HOLY CRAP.. please use jack stands..

BRUISER

BRUISER

silent.. but deadly
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Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Raleigh
first of all what in the hell is the customer doing in the shop anyway,i think its a fake becasue the guy jacking it back up was more worried about the hat on his head
 
A Wake County mechanic was killed when a bumper jack jumped out from an ambulance.

They have alot of nice, new, heavy duty jack stands now...
 
one thing that REALLY bothers me about this forum, is when I see pictures of stuff like this, or pictures of people using cinderblocks or something as jack stands...

Come on people, if you can afford the parts, afford the rig, and afford the tools, you CAN afford the safety of a real set of jackstands..
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
one thing that REALLY bothers me about this forum, is when I see pictures of stuff like this, or pictures of people using cinderblocks or something as jack stands...
Come on people, if you can afford the parts, afford the rig, and afford the tools, you CAN afford the safety of a real set of jackstands..
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hey, houses are built from cinder blocks! :lol:
 
All joking aside, when I lived in Philly there was a kid around the corner who had a shiny red firebird. His parents returned home from the grocery to find that the cheap screw jack that came with the car had tipped over. The car was inside a closed garage, accessible from inside the house. The sons head was crushed under the right front brake rotor. Trewth, it happened in the 1980's.
 
I almost lost my package due to using a cinder block. I was sitting on the ground doing brake work and the block crushed and the rotor landed right in the V of my legs. Scared the hell outa me and have never used a cinder block since.
 
jrraw23 said:
the problem is they don't make jackstands tall enough for our applications, or at least the only ones I've seen are ridiculous high priced, but i usually go with wood blocks cause i have seen bricks and cinder blocks both fail firsthand :shaking:
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I have used wood blocks. If you lay them two or three beside each other, then two or three on top of them at a 90 degree angle changing direction with each layer, this can be safe. Just be sure it's not going to slide off this cribbing.
ai254.photobucket.com_albums_hh83_buckshot500_tax_cuts_bad_mmkay_thumb2_1.png
Trucks are heavy! Um'kay?
 
I use my big jack stands on top of two rows of treaded 6 x 6's about 16" long, and stagger the direction of the blocks. This way I end up w/ a 16 x 16 x 12" high cube to put the stands on.

Cinder blocks work if you are working on a fairly clean surface, meaning no rocks/pebbles to cause stress risers in the blocks, and It is absolutely neccessary to have them in the correct position, the holes facing upward, but i still prefer lumber to concrete.
 
Ok, for you engineer types -
If used PROPERLY, shouldn't cinderblocks be plenty strong? E.g., lay then with holes facing down, solid walls on the verticle, stacked in a triangle so thr weight is distributed across their length? Used on flat ground, of course.
They're used thsi way to hold the weight of all kinds of very heavy things.

Used a 4x4 chunk of wood post once, in a pinch - wasn't sure about it, so carefully let the weight down... and low and behold, it split right down the middle. Ended up finding a better solution....
 
Problem with cinder blocks is the concentrated point loads that people typically put them in. With a smooth distributing layer such as metal or wood they can hold a lot.
 
jrraw23 said:
the problem is they don't make jackstands tall enough for our applications, or at least the only ones I've seen are ridiculous high priced, :shaking:
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Big Rick, so how much is your life worth? Please don't tell........

How much money you spent on Beer?
How much you spent on BS stuff for the Z71?

I would bet enough that you could have a set of gold plated extra tall jackstands if you wanted.....

I would bet if you ask your mom what the cost of your life is after the LOL and she picks herself up off the floor she will tell you more that a set of " ridiculous high priced jackstands "
 
RatLabGuy said:
Ok, for you engineer types -
If used PROPERLY, shouldn't cinderblocks be plenty strong? E.g., lay then with holes facing down, solid walls on the verticle, stacked in a triangle so thr weight is distributed across their length? Used on flat ground, of course.
They're used thsi way to hold the weight of all kinds of very heavy things.
Used a 4x4 chunk of wood post once, in a pinch - wasn't sure about it, so carefully let the weight down... and low and behold, it split right down the middle. Ended up finding a better solution....
Click to expand...

