The one about jack stands

[Perd Hapley]

It seems like we had a thread about this before, but I'm in the market for jack stands. I don't want to buy just anything. Any recommendations on brands?

Also, are the 3-ton stands good for most passenger vehicles and pick-ups, or should I go with the 6-ton? I'd want them to be good to go, if I go back to driving a half-ton pickup one of these days.

Many thanks.

[lupinus]

If you are looking for pickups go with the beefier ones.

Extra margins never hurt nobody, and larger beefer ones usually have more height and a wider base better suited for trucks in general.


Sent from my iPhone. Freaking autocorrect.

[roo_ster]

What lupinous wrote.  That said, I use 3-ton jack stands.  If I had to buy again, the bigger ones for me.
Also, if you buy a cheaper brand, the 6-ton give a larger margin for error.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Wide base is good says guy who dropped his hondA

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[lupinus]

Wide base is good says guy who dropped his hondA

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A former acquaintance learned why one does not use small poor conditioned jack stands. On soft ground, no less.

And the same time he learned if one is going to kneel whilst doing a brake job, placing ones knee under the rotor is a bad idea.

[KD5NRH]

It seems like we had a thread about this before, but I'm in the market for jack stands. I don't want to buy just anything. Any recommendations on brands?

4x4" 11ga square tubing cut to whatever length your jack can handle and notched both ways on top, then welded to a 18x18" piece of 3/8" plate seems to work well on most surfaces.  Not the most portable jack stand ever, but durable and stable.

Also, are the 3-ton stands good for most passenger vehicles and pick-ups, or should I go with the 6-ton? I'd want them to be good to go, if I go back to driving a half-ton pickup one of these days.

I always liked to keep two stands in each vehicle at all times.  Much more solid if you have a multiple blowout situation and need to leave the car missing a wheel or two while they're being repaired.  Also comforting if you need to get under there on the side of the road.  (Cutting apart fiberglass insulation that's wrapped itself around the driveshaft is uncomfortable enough as it is.)

[Perd Hapley]

For something large and heavy, like this, I'd prefer to avoid shipping charges. Where does a guy go for decent quality jack stands? Auto parts store? Hardware store?

[lupinus]

4x4" 11ga square tubing cut to whatever length your jack can handle and notched both ways on top, then welded to a 18x18" piece of 3/8" plate seems to work well on most surfaces.  Not the most portable jack stand ever, but durable and

Never saw that coming.

Buy some good quality jack stands and don't  rig up crap with whatever you can pull from the scrap pile.

[zxcvbob]

For something large and heavy, like this, I'd prefer to avoid shipping charges. Where does a guy go for decent quality jack stands? Auto parts store? Hardware store?

Harbor Freight, and buy heavier ones than you think you need in case the ratings are inflated.

[KD5NRH]

Buy some good quality jack stands and don't  rig up crap with whatever you can pull from the scrap pile.

Show me a jack stand that won't sink in the mud a lot faster than an 18" square solid plate, and I'll consider it.

And that wasn't from the scrap pile, it was made to spec from fresh steel, to meet the need at the time.  The scrap pile ones were just the 4x4 tubing, since at that time, I was rotating tires on concrete and didn't have to worry about them sinking.

According to our engineer, if I wanted to put a weight rating on a stand made from 4x4 11ga tubing loaded straight down like that, it would be somewhere north of 25 tons, (handy, since we put some huge loads on much longer sticks of the same stuff, and those have a lot of lateral force when the wind blows too) so show me some stands in that range that don't cost more than a car.

[Nick1911]

I've had good luck with my Harbor Freight jack stands.  I'd buy them again.

4x4" 11ga square tubing cut to whatever length your jack can handle and notched both ways on top, then welded to a 18x18" piece of 3/8" plate seems to work well on most surfaces.  Not the most portable jack stand ever, but durable and stable.

