My CRX on harbor freight jackstands ... I lifted the car up. No extreme angles or anything like that.

The end result.. the stand collapsed...



And my head was under it moments before! Thats $40 that wouldnt have been worth it!

 

 

Good thing you weren't under there! Hopefully, your car is ok.

JohnG & I both have welded plate material on the bottom of our jackstands. Keeps them from damaging the asphalt in the paddocks. It also strengthens them. I used 16 ga on mine. It is just wide enought to 'cover' the four legs. I have also seen people use heavier material & increase the footprint for more stability.

 

anyway, ill say it here that i think that seam is the major failure point. and just fyi to everyone else, it happened while first supporting the front end with the pictured culprit at the factory jack point and then lifting the rear. i think it got a bit tilted and that seam couldnt support the side load.

 

nightmare! I usually try to jack the car up and then distribute the load between the Jack and the stands, whenever possible... That way if either fails, I'll always have a backup.

 

i do this as well if i'm going to do some work under the car. having a 2500 lbs car fall on you would suck a fat one!!

 

wait a minute, youre not even supposed to be under the car supported by just the jack! save your hydraulics, just support the car with jackstands and use the jack for jacking...

unless you mean just leaving the jack in the upper position, but NOT supporting any load. i do that just so i dont have to raise it up again. but a jack should not support any load for a long period of time. good way for it to fail.


[Modified by Tyson, 3:01 PM 1/31/2003]

 

The stands hold 90% of the load, but I leave the jack in the up position and pump it just enough to feel a little resistance.

 

Eek. That would have sucked.

--Rice, going off to price "proper" jackstands, as his car is on them more often than not...

 

I think I'll be breaking out the welder when I go home... wow.

 

Ouch... I've gotta check the jacks all the time now.

 

Geez, I'm scared crapless now. I may have to ask my neighbor to weld on some sheet metal "feet" for me. Wow (still shaking my head in shock and fear).

 

Seriously man glad you're OK. Gonna check the jackstands asap.

 

right on, I'll be bringing my jackstands to work and weld plates on them asap! I just have to remove the motor so I can get the car OFF OF THE JACKSTANDS!!!!!

 

I use the cinder blocks/wood to hold my car up

aj

 

I'll be rethinking the cheapo pep boy's jackstands I have. Jeez, cars don't get much lighter than a CRX...

Aw hell, why use jackstands when you can use saw horses?

 

oh damn.

And here I thought jackstands were supposed to be safe.

Evan
-who has a 3000 lb car

 

Are you going to complain to harbor freight at all? Those bastards should pay.... or at the very least think about building better jack stands.

 

My boss does. He's got a Production/GTish "Triumph" sitting on his monster sawhorses right now I've personally seen a vintage racer MGB and Triumph on them too. Gets the car high enough that it can be worked on with ease, since we don't have a lift.

 

What's the max load on the stand? I have a lot of Craftsman products, all their products are quality. I don't know about your stands...

 

How old was that jackstand? Pretty recent or a proven soldier? I've got six of those same stands that I've used for 10 years and just put my trailer up on them this morning. Were the wheels on the jack not rolling to allow movement and the causing the jackstands on the other end of the car to rock up on their sides? That would be my bet. Obviously they are made to take a verticle load but much angularity and it folded up. Glad you were clear of it.

 

yo i hope you are joking. cinder blocks have to be the most unsafe thing used to hold a car up. they crumble very easily.

 

I just lift it up by hand, that and I got a pretty hard head from what people tell me

 

they are 3 years old..

 

Goddamn that is some scary ****.
One thing I sometimes do besides using the jack itself in addition to the jack stands is put blocks of wood under the area where the tires/rotors would fall. That way in case something DID fail and the car dropped the tires/rotors would hit the wood that is raised, thus giving my head some more room.
Glad to hear you weren't hurt.