Dangerous Moment Caught on Camera... 55 Ford on Jackstands

[Hot Rod Reverend]

today when jacking up the 55 Ford to set it on 4 jackstands so that I could install the Hurst Syncro Loc Shifter (see my thread on the 55 Ford Refresh and Paint). Anyhow, I jacked up the front and put stands under both A-arms. Once I lowered the car onto the stands I tried to push/shake the car from side to side... and no problem - solid.



I went to the back of the car and jacked up the whole rear axle. When putting the car up on 4 stands I like to do each individual A-arm and then go to the rear and jack up the whole axle by going under the differential like this -



No problem but I got too confident when I placed the stands under the leaf springs plates and did not check to see how they were oriented. How I caught the problem I do not know but here is the evidence -



That's right - the only thing from the 55 contacting the jackstand is that small lip of the nut! I have no idea what would have happened if it would have slid off of there but I don't like thinking about the idea!

A word of caution - be careful in the garage...

[texas webb]

Lucky man.

[Daves55Sedan]

HRR, I like to keep lots of blocks of wood stored in a cardboard box in the garage for use as supports in various applications like that. 1x's and 2x's cut of various lengths and widths.
I always get a couple of wood blocks that will fit flat on that bottom spring clamp plate so that the wood sticks down far enough that the top of the jackstand cant get caught on a little piece of whatever you are trying to lift. I also use pieces of 2x4 under the front suspension A-arms when lifting the front with 2 ton floorjacks, or bottle jacks. The wood blocks not only provide stability, but prevent the black paint on my frame parts from getting scratched off by the jacks.
I have some blocks of wood in that box that are over 30 years old I have used over and over again. You wouldn't believe how often I am digging in that box for wood blocks of the right size for the job I am doing. The wood blocks have many, many other uses also.
These wood blocks are all just leftover cutoff scraps from building and trimming projects down thru the years. I cannot recall ever cutting off a piece of wood specially just to make a shim or support.
I fear that I would regret ever throwing that stuff out, as the next thing you know I would be out there cutting a piece of wood just for a support/shim.

[darrell]

we used to crawl under with nothing but a bumper jack.times change.

[Motorhead6]

Originally Posted by darrell

we used to crawl under with nothing but a bumper jack.times change.

In the dirt!

[Mike V. Florida]

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Originally Posted by Motorhead6

In the dirt!

While raining.

[ThomasN]

I put the jacks under the axle housing

[zzlegend]

Originally Posted by ThomasN

I put the jacks under the axle housing

X2. They sit in the cradle better.

[Y-Blockhead]

Bunch of Wussies...

[piddler]

I am very cautious when working under any of my cars. A 3500 pound car falling on me would probably make me very sore considering what a wimp I am.

I have some 2X12's cut long enough to set the jack stands on so I do not need to extend the jacks as far. It seems more stable to me. I also use wood blocks between the jacks and the car when not setting the jacks under the axle housing. Wood on steel is less slick than steel on steel.

I also have a set of ramps that I use when possible. I screw a 2X4 to the ramp on each side of the tire to keep it from rolling. I do this on one end of the car and use the jack stands on the other end. This makes a very the car very stable. When I get the car up, I walk all around it and shake it just to be sure.

[bobss396]

I spent some $$ on good jack stands many years ago and still use them today. I bought a pair of real HD ones at a garage sale a few years back, $10 for the pair.

Wherever you get them, it pays to look them over for things like bad roll pins and give them a shot of paint. It keeps them cleaner and damage is easy to see.

[Hot Rod Reverend]

thank you fellas for the words of wisdom... i will take your advice and run with it.

Question for you guys that use only the frame to set your jackstands - how do you get enough room to do transmission work such as I am doing? setting the stands at the rear axle and A-arms give plenty of the room for the creeper (and my fat body) to roll underneath the car all sprawled out.

Do you guys have more photos of your cars up on stands?

[dmsfrr]

Ok so it's a Bird and not a sedan but you asked.....