I'm going to recommend against doing this - bad idea.  You'll end up spending as much on steel if you don't have the scrap laying around.  Also you're putting any side loads on welds four inches apart.  There's a reason that virtually all commercial jack stands have bases shaped as a pyramid - and it's not just to get a wide base.  On top of that, unless you actually know what you're doing (Hint: can pass a bend test / AWS cert exam), you're putting all side load stresses on amateur welds.

Life and safety are not places to DIY.  Buy commercial products that have been bought and used by enough people to shake out defects before putting your body on the line.

[Firethorn]

For something large and heavy, like this, I'd prefer to avoid shipping charges. Where does a guy go for decent quality jack stands? Auto parts store? Hardware store?

Looking at 6 ton models:
$62 from walmart,
$50 from harbor freight, $7 shipping to a random CONUS zip code.
$98 for NAPA, but might not be in stock.  7 ton for them, not 6.

Show me a jack stand that won't sink in the mud a lot faster than an 18" square solid plate, and I'll consider it.

Then toss the plate down on the mud and put the jack stand on top of it.  Or even a piece of plywood, I've done that before.

Same concept as putting a puck down on hot pavement to keep your motorcycle's stand from punching a hole in it.

According to our engineer, if I wanted to put a weight rating on a stand made from 4x4 11ga tubing loaded straight down like that, it would be somewhere north of 25 tons, (handy, since we put some huge loads on much longer sticks of the same stuff, and those have a lot of lateral force when the wind blows too) so show me some stands in that range that don't cost more than a car.

Excepting that, as Nick stated, you might not just have to worry about vertical loading - any side loading and you're getting into an unsafe condition.  It's not that the stock can't take it, it's the question of the welding.

Not everybody has access to professional welders like you do.

[KD5NRH]

I'm going to recommend against doing this - bad idea.  You'll end up spending as much on steel if you don't have the scrap laying around.  Also you're putting any side loads on welds four inches apart.  There's a reason that virtually all commercial jack stands have bases shaped as a pyramid - and it's not just to get a wide base.  On top of that, unless you actually know what you're doing (Hint: can pass a bend test / AWS cert exam), you're putting all side load stresses on amateur welds.

Since the first version was just square tubing standing on the concrete, side loads when the car and surface are level aren't really an issue.  Since the based ones were intended for messier situations, the welding part was passed off to one of our fabricators who's done such things (trailer build and repair) professionally for ~30 years.  Granted, if I'd been planning to use them for a much bigger vehicle than the Saturn, (curb weight a hair over a ton)  considerably taller than 18", (all my floor jack would do anyway) or for major projects where I'd be wrenching a lot more,  I'd have included some 2x2" angle bracing specifically for the side loads, essentially making a pyramid, but keeping the solid base.

[lupinus]

I've had good luck with my Harbor Freight jack stands.  I'd buy them again.

I'm going to recommend against doing this - bad idea.  You'll end up spending as much on steel if you don't have the scrap laying around.  Also you're putting any side loads on welds four inches apart.  There's a reason that virtually all commercial jack stands have bases shaped as a pyramid - and it's not just to get a wide base.  On top of that, unless you actually know what you're doing (Hint: can pass a bend test / AWS cert exam), you're putting all side load stresses on amateur welds.

Life and safety are not places to DIY.  Buy commercial products that have been bought and used by enough people to shake out defects before putting your body on the line.

This

Looking at 6 ton models:
$62 from walmart,
$50 from harbor freight, $7 shipping from to a random CONUS zip code.
$98 for NAPA, but might not be in stock.  7 ton for them, not 6.

Then toss the plate down on the mud and put the jack stand on top of it.  Or even a piece of plywood, I've done that before.

Same concept as putting a puck down on hot pavement to keep your motorcycle's stand from punching a hole in it.

Excepting that, as Nick stated, you might not just have to worry about vertical loading - any side loading and you're getting into an unsafe condition.  It's not that the stock can't take it, it's the question of the welding.

Not everybody has access to professional welders like you do.

And this.

If sinking or having to work on soft ground is an issue there are much better ways to accommodate for that then doing something stupid. Even with adding gussets it's not the best idea.

