I have a small (=light) car that will need a lot of work done. It would be easier if it was off the ground by more than the height those car stands you get at the auto stores can do.
So I'm thinking of making some stands from wood, and jacking it up in stages onto them. Has anyone done this, and are there any pitfalls (a particularly appropriate term) of which I should be aware?
Hello'o! Here is the rivet and weld section of the usenet, not the dowel and clue part of it (that I would locate far bejond some dark corner). So we would all suggest to make your stand out of steel and save your live. Even a smal car on your chest is no fun. I know someone who has broken _all_ ribs except 3 or 4 when a car fell on his chest (during an race accident).
Nick
I heard from a friend who rebuilt wrecked cars as a hobby that wood is OK but not concrete blocks. Blocks can crush suddenly and drop the car. Wood, however, will only compress a little bit. Randy
Talking about wrecking yards.......... Some of them weld a couple of wheel rims together to make stands for cars. One horizontal and one vertical. Eight rims and a few minutes of welding would do it. Maybe you can find someone that would weld them for you locally. Your local auto wrecking yard might have some already made they would sell you.
Dan
I would make them from solid wood (say, pieces of 10" boards screwed together).
iI just cut a couple of stands to fit the tractor, car or whatever I'm working on with the chainsaw while I'm cutting firewood. Use a solid enough piece of timber to make a good stand, and they roll when they are tipped over on their side so you can put them back in the shed.
The tractor is 3 ton, the dozer shovel is 4 ton, so I choose good thick logs to cut them from. You could probably find something good to work with and get it cut to size at your local sawmill, or get some old recycled house stumps or bridge timbers. Make sure they are wide enough to support the car with the sideways forces that you will apply with a spanner on tight bolts.
As another poster said, don't use bricks, concrete blocks or similar as they can crumble and collapse. You do not want to be underneath something heavy trying to hold it up with the side of your head......
Hope this helps, Peter
Can you rent a bay that has a hoist? That would be the best solution by a long shot. Know anyone that has a pit in their garage that has not been filled in?
Wood to get higher than a normal jackstand? Two options. Build a very solid ramp or cribbing.
We had a ramp on the farm when I was a kid. The posts that it sat on were telephone poles sunk into the ground by a couple or five feet. The ramps themselves were 2 x 12 and 2 x 18 rough cut lumber. It was removed after many years use as an oil change and work platform after the posts began to show signs of rot. Big wood is expensive, and the time and work needed to build one are prohibitive.
Cribbing is used almost universally to lift and hold up large and heavy things, like houses. Got a source for short ends of boards? Cross stacked wood holds up well and is relatively stable, and a patient person with a pile of wood blocks can accomplish a lot, but you will have to work out how you will rest the car upon the cribbing so that it is secure and balanced, so that it will not fall if you bump into the car in the shop.
Myself, I have always used jackstands, with a couple large blocks of firewood as a backup when I had to spend time beneath one of my cars. A smooth concrete floor and a good creeper are a help.
Cheers Trevor Jones
Considering that it is standard practice to support cranes weighing 90+ tons on stacks of 6x6 wood cribbing, I hardly think that there is any risk in doing the same with a ton or two of car.
As long as there are no holes, there is no chance of something snapping. You have to use solid wood and cross stack over a large enough area to give stability.
Pete C.
Making wood stands, also, does not require a welding machine. All that it srequires is a saw and screwdriver or a hammer.
i
I think this looks interesting...
The problem with using wood cribbing to hold up something like a car is when you make the crib wide enough to provide good stability you wind up with very little room to work. A better idea might be to lay down a very short, perhaps 4" to 12", platform of very stable wide material (say 2x12 s) and use your steel stands on top of this. For the width of it's base, steel stands provide more side-to-side stability than loose wood, that's what they're designed for.
Dennis in nca
... and also making it hard to access the car from the underside.
Nick
Interesting is a good word for that..... Intersting to trust ones life to chinese hydraulics... Interesting to trust ones life to chinese welding... Yup. Interesting. :-) As long as one ned not go under it.
Cheers Trevor Jones
I have some wood car ramps that have a 7" rise. I had a red pine tree that had to go, cut two 4' long sections out of the trunk, and used the chain saw to carve away anything that didn't look like a ram. Pretty solid buggers!
You didn't say how high you wanted to go but I have found that the 6 ton jack stands go to 24", much higher than the usual car style.
If you wanted some additional height, some 12" 2x4's laid flat with a plywood top would add a few extra inches. Remember that the base has to get bigger as the height increases.
D> I have a small (=light) car that will need a lot of work done. It would be
I have similar jack stands and could not be happier. They are very strong and handy during repairs.
i
I would not hesitate to use wood to support a car. I would use 4x4s, and put them in alternating directions, and use 2xs to make up the difference.
But, hey, I'm a metal guy, so I prefer metal. And rather than mess around building them, I go buy them. I have four, and they are not the cheapo variety. I got them at a yard sale. They are about 20 years old, and I don't know what a comparable set of four would cost today. You can't beat a good set of jackstands. They are cheap, Cheap, CHEAP! And they are a breeze to build. ;-) Pep Boys, Checker, wherever.
It's yer life, man. Don't dick around with wood stands when you can have good steel jack stands. Steel jack stands can be placed and removed in seconds versus heavy wood planking, or a heavy wood monstrosity imitation of a real steel jack stand. They can be placed exactly under a support point where wanted, and not interfere with access.
Do wood if you want, but make sure your insurance is in order.
Steve
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I would use 4 x 4 material placed cross to each other per layer, bolt them together with ready rod or carriage bolts. cut them 8-12 inches long. what part of the car are you working on? what kind of car is it? you might be able to place a large bolt thru the stack so that it aligns with a hole in the frame.
Here you go...
I think this looks more interesting - not to mention more practical:
I can tuck the top cross-beam in between the ceiling joists since they run in the right direction (and adding more joists and drywalling the garage ceiling is way down on my list), but if the lowest point on the cross-beam (where the limit switch is) is lower than 100" (8'4") the car will hit the ceiling.
That, or I have to slice the garage roof off where it attaches to the rest of the house, raise it up a foot or two, and put in some cripple walls to support it. That'll be fun...
They say in the instructions not to leave a car up on the lift, lower it as soon as you are done working for the day - but I know someone who uses three of these two-post lifts as "garage expanders" so they can park another car underneath in their industrial unit. Another /restored/ 98-point /show/ car. Of course, after the next big earthquake I'll be able hear Paul's anguished screams from my house 30 miles away...
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