Possible safe jacking solution?

mmm-five said:
Scousers have been doing this with just bricks for decades!
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What you dont see in that video is the bit where he discovers 2 scouse kids have got inside his car on the other side.
On asking what the 2 cheeky little bleeders are up to they reply:
"Well if you're avin de wheels, we're avin de radio".
:lol:
 
The principle of a prop that you can get a jack under is great, but wood is liable to split with all the pressure concentrated from the top of the jack to the underside of the wood (probably several tonnes per square inch of contact surface) so a metal version would be better and I think someone posted details of something like that recently. As it happened he didn't actually lift the tyre off the ground with the first one :)

Now this guy, well he made me feel queasy when he got under his wobbling TVR lifted on a home-made contraption, I might be wrong but it looks like it's made from two motorcycle lifts? :o
https://youtu.be/aUZPB0O_FvI
 
Neat and simple idea and almost free to make. In general I don't like scissor jacks as they can collapse, but at no time is the user at risk by being under the car or having the wheel off and the solution is stable and safe to use.

Also gets around the issue people have of only having one jack and needing to raise multiple points of the car

Of course in an ideal world we'd all have 2 post lifts, or at least a couple of axle stands and a 3 tonne hydraulic jack

EDIT - in terms of the issue of wood breaking I was curious so looked up some numbers. It will take a compression force of >650lbs/ sq inch, so assuming twice that for the top of the jack it could raise any corner of the Zed with no issues
 
That's what I thought CJ and seeing is believing. Again you'd be sensible to use wood that's up for the task and not something like pine or deal. Like you I've never trusted scissor jacks but this would only be in use to achieve the lift. Importantly the lift would be on the official jack points and one could easily get all four wheels of the ground.

Might well give it a go as I can see this could well open up opportunities to tinker in safety.
 
cj10jeeper said:
Neat and simple idea and almost free to make . . .
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Certainly if you already have the wood, but if not wood of the depth and quality needed isn't cheap, plus you need enough for all four corners.
 
cj10jeeper said:
Neat and simple idea and almost free to make. In general I don't like scissor jacks as they can collapse, but at no time is the user at risk by being under the car or having the wheel off and the solution is stable and safe to use.

Also gets around the issue people have of only having one jack and needing to raise multiple points of the car

Of course in an ideal world we'd all have 2 post lifts, or at least a couple of axle stands and a 3 tonne hydraulic jack

EDIT - in terms of the issue of wood breaking I was curious so looked up some numbers. It will take a compression force of >650lbs/ sq inch, so assuming twice that for the top of the jack it could raise any corner of the Zed with no issues
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Not sure of the numbers but it's worth remembering that when you jack a Z4 you easily lift one side (front and back of the car) from one 'corner', or under the rear axel which is popular, so the load is significantly increased on the jacked point. Wood as a safe jacking medium? 99 times out' of it will be fine for sure, but here's a piece of 8" x 4" i.e. twice the thickness of the one in the video that I've used for jacking and propping for a few years and has developed a split on both sides. I'm not dissing' this neat little youtube idea but just urging caution when using wood, I had a car slip off a crappy jack set-up years ago and it was fooking horrible :cry:

IMG_20161026_132535.jpg
 
Trust me my self preservation instinct is very strong and I wouldn't (no pun intended) go under any car with out a belt and braces approach. I always have a secondary prop technique in hand cos I like my head just the way it is.
 
Not a chance of me crawling under a car supported like that - Proper axle stands, with hydraulic jack also under the sills, PLUS, if any wheels are off, they are under too.. Changed a clutch in my Mum's I30 at the weekend using this method, and never felt "unsafe"

Mike
 
Ducklakeview said:
Not a chance of me crawling under a car supported like that - Proper axle stands, with hydraulic jack also under the sills, PLUS, if any wheels are off, they are under too.. Changed a clutch in my Mum's I30 at the weekend using this method, and never felt "unsafe"

Mike
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I'm with you 100% on this. Axle stands, 3 tonne jack still there. In gear / handbrake and any wheel slid under.

It's all relative though with plenty of folks happy to get under a car or head in the wheel arch with the car just supported by a jack.
 
cj10jeeper said:
Ducklakeview said:
Not a chance of me crawling under a car supported like that - Proper axle stands, with hydraulic jack also under the sills, PLUS, if any wheels are off, they are under too.. Changed a clutch in my Mum's I30 at the weekend using this method, and never felt "unsafe"

Mike
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I'm with you 100% on this. Axle stands, 3 tonne jack still there. In gear / handbrake and any wheel slid under.

It's all relative though with plenty of folks happy to get under a car or head in the wheel arch with the car just supported by a jack.
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The next purchase on my "wish list" is one of these baby's..

AS-7630-main2.jpg

£1000+vat, but worth it..

Mike
 
I do like those however with access to a 2 post lift it would be a luxury too far and not easy to hide from MrsCJ to have one of those at home

Remember a £1k lift costs another £2k in dresses, meals out and a weekend breaks [if I can afford such lixuries]
 
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