From: Mike Romain on
Steve wrote:
>
> If your jackstands are tilting, then your floor jack isn't working right
> or you're working on a soft surface like asphalt and you should find a
> concrete floor to work on.

I never have concrete to work on it seems. Always either dirt or
driveway asphalt which is way softer than street stuff.

Yes, floor jacks lift in an arc, but that's
> why they have hard steel wheels. As the vehicle lifts, the jack should
> roll forward so that the vehicle goes straight up. The vehicle should be
> chocked firmly in place so that it CANNOT move.
>

Sure the jack 'hopefully' rolls, but if it doesn't and the wheels dig
into the asphalt or dirt, the jack stand on the other side will tilt or
try to tilt which can easily collapse a cheap jack stand.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...
From: Built_Well on
Mike Romain wrote:

> If I 'must' use a sheet metal notch as a jack point,
> I use a 2x4 on the saddle of the jack or stand to help
> spread out the pressure.
========

I don't know if this would be a safe idea. I think I saw
on the box of some Craftsman jack stands a warning not to
place anything between the stands and the car.

And here's a quote from the '06 Camry manual relating to
the jack itself, though not the stands:

"When raising the vehicle, do not place any objects
on top of or underneath the jack."

The same probably applies to the stands.

From: Built_Well on
Mike Romain wrote:
> I have honestly never seen anyone crazy enough to put
> a vehicle up on 4 jack stands to change tires.

I have to disagree here. I'm not a mechanic, but I think
it's customary to use 4 jack stands to rotate tires. What
else would you use to support the car if you don't have an
expensive automotive lift? It's expressly forbidden to
just use a jack alone. One must always use a jack in
conjunction with jack stands.

If you've never seen anyone "put a vehicle up on 4 jack
stands to change tires," I must assume you've either never
rotated your own tires or you use an expensive automotive
lift to do it. Which is it?

From: Built_Well on
Built_Well wrote:
> larry moe 'n curly wrote:
>
> > [Walmart]...replaced their own Popular Mechanics brand with Stanley...
> ========
>
> Larry, thanks for mentioning that Walmart sells Stanley tools.
>
> Picked up a 60-piece Stanley ratchet and socket set
> at Walmart today, since I needed a 10 millimeter socket
> for the Camry's air filter housing.
>
> The socket set meets or exceeds ANSI specifications and
> was darn cheap: $30. It includes a 3/8" drive pear-head ratchet,
> both 3-inch and 6-inch extender bars, 1/4" adapter, SAE
> and Metric 6-point sockets from 4 to 19 mm, and other
> stuff. It's swell. The ratchet has a quick-release and
> the set comes with a lifetime warranty. Made in China of
> quality materials. Stanley sells good tools.
>
> Also swung by Sears to pick up the 1/2" 150 foot-pound
> Craftsman torque wrench that regularly sells for $80
> but is on sale until Saturday for $60. I hope the
> Craftsman was worth it, because AutoZone and/or O'Reilly
> sell a 10-to-150 foot-pounder for $25 to $30. The Craftsman
> goes no lower than 20 foot-pounds, so the cheaper AutoZone
> wrench actually has a wider range.
>
> I wonder if I should have bought the $70 Husky from
> Home Depot that goes up to 250 foot-pounds, or the
> $130 Harbor Freight torque wrench that is digital, described at
> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95841
>
> Anyway, the Craftsman is made in the U.S; the others in Taiwan.
>
> Peeked under the chassis today, and spotted the jack points
> Ray was referring to. The front-end jack point is not covered
> by the protective plastic cover or a panel as someone else was
> worried about.
>
> The rear-end jack point is at least 3 feet inwards from the rear
> bumper.
>
> I think I'll lift from Ray's 2 jack points using a floor jack (all
> of which seem to raise in an arc), but place the 4 jack stands
> underneath the four double notches along the car's side rails.
> Do you think that's a workable, acceptable idea, Ray? I'm guessing
> the jack stands won't bend the notch seams since the stands do no
> arc-like raising, just supporting.
========

I really hope I made the right decision to buy the Craftsman
torque wrench at Sears. I went to the Sears.Com web site and
read some reviews of the MicroTork there, and lots of people
are complaining about how easily it breaks.

Here's the link to some of the reviews of the Craftsman torque
wrench:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00944595000P?vName=Tools&keyword=torque+wrench

15 of the 17 reviews are very, very bad. The thing breaks easily.
It only comes with a 1-year warranty.

From: Mike Romain on
Built_Well wrote:
> Mike Romain wrote:
>
>> If I 'must' use a sheet metal notch as a jack point,
>> I use a 2x4 on the saddle of the jack or stand to help
>> spread out the pressure.
> ========
>
> I don't know if this would be a safe idea. I think I saw
> on the box of some Craftsman jack stands a warning not to
> place anything between the stands and the car.
>
> And here's a quote from the '06 Camry manual relating to
> the jack itself, though not the stands:
>
> "When raising the vehicle, do not place any objects
> on top of or underneath the jack."
>
> The same probably applies to the stands.
>

Note I said 'if I must'. I 'really really' try not to use rocker panels
for lifting or bracing.

Maybe not the safest, but you will see what I mean soon enough likely.

I think spreading out the weight is safer than the jack going through
the rocker panel.

If you live someplace where they don't use salt on the roads, you might
not run into this, but up here in the rust belt, the bottom of the
rocker panels go soft first usually and that bottom edge seam is always
ratty.

The factory jack went right on up through the last two Volvo's I owned
pressed seam jacking points on the rockers and neither of these vehicles
was showing any rust.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...