From: Mike Romain on
Built_Well wrote:
> Mike Romain wrote:
> ========
>
>> When doing a back to front rotation, only one corner has to be up on a
>> jack stand at a time...
>>
>> The rear wheel gets the nuts loosened on the ground, then jacked up
>> and onto the jackstand, then you remove that tire and take that tire
>> to the front. You loosen off those front lug nuts, then jack it up,
>> pull off the tire and put the rear one right back on the front, snug
>> up the lugs, then jack it down, then take the front tire to the back,
>> put it on, snug up the lug nuts, jack it up to remove the stand and
>> drop it down.
>>
>> The lugnuts get torqued when everything is safely on the ground.
> ========
>
> I don't mean to be picky, and you obviously have more
> experience than I have with automobiles, but the
> way you're rotating tires from front to rear means
> you're only using /one/ jack stand while two wheels
> are off the ground. You're using the floor jack to
> support the front tire and the single jack stand to
> support the rear tire.
>
> Aren't floor jacks supposed to be used only for
> lifting, not supporting? Jack stands are meant
> to always be used in pairs, I think.
>

Correct to a point.

The rear tire is sitting right there up front 'under the edge of the
vehicle' waiting to go on, so it is only a matter of seconds that the
jack is holding anything. I can have the tire on faster than setting up
a jack stand 'under' it and then I don't need to go under at all.

Something like changing a flat tire. You have the spare sitting right
there so you don't need a jackstand.

I normally will slip the front tire I just took off under the edge of
the vehicle for the time it takes me to spin on the nuts on the
replacement tire, but 'not' touching tight, just there to catch.

I figure it is just as easy to lay the tire just under the edge of the
vehicle while it is waiting to be put on as to lay it anywhere else.

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:

> Something like changing a flat tire. You have the spare sitting right
> there so you don't need a jackstand.
========

Yeah, but when you change a flat tire, you only have one tire
off the ground, not 2.

You're taking an unauthorized shortcut <wink> ;-)

When rotating tires, it's better to have all 4 corners
of the car on jack stands than just having 2 tires in
the air on one jack stand and one jack ;-)
From: Built_Well on
The 2 tires you have off the ground are on
the same side of the vehicle--another no-no, according
to the instructions on the jack stand box I read at
Walmart/Sears.

It's okay to have 2 tires off the ground if they're both
on the same /end/ of the vehicle (front end or rear end),
but not okay to have 2 tires off the ground if they're
on the same side of the vehicle (left side or right
side :-)
From: Mike Romain on
Built_Well wrote:
> The 2 tires you have off the ground are on
> the same side of the vehicle--another no-no, according
> to the instructions on the jack stand box I read at
> Walmart/Sears.
>
> It's okay to have 2 tires off the ground if they're both
> on the same /end/ of the vehicle (front end or rear end),
> but not okay to have 2 tires off the ground if they're
> on the same side of the vehicle (left side or right
> side :-)

I am not using 2 jackstands though, just one and I block the wheels on
the other side. ;-)

We are 'not' talking about setting up for working on it here, just for
tire swapping.

When working on them a front or rear raise is in order for sure 'if' I
can't just get under just one corner up in the air. Like for brakes,
one corner at a time only.

You will see just how 'stable' the suckers are(nt) when they are up on
stands. Keep your eyes on the feet of the jackstands for lifting or
sinking. They tip 'really' easy.

What do you have for a base? Flat concrete or a paved driveway on a
misc. angle?

The paved driveway where I have lived for the last 17 years isn't solid
enough to be stable for cheap jackstands. Even the wheels on the floor
jack dig in. I have an old 2 1/2 ton cast jackstand that will stay up.
At least it is flat and has a handy tree I use to pull engines or
bodies off with a small winch up to a branch.

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:

> Keep your eyes on the feet of the jackstands for lifting or
> sinking. They tip 'really' easy.
========

I saw some jack stands, either at Sears or Walmart (or both
places), that have metal pads on the feet to increase the
footprint and lessen the chance of tilting and digging in.
But I agree with you that the pavement has to be something solid
like concrete, not asphalt which isn't firm enough.