I was disconnecting the shift linkage & driveshaft to pull the engine & trans. Not sure if I used a creeper, but it didn't take very long so I didn't go to the trouble of pushing it higher with the floor jack. Note the HD jack stands are all the way down. If I need to go higher I raise each end one or two jack stand notches at a time, going back and forth. Can't pull the trans from underneath anyway so haven't found the need to go any higher, yet, maybe when it goes back together... that will take longer.

I used four short-ish pieces of 2x4 at the top of the stands so the stand wouldn't slip to one side, because the 'U' on the stand is narrower than the frame rails.
Like Daves55Sedan and piddler I've got a good selection of wood blocks from 12 inch squares of 3/4 ply up to a supply of 18 inch long 4x4's and 6x6's.
Sometimes I use a pair of drive-on ramps if their larger footprint isn't in the way.
Even with the engine in the car it acted a bit tail heavy (the front & back stands weren't very far apart) so decided I should have put the rear stands under the axle instead. Note the extra jack stands under the rear-most frame cross member.

If I'd needed to drop the rear axle or leaf springs I would use this setup but a little higher.
.

[willowbilly3]

I would not personally feel safe under those jack stands extended all the way up like that.

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod Reverend

how do you get enough room to do transmission work such as I am doing?

It can be a slog, but I have removed Ford-o-Matics many times with the following crude method.
Put wheelchocks behind rear wheels.
Place a rolling floor jack under center of front crossmember to raise front of car as high as jack will go. Now put bottlejacksand or scissorjacks under front A-arms and raise as far as they will go evenly. this lifts frame off floorjack.
Remove floor jack and put a hollow concrete block centered under front crossmember and begin stacking up 2x6's on top of concrete block till it reaches bottom of frame.
lower bottlejacks under A-arms till crossmember sits on stack of 2x6's.
Now put as many wood blocks under bottle jack as you can with jack lowered all the way and run them up under A-arms and insert more 2x6's under frame crossmember.
Repeat process to achieve the height you need to remove the transmission, but finally have the weight of car resting on crossmember, NOT the bottle jacks. Once you have the height you need, pull out the parking brake handle. That will add stability.
Reverse the whole process after transmission is re-installed.
It is a slow process, but you can get it to do what you need.

[cohammer60]

I use to use jack stands until I put my falcon up on two that look simular to the ones in your photo and walked over to get a brake part when one of them broke right off . I must have had it on one ear of the jack stand yoke . So now I have two pieces of 4x4 steel tubing that are long enough to reach across and sit them on 12 inch blocks .

[willowbilly3]

This from years of blocking and working on heavy equipment, no means of support should be higher than it's base is wide. Even I don't adhere to that when using jack stands. I have the adjustable ratchet ones and they are handy but I don't trust them. I also have a couple sets of old school ones made from Ford banjo housings.

[Beav]

NEVER use a concrete block! Holy cow, those things will crumble/split without any warning whatsoever. Count yourself extremely lucky.

[325w]

Try this

[Alaska Jim]

325w, I use the exact same things. the nice thing is you can make them as tall and as wide as you want to fit the height you need and the width of the tire. but as with every thing else, an inspection of them from time to time is a good thing.

[wex65]

I am getting too old to be diving under a car so I invested in a 2 post lift. Best tool I ever bought. I know some will see it as a luxury but I wouldn't be without it now.

I am turning into a geezer before my time!

[Clem Clement]

Watch out for those cheapo Chinese cast jacks. also the steeliness with the spot welding on their sides. They will let you down hard.

Years ago I was jacking up my 54 Merc in my Uncles garage shop and she rolled up hill off the jacks. I used to work with always one hand of the car to feel any motion. I did then an just made it out.

[FordFairlane55]

The word of caution is good. Had a neighbor in 2015 die/crushed changing blades on his riding lawn mower when a jack slipped. Had a wife and two teen age kids.
Doesn't take but one mistake and doesn't take much.