reasons:

(1) The added safety. Even the flattest part of my driveway is slightly sloped, and I feel nervous when using just jackstands alone when I want 20" plus of clearance under the car. I have a number of different jack stand sets that I've accumulated over the years, including:

• 6 ton stands (shown in picture above), with the base footprint of 11.5" x 10" and max height of 24"
• Another set of 6 ton stands, with base 10" x 10" and max height of 25"
• 3-1/2 ton set, with base 9" x 7" and max height of 19"
• 2 ton set with base 6" x 7" and max height of 16"

Compare that with 18" by 14" footprint that my cribbing provides - seems a lot more solid to have the tire resting on that stable base, compared to the jackstands with their narrower base and rather wobbly rachet post (at least when fully extended) and metal-to-metal contact instead of the rubber wheel resting on cribbing. Then, I can also put a jack stand at each corner for that extra "belt and suspenders" safety factor.​

(2) The only official factory approved jack lift points on my vehicles are the marked pinch weld locations at each corner. So if I want to place the jack stand at the official lift point, then I have to find and use an alternate lift point for the floor jack. Some cars have better options than others, but by using my cribbing c-channel under the wheel I can use that as the lift point for the floor jack and that problem is avoided completely.

Thanks, Tom

 

[Old Man Roger]

I hear ya, I would personally trust the jack stands more than loosely stacked piles of wood but as long as you‘re still using the jack stands you should be safe.

On front wheel drive cars with subframes I‘ve used a 2x4 on top of the jack to spread the load right behind the pinch point at the front of the car, maybe a foot long or so.

It allows you to get both wheels off the ground at the same time. You can then use the rear pinch point for one jack stand and if the front pinch point is blocked by the jack you can usually use the pivot point of the control arm for the other jack stand.

 

[matt_i]

No need to overcomplicate it. These are cribs of 2x12s and 2x6s glued with polyurethane construction adhesive and screwed in stacks of 3pc. Chevy Traverse undergoing torque converter replacement.

https://flic.kr/p/2suuYBG

 

[DGersic]

Built from 2x3 studs. Deck is 12” from the floor. They didn’t even creak when I lowered the car on to them.

 

[atch]

Built from 2x3 studs. Deck is 12” from the floor. They didn’t even creak when I lowered the car on to them.

I do like '37 Chevys and that looks like a nice one.