No, they will not work. If you want to test it you need a crusher. Before the job I have now I tested a lot of concrete.
It would work in a lab but not in real life. In the lab they cap both sides to make the load equal across the top and bottom.
In real world they are set in concrete for the bottom and the top has a wood cap, most are filled where the wood will set on them and have bolts or studs set into them. The wood cap will also have more wood flat on top of it so as not to have a point load. The load will be across the wall. If you had a way to check the load under each stud and then between the studs the load on the cap would be the same.

What happens when you use it for a jack stand, the load is a point load and one part will fail, making the block fall apart. What will help is to place a piece of wood 2x10 under and on top of the block to spread the load out. Even more would be to fill the block and cap it with wood. Best would be to cap it with 1/2" steel and fill with concrete. But to move that and the cost and time to make it but only have something that is So SO for safety, is not worth the time.
Bottom line you could do some things to make it safer but its best to use jack stands.
 
I guess as ong as the topic is up - what "good" jackstands ARE available for, say, a heght of, I dunno, 30" or more?
This seems like a lot, but when you are doing something requiring suspension hang, esp w/ tires off the ground, then if you have a big lift the frame could get that high.

I have these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38847
and they generally work fine height-wise for me, only rarely have to get creative - but I do not have a huge lift or giant tires.
 
A rail road tie is $20 tops.
Saw it in to quarters with a chain saw.
Place appropriate weight rated jack stands on rail road tie

Viola
 
SkyHiK5 said:
A rail road tie is $20 tops.
Saw it in to quarters with a chain saw.
Place appropriate weight rated jack stands on rail road tie

Viola
Click to expand...

Or free if you have a buddy and a shovel. :lol:
 
MR. GADGET said:
No, they will not work. If you want to test it you need a crusher. Before the job I have now I tested a lot of concrete.
It would work in a lab but not in real life. In the lab they cap both sides to make the load equal across the top and bottom.
In real world they are set in concrete for the bottom and the top has a wood cap, most are filled where the wood will set on them and have bolts or studs set into them. The wood cap will also have more wood flat on top of it so as not to have a point load. The load will be across the wall. If you had a way to check the load under each stud and then between the studs the load on the cap would be the same.
What happens when you use it for a jack stand, the load is a point load and one part will fail, making the block fall apart. What will help is to place a piece of wood 2x10 under and on top of the block to spread the load out. Even more would be to fill the block and cap it with wood. Best would be to cap it with 1/2" steel and fill with concrete. But to move that and the cost and time to make it but only have something that is So SO for safety, is not worth the time.
Bottom line you could do some things to make it safer but its best to use jack stands.
Click to expand...

i use blocks alot when i need to have the truck up high enough where jackstands wont reach or if im using all of them in the shop and on the pad and jsut dont have any free. i allways cap the top with a thick plank and am carefull.......yet to have ANY fail and thats proablly under 20 rigs . check the blocks and make sure there in good shape. Im sure people have had them fail and its not somthing i like doing but when it has to be done gota use what ya got. ill keep using them until i get my lift out there.:flipoff2:
 
Wow i finally got to watch that! That was all around retarded!
 
chromerunner said:
i use blocks alot when i need to have the truck up high enough where jackstands wont reach or if im using all of them in the shop and on the pad and jsut dont have any free. i allways cap the top with a thick plank and am carefull.......yet to have ANY fail and thats proablly under 20 rigs . check the blocks and make sure there in good shape. Im sure people have had them fail and its not somthing i like doing but when it has to be done gota use what ya got. ill keep using them until i get my lift out there.:flipoff2:
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Fine go for it.....
Don't really care, its one of those things that the user is the one in the end that has to live with it. It will not hurt me.....
If I could say something, use solid blocks or even better use wood, find a job site at the beach that they are building a house and ask if you can pay them something for the 12"x12" trims or end cuts.
Most of the time they will give you some and you can cut and shape them to what you want or bolt them to make a big base or jack stand. You just want to load them cross grain and not on the ends like you would cut fire wood.

BTW If you ever want to stop in Wake Med Rehab they can tell you many stories of people that they have treated from cars falling on them.......Loss of both legs, arms, one leg, broke back......
Nothing I would want to go through.....
 
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