Most amateur welders? Their welds are *expletive deleted*it. So is their production and having two items turn out the same once you start cutting and welding and such.

Good jack stands are not expensive. Buy real ones and call it a day.

[lupinus]

Since the first version was just square tubing standing on the concrete, side loads when the car and surface are level aren't really an issue.  Since the based ones were intended for messier situations, the welding part was passed off to one of our fabricators who's done such things (trailer build and repair) professionally for ~30 years.  Granted, if I'd been planning to use them for a much bigger vehicle than the Saturn, (curb weight a hair over a ton)  considerably taller than 18", (all my floor jack would do anyway) or for major projects where I'd be wrenching a lot more,  I'd have included some 2x2" angle bracing specifically for the side loads, essentially making a pyramid, but keeping the solid base.

Hold on a second.

Are you advocating, provided you have a hard level surface, that four inch square tubing with a notch cut out on the tube are a good option?

[Jamisjockey]

Harbor freight, Walmart either will have ones that will do just fine.  Get more than you need just because it's one of those one-time purchases you should keep for years.

4x4" 11ga square tubing cut to whatever length your jack can handle and notched both ways on top, then welded to a 18x18" piece of 3/8" plate seems to work well on most surfaces.  Not the most portable jack stand ever, but durable and stable.

I always liked to keep two stands in each vehicle at all times.  Much more solid if you have a multiple blowout situation and need to leave the car missing a wheel or two while they're being repaired.  Also comforting if you need to get under there on the side of the road.  (Cutting apart fiberglass insulation that's wrapped itself around the driveshaft is uncomfortable enough as it is.)

I'm sure Fistful is trying to avoid dropping a vehicle on his head. 

[wmenorr67]

Harbor freight, Walmart either will have ones that will do just fine.  Get more than you need just because it's one of those one-time purchases you should keep for years.



I'm sure Fistful is trying to avoid dropping a vehicle on his head. 

Not that it might actually help him.

[KD5NRH]

Are you advocating, provided you have a hard level surface, that four inch square tubing with a notch cut out on the tube are a good option?

Not for being under the car; I used those only for a tire rotation where I didn't need any part of me in a potential crush zone at any time, and when all the wrenching was on lug nuts, (which were broken loose before lifting and finally tightened after lowering) so no cranking on a 3' cheater bar in directions that would side load the supports.  They did work quite well for that, but for anything involving even reaching under the car, or significant lateral force of any kind, I'd have trusted the floor jack itself more than 4" bases.

(Actually, had I needed something like that right then, I'd have used the forklift, then braced under the forks with 4x4 so they couldn't be accidentally dropped.  Highly unlikely that I'd knock the forklift over.)

[Ben]

I'm sure Fistful is trying to avoid dropping a vehicle on his head. 

Also dropping $500 on a welder, plus materials, plus learning to weld.

[KD5NRH]

Also dropping $500 on a welder, plus materials, plus learning to weld.

Then use a steel building and simply weld the roof of the car to the building's roof purlins.  Then you won't have jack stands getting in the way at all.

[Ben]

Then use a steel building and simply weld the roof of the car to the building's roof purlins.  Then you won't have jack stands getting in the way at all.

Do $500 cars even come with steel roofs? I would have assumed burlap.

[KD5NRH]

Do $500 cars even come with steel roofs? I would have assumed burlap.

Maybe not the original steel, but light gauge sheet is relatively cheap.

[wmenorr67]

Screw the new roof, just make it topless.

[Boomhauer]

Goddamn what the *expletive deleted*ck...

No just no to half this thread

Jack stands are typically rated as used in pairs. Therefore 3 ton stands aren't really 3 ton.

Harbor freight if you must but I do not trust my life to anything sold at that store. There are better brands. Overkill is very good in jackstands

[KD5NRH]

No just no to half this thread

Which half?

Jack stands are typically rated as used in pairs. Therefore 3 ton stands aren't really 3 ton.

What if you lay them on their sides and use them as really short, crappy ramps?