e36jon
Well-known member
Greetings all
I just finished up a project that's been a long-time running and thought someone might find it useful.
I happen to have an e36 BMW (1992-1998) sedan, and it has lifting pucks behind the front wheels and ahead of the rear wheels. You can use them as jacking points, or you can use them to support the car with jack-stands. I have four of the basic ratcheting style jack-stands and it has always been a bit terrifying to get the car set up on them:
1. There is always a gap between the jack-stand and the pad because they only adjust in 1" increments. So, I would end up having to lower the car onto them and hoping I had them lined up correctly. With the new ones the goal was to have screw adjustment so that I could bring the jack-stand up to the jack-point before releasing the jack.
2. The tops of the ratcheting jack-stands aren't really set up for rotation. I would get one pair set, usually the front, and then jack up the other end. The car would rotate through 10-12 degrees as I raised the other end, and it was always scary hoping that the car didn't fall off while I was doing this. The goal for the new jack-stands was some method to allow rotation / pivoting while staying securely located.
3. Even with the jack-stands I had at the top of their range, I still didn't have a ton of room under the car. The goal with the new design was ~24" of clearance. I bought a new jack in anticipation...
So, now you know why I would bother. Yes, a lift would be so incredibly bitchin', but it's not possible for a while.
It turns out the jack pads are removable, and that they plug into the slot that's used to hold the cars down during shipping from Europe. I decided to design the tops of my new jack-stands to interface with the slot feature rather than the plastic jack-plug, just to be extra secure.
OK, enough preamble. Here are the details.
I bought these jack-stands as the basis for my improvements, since they were tall enough (16"-30"), were rated for way more weight than I needed (6000 lb.), and incorporated a screw adjustment feature: (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PE2VIVE/?tag=atomicindus08-20) That they were only ~$50 a pair was also a huge win!
First step was removing the existing top-pad from the jack-stand, which is held on with a knurled stud:
This image shows the stud and the hole in the top of the jack-stand shaft. On the right is another jack-stand shaft that looked identical on Amazon, but won't work.:
I got some help from a long-time CNC vendor that I use for work projects. He gifted these to me which was the coolest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time. I had gotten quotes from other vendors for $600-$1200 for the 4, so if he hadn't of made them a gift I would have quit right there...
The rest of the assembly involved a 1/2" dia. steel roll-pin, 1" diameter stainless steel knobs that were drilled / tapped for 3/8 thread that I drilled out to 1/2", an 0.875" ID x 0.060" thick shim (washer), and three 1/4X20 fasteners. I also had to drill the top shaft of the jack-stand to 1/2".:
They work! See next post for photos...
Cheers,
Jon
I just finished up a project that's been a long-time running and thought someone might find it useful.
I happen to have an e36 BMW (1992-1998) sedan, and it has lifting pucks behind the front wheels and ahead of the rear wheels. You can use them as jacking points, or you can use them to support the car with jack-stands. I have four of the basic ratcheting style jack-stands and it has always been a bit terrifying to get the car set up on them:
1. There is always a gap between the jack-stand and the pad because they only adjust in 1" increments. So, I would end up having to lower the car onto them and hoping I had them lined up correctly. With the new ones the goal was to have screw adjustment so that I could bring the jack-stand up to the jack-point before releasing the jack.
2. The tops of the ratcheting jack-stands aren't really set up for rotation. I would get one pair set, usually the front, and then jack up the other end. The car would rotate through 10-12 degrees as I raised the other end, and it was always scary hoping that the car didn't fall off while I was doing this. The goal for the new jack-stands was some method to allow rotation / pivoting while staying securely located.
3. Even with the jack-stands I had at the top of their range, I still didn't have a ton of room under the car. The goal with the new design was ~24" of clearance. I bought a new jack in anticipation...
So, now you know why I would bother. Yes, a lift would be so incredibly bitchin', but it's not possible for a while.
It turns out the jack pads are removable, and that they plug into the slot that's used to hold the cars down during shipping from Europe. I decided to design the tops of my new jack-stands to interface with the slot feature rather than the plastic jack-plug, just to be extra secure.
OK, enough preamble. Here are the details.
I bought these jack-stands as the basis for my improvements, since they were tall enough (16"-30"), were rated for way more weight than I needed (6000 lb.), and incorporated a screw adjustment feature: (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PE2VIVE/?tag=atomicindus08-20) That they were only ~$50 a pair was also a huge win!
First step was removing the existing top-pad from the jack-stand, which is held on with a knurled stud:
This image shows the stud and the hole in the top of the jack-stand shaft. On the right is another jack-stand shaft that looked identical on Amazon, but won't work.:
I got some help from a long-time CNC vendor that I use for work projects. He gifted these to me which was the coolest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time. I had gotten quotes from other vendors for $600-$1200 for the 4, so if he hadn't of made them a gift I would have quit right there...
The rest of the assembly involved a 1/2" dia. steel roll-pin, 1" diameter stainless steel knobs that were drilled / tapped for 3/8 thread that I drilled out to 1/2", an 0.875" ID x 0.060" thick shim (washer), and three 1/4X20 fasteners. I also had to drill the top shaft of the jack-stand to 1/2".:
They work! See next post for photos...
Cheers,
Jon
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