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Lots of comments on youtube including “All professionals know this so why the video?” Well, on a couple of occasions I was around pros doing lifting that scared me so badly I left the area. So, good information for anyone.
Left this comment on the vid, but felt I needed to make it here too. Eric didn’t mention anything about putting the car in gear, chocking the wheels or setting the parking brake before lifting. If you’re not on level ground and you lift the driven end without the other end chocked, in gear or brake on – the vehicle can start rolling away from you (or on top of you if you’re down slope from it). You need to make sure the vehicle can’t move forward or backwards before starting to lift.
Edit – On the second listen, I did hear Eric mention at 10:00 to make sure the vehicle is level before lifting. I think it’s important enough it should be mentioned sooner and explained a bit more.
Good video though, don’t get me wrong.
[quote=”DurangoRich” post=128711]Left this comment on the vid, but felt I needed to make it here too. Eric didn’t mention anything about putting the car in gear, chocking the wheels or setting the parking brake before lifting. If you’re not on level ground and you lift the driven end without the other end chocked, in gear or brake on – the vehicle can start rolling away from you (or on top of you if you’re down slope from it). You need to make sure the vehicle can’t move forward or backwards before starting to lift.
Edit – On the second listen, I did hear Eric mention at 10:00 to make sure the vehicle is level before lifting. I think it’s important enough it should be mentioned sooner and explained a bit more.
Good video though, don’t get me wrong.[/quote]
You are 100% correct. In fact, after the edit and upload was complete I thought of that very thing but it was too late. That said, when producing these videos, this is the thing I struggle with the most, making sure I get all the correct information into the video. When shooting I’m trying to think of that, the lighting, the sound, the shot, as well as a myriad of other things. Inevitably, things fall between the cracks. This is one of those cases and I do regret not putting that information into the video itself. I have however updated the description to reflect this omission. Thing is, no one ever reads those. 🙂
Thanks for your input.
Thanks for the reply Eric. People like to pick the vids apart “why did Eric fix that POS” “professionals already know that” and such and that bugs me because I know the time and effort that goes into these. I only mentioned it because it involves safety which was the point of the video.
I’m a professional and I watch your videos and I learn new stuff from your videos more often than not, that’s for sure. I just got my own Lisle funnel after seeing you use one and I freaking love it. Wish I would have got one years ago.
Great video – too many DIY’ers seem to place trust in the scissor jack for work (particularly when just getting started wrenching on their own cars) – would also be cool to see some discussion on when you use the jack for supporting something, but not the whole weight of the vehicle (e.g., lifting the engine/transmission a tad when doing motor mounts, compressing the suspension while the car is in the air, etc.)
a good source for info on lift points is the owners manual for the car. I was surprised lifting from the rear differential is considered controversial by some (other than when the housing is aluminum) – for Subaru, anyway, that’s the manufacturer recommended rear lifting point (and in the front there is a jacking plate)
Great video. More people should follow those rules. A few things I have seen that scared me concerning this topic. I watched a scissor jack literally get crushed because it was angled…. Asphalt… many things such will actually sink down into into with the hot weather. Those old stands with the stamped legs for one. Another thing I saw a body shop have to piece back together was a chevy that was on a lift with an engine, and once the engine was removed (this was on an old air over hydraulic single pole system), techs went for coffee and it actually went back heavy and tilted off the lift smashing the entire tail of the car. I am firm believer in lashing on 2 post lifts, although not many do it. A car with one wheel removed can actually drop backwards causing the opposite corner to rise up. I saw this on a VW bug with a rear motor that got out of balance, yuck. I was standing on the front of a 4 post doing some work when another tech lowered the lift down with a ramp in the way. I looked up and tail was in the air and I was about ground level. On the other end of the car. Shop Owner was dissapointed, but glad nobody got killed. Shredded the cables. Obstructions when lowering a car is something not thought of much, it does happen. I have a can of pb blaster than was overlooked, and yes, the car was ok, but the can was not so much. NEVER use jackstands on dirt/uneven ground. Back on the farm when I was young and stupid I was replacing a starter on a VW Bug because it died in a field of sorts, and I was about done, but got this back cramp from reaching up, and so I slid out of from under it and about 5 minutes later I watched the terra firma become not so firma and one of the stands shifted and it came crashing down. I generally like a leave my jack under the car as insurance policy because this very incident. Between that another even closer near miss with a the back end of one of those old datsun trucks when a leaf spring let go, I am very paranoid about dangers of lifted cars its very real 2000 lbs on each end of a car just looking for any opportunity to come back down. I knew of a young kid in my old town who lost his life to an improperly jacked Ford Fiesta. Unfortunatley, those of us who are older probably all have stories like this. They could have all been avoided by a simple video like thats. Hats off to Eric for keeping DIYs out there safer.
