/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Nigga just buy the two front wheel ramps

>>1639659
>stacking up some 2x6's

get quality jack stands like your pic. get some 2x6s or equivalent, and put two side by side under the jack stands if you need to go higher, which is rare in my many years of experience, but works great when you need it, just be very careful and raise the vehicle in stages with something always supporting it. And chock the wheels on the ground like never before.

or be creative like my mexican neighbor in pic-related

>>1639659
Nigga just go to Hazard Fraught and buy jacks

OP here, the pic is what I actually built and that's also my jackstand. My problem is that they are a pain to get all the same height, they don't go high enough, they feel unstable, and dent and scrape the underside of my car. (I know that's an autistic thing to worry about but I do) I would feel much better with something like a block, either solid or like in the pic. I was just looking for some opinions on it. Also, I may be doing some transmission work sometime relatively soon and these seem like a good solution for stability, maximum height, and working room.

>>1639659
Like others have said, go buy a set of wheel ramps and use those if you can. Otherwise, the wood stands you made shouldn't be used - not because the wood itself can't be compressed, but because your wood stacks that you show could allow for the wood to bend, and then break. Wood is a good material to support weight, but it needs to be used properly, and you're allowing the weight of your car to put the wood into bending (which it can't handle). However, jack stands can definitely feel sketchy at times, which is why you can combine them with other helpful safety precautions.

If you want to feel safer, use legitimate jack stands for your car, chuck the wheels, and place wood 2x4 stacks nailed together under other parts of the car. Jack stands used properly shouldn't hurt your car anyway, but you can never be too safe with ~3000+ lbs over your head.

>>1639680
What a low effort shitpost.

Put the jackstands under a sturdy part of the frame. Those Chinese jack stands are 1000x safer than your jenga box with zero fasteners.

>>1639688
>no fasteners
There's screws friend. I'd also glue them if this is what I go with.

Maybe I should have mentioned, they'd be going under the tires, not the frame, so weight would be distributed evenly over the jenga tower. Here's the video I used. I only widened them for my fat tires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdwo3UPQtY&t=209s

>>1639692
"Life-critical safety equipment" and "DIY" typically shouldnt be used in the same sentence, use pic related if youre worried

>>1639659
>Jack car up while on a slight gravel incline (my driveway)
>Use jack stand so I can block the jack and jack it up further
>Do what I need to do
>Do reverse to unjack it
>Suddenly car slightly moves back
>Jack stand digs into the gravel
>Jack it back up to get the stand right
>Every time I jack it up it moves further back
>Say fuck it and wail on the jackstand until it falls and the car falls

In retrospect, I should have chocked the wheels, but I was annoyed that my wheel bearing was shot.

>>1639693
I think the concern is tipping, not being crushed by the weight of the car.

>>1639659
Get some 6-ton stands.

I’m sure your project will work. I dislike being under little 3-ton stands as well when I’m really yanking on the wrench. I got these 6-ton stands from Northern Tool on sale for $40. They are way higher than the 3-ton stands and they have the wide footprint which means they’re far less likely to tip over somehow. They’re also double locking so they have the latch like all the other stands plus a pin that slides in for extra piece of mind.

>>1639687

wood blocks are fine to hold up a car if done properly. ive held up d8s and d9s (cat dozers) with nothing but 12x12 wooden blocks. it sat there for weeks.

its called cribbing and everyone that needs to work under something should do themselves a favour and learn it. most important part is make sure to alternate or cross the blocks direction each layer, and putting a piece of flat heavy plate on top basically prevents them from splitting

>>1639687

wood blocks are fine to hold up a car if done properly. ive held up d8s and d9s (cat dozers) with nothing but 12x12 wooden blocks. they sat there for weeks

its called cribbing and everyone that needs to work under something should do themselves a favour and learn it. most important part is make sure to alternate or cross the blocks direction each layer, and putting a piece of flat heavy plate on top basically prevents them from splitting

There are honestly zero good solutions when it comes to jacking up your car. Jack stands make zero fucking sense; they have this weird indent or groove in the middle which fucks up the contact patch with the car completely (and fucks up the car too). Ramps are retarded; they can only be used to jack up the front of the car and getting up on them can be difficult depending on if your ramps are shit or if your car has clearance issues. Blocks are actually the GOAT tier alternative but still not perfect.

