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As for the hood struts. Most of the time they work fine. But once they have been up for awhile, and it get's cold.... they don't work so well anymore. Most of the time I don't need a support, but it did close on me once when it was 30 out, so... it's a safety catch. I may rig up a rag and channel locks till I find a support like what you were talking about MGJ. I like the idea, I don't know how many times a hood has shut on me when it's A) Cold B) Been up for an extended amount of time.
Vice grips work great..I might be wrong here, but I think that the strut rod is harder than the teeth in the vice grip. Anyway, the piece of leather/cloth on the jaws won't hurt any..Anyone got aluminum jaw covers for their vice grips? Anyway, I don't grip the rod so hard as to leave marks.
Go buy one of these http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb...ift-60536.html and lift the back end up from the bumper, throw some jack stands back under it, and then lift the front end up by placing the jack under the front bumper, lift it and throw a couple of jacks under it up front.
I have been using my craftsman atv lift on to move my parts 944's around without issue since they have no tires/susp, or as mentioned, a low profile HF $65 1 ton jack works well to get under the car also, but the atv one let's you pull the tranny/engine out without a cherry picker.
A quick note on a jack stand which will never fail you......and cost only a little time to make, and cost you very little.
Run down to your local Hardware/Lumber yard or Big Box store and buy a length of Penta Treated 6x6 post. I bought a four footer leftover length from someone else's project cut.
Have them run it thru their saw at their location, because if you own a skill saw, the depth of cut of the saw won't be enough to cut all four sides with a perfect slice and give you a perfect end.
I cut mine about 25 years ago..... maybe a bit more; I'm getting long in the tooth and don't remember time sequence as well as when I was 18.
I cut four of them at 12 inches long, thus giving me two platforms to work off: the side, standing at about 5 1/2 inches, and the end at about a foot. It puts the car a WAY up there on 12 inches---- you may choose a shorter length; I also use my Blackhawk 2 ton floor jack as a stabilizer either at home or the track, to keep the car from moving about on the longer length. One could also make a foot square steel plate with a pocket on the end to stick the long length post into at the elevated position giving even more footprint, kind of like an upside down T.
You may also bolt on with a few lag bolts, a regular drawer handle or door pull on one side of the block for easy carrying or positioning under the car. Or, you could steel plate one side for an even more secure block, giving a person one side of steel against any type of surface; car or ground. Countersinking a few screws thru the steel for flush fit and a smooth work surface gives a person a portable steel table/block to work off as well.
These blocks are sturdy, making hardly even a dent into the wood from any sharp edges of suspension, are quick and easy to move around and safe. NEVER have to worry about one splitting a weld and failing; dropping your car on your head.
Like I say , I have used mine for over 25 years and they almost look like they could last a few more lifetimes. Keeping them inside out of weather will keep them free from soaking up moisture, even tho they are a 'treated post' material.
A quick note on a jack stand which will never fail you......and cost only a little time to make, and cost you very little.
Run down to your local Hardware/Lumber yard or Big Box store and buy a length of Penta Treated 6x6 post. I bought a four footer leftover length from someone else's project cut.
Have them run it thru their saw at their location, because if you own a skill saw, the depth of cut of the saw won't be enough to cut all four sides with a perfect slice and give you a perfect end.
I cut mine about 25 years ago..... maybe a bit more; I'm getting long in the tooth and don't remember time sequence as well as when I was 18.
I cut four of them at 12 inches long, thus giving me two platforms to work off: the side, standing at about 5 1/2 inches, and the end at about a foot. It puts the car a WAY up there on 12 inches---- you may choose a shorter length; I also use my Blackhawk 2 ton floor jack as a stabilizer either at home or the track, to keep the car from moving about on the longer length. One could also make a foot square steel plate with a pocket on the end to stick the long length post into at the elevated position giving even more footprint, kind of like an upside down T.
You may also bolt on with a few lag bolts, a regular drawer handle or door pull on one side of the block for easy carrying or positioning under the car. Or, you could steel plate one side for an even more secure block, giving a person one side of steel against any type of surface; car or ground. Countersinking a few screws thru the steel for flush fit and a smooth work surface gives a person a portable steel table/block to work off as well.
These blocks are sturdy, making hardly even a dent into the wood from any sharp edges of suspension, are quick and easy to move around and safe. NEVER have to worry about one splitting a weld and failing; dropping your car on your head.
Like I say , I have used mine for over 25 years and they almost look like they could last a few more lifetimes. Keeping them inside out of weather will keep them free from soaking up moisture, even tho they are a 'treated post' material.
You and Spencer went to the same school of jack stand design. I like the idea, and may end up getting some of those as well. As it is, I dropped $100 on four 6 ton jack stands. So, once I get my jack back from under that car, I'll have a low profile (2.5"-19") 3 ton jack, and 2 ton jack, and 24 tons of stand support. I went with the 6 ton for two reasons.
1) 24" of lift, I can now pull the engine out from the bottom if I need. That's a large part of why my rebuild has been happening engine in. Now I can pull it if need be.
