I need a sturdy jacking board...

[2K4CE]

I'm using a kwiklift with a centerlift bridge.

My set up is near identical to this:

The rear crossmember of the car is used to lift it. It is aluminum and has two ridges across it. So, the ridges have to be spanned.

Most people are using a piece of board (2x8) cut to width and jacking from the center.

I think this is a terrible idea and I tried it once for grins and split the board nearly all the way through. The head of the bottle jack is like a slow moving bullet.

I need something sturdy and stable that will stay in place while jacking and while resting it on jack stands. Something that won't slip out and kill me from side load.

Any thoughts?

 

[murph64]

Add a layer of 1/2"+ plywood to both sides of the 2x.


Andy
a wish sandwich is when you have two slices of bread...

 

[mrholeshot]

I had sliding lift air jacks on my Hunter alignment rack. You can buy the jacks for about 800 dollars. In your case if you want to go on the cheap I would buy a small floor jack (like the 30 dollar ones with a carry handle) and weld a peice of 2X4 thickwall rectangle tube with some outriggers. The jack could roll frome side to side and when it lands underneath the casters would allow the jack to stay put under the car and slide acoss the cross brace. I would weld a plate on the tube and weld a peice of round stick the same size as the hole in the floor jack.

 

[kerryt1]

I have the same scenario (C5 + Kwiklift), and am currently using 2x6s as described by this guy, minus the ramps: LINK. You need to make sure you're not lifting the car in the center of the crossmembers, but using pads to distribute the load to the ends of the crossmember.

Ideally, something along these lines would work, but the dimensions of commercially available ones seem to be too wide at their minimum width. They could be made or modified, however.

 

[2K4CE]

Welding is a bit ambitious for me. I can basically build something with basic power tools and hand tools.

that device in the picture looks good..

What about plywood sandwiching a sheet of aluminum or steel? Aside from concerns of falling, I'd also hate to see the floor jack puncture the plywood and go into the differential.

 

[Arnie C]

Two sheets of 1" plywood glued and screwed together?

 

[kerryt1]

A thin sheet of aluminum will not help, it will have virtually no moment of inertia in the important plane for lifting. Now, an aluminum beam should work if it were of sufficient dimensions.

The thing is that you're not leaving the car up on the jack, you just need something to allow you to safely lift the car and place it on jackstands without improperly loading the cast aluminum cradles. The 2x6 works fine. You should also do a search on Corvette Forum as there is a ton of information on this very subject.

 

[csp]

The board didn't split because the jack was trying to go through it. It split because of the grain of the board and the load on that grain. Adding plywood to either side eliminates the load on the grain.

A short piece of LVL would also work as would a section of 2"x4",0.120 wall (or thicker) steel tubing. Even a section of C channel steel would work. There's no need to build anything that would require welding.