Axle stands

[no idea]

I've seen some of the recent posts about axles stand, jack posts etc. and thought I post this separately rather than hijack those threads.

I'm paranoid about safety when under a car so I took the over the top approach of making a pair of stands out of 10mm plate - I didn't need the height adjustment so they are 350mm high and I still used a wheel and axle stands under the car when changing brakes and suspension arms. Since making them I have tidied up the welds - they still don't look great visually but I am confident with them, especially when compared to commercially made stands and the amount of weld on them.

The vehicle jack pads are in the center of the stands with an adapter to fit into the jacking pockets. Luckily the car has a central jacking point as part of the front subframe so it is easy to jack the front end up completely and lower onto the stands on both sides simultaneously.

 

[Craig-SM]

I don’t think you’ll need the wheels under the car too. The ground will probably give way before the axle stands do.

 

[arther dailey]

well at least you recognise your paranioa and its in a good way on the side of safety , but 10mm stands axle stands and a wheel is just slightly more than needed I would suggest , unless you placed two wheels under the front incase some one drove of the road and shunted your car violently forward tipping it front end down....

 

[no idea]

You're both right about not needing the wheels but it's a force of habit from days of youthful stupidity when working on a car only lifted by a spare wheel jack seemed like a good way of doing things . In any case, I need to put the wheels somewhere so under the car is as good a place as anywhere else. It's like getting extra safety for free with minimal effort lol.

 

[arther dailey]

You're both right about not needing the wheels but it's a force of habit from days of youthful stupidity when working on a car only lifted by a spare wheel jack seemed like a good way of doing things . In any case, I need to put the wheels somewhere so under the car is as good a place as anywhere else. It's like getting extra safety for free with minimal effort lol.

I learned because dad dragged me out from under my car by my ankles , only had it on the pathetic scissor jack it came with , made me put sleepers under

 

[zzr1200]

Just out of interest what welder did you use to make your stand and what setting did you use???

 

[Ubique]

Wheels that far back probably would just be a see-saw point, I'd have 'em under the front bumper where the chassis extensions for the cooling pack are.

 

[no idea]

Just out of interest what welder did you use to make your stand and what setting did you use???

I used a MacAllister 160 amp arc welder (rebadged GYS E163) with E6013 Super 7 rods - 3.2mm were around 110-115amps and 4mm around 135-140 amps. The vertical plate edge sections effectively formed a 120 degree angle to each other so this took lots of passes to fill hence changing from 3.2mm to 4mm after the first few passes. The fillet welds between the top/bottom plates and vertical sections were just 90 degrees so were done with 3.2mm. The stands were re-positioned during welding so that all welds were done flat rather than vertically.