Bottle jack as jack stand?

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JHZR2

JHZR2

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In the lowered position, of course!

Planning to get started taking apart the cv axle and rear hub on my 82 Mercedes. Not a lot of space to jack and place jackstands, especially since I'm doing it up on a kwik lift..

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


I borrowed a neighbor's bottle jack to lift up the corner and remove the wheel the other day when investigating. I lifted at the subframe bushing shown in the second picture. As you can see, there's not much of a place to put a jack stand. I might be able to finagle to lift the rear of the car by the diff, but it's already 26"+ in the air.

To me, the obvious choice would be to lift by bottle jack, then just lower the bottle jack to resting position, and use it as a makeshift jack stand. Yes, the base is a bit smaller than a "regular" jack stand, but I can back it up with wood or another jack stand in an "undesirable" location as a backup or backups. Three tires will be on the lift bearing weight too, so stability isn't a huge concern.

The other option is to put my ez car lift on the kwik lift bed and lift the whole side and just use that to support... but then I'm lifting the side and it seems like a more clunky way to go.

So, any reason against this approach?
 
How about.... Using solid wood blocks... Salt treated... 6 by 6s..... And that those salt treated wood blocks are fresh and extremely solid.... Won't go no where...
 
Still need to get it up, then back down, with the lift and support needing to be in the same spot...
 
Well.... Just me... . But I jack my car up and lower on the 6 by 6 and 4 by 4 salt treated wood on my car... Takes up little space, extremely solid... I still have the hydraulic jack there... And weight on it to a degree.

I think substantial wood salt treated 6 by 6s will give you a much safer platform... Even if in a not perfect location... This would be especially helpful due to a much larger surface area to distribute the weight in a not the best location... Than a bottle jack...with it's very small surface area of support. . .
 
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How good are the jack points for the car's jack?. I used to use 16" pieces of 2 by milled to fit the pinch weld seam on the 528e. Then I'd use what ever suited the work. Bottle jacks need to be set firm and flat to jack successfully. The base of the jack isn't enough to make it stable enough to trust as a stand
 
Do the words "Death Wish" mean anything to you?
Put the car on the ground and use proper jack stands.
 
I have never found a good use for bottle Jack's with cars. I have used them to jack up and install floor supports on old houses.

I have 2 floor Jack's and 6 jack stands. In your situation I,d be more comfortable with the car on full extention jack stands on level concrete, than on any form of bottle jack.
 
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Originally Posted by wag123
Do the words "Death Wish" mean anything to you?
Put the car on the ground and use proper jack stands.

Where? Most cars seem to lack suitable locations. I've given up and use the "frame" rails that most unibodies have somewhere, and hoping for the best, both for jacking and for support--I have a stack of 2xsomethings that I use as cribbing. I figure, spread the force out, then even unsuitable jack locations become suitable.

I only use bottle jacks to lift my truck, and usually I have to use two in tandem to get the front end to lift high enough.

OP, I'd rather use a stack of 2x somethings for support. A bottle jack has a pretty small footprint and then a point of contact. I bet if you use some 2x12's you could put them under a floorboard and not have damage, especially if they were at least a foot long.
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
How about.... Using solid wood blocks... Salt treated... 6 by 6s..... And that those salt treated wood blocks are fresh and extremely solid.... Won't go no where...
.


Yup or even better some nice hardwood tree trunk cut to suit. I too an a super chicken poo when it comes to being under a car. I want 2x safety and even then often toss something like a tire or two under there some out of my way place.
One problem starting to surface recently these cars are increasingly made more like a
smirk2.gif
airplane than a road vehicle. What used t o be ready made jack points is pretty much gone these days. Nothing but the folded sheet metal doublers that do the job and that's about it. Those are often uncomfortably close to something fragile like a plastic rocker cover. You almost have to use only stands Axles are now like unicorns I'm afraid and you better know what you're doing or you're going to fold or crush something using those newer jack points without a lift. I use special blocks of 2x4 and 2x3 wrapped in a U of steel so it won't split.
 
Did your Kwik-lift not come with the centerlift bridges so that jackstands can be used?
 
If bottle jacks are constructed like their floor jack cousins, the piston seal is made of plastic and can give way at any time. I recently put a repair kit in a floor jack for that issue. If you value your life always put something solid underneath.
 