[quote=”DrD” post=128769]a good source for info on lift points is the owners manual for the car. I was surprised lifting from the rear differential is considered controversial by some (other than when the housing is aluminum) – for Subaru, anyway, that’s the manufacturer recommended rear lifting point (and in the front there is a jacking plate)[/quote]
On the other hand, the 1996 Ford Ranger Manual says at the bottom of page 230 and at the top of page 231 NOT to use the differential housing as a lift point. I drive a 1995 Ranger (1996 is the oldest manual they have as a free download) and from what I can tell it’s an iron/steel diff and axle.
Maybe because if you’re using the spare jack, there’s a good chance that you had some bad luck while hauling stuff in the bed which could be too much for jacking on the housing… still, I’m not so sure I’d do it, at least on my truck…
edit- being a vocab nazi, but Eric, the word you want in the YT description is chocking, not chalking. Chalking refers to what one does with chalkboards, chocking is what one does with wheel and other things prone to suddenly move.
Getting crushed by a car is a horror of the highest order.
I never rely on one support system.
I never rely on two support systems.
I always rely on three support systems.
I’ll leave some load on the jack, a lot of load on the stand, and I’ve got great blocks of hard maple wood strategically located. These maple blocks are about twice the size of cinder blocks and came from a local saw mill.
Just belt and suspenders ain’t good enough when your life depends on it!
Picture a double post lift and the tech working the floor mounted controls with his foot to lower the vehicle. But his toe misses one control and only one post goes down as the tech walks away. Oh, and I should include, that was my car on the lift. I got to see my car almost vertical but it didn’t fall off.
And, yeah, before lowering a vehicle always look under and around it. There’s many the time I had to move stuff still under or near the vehicle.
Hey guys, first time posting here and dunno if my question could go here or not but I’ll just ask;
There are two types of jack stands/vehicle stands I know of, ratcheting and pin. I’m just asking you guys which one is the better, safer one to use?
Thanks
I works often on my driveway so the surface is not good as concrete floor, so after putting on stand and giving few nudges, I let my car stand few minutes, time to get tools and coffee B)
After that I inspect where the stands are, maybe it is at just this time your driveway want to create a pothole !!!
I also time to time nudge my car a bit just to check…
I also let my floor jack in the rear just under where I raised maybe 1 inch lower if it is not in my way of works…I use sometime 2 ramps in front and 2 stands in the back, it might be a bit more stable and more fast 🙂
Using the ramps on one end and stands in the other also saves time, just have to jack up one end. I do that too. Most everyone around just sells the cheap stamped steel stands, and I have no faith in them. Have seen one crush once when used within its rated load. But a well built set with pins gets real spendy. I make my own stands for a lot cheaper and they are way heavier duty than what I find. I would have no worries putting my stands under a big rig and working under it. Maybe its overkill, but I trust my fully welded stands and they are not light. 3/8″ thick base plates and 1/4″ wall square tubing. A 5/8″ drawpin to lock it in.
Thinking of making my own ramps. Have an idea in my head of making the ramp section detachable and incorporating a bottle jack into it so if I want to jack it another 6″or so I could. Would really save some time doing RWD transmissions. Going to have to incorporate wheels and a handle in it with as much as it would weigh.
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