2) My 2 ton jack and 3 ton stands didn't cut it for the Suburban. I could barely get it off the ground enough to get the tires off. And I mean JUST. I could get the tires about 1/2" off the ground. That's fine mostly, but I wanted some more lift for some projects I need a little more space for in the future.
HOWEVER, I'm 100% behind the 6x6 idea for failsafe backup to the stands. I have never been comfortable with stands to begin with, and after this, even though it wasn't the stands fault whatsoever, I'm even more leary.
My idea is something like the "throw the tires under there" idea. But I think I'm going to rig up some 6x6's in such a way that I can throw them around under areas of the cars I'm working on as a "fail safe" stop. So if for any reason the car drops, it A) Won't be on the floor again B) If I'm under it it won't make me into paste.
I just need them long enough to catch the car even it if moves forward or backward with the stands. And I'll also have my two jacks as double failsafes. This has really brought home how dangerous it really is to do what we do.
I should know better, my Uncle was killed by one of his 57 Chevy's (he was a collector). He had 5 at the time he died, and for some reason no one will ever understand, he was working under one of them while it was up on the trailer, somehow knocked it out of gear. My aunt found him later that day.
The scary thing was, I was doing something similar. On an incline, truck not in gear testing reverse lights, and trusting the parking brake. I was lucky I was IN the truck. Before I mess with it again, wheel chocks are on the list of MUST HAVES I'm now building.
This was a bit of a wakeup for me. I know better of course, but 25 years of no issues have made me lax.
Man i'm glad you are okay!!!! That would be a very very bad way to go. Was the car not on jackstands??? I hope the damage is limited. I would cry if that happened to me. I did "lol" at the card on the ground though.
Man i'm glad you are okay!!!! That would be a very very bad way to go. Was the car not on jackstands??? I hope the damage is limited. I would cry if that happened to me. I did "lol" at the card on the ground though.
Yes, it was. I pushed it over with the Suburban. Didn't take much to tip them over. Well, by not much I mean 3 tons of truck.
To be honest I think it took quite a bit of weight to do it. The speed was very low, I was only 5 feet behind the Porsche. And it wasn't even running, it just rolled into it. However, I noticed today it caved my rear doors in pretty good, I had thought the bumper had done the pushing, but due to the car being on stands, and the extreme angle of my driveway, turns out it pushed the car with the doors.
Anyway, took more force than I had thought. And my new stands have at least twice the footprint of my old ones. I'm not sure it would be able to push it over now. Not that I'm planning on testing that theory.
So, project "raising of the Porsche ” commenced today. Went way better than I'd hoped. All told, direct cost were about $300. That was a new low profile 3 ton jack, four 6 ton jack stands, and a new taillight for the Suburban, since I had rolled over mine.
Here's the new equipment:
I picked up the creeper cause it was cheep, and claimed " low profile " but I don't think it's any lower than my old one. But at least it has a place to hold tools, that's kinda nice.
A buddy let me use his light weight 1.5 ton low profile jack, and with that and my new jack, I was able to get my old 2 ton out from under the car. Ended up taking all three jacks to get it done, but she's off the floor!
Turns out the 3 ton was just low enough to get under the car even on the floor! It took a 3 lb hammer, but I got to the middle jack point.
I did the passengers side first, jacked on the end on the bar the torsion bars attach to. Got it up just enough with my jack to get my buddies jack on the passengers middle jack point, and raised it just an inch or two. Then got my jack under the driver's side jack point, and raised that side enough to get the rotors off the concrete, and to get my old jack out from under the car.
Because I have most of the engine out, it was back heavy. I had to use two jacks like below to get the passengers side tires on. I needed the wheels on because it fell forward, and I needed to move it back about two feet. Also seemed the most stable way to get the drivers side up.
With the passenger side up, I could access what had gone on under there when it fell...
The drivers side went pretty easy after I had the passenger side on the wheels.
Seems the sum total of damage underneath was loose exhaust I rehang, one place a jack stand punched through the floorboards and I can feel carpet, and all four brake dust shields.
However there is some body damage, I'm not sure exactly why it got damaged how it did, or how...
Big time upgrade in jackstands:
Here's the carnage:
And now she's moved back into position, and is about 6 inches higher, maybe more, thanks to the new stands and Jack. Much more room to work now! Notice I still haven't learned, Suburban is still in position to knock her down again. The fiance says I shouldn't park it there anymore, but I had to use it to pull the Porsche back into position. My garage slants, so pushing doesn't work.
Those stands look pretty beefy, when I decided that I was concerned about jack stand safety I found several posts about how good ESCO jack stands are, you can see them here -
They are pricey, but the contact patch is great and when the car is up on four you can push the car and it is as solid as if it was on the ground on the wheels.
Sorry about your luck :C Just tell your insurance man the truth. They know B.S. and appreciate honesty and will usually reward your honesty with a little more leeway in $ amounts allowed. When the tornado hit my house and garage the adjustor asked about the hood and windshield damage on my 944 and I told him it was old, just a new ding on the door when I could have easily lied. He compensated me very generously for the amount of damage done, tiny door ding and some leaves and a little water thru the open sunroof that came from the hole in the garage roof.
+1 says wife's father who is a retired GMAC adjuster.
04-26-2016, 02:37 AM
