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How safe are axle stands?

G

Gebbly

Member
Hersham, Surrey
I had the front wheels of my Z4M off last weekend and the car was being supported by a couple of axle stands as well as the trolley jack being left in place whilst I worked in the wheel arches.
I need to replace the CPV which would require me getting right under the car to get access. I'm a bit nervous about lying under the car when its on jack stands. Do others happily get under their cars to work whilst it is supported by 4 jack stands? Or if I am going to get completely under the car should I look into some other means of raising the car?
I have seen ramps with inbuilt jacks like this, I'm not sure if they would be any safer?

It would be nice to have my own post lifts installed at home but thats a pipe dream :)
 
Good quality stands will be fine. But you could always place additional stands or a jack on each side as extra protection, or a tyre if you have one.
 
Another option is to run the front of the car up on ramps, then jack the back up and support that on axle stands.
Or vice versa, depending where you need most unrestricted access.
 
I see your ramps with in-built jacks and raise you these:

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I used them to change the drop links on my S2000:

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That was 10 years ago and they were custom fabricated, so unfortunately I doubt they’re available anymore.
 
Ooh those individual wheel jacks look useful.
Thinking about it I want to try and get all 4 corners up on axle stands. The car is a bit lower than standard so I cant even fit the low profile trolley jack under the body work. I had to drive the front wheels up low profile ramps and then get the trolley jack underneath to lift further and then put 2 axle stands at the front.

How do I then get 2 axle stands at the rear as well? I cant put the rear ramps under the car for the rear wheels to go up. How do people normally raise all 4 corners?
 
Lots of posts about it on here, but if you've got as far as getting gthe front up ok, then all you need to do is put your trolley jack under the rear mounting point where the two rear braces bolt behind the diff. You can jack up on those bolt heads then put the axle stands under the two rear side jacking points. I used a block of wood across the two bolt holes but not strictly necessary.
 
I don't like going under my car no matter how its supported but really it should be safe as houses on stands. I often use them but only ever on their lowest height setting. Depending on what I'm doing I'll chuck the wheel I've take off under there as well for a bit of extra insurance.
 
I've found a couple of manufacturers selling variations on these that look rather expensive but interesting. I cant tell if they would be any safer.
 
Gebbly said:
I've found a couple of manufacturers selling variations on these that look rather expensive but interesting. I cant tell if they would be any safer.
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I’ve often looked at lifts such as these and they get good reviews, but I don’t have as much time to work on cars as I used to, so it would spend most of its time gathering dust.

I’m living in Sydney now, and for 30% more than the cost of the lift you listed, I can get a proper lift that runs off a domestic electricity supply. It enables stacked parking and can be used when working under a car (at least with the wheels on anyway). Ceiling height is the major limiting factor:


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Rockhopper said:
I don't like going under my car no matter how its supported but really it should be safe as houses on stands. I often use them but only ever on their lowest height setting. Depending on what I'm doing I'll chuck the wheel I've take off under there as well for a bit of extra insurance.
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Just wear a hard hat if in doubt. They seem to work wonders in all forms of H&S in the UK.
They are so good, you have to wear them on roofs just in case the universe falls in (and that is really heavy). Who would have thought a piece of plastic could deflect the weight of anything....and everything? :wink:
 
I thought you had to wear a hard hat when working on a roof in the UK in case of the very rare and unlikely event that UV from the sun lands on your scalp 8)
 
When you have as little hair as me that UV is one of my most dangerous H&S issues :)

BMWZ4MC said:
for 30% more than the cost of the lift you listed, I can get a proper lift
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I would love something like that but space is a major factor for me :(
 
Gebbly said:
When you have as little hair as me that UV is one of my most dangerous H&S issues :)

BMWZ4MC said:
for 30% more than the cost of the lift you listed, I can get a proper lift
Click to expand...
I would love something like that but space is a major factor for me :(
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I have the latter problem but not the former, although the sun here could melt through the hardest of hats, hair, scalp and bone :heat:
 
Drivetribe did a test...

https://youtu.be/RnYuW6FHDeQ?si=h0pefldzU5PNuXt9

I'd be quite happy putting them under my car. Each one only has to support 350ish kgs, piffling amount really compared to what they're rated for.
 
Thats some impressive results. The axle stands I have look like the JCB ones and are from RocwooD. So I dont think I'm worried about them squashing then. Still makes me nervous seeing the car on 4 stilts though :)

Driving the front wheels up a ramp gives me room to get the low profile trolley jack under the front jack point but I dont think there is enough room to then get the trolley jack under the rear for the back axle stands.

[In this particular instance I have buckled before my axle stands did and for the sake of removing the CPV to swap an 0-ring, rather than spend hundreds or even a thousand pounds on more lifting equipment I have phoned my local garage that is just down the road and hopefully they can do that bit of work on a proper lift for just a few quid.]
 
I come from a time when we were killing someone every other day on a building site in England. I had two deaths on sites i was working on. These days its down to around about 40 a year. Still 40 too many. The hard hat requirement simply removes the element of doubt about when you should or shouldn't be wearing one.
 
I’m quite happy under my cars when they’re on stands; I just make sure they’re in the middle of whatever they’re going under.
 
Rockhopper said:
I come from a time when we were killing someone every other day on a building site in England. I had two deaths on sites i was working on. These days its down to around about 40 a year. Still 40 too many. The hard hat requirement simply removes the element of doubt about when you should or shouldn't be wearing one.
Click to expand...

And yet it’s still a battle to get guys to wear the damn things. On one of my last jobs, there were lads getting pulled up all the time for no hard hat, high viz etc.
 
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.
 
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