Realistically speaking, you should just get a lift or cut a hole in your ground which you can drive over.

>>1639782
>they have this weird indent or groove in the middle
That's to securely hold the little indent in the frame which is intended for use with jacks and stands.

>>1639782

Nominee for dumbest post of the year.

>beat up my frame.

Are you dropping the car onto the jack stands from a height?
Or are you confusing the floorboard with the frame?

If you're getting damage every time you use them, try turning the jack stand over, you may be using them upside down.

>>1639868
No, the only place to put the jack stands in the back are 2 small flat reinforced spots, and they dent it because they aren't flat and poke it.

>>1639659
>I did some research and built pic related

Did you do your "research" at Hasbro?

You put every piece of wood in shear, aligned with the collapse vectors.
That takes special research and talent to make something that will cascade catastrophically.

>Would this be sufficient to hold up a vehicle?
No.

>>1639873
>You put every piece of wood in shear

If the top does not fail, all the others are in pure compression.

>>1639659
Cinder blocks are like 2.15 at home depot

>>1639695
>slight gravel incline (my driveway)

Lol if its not concrete get the fuck out of here

>>1639954
>Lol if its not concrete get the fuck out of here

you can work on any level surface if you are smart and careful; it might be difficult but it can be done. Jackstands like OP's pic work fine on 3/4" plywood, even if it's a square the same size as the stand. Floor jacks likewise work fairly well on enough plywood to cover the distance they have to roll while going up or down.

I worked on dirt for years, then finally covered an area a bit larger than my truck with pressure treated 3/4" plywood. Hardly ideal, but I've swapped engines, pulled transmissions, replaced seals and bearings in differentials, etc.

>>1639954
Any incline will literally kill you. Flat surface only for jacking if you’re under it.

>>1640144
>Any incline will literally kill you.

A slight incline will not kill anyone who is not stupid. Wheel chocks are not that hard to understand for many people. If the concept challenges you, then yes, any incline can kill you.

>>1639873
What does "put every piece of wooed in shear" mean?

>>1639659
>beat up my frame
Youre using them in the wrong places or bought a eurotrash vehicle instead of top tier Asian or great tier American. If neither of those, maybe you mean scratches in which case put a small piece of softer material between frame and metal like rubber.

>>1639659
cribbing blocks like you have in your pic are perfect OP, I use very similar ones and feel much better about them than jack stands which can and do fail. Seriously most jackstands are made in China with dubious welds and potmetal castings, don`t trust them.

>>1639687
that 2x4 will easily hold the car before it fails and you have ways around it if you are that concerned. this is how my blocks look, the 2x4s are 12`` by 18`` and the 2x6 runs the 12``, I use them under my GMC 1500 so a car will be no problem

>>1639723
>I think the concern is tipping, not being crushed by the weight of the car.

>a tipped jack holding up 2 tons of steel doesn't equal a crushing hazard

>>1639781
This especially if you're going under tires.

I grew up working in an independent shop. My dad's got over 40 years of experience, I've got about 15. Ive used wooden blocks on all kinds of shit that looks sketchy but never dropped a vehicle in my life.

At our shop we used to have this 30 something year old lift that would lift cockeyed if done right, and had no more adjustment between arms than 2 inches or so. There's some Ford trucks with really unlevel frames you need way more difference than that though and I've taken 3 and 4 2x4s on each rear end to make it work before. I wasn't happy about it and wouldn't recommend it, but it worked for replacing the rear shackles.

