Jack Stands....

I have a bout 4 sets. One set I "think" is a good one. The other set is cheapie I use for lighter things. I have a set of 4 I picked up at WalleyWorld that is holding up a waggie right now.

In looking at them and thinking about it, What do you guys think aobut us jsut welding up our own Jackstands out of 1/4" angle and 1/8" square box steel? Would it be safer than what we are buying? We could make the base wider. Make them higher that waht we can buy.

Just a thought after seeing this..........

 

wow
i dont like my stands anymore.
back to the oak cribbing.....

 

Yeah, solid wood blocks are good. Or a tire. A common safety backup is to put the tires under the car when you are under it.

Back in the day, we had old 2-post lifts in the shop at the Jeep dealer. One of the mechanics was working on a Wagoneer, and left it up in the air overnight. In the morning he came in and found one post up and the other all the way down. The Wagoneer did not fall off, but you can imagine that it looked rather precarious.

The moral is that use of any of this gear, regardless of quality or previous reliability, involves some risk. The only thing you can do is never get under a raised car, or use your head to avoid dangerous situations. Buy OTC pro-quality jack stands if you worry http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.co...F-3C21-4655-8367-CF46DF7532A3}/qx/product.htm
Same design as the mass-market stands (HF, Sears, etc.) but likely better QC and maybe heavier material.

 

Ya know, we'll probably never know, but I suspect a thread like this might end up saving somebody's life.

Glad your okay.

 

I never rely on one thing. I use both stands and my floor jack at ALL TIMES. If in need to jack up something else I use a small bottle jack or I have borrowed another floor jack.

Very scary and I would agree this will probably save someone a lot of heart ache.

 

Scary...


Cool Commando though

 

Scary stuff Jason

So was this a sudden failure or were you putting some kind of side loading on the stands?

I've had no problems with my orange and white 6 ton HF stands in over 5 years.

 

When my dad was in high school one of his friends was killed after jacking up a car on four bumper jacks. Soooo I grew up with jackstands and throwing a tire under the frame beat into me.

 

Wow! Looks similar to my cheapie Autozone stands I have. And I was just under my wife's car 2 days ago changing an inner tie rod end. I usually shove the tires under as a fail safe, but didn't on that one. Certainly will next time. I like to think I'm still skinny enough to come in under a 215/70/15 in the event of structural failure.

 

Glad your ok bud

But That guy with the big hand shouldnt have been pushing down on it.

 

I can relate, but my failure was that I did not double check to make sure the lock had engaged fully on the stand. It slipped just as I came up from laying under it bolting on the tie rods, u bolts and caliper.

I have HF stands, I have one that the roll pin on the lock failed. They actually seem heavier duty then all my other ones I have. They feel equal to our Craftsman, I would not be surprised if they come from the same plant.

 

Just thinking about it now. One set of my stands dont have the quick release lever system. they have a series of holes drilled that your push a pin through on the correct height, and then a cotter pin goes though the end of the big/main pin. the main pin night be 3/4 inch thick. they are a PITA when trying to set them quickly but might be safer