Race Deck tile and jackstands: My fix.

[wythors]

As has been discussed here in the past and as I have experienced first hand, jack and jackstand feet tend to damage Race Deck tile. When I had my wife's car up on stands for a week, the "angle iron" style feet actually cut through the tiles. Race Deck took care of me and sent me a bunch on new tiles and they're very easy to replace, but I digress. There seems to be two ways to prevent this: 1 - Buy new jackstands that have "pad" style feet like these:

or another style completely, like this:

Since I already have six of the old, cheap style and normally use four at a time, this would not have been very cost effective for me. So I opted for number 2 - Some kind of protection under the stand. I have dealt several times with Scott at www.cutsmetal.com in getting diamond plate for my work bench and some other things. He was able to set me up with some 1/8 inch 12x12 squares to put under my jackstands as well as a 10x24 piece to put under my floor jack.

If you're considering Race Deck you need to be aware of this problem since they don't bother to mention the fact that it can't take a high load in a small area. So far, that 's my only complaint about the floor.

 

[Jay H 237]

I had a similar problem except it was with a newer asphalt driveway. My Caprice wagon is too big to fit in the garage and still be able to work on it so I'm forced to do it in the driveway. My jackstands are the Craftsman ones that have the angle iron legs similar to yours. What I wound up doing was cut a length of 1.5" wide x 3/16" thick cold rolled steel bar I had into 2" long pieces and MIG weld them onto the bottom of the angle iron to become "pads" for the feet. Came out pretty good and I even touched up the paint so it looks like they originally came that way. I don't have time tonight but I could take pics and upload them tommorrow.

 

[Luckydevil]

I'd be willing to bet those jackstands with the wide feet would also leave some pretty good imprints on the Racedeck flooring.

I think the only really good option is the one that you did, get a big piece of metal to displace the weight over a large area underneath the jack stand.

Did you get a price quote on how much to do your whole floor in diamond plate tiles?

 

[mikeyr]

My jackstands have a circle plate welded to the feet and have never left an imprint on my racedeck floor, they are similar to the top picture with 4-legs but they are only 3-legs. I was worried about racedeck and my jackstands but these worked out great, I forget the brand but they came this way. I agree about Racedeck and its "mis-advertising" they never really mention that it is for showrooms and not working garages. Having said that, I sure love them, I have learned to be careful with the tiles. The dimples left by small heavy items usually pop back up after a few days. And after 4 years they still look better than a painted floor.

Only problem is the wife ! she gets mad because I sweep my garage floor more often than I help around the house

 

[Jay H 237]

Here's pics of what I did to the Craftsman jackstands I have that I mentioned in my post above. I don't have the Race Deck flooring in the garage, just concrete, but if you want to distribute the weight more you could weld one large plate to the bottom of them instead of the four pads I did. I had no problems on the garage floor, just when I was using them on my driveway.

 

[wythors]

Nice job

 

[m3lawdawg]

Weld a flat plate to the bottom that comes out about 1/2" all the way around the base, then round the corners.
this will give you a nice sturdy base in the garage and nothing to cut into the tile and when working on hot asphalt or the ground.

We have to do this to our stands on the race cars. Race track owners get upset when you poke holes in the asphalt in the pits or paddok area.

 

[krooser]

Great idea!

 

[jermar]

I use a piece of 1/4" plywood under my stands. I also damaged a few tiles, but since they are near the middle, I thought it would be too difficult to repair. Love your color combo; see why.
http://photobucket.com/albums/a153/jermar/

 

[wythors]

I use a piece of 1/4" plywood under my stands. I also damaged a few tiles, but since they are near the middle, I thought it would be too difficult to repair. Love your color combo; see why.
http://photobucket.com/albums/a153/jermar/

Nice garage! And an excellent choice on the Craftsman cabinet. More pictures here.

Replacing a tile in the middle takes about 90 seconds. Just locate the edge with the loops, as opposed to the hooks, on it and drive a scraper or a stiff putty knife between it and the adjacent tile. Pry up on the tile you want to remove and the tiles will seperate. Pull up and the row will unzip as far as you want it to. You can then replace your damaged tile and zip it all back up. I thought it would be a huge PITA but it was incredibly easy.

 

[mikeyr]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that my jack stands had a plate on the bottom that prevented them from damaging the racedeck tiles. I had no idea what brand as I purchased them from a vendor at Laguna Seca Historics who was not there the year after. In another thread someone mentioned ultimategarage.com and I went and took a peek at that site...YEAH ! I saw he had my floor jack that I also purchased from that vendor and on a whim I clicked on the jackstands, so now I know that I have AC jack stands and they are awesome by the way, super stable and 2 of them went to the top of the list bypassing all other tools.

I always have regretted buying only 2 of them that day but that was all I could afford along with the floor jack, now I will have 4. Those stands have never harmed my racedec floor even when my 2000 GMC Sierra (truck) sat on the stands for over a week. And my Dino has sat on the stands well over 2 months with no damage to the floor, much nicer solution than a chunk of wood or a moving a plate around with the stands. Ok, not a cheap solution, these stands are not the lowest priced out there but worth every penny.

http://www.ultimategarage.com/acstands.html