How safe are axle stands?

[STC_Zed]

oh yes, its never ending. We come down hard on them, not just hats but general site safety. We terminated the contact once after some guys were caught on CCTV doing something incredibly stupid which luckily only resulted in damage to one of our vans rather than someone getting hurt.

Best one I saw was a joiner who had a jigsaw he was holding between his knees, upside down so the blade was pointing up. The switch was locked on. He’s turned himself into the worst band saw ever.

The site manager went mental.

So to keep the off topic conversation going.

 

[Gebbly]

These are shocking stories! I guess some people have no sense of self preservation. Perhaps another perspective is it used to be natures way of clearing the gene pool of some lower IQ elements

 

[DMike]

For peace of mind, to crawl under the car I use Quickjack lifts plus Bacho’s axcle stands under each corner, on a conrete floor. Way overkill, but then again, no hard hat :roll: .

 

[Gebbly]

I use Quickjack lifts plus Bacho’s axcle stands under each corner

Oh perfect, someone with first hand experience of a Z4 that uses the quickjacks.
I am sorely tempted by them as they seem more convenient and also more stable than just using my trolley jack to lift the car before placing the axle stands.

Given that the quickjacks are lifting the car where the lift points are on the car how do you then get axle stands in place too?

And is there any chance you could let me know the highest spot on the quickjacks when they are fully down please? I have just measured and I have 11cm space between the jack points and the floor into which I could slide the quickjacks.

 

[SteatoLegato]

Is there another jack up point somewhere up front under the engine? I thought I saw someone put a stand there but for the life of me I can't find the video again...

 

[Gebbly]

There is a jack point at the front in the centre and at the back in the centre which is where I put the trolley jack to lift the front and then placed the axle stands under the jack points at the sides.

 

[DMike]

I use Quickjack lifts plus Bacho’s axcle stands under each corner

Oh perfect, someone with first hand experience of a Z4 that uses the quickjacks.
I am sorely tempted by them as they seem more convenient and also more stable than just using my trolley jack to lift the car before placing the axle stands.

Given that the quickjacks are lifting the car where the lift points are on the car how do you then get axle stands in place too?

And is there any chance you could let me know the highest spot on the quickjacks when they are fully down please? I have just measured and I have 11cm space between the jack points and the floor into which I could slide the quickjacks.

They are 77mm when folded down and the trays, on which you’d place the rubber blocks sits 35mm lower. So you would have plenty of space to slide the lifts in place under the 110mm you have and you could place up to 68mm rubber blocks under the jack points. The blocks that came with the lifts are 55 and 75mm.

As I have also longer and heavier cars, I bought the longer version, BL-5000ext, which I can confirm to lengthwise also fit under the E85—but you can place them only with the hinges pointing at rear. Otherwise the zeds jack points won’t match the location of the trays. With the lifts you get about 50cm of space under the zed, which is enough and, with good light sources, clean floor and the extra axle stands for peace of mind, pleasant .

Some old photos and ideas for storage. There should be an old review somewhere on the forum as well. They’re quite heavy to move around and you don’t want them to fall on anyone or anything. I placed the hydraulic pump in a large storage box to keep the hydraulic lines neatly tucked away and for fast assembly, plus any hydraulic oil leaks from the pressure valves won’t get on the floor. Takes only a couple of minutes to assemble or disassemble and tend to use them to save my back even when detailing. On the last photo the green arrows mark the margins of the trays and where the red one is, there’s a hinge that interrupts the larger tray. Placing the lifts one way or around I have managed to use them with E85, F13 and V90, which are quite different in size.

 

[Gebbly]

Thats great detail thanks [ref]DMike[/ref]. Those dimension details really help. Now I just need to figure out where I can store them. I think I would get the slightly smaller version as I dont have any large vehicles just the Z4M and a 330e.

I guess this weekends job is a workshop clearout to make space.

Now, if I can just figure out how to sneak a delivery that size past the missus...

 

[STC_Zed]

Those quick jacks really do look like a great solution.

 

[Gebbly]

Athough they look like a US only thing. It seems like Clarke may have a variant for those of us in the UK?
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-ccl2250-225-tonne-car-lift/?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=1647243&awc=3131_1746097765_e5c3622c8bb389280c22d9f82b205d36

 

[TriggerFish]

Is there another jack up point somewhere up front under the engine? I thought I saw someone put a stand there but for the life of me I can't find the video again...

There is a jack point at the front in the centre and at the back in the centre which is where I put the trolley jack to lift the front and then placed the axle stands under the jack points at the sides.

Just be aware, that subframe/engine jacking point is only there on the Z4M. The regular cars have the subframe there (seems some debate if it's suitable for prefacelifts?!), but there isn't a cut out in the metal re-enforcement plate to access it, unlike the S54 powered cars, which have different re-enforcement plates (the metal undertray)

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60018&start=15

 

[Gebbly]

Just be aware, that subframe/engine jacking point is only there on the Z4M

Oh good tip, thanks [ref]TriggerFish[/ref].

 

[DMike]

Athough they look like a US only thing. It seems like Clarke may have a variant for those of us in the UK?
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-ccl2250-225-tonne-car-lift/?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=1647243&awc=3131_1746097765_e5c3622c8bb389280c22d9f82b205d36

I ordered mine from Netherlands, iirc: https://www.quickjack-nederland.nl/en/
In the UK, at least Costo sells them.