mj1pate

I have read the threads concerning proper methods of placing jack stands...The problem is that my sturdy stands have a narrow "U" shaped support for the resting the car on. When raising/lowering the car to more than a few inches off the ground, I generally stage the effort in phases, going from one side to the other. I had a real scare when slowly lowering the car (in phases). The car nearly walked off of one of the (front) jack stands,. as I was lowering the other side.

I assume a stand with a broad support for the car would be best. Are there common brand/source preferences?

Thanks


Mike

EC928NC

Kens

No affiliation... just used (and am happy with) one of his other products and mean to get a set of these liftbars as funds allow.

Shark Attack

Mine came from Harbor Freight and work great. OTHER than, I bought the heavier duty ones and they sit higher fully collapsed than my jack will raise the car. This is a bit of a PITA

mj1pate

that is the way to go. it would seem......

FlyingDog

I use 6-ton Sears stands and never had a problem. Just check and reset each stand if necessary between your up and down stages.

Rob Edwards

Before I knew any better, I ordered a set of AC Hydraulics stands, which have the following shape. They're pretty much useless for anything other than tubular suspension pieces that happen to be sturdy enough to support a car :



Now I use sears stands, the 3.5 ton ones, which are shaped like this:



Perfect for use with Ken's liftbars.

dr bob

Using Ken's bars (which I recommend if you know you will be under the car more than a few times...) you'll still need a set of good stands to hold the car up. How high will the car need to be? Somewhat-rotund dr bob fits under the car comfortably when the car is on the taller (6-ton) stands from Harbor Freight. The similra-capacity stands from Wal-Mart will do the trick too.

The issues with the V on top of the stands is taken care of with a few squares of plywood scrap. I have tried pads made from scrap 2x4 but they split. Plywood, a couple layers screwed together, seems to be OK so far.

If you find yourself doing a lot of progressive lifts, maybe you need a new jack, one that goes a bit higher. I can get the car up to middle of the tall stand range in two steps, using a 4ton Sears jack. Any higher than that and there's no room to get the jack under the back to get to the trans saddle to pick up the rear of the car. Some 2x10 pads screwed together and placed under the rear wheels during the first cycle would take care of that problem too. This is exactrly where Ken's liftbars start to pay off. Just pick the car up in a couple steps on each side, no pads, spacers, etc. Very quick, very easy, and quite safe. Probably safer than balancing the car on opposite corners doing a progressive high lift without them anyway.

jon928se

Aha - the scary way of lifting a 928, jack the rear up high under the X member and jack stand it under the jack points. Then jack one side at the front and while the 928 is balancing on one rear jackstand and your floor jack, have your partner push down on the unloaded rear side while you jackstand the diagonally opposite front.

BTDT. And while it didn't go wrong I won't go there again. Thats when the second jack under the opposite lower A arm front mount adds some semblance of sanity to the operation.

Mrmerlin

I like to use a heavy duty jack with the LOwered jack pad got one at Costco for 99.00 lifts 3 tons, also get a few hockey pucks a hockey puck will fit perfectly in the jacking head and not slide off. Of course if youre jacking on a part of the car that has oil on it you would want to clean this first to remove all the oil. To lift the front of the car simply slide jack under the left or right front front suspension, (where the slider pads are Where the front lower control arm bolts secure) Lift the car until you can place a jackstand under one of the jack points ( I use a small piece of 2x4 on top of the jack stands , it adds a bit of security to the stand)just behind the front wheel let down then do the other side. when jacking the car like this the whole front end will lift just not evenly. this proceedure is for cars with a belly pan fitted, W/O belly pan its a bit easier put 2x4 under the front tires then with a piece of 2x4 about 6 inches long slid Lo jack under the front of the car and jack up on the front crossmember, with said piece of 2x4 on top of the jack pad.
To do the rear its even easier same jack and piece of wood fitted under the rear trans crossmember jack to your happy then fit the jackstands to the jack points in front of the rear wheels, if your lifting the whole car lift the front first and put on the lowest jack stand setting then lift the rear and fit stands. I hope this helps, it works good for me

dr bob

The method I've used is to lift from a rear jack pad first, raising the whole side of the car. Place stand 1 under the front pad. Lower the jack and move to the other rear pad. Lift there, and the weight is now on the jack and the stand, with only a little on the opposite rear corner. Raise the car until the front pad is at your target height, and put stand 2 under it. Then the jack goes back to the first rear pad. Lift until the front pad on that side matches the height of stand 2, and extend stand 1 to match that height. Move the jack to the middle of the trans saddle, and raise the rear of the car. Place the rear stands under the rear pads.

Raising the car this way means that you never have to lift on any of the suspension or steering members. If you are just doing an oil change for instance , you can easily get the front of the car up in just two lifts.

Using Ken's lift bars, the four jacking exercises reduces to two if your jack has a large enough range. Shop for one of those SUV jacks to get 20"+ of height, making sure that the jack will still fit under the lift points on the car. For a lot of years I used a 2-ton roller jack that was a bargain. It's claim to fame was that it went low enough to go under the rear lift saddle on the race cars, less than 3" off the floor. But for real cars, I was using wood spacers to get higher than 14". A very generous friend took pity on me and donated the Sears jack after a timing belt marathon on his car a year or so ago. Needless to say, the bigger capacity, the one-pump-to-the-frame feature, the big stable rollers, and the lift range have spoiled me.

I think I need a set of lift bars for Christmas, or maybe just pull the trigger on a lift for the garage and get it over with. Frankly, I'm getting too old and arthritic to be crawling under the car on stands regularly.