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In the realm of "go big or go home" after getting tired of always wedging myself under the car fore service I broke down and got 2 sets of the HF 12 ton stands.
Combined with lift bars I can get the car about 33 inches high. Its a bit of a pain in the butt since the minimum height on the 12-ton set is 19 inches. I have to start on smaller jack stands then once extended I can switch over to the 12-tons. But the clearance is really nice to have.
I'm going to check this out as it makes no sense at all. Why would they put a giant sticker on a jack for 2t and have half the rating.
All stands are not required to be rated in pairs. US Jack stands for example are rated individually. However if stands are pair rated then to meet ANSI standards each stand in the pair must have a capacity equal to 150% of the pair rating. So if you have a 2T rated pair each stand's capacity will be 3T.
All stands are not required to be rated in pairs. US Jack stands for example are rated individually. However if stands are pair rated then to meet ANSI standards each stand in the pair must have a capacity equal to 150% of the pair rating. So if you have a 2T rated pair each stand's capacity will be 3T.
So after all this, a 2t labeled stand is rated for 2t? I can't see how a company can assume liability labeling a stand 2t and then have the instructions, that gets tossed as soon as the jack is bought, state that they are only rated half of what that.
So after all this, a 2t labeled stand is rated for 2t? I can't see how a company can assume liability labeling a stand 2t and then have the instructions, that gets tossed as soon as the jack is bought, state that they are only rated half of what that.
Proper stands should have all the requried capacities and intended use written on the label that is affixed to the stand.
I also initially used 3-ton stands for the same reason. I've found WITH LIFT BARS that I can go straight up to the lowest level on the 6-ton stands, then up to 5 clicks on the other, then bring the opposite up to 5 clicks.
The reason the Lift Bars make this possible is they have a cylinder welded in where they rest on the jack stands. The cylindrical contact point allows the bar to rotate in the cradle of the jack stand while lifting each side alternately.
I have been using them wrong. I was putting the jack stand under the square tube.
Now that you point out the round tube on the end, it makes sense.
Some years ago now, the subject of 3T vs 6T stands came up as part of discussion of how to get the car high enough to work underneath. Different jobs demand more or less room. For folks lifting the car with a roller jack, getting the car to work height can be a multi-step process. For me, the first lift has the jack under a rear lift pad, allowing a stand to go under the same side front pad. With the jack I have, the front pad doesn't go high enough for a 6T stand at that point. The next lift is from the opposite side rear pad, allowing a 6T stand under that side's front pad. Then another lift under the the first side's rear pad, allowing a swap from the 3T stand to a 6T stand. The last lift is under the rear suspension cradle, allowing 6T stands under the two rear pads.
Liftbars shorten the process a lot, letting owners lift front and rear pads on one side of the car together, then stands underneath the liftbar before before moving to the other side and lifting there.
Another discussion was about adding blocks or pads to the stands for a little more height. Part of that included adding to stands under liftbars. The pad design of Ken's liftbars is shallower than it is wide, and it's the most roll-averse part of the stack. Adding a block between the stand and the liftbar adds another roll-over hazard and is not recommended, exclusively because the stand cannot adequately support the block.
Adding a pad underneath a stand does not directly affect the stand's rollover tendencies.
Comparing the 3T stands at full height with the 6T stands sat the same height was the most interesting. The biggest revelation was that the horizontal overturning effort is about 175 pounds of force with the 3T stands. It doesn't sound like much but it's hard to imagine any manual effort that could exert that force. Installing an engine might do it if something got away. Otherwise, think of what you might pull or push on that hard, and how. Regardless, I'm a lot more comfortable under the car on 6T stands vs the 3T stands thanks to the larger footprint.
In the end, I bought a MaxJax as others here have done. I use 3T stands under the middle of the carriages when I want less lift that the lowest pinned position available on the lift. The 3T stands see a vertical load only with no overturning risk.
Last week I had the rear of the Honda Pilot DD on 6T stands for some chassis cleaning and detailing out in the driveway. No worries underneath the heavier car, especially with the max available lateral loading limited by the scrub-brush-to-chassis interface.
We used 3T stands under Jim C's 928 while sitting on his 4-post lift in his garage. Car on stands on lift platform, so we could get into the rear wheelwell for fuel line access. Stands were at lowest position, absolutely no concern for rolling the car off the stands.
In the end, having both 3T and 6T stands is the handiest and safest way to work on the cars, at least for me. The stands are incredibly cheap these days, such that having both sizes is quite practical. So a pair of 3T and two pairs of 6T would be the ideal in my experience. Use the 6T under the car whenever you can.
How does everyone feel about this setup? safe/not safe? Im using the liftbars with Esco 6000lbs stands with the cradles. flat part of bar lays on flat part of cradle at the farthest ends of the liftbars. Unfortunately the cradles don't fit in the rounded ends of the liftbars. But I like them because they have the pins instead of ratcheting style. I have to lift one side to the stand base level, then the other side. Then I lift again to two/three holes up on the stands if I need more room. They seem very stable when in place, I just wonder about the transition at the bar/cradle when getting it up.
Yes. The center of the cradle is flat and level and it's very stable when I push it from all sides. I just wonder about when the car is at an angle when jacking up one side, then the other and so forth. That's when the flat bars are not flat in the cradles. I can see how the round bar ends, in the rounded jack stand cradles (other jacks stands, not these) has more continuous contact when the car is at an angle during the lifting process.
09-06-2016, 10:04 AM
