Do jackstands weird anyone else out?

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Does anybody else hate climbing under a vehicle when it's on jackstands? I recently had a vehicle up on them while I was doing suspension work and there was also an oil leak I wanted to look for while it was up. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I couldn't shake the visions of the car falling off while I had my head under the oil pan. Found the leak at least.
 
Yes, and you should be. Its a great attribute that you are concerned.

I try to never use them, sometimes you have to. If so, I like to use some big lumber, like 8x8 blocks and similar stuff, strategically placed. I also use high weight rated stands US-made.
 
A little bit. After so many years of using a lift working in a shop. I am a little nervous when I really get to beating on a stuck suspension component with a vehicle on jack stands.
 
What I hate about the most common jack stands is they're all made to support round solid axles; not anything flat like the car's frame or the floor pan.
 
Not really. I use several jack stands to hold a vehicle up, and if I'm taking a tire off I put that under the vehicle as well. Jacks weird me out more than jack stands, after having a few that have lost pressure and gone down slowly by themselves. I never support a vehicle only by a jack now. I'll put the jack under an axle as a safety measure, but the vehicle is usually supported by the stands.

I also use good heavy duty stands that can hold much more than the vehicle's weight. I would never buy any of those cheap harbor freight pieces of junk. Not something to cheap out on in my opinion.
 
Yep, I hate getting under something on jackstands. Only once did I get under the Midget while I was threading a new brake line and fuel line. Even though the rear axle was planted in the U-shaped cradles, it still creeped me out.
 
I know what you're saying, anything can happen and we still need to be careful even when using jackstands. I try to be careful when trying to break a stubborn bolt while under a vehicle...if the vehicle moves at all while i'm putting force on the stubborn fastener, I stop and try to think of a safer way of doing it. I have real heavy and sturdy stands but you can't be too careful.
 
Even with a quality stand with a weight rating way higher than what you are working on it would still give me the heebie jeebies. If I can keep the wheel on, ramps have a much greater feeling of safety about them. Time to start saving for a sweet lift!
 
When I changed the lower motor mount on my Focus, I used jackstands, backed up by jacks in place, some 8x8s (I believe) and put big blocks of wood under the tires.

I was hoping that all 4 would provide enough time for me to get out should things start falling down.
 
Yes, not a fan of them; I have stone/dirt driveway, but some 2x10s I use for pads the few times I've needed to get the car up. (brakes e.g.)
 
Not really. If there's no good place to put the jack stands, and the car is kind of teetering on them, then yeah. But if it's nice and secure and passes the shake test, I'll crawl underneath the car without a second thought and no fear. Then again, I'm young and invincible.
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What I hate about the most common jack stands is they're all made to support round solid axles; not anything flat like the car's frame or the floor pan.


I picked up some cheap HF stands some years ago with this problem. This year I finally took a hacksaw to them and made them usable.
 
I always use a double redundant "safety". Place the jack under the frame also, or place wood blocks under the frame, or place a tire rim under the frame, etc.
 
I've used HF, AA, and walmart jack stands. They all look the same, though metallurgy, welding etc can vary.

What weirds me out is doing something on asphalt in the summer then finding the stands sunk 1/4" into the tar.
 
I feel much safer using 4x4 cribbing in addition to jack stands. Kind of a belt and suspender kind of thing...
 
No.

Scissor Jacks do..... I just had one twist on me and the car fell!
 
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