Originally Posted by pcoxe
If bottle jacks are constructed like their floor jack cousins, the piston seal is made of plastic and can give way at any time. I recently put a repair kit in a floor jack for that issue. If you value your life always put something solid underneath.

That's why the OP was pondering using the jack "in the lowered position". All the way down already.
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
Well.... Just me... . But I jack my car up and lower on the 6 by 6 and 4 by 4 salt treated wood on my car... Takes up little space, extremely solid... I still have the hydraulic jack there... And weight on it to a degree.

I think substantial wood salt treated 6 by 6s will give you a much safer platform... Even if in a not perfect location... This would be especially helpful due to a much larger surface area to distribute the weight in a not the best location... Than a bottle jack...with it's very small surface area of support. . .



The challenge is availability of actual jacking points - specific spots to install a jack stand when jacking it up at the same exact point. Lowering onto wood wouldnt prevent the issue that I need to jack from that bolt shown in the second picture, and then lower it onto the same exact spot. I get it that another spot may be OK, but its not my preferred approach. May be a necessary evil though
smile.gif
Dont have salt treated (I dont think), but I have pressure treated 6x6 which I generally use as you define but in non-contact backup support.




Originally Posted by wag123
Do the words "Death Wish" mean anything to you?
Put the car on the ground and use proper jack stands.


Jack stands severely reduce the vehicle height, are far LESS stable then having three tires on the lift as shown. Only one wheel would be lifted up, and the bottle jack would be in the fully lowered state. So the risk you seem to assume is not clear to me, since youre implying a less stable platform that has a far more established tipping and falling risk.

The vehicle fall risk on jack stands is all four corners; the risk here is only one corner, only the height between the rotor or control arm and the lift surface. Much less distance, and the lift provides full safety because the car is stable on 1000# of steel, 20" in the air.



Originally Posted by spasm3
I have never found a good use for bottle Jack's with cars. I have used them to jack up and install floor supports on old houses.

I have 2 floor Jack's and 6 jack stands. In your situation I,d be more comfortable with the car on full extention jack stands on level concrete, than on any form of bottle jack.


Bottle jack would be fully lowered, The only fundamental difference is the size of the contact patch. The bottle jack actually has MORE metal in contact with what's below, and again, would not be in a lifted status. Backup wood/stands are always employed when I lift a car.



Originally Posted by drtyler
Did your Kwik-lift not come with the centerlift bridges so that jackstands can be used?


The issue is that I need to open the diff and remove CV axles. Im not a big fan of lifting from the diff - I could use the center bridge to lift the whole car from the diff, but I dont need it to be excessively high, and dont need the whole rear end lifted. Additionally, I dont want the centerlift bridge there because it will impede access to everything I need to work with. The thing I need to do is just get the one corner up just high enough to remove the wheel, and then lower it to a stable pointto do the work, with three other tires on the ground. The car cannot fall beyond the distance the rotor or control arm is above the kwik lift surface.

The majorissue is that there is only one single lifting spot that needs to be used for lifting AND supporting in a minimal height position.



Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by pcoxe
If bottle jacks are constructed like their floor jack cousins, the piston seal is made of plastic and can give way at any time. I recently put a repair kit in a floor jack for that issue. If you value your life always put something solid underneath.

That's why the OP was pondering using the jack "in the lowered position". All the way down already.


Correct, thank you. It should be all metal on metal, no reliance on any hydraulics.
 
deleted.

the whole topic scares me. I suggest minimizing all risks when under a vehicle.
 
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Tractor Supply sells bottle jacks with jack stands built in. If you search their site for "all in one jack" you can see it.
 
Originally Posted by meep
deleted.

the whole topic scares me. I suggest minimizing all risks when under a vehicle.


Not sure what's scary.

Three tires on the lift platform. A jack that lifts the body only so high to get the tire 1" off the ground, then lowered to full bottom. Less overall height then a jack stand, so safer in that regard, no pawl to knock out, so safer in that regard, and max fall of maybe 3-4" worst case.

All the same, dropped it onto some wood.

[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by GearJammer
Tractor Supply sells bottle jacks with jack stands built in. If you search their site for "all in one jack" you can see it.


Too high. To lift from the bolt in the factory position, I need to be 8 1/4" or less. I prefer a sheet of heavy rubber between, so it's really like 8 1/8".
 
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