Having seen this name fag before I know he's got some experience and probably knows what I'm talking about because those trucks have issues with the rear shackles, hell probably tell me I was being stupid and he'd be right, but in general wood is safe. If you're stacking it under the tires you're golden just don't be stupid

Make the pattern large, if 6x6s can be used use em. They'll hold the car fine, just worry about tipping

>>1639872
That's absolutely not true take a picture of your rear and I can tell you where else you can put them.
Im>>1640239
And when I get nice cars that comes in I avoid that pinch weld like the plague. Some cars are fine with it, some aren't, I don't take the risk if it's a classic or sports car all the way up to corvettes and a tesla that I'll be honest took a googls search and some thought to figure it out.

Bottom line, there is a place to put your jack stand that won't damage the car at all. They just don't always mention it in your owners manual.
If I get drunk tonight and forget I told you all this, someone here surely will pop in and point it out

>>1639659
Why don't you just buy the stands that go into the wheel wells? Those go up much higher and don't damage the frame.

>>1640229
That makes me feel a bit better, I'm no engineer but it seems like buzzwords are being thrown around and I've scrolled multiple google pages looking forq examples of cribbing failing and haven't found much. Most people agree that it's safe and this seems to be the most popular way to build them. In the words of Alex Jones, I'm a little bit retarded. But I don't think even I'm retarded enough to build these wrong.

>>1640254
I'm trying to keep it cheap. I can make these for free with scrap 2x4s

>>1640235
He means the concern with jackstands usually isn't that they will be crushed by the car, it's mostly stability because they can tip relatively easily if you don't set them up perfectly.

>>1640274
another point is to use fir or pine, if by chance you do over load it and it does fail, the wood will give you lots audible warning to GTFO. Harder woods may be stronger but tend to explode instantly rather than creek, moan and splinter before breaking. If you are concerned about cribbing block safety, continue to do more and real research that is not a Malaysian basket weaving board

>>1640281

2x4s will work fine but just leave them loose, cut them all into one and two foot long chunks. do a layer (idk 3-4 pieces) one way, then the next layer perpendicular. repeat then at the top put a piece of plate on it. like 1/4 or 3/8 or 1/2 thicker the better. then set the car down on the plate.

if you do it like this always do both sides each end at the same time. dont set the jack down on a single stack of wood as it will likely topple. always always set your jack down, then bring it up again and just barely take a bit of weight off your cribbing and leave the jack there as an extra failsafe. unless you need it for another lift in which case just position it using your best judgement and leave it there while you work

>>1640309
>Fir or pine
I used pine because that's what I had lying around

>>1640350
Is there a disadvantage to using fasteners or is it a customizability thing?

>>1640406
not that I know of other than storage, mine are held together with framing nails but they take up a big chunk of space, I also designed stackable extensions for mine. I know they won`t slip even if you don`t fasten them but I like the piece of mind

>>1640452
Ok cool that's what I thought. I'll probably stack them in the shed.

>>1639659
>DIY Car Block Stands

here is a really good link for anyone interested in cribbing blocks. done right they will support any load you throw at them, done wrong they will still probably support what you need them to.

Jackstands on the other hand, you are putting a lot of faith in cheep chinesium

https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/wood-cribbing-block-diy-for-raising-the-car-in-addition-to-jack-stands/

>>1640462

the freedom of being able to shape your cribbing to your thing you want to lift

but no as far as structural integrity as long as theres no spaces between the blocks, big ones at least, itll be fine

>>1639687
>put the wood into bending (which it can't handle)

Just what sort of bending stress do you imagine is in a 2x4 (flat) supporting, realistically 1/2 of 1/4 of a car. Ah, what the hell, make each 2x support the whole car.

Show your math.

>>1640193
He has no idea.

>>1639873
Identify the "collapse vectors." Show your work.

>>1640350
>2x4s will work fine but just leave them loose
Ah, hells nah. Nail them shits together. A couple nails in each corner is fine. Please don't support your car on Jenga. Not even as a joke.