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Re: Help with jackstands.

To: Chris Thompson <ct@cthompson.com>, mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Help with jackstands.
From: S & M Barnes <barnesms@swbell.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 07:55:59 -0600
Hi Chris

I may double up on some comments but this is my input - for what it's worth!



> First, can you use four jackstands and bring both ends of the car up, and
if
> so, is that safe? I worry about the car falling backwards off the
> jackstands.
>
> If so, how do you get the car up on four, seems to me that if you lift the
> front of the car up onto stands, the bottom will angle down to the point
> where you couldnt get a jack underneath.

I have my car on four jack stands, I raised the rear end first and put the
stands under the axle just inside the springs, once I was sure it was stable
I lifted the front end and put the stands under the crossmember as far out
as possible. The car is stable enough for it to stay on the stands when
someone drove into the back of it at a couple of miles an hour - no damage
to the car fortunately!

I use 6 ton stands from Walmart as I believe very firmly in overkill! The
jack I bought was also from Walmart, a 4000lb lift jobby, it isn't the best
quality jack around and from past experience I know it won't last very long,
but I have had it for 18 months now and it's still working, I have found the
the upper ranges of the cheap jacks typically last 2 - 3 years with fairly
regular use.



> I'm going to be pulling the engine, and will have a nice large high engine
> hoist, but I'd like to know, do I jack up the front or front and back
> (assuming that's kosher) during engine removal?

If pulling the gearbox along with the engine then you lift the back of the
car to make it easier to slide the very heavy and unwieldy combination out,
if pulling the engine on its own I don't lift the car at all when getting
the engine out.


> I'll be stripping, painting, sealing, whatever, the bottom of the car in
> this process, is there a better way to do that than jackstands and laying
on
> my back like DaVinci? I've seen plans for chassis rotators that would
allow
> me to flip the car over, (I think barney has a plan for one) but I've
never
> seen any info as to where you attach that kind of device to a B.

I have used a chassis rotator, I borrowed it from a friendly local MG
specialist, it makes all the difference in the world - if there is any way
you can beg, borrow, steal or make one, do so! It is so much easier cleaning
and painting the bottom of the car standing next to it than it is lying on
your back! They generally bolt onto the wheel hubs back and front.

Anyone told you about the joys of hot underseal dripping onto your arms when
stripping it yet? <g>


 > Also, one last thing. How high is too high? Is more better? last time I
> checked I had the choice between 16" max height and 24" max height
> jackstands.

Height is entirely down to you, you just need to make sure that when lying
flat under the car, whether on a crawler or not, you can comfortably reach
everything you need to get at on the bottom of the car without straining, I
would advise buying the larger stands though just for security, finding the
right height for you make take a little trial and error.

Cheers

MikeB

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